Counting Calendar Days

[Rick]

I am working on a schedule for a construction project that is based on a
contract. The contractor has 30 calendar days to complete a portion of the
work

i.e. from September 15, 2008 to October 15, 2008.

When I enter September 15, 2008 into the calendar, the finish day comes up
October 24, 2008. should be October 15, 2008. I assume what is going on is
the working calendar thing and not including Sat and Sun, How do I get the
calendar to count all days for a particular task?

 

[Redneck David]

Go to Tools, Change working time, Make a New calendar that has everyday as a
working day. Then assign that new calendar to the tasks you want to schedule
7 days a week. To do that, use the task dialogue box, advanced tab.

Its pretty easy.

 

[Steve House]

Enter the task's duration as 30 Elapsed Days (30ed). If it starts 15 Sep
that'll put it ending 15 Oct, ignoring non-working time. But is that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?

 

[Rick]

David,

I am still not getting 30 days. i.e Sep 15 - Oct 15 In the "change working
time" dialog box, what would I set the time to 12:00 AM to 12:00 AM, that
does not seem to work either.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Steve,

The contractor has 30 days to complete the work by contract, so the he has
to start the work on the start date and complete the work by the finish date.
He has to employ the amount of resources to make that happen.

Rick

Enter the task's duration as 30 Elapsed Days (30ed). If it starts 15 Sep
that'll put it ending 15 Oct, ignoring non-working time. But is that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I am working on a schedule for a construction project that is based on a
contract. The contractor has 30 calendar days to complete a portion of
the
work

i.e. from September 15, 2008 to October 15, 2008.

When I enter September 15, 2008 into the calendar, the finish day comes up
October 24, 2008. should be October 15, 2008. I assume what is going on
is
the working calendar thing and not including Sat and Sun, How do I get
the
calendar to count all days for a particular task?

 

[Rick]

Steve,

This worked, you are the man! I typed elapsed time in help and nothing
comes up! What is up with that, I am using MS project 2003, but I type in 39
edays in duration and Sep 15 – Oct 15 shows on the finish and start date.
Why do you ask - “But is that the

time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for > delivery?â€

Rick

Enter the task's duration as 30 Elapsed Days (30ed). If it starts 15 Sep
that'll put it ending 15 Oct, ignoring non-working time. But is that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I am working on a schedule for a construction project that is based on a
contract. The contractor has 30 calendar days to complete a portion of
the
work

i.e. from September 15, 2008 to October 15, 2008.

When I enter September 15, 2008 into the calendar, the finish day comes up
October 24, 2008. should be October 15, 2008. I assume what is going on
is
the working calendar thing and not including Sat and Sun, How do I get
the
calendar to count all days for a particular task?

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Rick,

I think Steve asked that very pertinent question as entering a Finish date
does not mean that the Contractor will finish on that date - there may be
some practical reasons why that date cannot possibly be met. What is better
is to not enter dates in favour of letting the predessesor logic drive the
Start date and the Duration to allow Project to calculate the Finish date.
(That is what Project is designed to do - to give you a schedule.) I would
then apply a Deadline Date to indicate when it must be done by - Project
puts an indicator on the Gantt Chart and it will give you a warning in the
Indicator column if the deadline is due to overrun.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

Steve,

This worked, you are the man! I typed elapsed time in help and
nothing comes up! What is up with that, I am using MS project 2003,
but I type in 39 edays in duration and Sep 15 – Oct 15 shows on
the finish and start date. Why do you ask - “But is that the

time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for

Rick

Enter the task's duration as 30 Elapsed Days (30ed). If it starts
15 Sep
that'll put it ending 15 Oct, ignoring non-working time. But is
that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I am working on a schedule for a construction project that is based
on a contract. The contractor has 30 calendar days to complete a
portion of the
work

i.e. from September 15, 2008 to October 15, 2008.

When I enter September 15, 2008 into the calendar, the finish day
comes up October 24, 2008. should be October 15, 2008. I assume
what is going on is
the working calendar thing and not including Sat and Sun, How do
I get the
calendar to count all days for a particular task?

 

[Rick]

This schedule needs to read 30 calendar days, as per contract. So if I
understand you correctly, I set the deadline to Oct 15, 2008. The set the
predecessor field to the task number above. If I them set the duration to 30
days, the start and finish dates read – September 15, 2008 – September 25,
2008. This makes the “Calendar†check box in the Task Information dialog box
available. If I set the duration to 30ed (elapse days) the start and finish
date read September 15, 2008 –October 15, 2008 (this is what I need the
schedule to read) and the “Calendar†check box in the Task Information dialog
box is not available (grayed out).

