2 questions - Project 2000 - Work scheduled is half of duration an

[Monica]

To get a visual of my 1st question, click here:
http://www.startingsource.com/images/question1.jpg

I got this view by clicking on the Task Entry View icon. The duration is 3
hours yet it appears that no one has been scheduled to actually do the work.
I want both resources to work together at the same time for the entire 3
hours. How do I do this?

********

A pic to illustrate my 2nd question:
http://www.startingsource.com/images/question2.jpg

10 hours has been set for the duration but only 5 hours has been given to
actually work on it. Am I missing something? Is there 5 hours somewhere
else? How do I correct this to have 10 full hours given to this task?

Monica

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Monica,

From the current situation it is unclear how you entered the data to get up
to here, but the answers are straightforward.
Enter the work figures in the task form.
HTH

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Monica,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

1. Well, Project can't schedule people to do the work, you have to assign
the resources to the task. Project does not have a way to keep resources
together, but there is a partial work around. You seemed to have levelled
the project, so firstly, clear levelling. Secondly, in the lower screen
enter 3h in the Work column for each resource. Then double click on the
task name and go to the General tab, where you can give the task a Priority
of 1000 which, in effect, means do not level. Now level but select
Priority, Standard as the levelling order.

2. You have to assign the resource to the task, so just enter 10h for the
work.

I get the impression that you have not had a training course for Project. I
thoroughly recommend at least a 2-day introductory course to get you up and
running quickly. Meanwhile, you might like to have a look at my series on
Microsoft Project in the TechTrax ezine, particularly #5 - Working with
Resources, 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

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Project never assigns people to "actually do the work" as you put it - that
is always done manually. To answer your questions with absolute certainty
we'd need to know where things started and how you got to this point but
there are a couple of things that come to mind.

Before anything, to review a basic, are you aware of the difference between
duration and work? Work is the amount of energy the resource puts out, a
measure of the amount of stuff they get accomplished. The duration is the
length of time they take to do it. If someone devotes their full attention
to a task, over the course of an 8-hour workday (8 hours duration) they'll
produce 8 man-hours worth of output (work). But 2 people working together
on the same task for the same 8-hour workday (still 8 hours duration) will
produce *16* man-hours of output. Or the converse, 1 person working at 50%
capacity, shown in Project as a 50% assignment level, for an 8-hour workday
(still 8 hours duration) will produce only 4 man-hours of work.

Your second question first - the task shows 10 hours duration and the task
type is fixed duration. You are shown doing 5 man-hours of work. Likely
the task was entered showing 10 hours for the duration and then in the next
step you were assigned to it with a 50% effort. Based on that resource
assignment and the previously input duration Project calculated that task
would require 5 man-hours of work. How did you get assigned 50%? There are
a couple of ways -- if your resource sheet entry shows a maximum
availability of 100%, whoever did the assignments explicitly typed 50% into
the assignment column. Or the resource sheet or the availability "from/to"
date table shows you are available to a maximum of 50% on that date and so
just entering your name without specifying a level will cause it to default
to 50%. Regardless, if a duration is entered and then a resource assigned
at 50%, Project will assume the duration was estimated based on the
knowledge that that was what the assignment would be and calculate the work
accordingly at half the value of the duration. Regardless of the effort
level you are assigned, Project never adjusts the duration at the first
assignment. If it is edited later, OTOH, the Project recalulates values of
work, effort, or duration based on the task type setting and the value you
edited.

In your first question it looks like you two were somehow assigned to the
task at a zero percent assignmetn level but I wouldn't have a clue how that
came about. I will say it almost certainly had to be an entry someone made
explicitly somewhere, barring a corrupted file I've never seen Project do
something like that on its own.

 

[Monica]

The resource were assigned, which was why I was confused. Most the other
tasks look fine but a few just didn't seem to be following the rules. =o)

Thanks for the leveling tip and the links! I've read endless books and faqs
and tutorials in the last week (and I typically have a quick learning curve
for this type of software) but with so much info, I might have missed a step.
I'll keep researching.

 

[Monica]

Thank you.

Hi Monica,

From the current situation it is unclear how you entered the data to get up
to here, but the answers are straightforward.
Enter the work figures in the task form.
HTH

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project MVP
+32 495 300 620
http://users.online.be/prom-ade

 

[Monica]

Thank you for the explanation!

When I changed the task

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, Monica. Let us know if you get it fixed - good luck!

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP