Calendar day tasks vs. Working day tasks

[Kenny Anderson]

Hello again,

I have tasks that are based on calendar days, rather than working days.
(e.g. to fulfill federal requirements, a public hearing must be advertised a
30 day minimum before the hearing date) However, most of my tasks are based
on the work week, so it doesn't make sense to change my default calendar.
One way that I can alter this is to assign the task to a different resource
and give that resource a 7-day work week, rather than 5. Is there another
way to do this or have I found the best option?

TIA,
Kenny Anderson

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Kenny,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Try using elapsed time by typing an e before the Duration: eg 30edays for 30
elapsed days.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Kenny Anderson]

And the beautiful man award goes to.. Mike Glen.

Thanks, Mike. I checked the FAQ before posting, but didn't see anything
pertaining to this issue. Your suggestion is exactly what I wanted.

Thanks again,
Kenny

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, Kenny

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

In the example you give, the 30 day wait time is not a task at all. It
would be a lag time or a lead time but since "waiting" is by definition not
doing anything and tasks are, again by definition, resources actually doing
some observable physical activity, it isn't a task. From a scheduling
standpoint, your predecessor would be the publishing of the notice and the
sucessor would be the hearing with a 30 eday lag time in the link. That
will place the hearing on the first working day after a wait of 30 calendar
days following publishing the notice.

 

[Kenny Anderson]

You are correct, and the way I originally set up the project was to give the
successor a value of TASKID+30eday for its predecessor. However, this
"hides" what is going on and management wants to see that something is
happening during this wait period and why we aren't working on the project.
Is there a tool/feature in MS Project that I can use to show this time in
the Gantt chart, which explains why there is a wait time, while still
setting up the schedule properly, as you suggested?

Thanks for the input. Good observation.
Kenny

 

[JulieS]

Hi Kenny,

There are a couple of options:

You could add a text box to the Gantt chart using the Drawing toolbar to
explain the 30ed lag.

You could create a calendar (Tool > Change working time > New) and mark the
30 days as non-working. Then display that calendar as the background of the
Gantt chart and color the background grey or a color of your choosing. To
display a different non-working time as the background of the Gantt: click
your secondary mouse button over the Gantt chart, choose Non-Working time
from the shortcut menu and select the new calendar.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

You are correct, and the way I originally set up the project was to give
the
successor a value of TASKID+30eday for its predecessor. However, this
"hides" what is going on and management wants to see that something is
happening during this wait period and why we aren't working on the
project.
Is there a tool/feature in MS Project that I can use to show this time in
the Gantt chart, which explains why there is a wait time, while still
setting up the schedule properly, as you suggested?

Thanks for the input. Good observation.
Kenny

"Steve House [Project MVP]" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message news:[email protected]...

In the example you give, the 30 day wait time is not a task at all. It
would be a lag time or a lead time but since "waiting" is by definition not
doing anything and tasks are, again by definition, resources actually doing
some observable physical activity, it isn't a task. From a scheduling
standpoint, your predecessor would be the publishing of the notice and
the
sucessor would be the hearing with a 30 eday lag time in the link. That
will place the hearing on the first working day after a wait of 30 calendar
days following publishing the notice.