Calendar ?'s

[Tony S]

Hello,

I am an entry level project manager and I know this is probably a silly
question but I would appreciate any input...It seems like a nightmare to
manage the calendars in this program, I'm quite confused and I'm having a
difficult time keeping my dates where they need to be. I have spent little
time with the program, however I have taken a class about two years ago and
unfortunatly I have forgotten most of what I learned. Will someone please
explain (as simply as possible) to me the way the calendars work? If I set up
a 24hr calendar for the project and want to show an 8 hour task as a day what
do I do? I had many other questions but can't really recal the the exact
issue I was having so I can't give anymore examples. I think if someone could
help me understand the way the system works I would be able to solve many of
the problems I have had in the past.

Thank you

 

[John]

Hello,

I am an entry level project manager and I know this is probably a silly
question but I would appreciate any input...It seems like a nightmare to
manage the calendars in this program, I'm quite confused and I'm having a
difficult time keeping my dates where they need to be. I have spent little
time with the program, however I have taken a class about two years ago and
unfortunatly I have forgotten most of what I learned. Will someone please
explain (as simply as possible) to me the way the calendars work? If I set up
a 24hr calendar for the project and want to show an 8 hour task as a day what
do I do? I had many other questions but can't really recal the the exact
issue I was having so I can't give anymore examples. I think if someone could
help me understand the way the system works I would be able to solve many of
the problems I have had in the past.

Thank you

Tony,
Let me give it a stab. The project calendar (Project/Project
Information) is the default calendar for all tasks. If an individual
task needs its own separate calendar (as in your example), you can
either assign an existing calendar or customize a new one and then
select the desired task(s). Go to Project/Task Information/Advanced Tab
and select the appropriate calendar for that/those task.

There is one more calendar that comes into play in Project. That is the
resource calendar. In much the same way as you can customize a calendar
for a task you can also customize a calendar for a resource.

Here's how the "calendar precedence order" works out
7 day/wk task - assigned resource works a 5 day week. In this case the
resource takes precedence even though the task could be worked all 7 days

7 day/wk task - assigned resource works 7 days/wk. Work on the task will
proceed 7 days a week

5 day/wk task - assigned resource works 7 days/wk. Not on this task he
doesn't. In this case the task calendar takes precedence so the resource
either gets to take the weekend off or he can work on some other task
that is "active" 7 days a week.

Two years is waaaaay to long to take a class on Project and then not use
the application. You need to take the class all over again - Project
requires hands on learning. For reference you might like to go to our
MVP website at, http://www.mvps.org/project/links.htm, and punch up the
link to fellow MVP, Mike Glen's tutorials on Project.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP