Question about resources who don't work 100% of time on a project

[me]

I have resources who don't work 100% of their time on a project but I'm
having trouble understanding how to put this information into Project 2000

A typical scenario is the person is available 40% of their time, spread over
the whole week. So overall its 2 days availability , but they can actually
spread this time over the whole week as they choose

What I have done is set the max units to the resource to 40%.

The problem is when I look at the resource usage report the resource usage
doesn't seem to be right. So for example on a 1 day duration task, they are
only working 3.2 hours when it should read 7 hours.

On the Gantt chart it is marked Person's name [40%]

What I've tried to resolve this..
I then go into Task Information and change resources for that person to be
100% , not 40% , the resource graph now seems correct (it shows 100% work on
that day with 40% only available) but the resource usage sheet still only
shows 3.2 hours when it should be a full working day

Whats the correct way to enter the data in that sort of scenario?

Any advice on the above would be appreciated.

Also, Is there any way of allowing the tasks to be flexible to take account
of the fact the the person can spread the work over an entire week? ie as
long as the work in the overall week doesn't add up to more than 40% of their
time its ok

The tasks are currently all marked as Fixed Units, Effort driven by the way,
in case this is a factor in all this. thanks

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Be careful you're not confusing work and duration.

Contrary to popular belief, the allocation percentage does no represent the
percentage of a resource's time that can be devoted to the project or to a
task. What it really represents is the percentage of the time spent on a
task that results in useful work output. If I am working on a task for 8
hours at 50% allocation, I will accomplish generate the same amount of work
output I would have had I devoted my undivided attention to it for 4 hours.
If your work day is 7 hours and Joe resource works all day on a task at 40%
effort units, he only generates the amount of work he could have done in 3.2
hours if only he had worked at full speed. The percentage is a rate metric,
not a time metric.

So you have 2 days worth of work to produce. If you give that job to
someone who is only able to work at 40% of a full-time effort it will take a
full week from when the task starts until he reports back that it is
finished.

 

[me]

Thats a helpful starter thanks. I was confusing work with duration.

So I've now inserted the work column!

Should I be changing all the tasks from Fixed Units to Fixed Work?

I could still do with some advice on how to set up the scenario I described.
thanks

Paul

Be careful you're not confusing work and duration.

Contrary to popular belief, the allocation percentage does no represent the
percentage of a resource's time that can be devoted to the project or to a
task. What it really represents is the percentage of the time spent on a
task that results in useful work output. If I am working on a task for 8
hours at 50% allocation, I will accomplish generate the same amount of work
output I would have had I devoted my undivided attention to it for 4 hours.
If your work day is 7 hours and Joe resource works all day on a task at 40%
effort units, he only generates the amount of work he could have done in 3.2
hours if only he had worked at full speed. The percentage is a rate metric,
not a time metric.

So you have 2 days worth of work to produce. If you give that job to
someone who is only able to work at 40% of a full-time effort it will take a
full week from when the task starts until he reports back that it is
finished.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I have resources who don't work 100% of their time on a project but I'm
having trouble understanding how to put this information into Project 2000

A typical scenario is the person is available 40% of their time, spread
over
the whole week. So overall its 2 days availability , but they can actually
spread this time over the whole week as they choose

What I have done is set the max units to the resource to 40%.

The problem is when I look at the resource usage report the resource usage
doesn't seem to be right. So for example on a 1 day duration task, they
are
only working 3.2 hours when it should read 7 hours.

On the Gantt chart it is marked Person's name [40%]

What I've tried to resolve this..
I then go into Task Information and change resources for that person to be
100% , not 40% , the resource graph now seems correct (it shows 100% work
on
that day with 40% only available) but the resource usage sheet still only
shows 3.2 hours when it should be a full working day

Whats the correct way to enter the data in that sort of scenario?

Any advice on the above would be appreciated.

Also, Is there any way of allowing the tasks to be flexible to take
account
of the fact the the person can spread the work over an entire week? ie as
long as the work in the overall week doesn't add up to more than 40% of
their
time its ok

The tasks are currently all marked as Fixed Units, Effort driven by the
way,
in case this is a factor in all this. thanks

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

There's no single answer to your question on which task type, fixed work or
fixed duration, is proper. The task type is not truly a property of the
task in most cases and in any case it only effects the project when you edit
something that changes one of the three variables of work, duration, or
units. The "prime directive" is W=D*U. When you edit a resource assignment
or task, you can instruct Project to hold any one of those variables
constant while you change a second so that Project will recalculate the
third. The task type is the variable you want to be held constant in *this*
instant edit. Next time you change something about this task, another task
type might be appropriate - it all depends on what you are changing, why you
are doing it, and what the end result should be. For example, I'm painting
a room and have the painter assigned. Working full time it will take him
one week so the work is 40 man-hours. I realize I have another task I need
him to work on at the same time so I'm going to free him up part of each day
by reducing his assignment to 50%. It still will take 40 hours of work to
paint the room, the room didn't suddenly get smaller, but now he's only
working an average of 4 hours a day on it, doing something else the other 4.
Task type Fixed Work, edit the units, and the duration goes to 10 days. Now
consider, same room and same guy. He's on it 100% for 1 week. I realize
it's really a smaller room than I thought it was so the work is only 20 man
hours. I still want him done ASAP so task type is fixed units, edit the
work, and the duration becomes 2.5 days. Same scenario, I realize the room
is smaller than originally thought but I still don't need it done before the
end of the week. Task type Fixed Duration, edit the Work, and Project
resets the units to 50% freeing him up half of each day if I need him.


--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Thats a helpful starter thanks. I was confusing work with duration.

So I've now inserted the work column!

Should I be changing all the tasks from Fixed Units to Fixed Work?

I could still do with some advice on how to set up the scenario I
described.
thanks

Paul

Be careful you're not confusing work and duration.

Contrary to popular belief, the allocation percentage does no represent
the
percentage of a resource's time that can be devoted to the project or to
a
task. What it really represents is the percentage of the time spent on a
task that results in useful work output. If I am working on a task for 8
hours at 50% allocation, I will accomplish generate the same amount of
work
output I would have had I devoted my undivided attention to it for 4
hours.
If your work day is 7 hours and Joe resource works all day on a task at
40%
effort units, he only generates the amount of work he could have done in
3.2
hours if only he had worked at full speed. The percentage is a rate
metric,
not a time metric.

So you have 2 days worth of work to produce. If you give that job to
someone who is only able to work at 40% of a full-time effort it will
take a
full week from when the task starts until he reports back that it is
finished.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I have resources who don't work 100% of their time on a project but I'm
having trouble understanding how to put this information into Project
2000

A typical scenario is the person is available 40% of their time, spread
over
the whole week. So overall its 2 days availability , but they can
actually
spread this time over the whole week as they choose

What I have done is set the max units to the resource to 40%.

The problem is when I look at the resource usage report the resource
usage
doesn't seem to be right. So for example on a 1 day duration task, they
are
only working 3.2 hours when it should read 7 hours.

On the Gantt chart it is marked Person's name [40%]

What I've tried to resolve this..
I then go into Task Information and change resources for that person to
be
100% , not 40% , the resource graph now seems correct (it shows 100%
work
on
that day with 40% only available) but the resource usage sheet still
only
shows 3.2 hours when it should be a full working day

Whats the correct way to enter the data in that sort of scenario?

Any advice on the above would be appreciated.

Also, Is there any way of allowing the tasks to be flexible to take
account
of the fact the the person can spread the work over an entire week? ie
as
long as the work in the overall week doesn't add up to more than 40% of
their
time its ok

The tasks are currently all marked as Fixed Units, Effort driven by the
way,
in case this is a factor in all this. thanks