MS Project allows 8 different work countours plus a custom contour. Flat,
of
course, is level loaded and custom is whatever you would like it to be.
The
remaining 7 contours distribute the work in accordance with mathmatical
distributions given by formulas internal to the program. The exact
distribution will depend on the remaining work and remaining duration of
task
compared to the resource units assigned.
Now that we have the theory out of the way, Front Loaded curves most
closely
resemble a triangular distribution with the largest number of hours on the
first task period with ever decreasing hours on subsequent days.
The Back Loaded curve would also resemble a triangular distribution with
hours increasing each day until the last.
Use this as overall guidance. I just tried this for a 40 hour task over 10
days. The back load ramped up nicely while holding the value at 8hrs/day
for
the last 3 days.
As far as I can determine, there is no way to manually command the slope
of
the buildup or other parameters on the distributions. However, you may
have
any distribution you like by manually keying the hours to override what
project supplies.
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Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.
Visit
http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project
