1 Task, x Resources

[Kay Schulz]

Hi
I have several tasks, where I know they take y days.
Each task is done by more than one person.
Sometimes two people work on them 50/50, sometimes
30/70 or even 30/40/30.
How can I handle this in MS-Project?
I have the resources entered as 100% because this
is how they work.
Certainly I can enter two names in the resources
column, but this is not helping to find out which
resources are overloaded etc.
Is there a way to do this?
Thanks
Kay

 

[Earl Lewis]

Kay,

Is the task 16 hours work or is it 2 days duration? There are 3 types of tasks in project, fixed duration, fixed work and fixed units. The help files tell you pretty clearly how each of these works. You should read the help file on the task types so you get an answer that fits you best.

Earl
Hi
I have several tasks, where I know they take y days.
Each task is done by more than one person.
Sometimes two people work on them 50/50, sometimes
30/70 or even 30/40/30.
How can I handle this in MS-Project?
I have the resources entered as 100% because this
is how they work.
Certainly I can enter two names in the resources
column, but this is not helping to find out which
resources are overloaded etc.
Is there a way to do this?
Thanks
Kay

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi

Do enter your resources then change the individual assignments in the Task
Usage View.
And yes, it is wise to read about task types.
HTH

 

[King Kong]

Hi Earl,

oops I forgot:
the work takes 24 hours, but my ressources only work 8.
So one resource would take 3 days
2 ressources may take 1.5 days
and three resoruces would take 1 day
Kay

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Kay,

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

 

[King Kong]

Hi

Do enter your resources then change the individual assignments in the Task
Usage View.
And yes, it is wise to read about task types.
HTH

--

Hi
I did now. And I think Iw ant to use fixed units.
So I checked and used this per task
Then I assigned ressources saying
Res a 50%
Res b 50%

Then I changed this to
a 100%
b 50%

But it still calculates 3 days.
I made a calendar as well which shows when work is possible and how
many hours a usual work day has.
BTW: I use Project Professional 2003
No server or such
Kay

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi King Kong,

Have you looked at what happens in the Task Usage view?
The duration is still 3 days because the longest of the two assignments is
still 3 days long.
Project does not reshuffle the work between the assignments.

OBTW when you do not use Server tehr eis absolutely no reason to use
Professional; its standalone features are identical to Standard's

HTH

 

[Kay Schulz]

Hi King Kong,

Have you looked at what happens in the Task Usage view?
The duration is still 3 days because the longest of the two assignments is
still 3 days long.
Project does not reshuffle the work between the assignments.

OBTW when you do not use Server tehr eis absolutely no reason to use
Professional; its standalone features are identical to Standard's

Installed via wininstall by my company. I ask for
server every day....

So if I understand you properly, there is no way
that project calculates the elapsed time based on
the duration and resources I use?
That is bad news.
The longest assignment is 12 hrs. So 1.5 days.
Even if make them both 12 hours it still
calculates three days
Kay

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

How, How, that's different.
I thought it showed you the longest of the 2 durations.
Instead of me guessing all the time, could you send be (just the relevant
tasksof) teh file? I 'm not sure I understand the problem as duration to me
IS calculated from the individual assignments
Or aren't they simultaneous?
Duration is from the start of the 1st assignment to the finish of the last
one.
HTH

 

[Kay Schulz]

How, How, that's different.
I thought it showed you the longest of the 2 durations.
Instead of me guessing all the time, could you send be (just the relevant
tasksof) teh file? I 'm not sure I understand the problem as duration to me
IS calculated from the individual assignments
Or aren't they simultaneous?
Duration is from the start of the 1st assignment to the finish of the last
one.
HTH

Hi
thanks for your patience.
OK, here is what I mean.
I have 10 stones I have to bring from A to B.
I can only carry one at a time.
For each stone I take one hour
So if I do it alone it is 10 hours of work for me.
So is the "duration" I meant.
Now my neighbor is popping by, as weak/strong as I
am and offers me help.
So we do it parallel.
So we carry the stone in 5 hours. 2 people carry 5
stones.
So the "elapsed time" is 5 hours although the
actual working hours (man days usually called) are
10 hours as planned.

So if I know how much effort a task is (in my case
10 hours) I want to see how much faster I am
throwing in more ressources (people). Yeah Yeah, I
know that in software dev it does not work this
way, but I am not talking about software dev.
So with four ressources I can finish the task in
2.5 hours
I hope this is clearer now, because I doubt my MSP
would add value to your understanding
Kay

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Clear indeed and very simple.
That is how Project works.
In task information, advanced, put the task type to Fixed Units and check on
effort driven.
When ever you ADD or SUBTRACT a resource work will be redistributed.
Project will handle your stone-carrying task perfectly.

Fact is that this does not answer all the other questions you had (like I
put 1 resource to 100% and the other one to 50% and duration remains the
same) .
When you have allocated all resources and AFTERWARDS you change the units %
of an assignment project DOES NOT redistribute work UNLESS you use fixed
duration.

Sorry but that is how it works.

HTH

 

[King Kong]

Hi
thanks to all, with your help I found out how to do it.
Which actually leads me to another question, see separate posting
Kay

 

[Kay Schulz]

Hi,

Clear indeed and very simple.
That is how Project works.
In task information, advanced, put the task type to Fixed Units and check on
effort driven.
When ever you ADD or SUBTRACT a resource work will be redistributed.
Project will handle your stone-carrying task perfectly.

Fact is that this does not answer all the other questions you had (like I
put 1 resource to 100% and the other one to 50% and duration remains the
same) .
When you have allocated all resources and AFTERWARDS you change the units %
of an assignment project DOES NOT redistribute work UNLESS you use fixed
duration.

Sorry but that is how it works.

HTH

You were of great help.
I found it and solved my problems.

I sometimes forget to press OK and expect it shows
immediately the result.
Kay