Project allocating duration/resources

[Jack Shearer]

I am trying to allocate a task which a team of three people will take 1 day
to complete when working together. One of the team has a Calendar which
allows him to work only on weekends.

Trouble is when I allocate the resources after setting the duration, project
resets the duration to several days and if I then reset the duration to 1
day, it recalculates two of the workers to zero time.

What do I need to do to get Progect to accept that it is three people
working 1 day and because 1 resource has a Calendar constrant that it needs
to set the date according to that Calendar?

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[JulieD]

Hi Jack

i would assign a calendar to the task as well with the working time only
being the day that the task can be done (create this new calendar under
tools / change working time - New; assign it by double clicking on the task,
choose the advanced tab, choose the calendar from the drop down list.

This will move all of the three people's work to when the task can be done
.... if, of course, the other two are available on that day.

Hope this helps
Cheers
JulieD

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Jack,

If the three people do not work in synch, the duration of the task will
inevitably be larger.
Duration is the time there is any work performed on the task.

But All three resources will show one day of WORK even after the application
of the calendar.

So why do you want duration to show one day (even if it IS more?)

 

[Jack Shearer]

Thanks for the quick responses.

I think I understand what you are driving at. However, I am only interested
at this point in calculating the duration of the overall project ie start
date to finish date --I am not really interested in the total number of man
hours/days the project will take.The point is the task in question is
physical in nature and can only be achieved by the team working together.

I want Project to allocate the first date available to do the task in the
sequence that has to be followed.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Must they work together - I mean, must they be physically all working
together at the same time? You said 1 of your resources only works
weekends. What about the other two - what does their calendar say about
when they can work? If Bill, Joe, and Bob all will do 8 hours of work each
and all of them are working on Friday, the duration is one day. But if Bill
works his 8 on Thu, Joe does his on Fri, and Bob does his on Sat, the
duration is 3 days even though the actual amount of work to be done is
exactly the same. Likewise if Bill does his on Mon, Joe on Thu, and Bob on
Sat the duration is 6 days for the same amount of total work. If the
calendar for Bill and Joe says they work M-F while the calendar for Bob says
he works only on Sat and Sun, it is impossible to schedule them to work
together because their allowable working hours don't overlap. The very
least duration you could get is 2 days, Bill and Joe working Friday and Bob
working Saturday.

 

[Jack Shearer]

The other 2 can also work weekends when required.

The task is physical in nature (moving furniture in this case) and can only
be achieved by at least three working as a team. The overall project
relates to the renovation and sale of our old home.

What I am trying to get some sort of handle on is how much it is going to
cost and how long it is going to take without paying professionals other
than the necessary trademen (eg sparkies and plumbers)

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

A second question - are these people doing other things as well in your plan
or are they hired specifically for this one task?

 

[Jack Shearer]

They are volunteers whose skills and strong backs will be utilised for
relevant tasks. I have created Calendars appropriate for individuals
involved in the project. Most of the work will be done by myself.

You see this house should have been renovated and sold at least three years
ago. However, since I have had to care for my wife since then because of
illness, our resources are now somewhat depleted. Thankfully my wife is now
on the way to recovery. So to make the most of what little we have left, I
must determine the most cost effective way of doing what is necessary.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Someone suggested creating a calendar showing Saturday and setting that as
the task calendar for that specific task and that's certainly a good way to
do it. As long as all resources have Saturday as a valid work day according
to their calendar you could also introduce a manual delay into the two who
are initially scheduled earlier in the week so they're moved to Saturday.
This is one of those special cases where manual methods take over.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Jack Shearer]

Thanks Steve. Will follow your advice. Have applied the "weekend Calendar"
to the task and it seems to solve the problem.