task type definition

[Jack]

I'm looking for a defintion for each of the task types ( fixed work, fixed
duration, fixed units)

 

[JulieD]

Hi Jack

from HELP (ver 2003)

The three task types are:

fixed units: A task in which the assigned units [or resources] is a fixed
value and any changes to the amount of work or the task's duration do not
affect the task's units. This is calculated as follows: Duration x Units =
Work.

fixed work: A task in which the amount of work is a fixed value and any
changes to the task's duration or the number of assigned units [or
resources] do not affect the task's work. This is calculated as follows:
Duration x Units = Work.

fixed duration: A task in which the duration is a fixed value and any
changes to the work or the assigned units [that is, resources] don't affect
the task's duration. This is calculated as follows: Duration x Units =
Work.)

Hope this helps

Cheers

JulieD

 

[Jack]

I'm also looking for a guide for when to use each one.

 

[JulieD]

Hi Jack

they're basically used when you make a change once you're assigned
resources.

i.e. if you have a 10hr task and assign Bob to the task (at 100% etc), Bob
will be assigned 10 hours work. However, if you then decided to add Jack to
the task as well, the Task Type will determine if Project adjusts Work or
Duration as the "involatile identity" (as someone put it recently) of
resource assignment in Project is the formula of
Work = Duration x Units.

with the default type of "fixed units", project will basically assume you're
adding Jack to get the job done faster and will distribute the work (of
10hrs) equally between them, decreasing duration to 5hrs.

Cheers
JulieD

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

First of all note the primary equation Work=Duration * Units. In the normal
course of events you might estimate duration, assign resources at a certain
units level, and project will calculate the work the task requires. We are
waxing widgets and expect it to take 5 days. We assign John, who works 8
hours a day to it 100%. Thus the work required is 40 man-hours. Now ...
What should happen if we edit that resource assignment? If I change John to
50%, what does that mean? Is it really only 20 man-hours of work required
but we still want to allow a week to do it for some reason? Or do we need
to use John somewhere else 4 hours out of each day and so can only have him
waxing widgets for 4 hours a day and it will take 10 days for him to do the
40 required man-hours of work? If it's the first option we set the task to
fixed duration before changing his assignment. If it's the latter case, we
set the task to fixed work before making the edit. The default type is
fixed units, but if we change the units in a fixed units task, it behaves as
if it were a fixed work.

The short definiton is that the task type determines which of the 3 terms -
work, duration, or units - Project will hold constant when you edit the
resource assignments after the first assignment. If I change the duration,
for example, task type determines whether Project will recalculate the
resource units or the man-hours of work.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Sorry Julie but you just described how Effort Driven works, not the task
type...
HTH

 

[JulieD]

Hi Jan

yer ... (i did initally have "if effort driven is checked" explaination but
deleted it as seemed unnecessarily complex)

okay - trying again - task type determine which of "work", "duration",
"units" get altered by Project if a change is made to any of these elements
subsequent to the first assignment of a resource.

cheers
JulieD

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Not quite Julie - the way work is distributed when you add or remove bodies
is more the province on the effort driven or non-effort driven setting.
Task type determine what happens when you edit the resources that are
already there.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Jack,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

You might like to have a look at my series on Microsoft Project in the
TechTrax ezine, particularly #11 - Task Types, at this site:
http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

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

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Jack]

Thank you, everyone, for the responses. Just what I was looking for.

 

[davegb]

"Waxing widgets"?? I'm getting worried about you, Steve!

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Probably should be "waxing fids" instead. Fids have to be nice and smooth
and well-polished. LOL