Preserving duration data when changing settings

[Tricky]

I have inherited a schedule that has been set up for effort driven fixed
work, 12 hours per day (7 day week), with some resources allocated to a 7 day
standard calendar, and some to a 24 hour calendar.

The reason for my question is that this schedule of works is a 24 hours
operation, so is it right that the calendar (in options) is set up for 12
hours, and individual resources set up for 24 hours...
....or should the project calendar be set for 24 hours, with individual
resources set for whichever pattern they are working.

I suspect that it should be the latter.

If that is the case, is it just straight forward to change to the 24 hour
calendar?
The added complication i'm facing is that i historically have used fixed
duration (not effort driven) as i need to add in codings to the resource info
of an activity, that allow me to see information graphically, but do not have
a bearing on the number of people carrying out that job ie total persons on
site, bedding requirements etc.

Can i therefore preserve the duration of these jobs when chaging over from
fixed units to fixed duration having changed the calendar (to 24h), and in
which order do i need to do things in????

Hope this all makes sense

thanks in advance

 

[Tricky]

Looks like i may have just figured it out myself.

I've started with a fresh project, set it up for 24 hour working (fixed
duration), pasted in the resource sheet data (then changed to 24 hour), added
in tasks, duration etc (task calendar set for 24 hours), then MSP has
calculated work hours based on the calendars and the fixed duration.

phew!

 

[Mike Glen]

Thanks, Tricky, for the feedback - good luck

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Steve House]

I'd say the latter, but only sort-of. While things might be going on 24
hours a day, consider a single task in isolation. That is (or should be)
the result of breaking down the work to the level where that task represents
1 activity assigned to 1 resource. But that resource doesn't work 24 hours
a day - he works 12 hours a day. So if the task starts Monday at 6am and is
to last 36 hours, it doesn't run continuously until Tuesday at 6pm, it goes
on for Monday from 6am to 6 pm, then stops while the resource assigned to it
goes home to his wife and kids, then resumes Tuesday at 6am and goes for
that day, then stops again and restarts Wednesday morning to finally finish
not Tuesday at 6pm but instead Wednesday at 6pm. I think the project
calendar should reflect that reality. While there might be reasons to do it
differently, I think in most cases the project calendar should reflect the
typical work pattern of a typical single generic resource and NOT the hours
of the firm as a whole.

 

[Tricky]

OK Steve,

I see what you are saying.

I need to have a think about how to best to reflect the fact that some
activities are going on around the clock, whilst other activities are being
done on Day shift/Night shift only.

thanks for your input

 

[Steve House]

Imagine you have 3 resources, Joe Dayshift, Bill Swingshift and Mary
Graveshift. They each work 8 hours on their respective shifts (to keep
things easy.) I have a task that requires 24 hours of work and can start
Mon at 8am. If my Project Calendar is the 24 hour calendar, it will
initially show starting Mon at 8 and ending Tue at 8, 24 hours continuous.
If my Project Calendar the default calendar, it will show starting Mon at 8
and ending Wed at 5. In your environment, what is the pattern that the
majority of the tasks in your project will fall into? If we use the 8 hour
calendar and I assign just Joe to the task, it will end Wed at 5, after he's
worked on it for 3 8-hour shifts. IF I assign all 3 of those resources to
it, it will end Tue at 8am, also after 3 shifts have been worked. So even
the 8 hour projeft calendar will correctly calculate the start and end of a
task that actually will proceed 24 hours a day, once the resources are
assigned to it.