Summary Task Duration

[Jason Paper]

Hello All,
I am new to using MS Project and have having trouble with one area.
I am still in the creation phase of my project and I have notice that
I cannot change the start, finish, and duration portions on any of my
summary tasks. Is there a way to change those fields on a task after
you have made it a summary task? I am able to change the fields on my
sub-tasks with no problems.

Thanks for your assistance.

v/r
Jason Paper

 

[Dale Howard]

Jason --

A summary task summarizes or "rolls up" the scheduling information found in
all of its subtasks. Its Duration is calculated from the Start date of the
earliest subtasks to the Finish date of the latest subtask (excluding
nonworking time periods), which in turn generates the Start and Finish dates
of the summary task itself. Because the schedule information for a summary
task is calculated, you are not allowed to change this information. Hope
this helps.

 

[Jason Paper]

Dale,
Thanks for the reply and it makes sence to me. I like the MS
Project program, but from what I have read and seen it is geared
towards me as a company providing a product. I am a contractor for a
company providing a support service to the US Navy. Is there a MS
Project template that would be best to use in creating a Project for
providing a service vice a product? Hope that makes sence.

Thanks again

-Jason Paper

 

[Steve House]

Certainly formal Project Managment discipline and MS Project are useful for
projects that involve services as well as products. What may be a factor
for you to consider however is that regardless of the tools used, "projects"
are defined as a sequence of activities producing a unique product or
service and limited in duration, with definite and observable starting and
ending points. That is, projects have a definite period of time between
when they start and when they wrap up and everyone goes home. Ongoing
continuous activities that have no target ending date are poor candidates
for any project management software. A service type of activity could be
either one. The example I use in my classes is that setting up a new help
desk in an organization that has never had one before is certainly a
project, but staffing and scheduling its ongoing operations once it's up and
running is not.

 

[Guest]

The summary tasks reflect the information of the detail
tasks below it. You cannot change summary tasks. The
Summary Task will have the earliest start date from all of
the tasks below it -- same for End Date. it will have
a "sum" of the Effort for each task below and so on...