Support Tasks

[Andy S]

I am using Project 2003. We have a few project plans that include IT
support for applications. The resources are full-time support people,
yet we are breaking down their support hours by the different
organizations that call in with questions.

I am unsure how to structure this data in my project plan. It is
impossible to know how many hours a person will spend supportting each
organization. Do I use fixed duration with zero hours work?

 

[Jim Aksel]

Only include tasks in your schedule that the program must pay for.
If they are purchasing application support, there must be some rationale as
to how they arrived at the number ... why is it 3 people instead of 7 (for
example).

I would divide the support up into several Level Of Effort type tasks that
have an assigned amount of work with multiple resources and a duration equal
to the length of the project. This should be kept in a schedule separate
from your main measureable activities because placing LOE in a schedule like
this will obscure your critical path.
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Jim

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