Units and how they work

[Anthony Moore]

Could some one please clarify units. If you are writing a scope or
doing work and have allocated 1 full day then do you allocate the
assigned resource as 100%.

And if you have two people working on the task does mean you allocate
50% each resource for that one full day.

And finally if you are to work on a task but only spend 2 hours out of
the full day allocated how do you put that down in units.

Regards

Anthony Moore

 

[Steve House]

Units and allocation percentage are simply two different ways of
specifying the same thing. If a person's work calendar says they work
an 8 hour day and over the course of a 1 day long task you expect them
to put in 8 hours of work on it, they're assigned 100% or 1 unit. OTOH,
if you expect them to start at 8am, finish at 5pm but they're dividing
their time between this task and something else and so will produce the
same output in that 8 hour day that they would have done in 4 hours of
work if they had given it their full attention, they've worked at 50%.
As for two people assigned to a one day task, you have to ask yourself
if that task is an 8 man-hour task or a 16 man-hour task. If it's 2
people doing a total of 8 man-hours work put together over the course of
the day, they're assigned 50% each. But if it's two people doing a
total of 16 man-hours work over the course of the day, they're each
assigned at 100%.

We have to assemble 80 widgets and Joe can do 10 an hour. If at the end
of the day he's done all 80, he worked at 100%. But if he's been
chatting with his buddy over the footy scores while working and at the
end of the day he's only done 40, he's worked at 50% and it will take
him another day to finish the required 80 widgets. Duration becomes 2
days instead of 1.

 

[Anthony Moore]

Units and allocation percentage are simply two different ways of
specifying the same thing. If a person's work calendar says they work
an 8 hour day and over the course of a 1 day long task you expect them
to put in 8 hours of work on it, they're assigned 100% or 1 unit. OTOH,
if you expect them to start at 8am, finish at 5pm but they're dividing
their time between this task and something else and so will produce the
same output in that 8 hour day that they would have done in 4 hours of
work if they had given it their full attention, they've worked at 50%.
As for two people assigned to a one day task, you have to ask yourself
if that task is an 8 man-hour task or a 16 man-hour task. If it's 2
people doing a total of 8 man-hours work put together over the course of
the day, they're assigned 50% each. But if it's two people doing a
total of 16 man-hours work over the course of the day, they're each
assigned at 100%.

We have to assemble 80 widgets and Joe can do 10 an hour. If at the end
of the day he's done all 80, he worked at 100%. But if he's been
chatting with his buddy over the footy scores while working and at the
end of the day he's only done 40, he's worked at 50% and it will take
him another day to finish the required 80 widgets. Duration becomes 2
days instead of 1.

Thanks Steve for you help.

Regards

Anthony