Resource work spreads longer than task duration

L

liversounds

Hello,

The basics:
-A Fixed Work type task with 4 working days duration, starting on a
non-holiday Monday in a non-holiday week;
-A defined and assigned 7-day work week, 10-hour day calendar;
-1 resource entered at 127.08 hours (directly from an estimate) for the task.

For some reason the task ending on a Friday spreads the resource work as
follows:
M: 25.42h, T: 31.77h, W: 31.77h, TH: 31.77h, F: 6.35h

So even though the task is defined as 4 days duration, the spreading is
taking 6.35h from the first day and putting it into a "fifth" day.

Why?
 
J

Jan De Messemaeker

Hi,

For Fixed Work tasks, when Work is entered, Duration is recalculated by
Project as Work divided by assignment units.
Hope this helps

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf
 
J

John

liversounds said:
Hello,

The basics:
-A Fixed Work type task with 4 working days duration, starting on a
non-holiday Monday in a non-holiday week;
-A defined and assigned 7-day work week, 10-hour day calendar;
-1 resource entered at 127.08 hours (directly from an estimate) for the task.

For some reason the task ending on a Friday spreads the resource work as
follows:
M: 25.42h, T: 31.77h, W: 31.77h, TH: 31.77h, F: 6.35h

So even though the task is defined as 4 days duration, the spreading is
taking 6.35h from the first day and putting it into a "fifth" day.

Why?
Click to expand...

liversounds,
Here is what I get when I simulate your scenario. When the project
calendar is set for 10 hour days, 7 days a week and the resource is set
to use a normal calendar (i.e. 8 hour days, 5 days a week), then I get
31.75h spread over 4 days and the single resource is assigned at 397%.
If I change the resource to use the project calendar (i.e. 10 hour days,
7 days a week), then I get 39.68h for the first 3 days and 7.93h on the
fourth day.

It sounds like your project (or task) calendar and the resource calendar
are not synced.

John
Project MVP
 
L

liversounds

Okay, thank you for the response!

I simulated with a new project and came up with the same results as you...

However, on my existing project, I double-checked all of the calendars and
found:
-The resource calendar was set to my "7-Day Work Week"
-The task calendar was set to "None"
-The project calendar was set to "Standard"

I have now changed all calendars to be "7-Day Work Week", but my resource
spread is exactly the same, with a mystery "fifth" day...

Also, I noticed that in neither of your trials did you end up with a fifth
day--which is what I'm most confused about...

Any ideas?
 
J

John

liversounds said:
Okay, thank you for the response!

I simulated with a new project and came up with the same results as you...

However, on my existing project, I double-checked all of the calendars and
found:
-The resource calendar was set to my "7-Day Work Week"
-The task calendar was set to "None"
-The project calendar was set to "Standard"

I have now changed all calendars to be "7-Day Work Week", but my resource
spread is exactly the same, with a mystery "fifth" day...

Also, I noticed that in neither of your trials did you end up with a fifth
day--which is what I'm most confused about...

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
liversounds,
Go back and check the Duration field. You might have set it to 4 days
initially but as Jan said in his response, for a fixed work task,
duration will be recalculated.

John
Project MVP
 
M

Mike Glen

Hi ,

If I might step in here - check that there's nothing preventing the task
starting at 0800 on the first day. Maybe a predecessor doesn't finish until
0900, or perhaps your calendar is not set to begin at 0800 or
Tool/Options/Calendar is not set to 0800.

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

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials
 
L

liversounds

Thank you,

Here's the way my project looks now:
-Project calendar, 7-Day; task calendar, 7-Day; resource calendar, 7-Day;
-7-Day calendar defined from 6am to 12pm and 1pm to 5pm, 7 days a week; this
matches the setting in Tools/Options/Calendar (which I just changed);
-Note that originally the calendar was defined usingthe Project Guide
toolbar: Resources/Define working times for resources, and then clicking
"Define additional calendars";
-The task has no constraints (and for the sake of argument, no
predecessors... although it is the same with and without), and the start is
Mon 2/5/08;
-The duration was originally calculated "automatically" because the Fixed
Work task was loaded with 127.08h, but then the task duration was manually
changed to 4 days and the hours have not been adjusted, and the duration
remains exactly 4.0 days;
-My finish date for the task is Fri 2/8/08 (five days later);

I tried to duplicate the problem, and was successful--but then forgot the
specific steps as I began replying to your post, and since then have been
unable to duplicate.

My impression is that there is something wrong with my original order,
because when I "re-create" the project in a new file, making sure to FIRST
set up calendars and default times, etc., then I am not having this problem
(note also that when I re-created, I just copied the 7-Day calendar from the
other project, but set all resource and default working times prior to
entering my first task)...

Of course I would like to have a way to easily fix my existing project.

Any thoughts?
 
L

liversounds

BTW, I am using MP Professional 2003, SP3

Mike Glen said:
Hi ,

If I might step in here - check that there's nothing preventing the task
starting at 0800 on the first day. Maybe a predecessor doesn't finish until
0900, or perhaps your calendar is not set to begin at 0800 or
Tool/Options/Calendar is not set to 0800.

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

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials
Click to expand...
 
M

Mike Glen

Yes, but what time in the day does the task start? Try
Tools/Options.../View tab and select a Duration format that has the time
showing. Is it 0600? In your real project, I would be inclined to delete
the task and re-enter it. If, as you have done, you change the working
times in Tools/Options... this will not affect what has happened in the
past, only for the future - so re-entering the task should do the trick.

I'm away for a week, so if you need more follow up, perhaps others will
continue.


Mike Glen
Project MVP
 
L

liversounds

Yes, that worked!

My original task time was set to start at 8am, and when I changed it to 6am
all subsequent activities corrected!
 

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