People out sick?

[avimia]

Hi experts,

Hope you all are doing well. First, let me start out by saying thank you to
all you experts who have answered my posts in the past. It's been great
having people help (without biting my head off). PMs are just the best ;-)

My question today is probably very silly to most of you. But, it's about
tracking... or just generally showing... when someone assigned on a project
is sick or out of work. For example, I have a Project A and Tammy is one of
the resources. Tammy happens to be one of the only people who can do her
specific tasks of this Project A. The timeline of Project A is going along
fine. However... obviously my time line is not following the plan due to
Tammy having been off sick for 2 days.

Now, I understand that I could probably go in and adjust my finish-dates for
her task. However, (and since I allowed for a little "fudge time") I don't
want to change ANY timelines (her task or the over all project) as I can
still see her being able to finish by her due original due date. By keeping
her on track like this, my project is still due to come in a bit under
schedule. So, that's fine too. But.. my question is.... where do I enter a
note or two about her having been off sick for 2 days (after all, if we do
come in under schedule.. it will look even better that the team so well even
after Tammy's absense).

I know I can add something in the "notes", or even in an added text field at
the end. But, I'm looking to find out how other PMs deal with this? (I really
just hate the "Notes" because they're just NOT convenient to see at a QUICK
glance).

Thanks for your input,
avimia

 

[ddrjbrown]

You could split the task with the date it started and then a gap to the date
that Tammy comes back to your project. This will help you see when actual
effort was done on the project. You could then record a note as you have
mentioned. This would ensure that your costs dont increase also.

Does your project have to pay for her sick days? If so you would just extend
the project duration for a particular task.

Hope this helps

 

[JulieS]

Hello avimia,

My comments are inline.

Hi experts,

Hope you all are doing well. First, let me start out by saying
thank you to
all you experts who have answered my posts in the past. It's been
great
having people help (without biting my head off). PMs are just the
best ;-)

Thanks for the kind words

My question today is probably very silly to most of you. But, it's
about
tracking... or just generally showing... when someone assigned on
a project
is sick or out of work. For example, I have a Project A and Tammy
is one of
the resources. Tammy happens to be one of the only people who can
do her
specific tasks of this Project A. The timeline of Project A is
going along
fine. However... obviously my time line is not following the plan
due to
Tammy having been off sick for 2 days.

If Tammy is out unexpectedly and you are tracking work, you can
simply enter a zero for the days where she accomplished no work on
the task. This will create a split in the task showing the task bar
stopping and then dots while no work was done and then the bar would
recommence when actual work gets recorded again. I suggest tracking
in the Task Usage or Resource Usage and adding the Actual Work row
to the detailed (right) section.

Now, I understand that I could probably go in and adjust my
finish-dates for
her task. However, (and since I allowed for a little "fudge time")
I don't
want to change ANY timelines (her task or the over all project) as
I can
still see her being able to finish by her due original due date.

No need to make manual adjustments. Any work that Tammy was
scheduled for will be allocated to the other days in the project.
The finish date of the task is adjusted as needed.

By keeping
her on track like this, my project is still due to come in a bit
under
schedule. So, that's fine too. But.. my question is.... where do I
enter a
note or two about her having been off sick for 2 days (after all,
if we do
come in under schedule.. it will look even better that the team so
well even
after Tammy's absense).

I know I can add something in the "notes", or even in an added
text field at
the end. But, I'm looking to find out how other PMs deal with
this? (I really
just hate the "Notes" because they're just NOT convenient to see
at a QUICK

I usually add notes to either the notes field (you can add the field
to a table view to be able to read short (under 255) notes quickly
and easily.

Thanks for your input,
avimia

To your question in another post about coloring the Gantt chart --
you can modify the non-working time display as the background of the
Gantt chart -- right click on the Gantt chart and choose Non-Working
time. However, this would require you to add the sick days for
Tammy as non-working time. I personally would just record the zero
hours work, let the task split, and then remind myself (and others)
what is going on through notes or comments on the task.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

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