Alternative to entering resources one by one

[Stephen Moras]

Hi guys,

I have a task duration 7 days. I double click on tht Task, and in the Task
Information box go to Resources. I enter 2 resources.
Res 1:100%
Res 2:100%

When i click OK Project doesnt change the duration to 3.5 days. In fact the
duration stays 7 days.

If i do it like this:
Double click on tht Task, and in the Task Information box go to Resources. I
enter 1 resources.
Res 1:100%
Click OK. Duration stays 7 days..makes sense as its only 1 resource.

I then again Double click on tht Task, and in the Task Information box go to
Resources. I enter the 2nd resources.
Res 2:100%
Click OK. Duration changes to 3.5 days..

So from what i have experimented it seems i have to enter the resources 1 by
1 for the Project to amke a change in duration. If i enter a multiple number
of resources in 1 go then Project doesnt make any change.

I am sure i am missing something here. This is too big for it to be a bug.
What am i doing wrong?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Stephen,

It's not a bug, that's how it works.
When you enter ny number of resources on a task that has no resources
assigned AND ZERO WORK, duration will not change. Project assumes you
entered duration accirding to the number of resources you had in mind.
But once a resource is assigned (or as soon as a value is entered in a WORK
column) Project will recalculate the formula:
Work=Duration * assigned units
depending on task type (fixed duration, fixed work, fixed units, effort
driven)

But that's bit long to be explained here.

HTH

 

[Steve House]

You might think of it like this - when you make the FIRST resource
assignment to a task that has none as yet but does have a duration
estimate, whatever resources you assign - 1 guy @ 100%, 1 guy @ 50%, 2
guys @ 100%, whatever - are what you had in mind doing when you made
that duration estimate in the first place so it doesn't try to override
you. But once you've made that initial assignment, if you now edit it
by changing percentages or adding or taking away bodies, it updates the
duration or work or units parameters in the way dictated by your effort
driven or non-effort driven settings and the task type settings - fixed
work, fixed duration, or fixed units. If you need to add or remove
bodies without the duration changing set the task to non-effort driven
scheduling, OTOH, if the duration SHOULD change when you add or remove
bodies, set it to effort driven.