Can you change the Duration to Calendar Days?

[ESPitts]

I've got a customer who wants to see the duration in calendar days. Is there
a way to change the Duration column such that it shows calendar instead of
business days? Even if I build it normally and then change the view that
would be okay.

 

[John]

I've got a customer who wants to see the duration in calendar days. Is there
a way to change the Duration column such that it shows calendar instead of
business days? Even if I build it normally and then change the view that
would be okay.

ESPitts,
Yes. There is a utility macro called Format Duration but it does not do
exactly what you want. A variation of that VBA code could be created to
translate the Duration field for you however if you do not have VBA
experience, that doesn't help much. There is another method though that
should work.

Set up a custom field (e.g. Duration1). Put the following formula in the
field:
DateDiff("d",[Start],[Finish])*480+480

I suggest you simply have the customer view the custom field as the
duration but with a little more effort the Duration field itself could
be converted. Note: simply copying the custom field over to the Duration
field will not work.

John
Project MVP

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Just commenting FYI ... "Duration" has an exact technical definition in the
project management world that is the one that MS Project adheres to and you
really can't change it, any more than anyone will understand what he's
talking about if an engineer chooses to call a "kilowatt-hour" a
"floopy-doopy" instead <grin>. What you want is called "Elapsed Time" or
sometimes "Elapsed Duration" - the total clock time, including both working
and non-working time, between start and finish. John's post gives you an
good way of calculating it using the DateDiff function.

 

[ESPitts]

Thanks John, that helped. The only problem is that the new duration column i
created shows 0 days for the summary tasks. Is there anyway to modify the
formula such that the new "Calendar Duration" I created gets updated based on
the total duration for that summary task?

Ed

I've got a customer who wants to see the duration in calendar days. Is there
a way to change the Duration column such that it shows calendar instead of
business days? Even if I build it normally and then change the view that
would be okay.

ESPitts,
Yes. There is a utility macro called Format Duration but it does not do
exactly what you want. A variation of that VBA code could be created to
translate the Duration field for you however if you do not have VBA
experience, that doesn't help much. There is another method though that
should work.

Set up a custom field (e.g. Duration1). Put the following formula in the
field:
DateDiff("d",[Start],[Finish])*480+480

I suggest you simply have the customer view the custom field as the
duration but with a little more effort the Duration field itself could
be converted. Note: simply copying the custom field over to the Duration
field will not work.

John
Project MVP

 

[John]

Thanks John, that helped. The only problem is that the new duration column i
created shows 0 days for the summary tasks. Is there anyway to modify the
formula such that the new "Calendar Duration" I created gets updated based on
the total duration for that summary task?

Ed,
I forgot to tell you that when you set up the custom field, make sure to
check the option to use the formula to calculate summary rows.

John

Ed

I've got a customer who wants to see the duration in calendar days. Is
there
a way to change the Duration column such that it shows calendar instead
of
business days? Even if I build it normally and then change the view that
would be okay.

ESPitts,
Yes. There is a utility macro called Format Duration but it does not do
exactly what you want. A variation of that VBA code could be created to
translate the Duration field for you however if you do not have VBA
experience, that doesn't help much. There is another method though that
should work.

Set up a custom field (e.g. Duration1). Put the following formula in the
field:
DateDiff("d",[Start],[Finish])*480+480

I suggest you simply have the customer view the custom field as the
duration but with a little more effort the Duration field itself could
be converted. Note: simply copying the custom field over to the Duration
field will not work.

John
Project MVP

 

[ESPitts]

Perfect. That is exactly what I needed. Thanks a lot!!

Thanks John, that helped. The only problem is that the new duration column i
created shows 0 days for the summary tasks. Is there anyway to modify the
formula such that the new "Calendar Duration" I created gets updated based on
the total duration for that summary task?

Ed,
I forgot to tell you that when you set up the custom field, make sure to
check the option to use the formula to calculate summary rows.

John

Ed

I've got a customer who wants to see the duration in calendar days. Is
there
a way to change the Duration column such that it shows calendar instead
of
business days? Even if I build it normally and then change the view that
would be okay.

ESPitts,
Yes. There is a utility macro called Format Duration but it does not do
exactly what you want. A variation of that VBA code could be created to
translate the Duration field for you however if you do not have VBA
experience, that doesn't help much. There is another method though that
should work.

Set up a custom field (e.g. Duration1). Put the following formula in the
field:
DateDiff("d",[Start],[Finish])*480+480

I suggest you simply have the customer view the custom field as the
duration but with a little more effort the Duration field itself could
be converted. Note: simply copying the custom field over to the Duration
field will not work.

John
Project MVP

 

[John]

Perfect. That is exactly what I needed. Thanks a lot!!

Ed,
Great, and you're welcome.
John

Thanks John, that helped. The only problem is that the new duration
column i
created shows 0 days for the summary tasks. Is there anyway to modify
the
formula such that the new "Calendar Duration" I created gets updated
based on
the total duration for that summary task?

Ed,
I forgot to tell you that when you set up the custom field, make sure to
check the option to use the formula to calculate summary rows.

John

Ed

:

I've got a customer who wants to see the duration in calendar days.
Is
there
a way to change the Duration column such that it shows calendar
instead
of
business days? Even if I build it normally and then change the view
that
would be okay.

ESPitts,
Yes. There is a utility macro called Format Duration but it does not do
exactly what you want. A variation of that VBA code could be created to
translate the Duration field for you however if you do not have VBA
experience, that doesn't help much. There is another method though that
should work.

Set up a custom field (e.g. Duration1). Put the following formula in
the
field:
DateDiff("d",[Start],[Finish])*480+480

I suggest you simply have the customer view the custom field as the
duration but with a little more effort the Duration field itself could
be converted. Note: simply copying the custom field over to the
Duration
field will not work.

John
Project MVP