Task with fixed work for each day dilemma

F

FaisalM

Environment:
Project Server 2003 SP1 with Project Professional 2003.

Scenario:
Say I've a task in my project with one resource assigned to it at 100%
starting from this week till the mid of 2006. I want that resource to work on
that task daily say for 4 or 5 hours.

Task Type set to Fixed Unit without effort driven.

Fun Part:
a. If I go to Enterprise Resource Usage view I can see that project
allocated 0.6d or 4.8h of work each day till the finish date of the task. So
far so good.

See the task details on project plan:
http://tinypic.com/fjkwwj.jpg

See the work row in this Enterprise Resource Usage view:
http://tinypic.com/fjkwfs.jpg

See the work for the task in PWA
http://tinypic.com/fjkxe9.jpg

b. The resource entered their time for that task for some day. The resource
worked more than the planned work.
http://tinypic.com/fjkxuq.jpg

(Sometimes the actual work on the task could be more than the planned. But I
want remainder of the planned work for each day to stay the same.)

c. Resource updates his time in PWA. The PM accepts the update in the plan.

Enterprise Resource Usage View shows the time entered for that task as 1d
(or 8h) for that period.
http://tinypic.com/fjkzms.jpg

I go to future days & see that project zeros out the work for some of the
future days & alters work for some & keep it the same for some.
http://tinypic.com/fjl1cn.jpg
http://tinypic.com/fjl1ee.jpg

Same thing is reflected in PWA view of that resource if we scroll through
weekly periods.
http://tinypic.com/fjl3c8.jpg

That makes resource feel that PM/RM haven't assigned any work for this week
so may be I shouldn't work on it!!!!!!!!!

MY QUESTION:
Is there a way that we can fix the work on day by day basis for such a task
where resource has to work everyday no matter if they worked on that task
more for few days?


--
FaisalM
http://www.FaisalMasood.com/

My Project Blog
http://www.faisalmasood.com/blog/msproject
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Faisal:

I can't load your screen shots for some reason, but I think the behavior you
want is a matter of selecting your calculation options. You 'll want to
select the checkbox for "Move end of completed parts after status date, back
to the status date," and also check the sub-check box for "and move start of
remaining parts back to the status date." When the PM updates the plan, this
should result in something more like what you want if you're willing to
suffer the odd rounding results here and there.
 
F

FaisalM

Another Project behaviour:

First check the 5th image at the bottom row. Then check the 2nd, 3rd & 4th
images on top row at following link.

http://www.PhotoServer.us/pf.php?fid=8386

At the end see the first image (left most image) on top row. That will show
that after update, project changed the Planned work hours for those days to
exactly the Actual work hours. This is in continuation of my testing to
create a task with fixed daily work. Im hoping that project doesn't change
hours for rest of the days. (I was using 2 fixed unit tasks, one with effort
driven)

--
FaisalM
http://www.FaisalMasood.com/

My Project Blog
http://www.faisalmasood.com/blog/msproject
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Faisal:

As far as I can see, everything is behaving as normal. Work will always
equal actual work for any period that has been updated. Only baseline work
remains unchanged.
 
R

R Segawa

Hi Faisal M.,

You chose the right task type (fixed units and not effort driven), because
it does not matter whether you work 4.8 or 8 hours a day, the remining work
keeps your 4.8 h/day. The problem is if the resource works more or less than
4.8 h/day, the duration of the task shrinks or stretches respectively if he
or she is the only resource of the task.

One idea to overcome your problem is store the original duration (it can be
the baseline duration or an auxiliary task field if it is different from
baseline) and run a macro that copies the duration from the auxiliary field
restoring it. This macro is triggered when you or Project Server save the
project. This eliminate the zero work at the end or the stretched part of
the task.

R.Segawa
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Faisal:

I have to stand on my original answer regarding rescheduling completed parts
back to the status date. Essentially, it sounds like you want to fix both
units and duration, which doesn't fly with Project. The only other thing you
can do is to continuously manage the remaining work value.

Am I understanding you correctly? What you're saying is that if the resource
works double the amount of work scheduled, the rule is that the remaining
work for the task remains unchanged? If this is the case, ask the resource
to add remaining work commensurate to the time they report in excess of the
amount scheduled when reporting through the timesheet.

Frankly, this is a scenario that "Admin" plans should support, but they
don't.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Receiving unexpected Duration 0
From remote PC accessing Project Web access using FQDN 6
How to implement two shifts per day with multiple teams 0
Need some PWA help 0
Resource Usage summary work is 0h 0
Utilization after task update goes over 100% 0
the resource is assigned outside the original dates ... 0
Level resource allocation error 1

Top