problem with duration not totalling up correctly

[jandawn67]

Here my problem and an example of whats happening:

Summary Task of all below = 3.6 days ?????
subtask 1 1 day
subtask 2 1 day
subtask 3 .5 day (1/2 day)
subtask 4 .5 day
? Shouldn't my total of the summary task = 3 days and not 3.6 days ???
This happened to me twice on this same project as I have a 2nd Summary task
on this project with the exact same information so if I do this 2x then the
whole project shoud be 6 days but I am getting 7.6 days ?? but I am thinking
the total duration should be 3 days x 2 = 6 days

 

[Catfish Hunter]

Your summary task will always take the first start and latest finish of the
sub-task. It does not add all your durations.

 

[Rod Gill]

To add to that, the duration for a Summary Tasks is the total number of
working days required to complete all sub-tasks. The bigger the lag between
two task, the bigger the summary task's duration.

 

[jandawn67]

Hi and thank you but I have no lag time they all follow daily in a row -
monday, tuesday, wed, & thursday so I am still confused how its an uneven
number

 

[Y Lee]

It could be that you have a resource on one of those tasks that is not
available for the time you have assigned him/her. Check the resource
calendars.

Also use the Task Usage View to see how Project scheduled time for each
task. You may have to set the timescale to show Hours, but it should show
you where your delay is occurring.

 

[Catfish Hunter]

Summary Task
*--------------------------------------*
T1 - 5d
*----------------*
T2 - 5 d
*----------------*
T3 - 5d
*---------------*
Becasue of the sub-task overlap the summary duration will not be 15 days.

Another possibility is your summary task and sub task have differant
calendars. This will make them calculate differant.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi jandawn67 ,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

A possibility comes to mind which could be cured by reference to FAQ Item:
5. Default Working Hours

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP
wrote:

 

[jandawn67]

Hi Mike, I did set the working hours at the very beginning of my project for
all days that apply to this projects as all of my resources have the same
schedule. I think where I did wrong was the very 1st time I setup this
project because right now its just a baseline, but anyways it worked the
first time giving me 6 days total but then when I looked at it it was showing
me in the start date for example a monday with a 1 day duration but ended on
a tuesday and did this all the way down so manually I went in a changed the
finish date to monday (to make it a one day duration like it says) then
tuesday start to tuesday finish for my next date and so on. Is this where i
went wrong because like I said initially it did show 6 days until I went in
and changed the finish dates but still I would think it would be 6 days.
Sorry about all my questions but I am just learning and somethings are
complicated in this program

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi jandawn67,

You are advised to never enter dates into Project other than the project
start date. Project is designed for you to enter tasks, their Durations and
Precedence links, and then assign the resources to do the work. Project
will then do what it is designed to do and that is to calculate the dates
for you to show you what's possible with you inputs. If you enter dates,
you will automatically create constraints which will affect the flexibility
of your plan.

To remove all the constraints, click the Task Name column heading and then
Project/Task Information/Advanced Tab and in Constraint type, select As Soon
As Possible (ie no constraint) from the pick list.

Entering the Finish date allowed Project to pick up the finish time you set
in Tools/Options..., and is thus giving a false sense of security. Reset
everything to your requirements in accordance with the FAQ 5, and the
re-enter all the durations.

Hope this helps,


Mike Glen
Project MVP





wrote:

 

[jandawn67]

Hi again and thanks for all your help - ok I went in and started over as you
said and now if I leave it as is it totals 7.5 days total. all my start dates
are correct but WHY? if i put 1 day duration does it start on monday and
finish on tuesday? I initially went in at the beginning and set up my
calendar using all resources at 10 hours per day and mon-sat. This finish
date with the day after on a 1 day duration has me not understanding.

 

[jandawn67]

I found something else after my last reply - Like I said I setup my Project
working time at the very beginning as 7:00am to 5:00 pm mon - sat (10 hours
per day and 60 hrs. per week) BUT when I go into tools>options>view and
change my date format to show date and time - then all my start and finish
start at 8:00am and finish 8:00 am the next day for a 1 day duration - why is
this when I set up the time in the very beginning - I am very confused. and
again I thank you for all your help

 

[Mike Glen]

I can't give you a precise answer without knowing the settings in
Tools/Options... - hours per day and the start time, and the settings in
your Calendar. However, if you've set up the calendar in Change Working
Time to be a 7.5 hour day and the definition of a day is 8 hours, it will do
7.5 hours in the first day and the remaining .5 hrs the next day.


Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Mike Glen]

Did you really read and follow FAQ Item: 5. Default Working Hours? Did you
set the Start to 0700 in Tools/Options...?

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP