Task duration time not a round number

[katalinc]

My overall phase in this project is showing 279.94 days even tough al
the sub-tasks are in full days, and the project is set to only coun
days, not hours. I have re-entered all the duration times and all th
predecessor times to make sure there wasn't a hidden non whole number.
Is there a fix for this?
Thanks

 

[John]

My overall phase in this project is showing 279.94 days even tough all
the sub-tasks are in full days, and the project is set to only count
days, not hours. I have re-entered all the duration times and all the
predecessor times to make sure there wasn't a hidden non whole number.
Is there a fix for this?
Thanks.

katalinc,
What do you mean when you say, "...project is set to only count days,
not hours"? Project tracks time related data to the nearest tenth of a
minute regardless of the time dimension (e.g. hours, days, etc.) you
have elected to display in the duration or other time fields.

When you say, "the overall phase in this project is showing 279.94
days", are you referring to the Project summary task or perhaps some
intermediate summary task? The duration of a summary task at any level
is the total working time, (determined by the Project calendar), between
the start of the earliest subtask under the summary to the finish of the
latest subtask under the summary. That time span therefore also includes
any "dead" time between tasks or lag time between tasks, depending on
how your schedule is arranged.

Even though you think you have everything set for whole work days, are
there any task start or finish times that are at an odd hour (e.g. a
start time of 9:00 AM instead of the default 8:00 AM). Also, how about
your resource assignments. Do one or more resources have working hours
that are different from the project calendar?

Many things can create the "odd" number of days you are seeing. Take a
look at the things I mentioned above and perhaps you can see what is
happening.

John
Project MVP

 

[katalinc]

Yes, I am talking about the project summary task. But what i
interesting is that some sub tasks were doing the same thing when
checked the "estimated" box next to duration on a sub-sub-task. As soo
as I unchecked those boxes the sub-tasks became round numbers but th
summary task is still not a round number
The problem is, that I have no resources assigned to anything. I a
using project to create an architectural schedule. This is all meeting
and tasks that have a set time duration (in days)
Is there a way I could tell all tasks to start at the same time? I a
really a very basic user and I am not even sure where I could check i
the start times are consistent. I have been using whatever was defaul
and have not changed it - intentionally. As far as the task informatio
dialog box goes every task is a full day or multiples of full days..
One more thing that may be contributing to this - and tell me if thi
is a possible issue- I have a section of the project where we have t
count calendar days. The other parts of the project are set to coun
working days. But they are still full days so I am not sure if this i
what would cause the total count to not be a full day amount. Both o
the calendar settings count a full day from 8-5
Thank you for your help

 

[Beau West - BVi]

Hello,
As for the calendar days, if you enter them as ‘elapsed’ days, they become
contiguous regardless of weekends and non-working days. So, an entry of
‘16edays’ produces sixteen continuous calendar days in a row.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

It is usually easier to diagnose what's actually happening if you go to the
Tools Options menu, the View tab, and choose to display dates in a format
that also includes the time.

As John pointed out, durations are ALWAYS stored and calculated internally
in minutes to the nearest 10th, regardless of the units you enter or display
duration in. It is impossible to force Project to use any other base units
such as whole days or calendar weeks or months - when you see "1 d"
displayed, it is only an approximation for convenience sake and the real
duration value is 480.0 (when using the default calendars and settings).
The status of the "estimated" flag has no impact on duration calculations -
it's merely to serve as a reminder to the PM to revisit the projected task
duration before locking down the plan.

The answer to your puzzle lies somewhere in the details links and the
calendars you've assigned to the various tasks but without seeing the actual
plan it's impossible to say where. But the occurance of fractional days in
the summaries is not at all unusual and if you display the times you'll see
that a summary task starting, say, next Monday that has a displayed duration
of 2.75 days will have it's earliest starting subtask beginning Mon at 8am
and its latest finishing subtask ending Wed at 3pm (assuming the default
calendars).

 

[Jorge Londono]

For MS Project 2003 and If you are only concerned about round numbers on your
duration columng, below approach will do it.
Go to Tools > Options > Calendar Tab > Hours per day = 8.00, Hours per week
= 40.00, Days per Month = 22.
You might need to review some of the tasks duration and re-select the start
and finish dates to ensure the duration is in whole numbers.

Hope this Helps
JL

It is usually easier to diagnose what's actually happening if you go to the
Tools Options menu, the View tab, and choose to display dates in a format
that also includes the time.

As John pointed out, durations are ALWAYS stored and calculated internally
in minutes to the nearest 10th, regardless of the units you enter or display
duration in. It is impossible to force Project to use any other base units
such as whole days or calendar weeks or months - when you see "1 d"
displayed, it is only an approximation for convenience sake and the real
duration value is 480.0 (when using the default calendars and settings).
The status of the "estimated" flag has no impact on duration calculations -
it's merely to serve as a reminder to the PM to revisit the projected task
duration before locking down the plan.

The answer to your puzzle lies somewhere in the details links and the
calendars you've assigned to the various tasks but without seeing the actual
plan it's impossible to say where. But the occurance of fractional days in
the summaries is not at all unusual and if you display the times you'll see
that a summary task starting, say, next Monday that has a displayed duration
of 2.75 days will have it's earliest starting subtask beginning Mon at 8am
and its latest finishing subtask ending Wed at 3pm (assuming the default
calendars).
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Yes, I am talking about the project summary task. But what is
interesting is that some sub tasks were doing the same thing when I
checked the "estimated" box next to duration on a sub-sub-task. As soon
as I unchecked those boxes the sub-tasks became round numbers but the
summary task is still not a round number.
The problem is, that I have no resources assigned to anything. I am
using project to create an architectural schedule. This is all meetings
and tasks that have a set time duration (in days).
Is there a way I could tell all tasks to start at the same time? I am
really a very basic user and I am not even sure where I could check if
the start times are consistent. I have been using whatever was default
and have not changed it - intentionally. As far as the task information
dialog box goes every task is a full day or multiples of full days...
One more thing that may be contributing to this - and tell me if this
is a possible issue- I have a section of the project where we have to
count calendar days. The other parts of the project are set to count
working days. But they are still full days so I am not sure if this is
what would cause the total count to not be a full day amount. Both of
the calendar settings count a full day from 8-5.
Thank you for your help.


--
katalinc
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[Steve House [MVP]]

That won't do it either. There's absolutely no way to insure durations will
always be whole numbers nor is there any reason one should expect that they
will be so. MS Project always records and tracks durations in minutes to
the nearest 10th. There are any number of calculations that can result in
the duration being some other number of minutes besides (Hrs per day) * 60.

Additionally, one should never be "selecting the start and finish dates" of
the project's tasks. Project's function is to calculate the dates when
tasks should be scheduled given a particular workflow, not merely to
document a schedule you have already predetermined by some other method.
You don't tell it the dates, it tells you.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

For MS Project 2003 and If you are only concerned about round numbers on
your
duration columng, below approach will do it.
Go to Tools > Options > Calendar Tab > Hours per day = 8.00, Hours per
week
= 40.00, Days per Month = 22.
You might need to review some of the tasks duration and re-select the
start
and finish dates to ensure the duration is in whole numbers.

Hope this Helps
JL

It is usually easier to diagnose what's actually happening if you go to
the
Tools Options menu, the View tab, and choose to display dates in a format
that also includes the time.

As John pointed out, durations are ALWAYS stored and calculated
internally
in minutes to the nearest 10th, regardless of the units you enter or
display
duration in. It is impossible to force Project to use any other base
units
such as whole days or calendar weeks or months - when you see "1 d"
displayed, it is only an approximation for convenience sake and the real
duration value is 480.0 (when using the default calendars and settings).
The status of the "estimated" flag has no impact on duration
calculations -
it's merely to serve as a reminder to the PM to revisit the projected
task
duration before locking down the plan.

The answer to your puzzle lies somewhere in the details links and the
calendars you've assigned to the various tasks but without seeing the
actual
plan it's impossible to say where. But the occurance of fractional days
in
the summaries is not at all unusual and if you display the times you'll
see
that a summary task starting, say, next Monday that has a displayed
duration
of 2.75 days will have it's earliest starting subtask beginning Mon at
8am
and its latest finishing subtask ending Wed at 3pm (assuming the default
calendars).
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Yes, I am talking about the project summary task. But what is
interesting is that some sub tasks were doing the same thing when I
checked the "estimated" box next to duration on a sub-sub-task. As soon
as I unchecked those boxes the sub-tasks became round numbers but the
summary task is still not a round number.
The problem is, that I have no resources assigned to anything. I am
using project to create an architectural schedule. This is all meetings
and tasks that have a set time duration (in days).
Is there a way I could tell all tasks to start at the same time? I am
really a very basic user and I am not even sure where I could check if
the start times are consistent. I have been using whatever was default
and have not changed it - intentionally. As far as the task information
dialog box goes every task is a full day or multiples of full days...
One more thing that may be contributing to this - and tell me if this
is a possible issue- I have a section of the project where we have to
count calendar days. The other parts of the project are set to count
working days. But they are still full days so I am not sure if this is
what would cause the total count to not be a full day amount. Both of
the calendar settings count a full day from 8-5.
Thank you for your help.


--
katalinc
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