A couple of questions:
Why is the “Calendar†check box not available with “ed†set in the duration?
If I set the deadline date for the finish and let the predecessor set the
start date and have the duration set to “edâ€, does that still comply with
your statement ;“That is what Project is designed to do - to give you a
schedule.�

Thanks
Rick

Hi Rick,

I think Steve asked that very pertinent question as entering a Finish date
does not mean that the Contractor will finish on that date - there may be
some practical reasons why that date cannot possibly be met. What is better
is to not enter dates in favour of letting the predessesor logic drive the
Start date and the Duration to allow Project to calculate the Finish date.
(That is what Project is designed to do - to give you a schedule.) I would
then apply a Deadline Date to indicate when it must be done by - Project
puts an indicator on the Gantt Chart and it will give you a warning in the
Indicator column if the deadline is due to overrun.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

Steve,

This worked, you are the man! I typed elapsed time in help and
nothing comes up! What is up with that, I am using MS project 2003,
but I type in 39 edays in duration and Sep 15 – Oct 15 shows on
the finish and start date. Why do you ask - “But is that the

time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?â€Â

Rick

Enter the task's duration as 30 Elapsed Days (30ed). If it starts
15 Sep
that'll put it ending 15 Oct, ignoring non-working time. But is
that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I am working on a schedule for a construction project that is based
on a contract. The contractor has 30 calendar days to complete a
portion of the
work

i.e. from September 15, 2008 to October 15, 2008.

When I enter September 15, 2008 into the calendar, the finish day
comes up October 24, 2008. should be October 15, 2008. I assume
what is going on is
the working calendar thing and not including Sat and Sun, How do
I get the
calendar to count all days for a particular task?

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Rick,

A calendar gives you the opportunity to make times and dates non-working.
If you use elapsed days, every day, 24/7 is included and there is no
non-working time to record - thus the calendar is redundant.

Yes, indeed - the Finish date will be defined by the finish date of the
predecessor plus 30ed. If the predecessor is early or late, the end date
date will move accordingly. but the Deadline Date will stay fixed.


Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

This schedule needs to read 30 calendar days, as per contract. So if
I
understand you correctly, I set the deadline to Oct 15, 2008. The
set the predecessor field to the task number above. If I them set
the duration to 30
days, the start and finish dates read – September 15, 2008 –
September 25, 2008. This makes the “Calendar†check box in the
Task Information dialog box available. If I set the duration to 30ed
(elapse days) the start and finish
date read September 15, 2008 –October 15, 2008 (this is what I need
the
schedule to read) and the “Calendar†check box in the Task
Information dialog box is not available (grayed out).

A couple of questions:
Why is the “Calendar†check box not available with “ed†set
in the duration? If I set the deadline date for the finish and let
the predecessor set the
start date and have the duration set to “edâ€, does that still
comply with
your statement ;“That is what Project is designed to do - to give
you a schedule.�

Thanks
Rick

Hi Rick,

I think Steve asked that very pertinent question as entering a
Finish date does not mean that the Contractor will finish on that
date - there may be some practical reasons why that date cannot
possibly be met. What is better is to not enter dates in favour of
letting the predessesor logic drive the Start date and the Duration
to allow Project to calculate the Finish date. (That is what Project
is designed to do - to give you a schedule.) I would then apply a
Deadline Date to indicate when it must be done by - Project puts an
indicator on the Gantt Chart and it will give you a warning in the
Indicator column if the deadline is due to overrun.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

Steve,

This worked, you are the man! I typed elapsed time in help and
nothing comes up! What is up with that, I am using MS project 2003,
but I type in 39 edays in duration and Sep 15 – Oct 15
shows on the finish and start date. Why do you ask - “But is
that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline
for
delivery?â€Â

Rick

:

Enter the task's duration as 30 Elapsed Days (30ed). If it starts
15 Sep
that'll put it ending 15 Oct, ignoring non-working time. But is
that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I am working on a schedule for a construction project that is
based on a contract. The contractor has 30 calendar days to
complete a portion of the
work

i.e. from September 15, 2008 to October 15, 2008.

When I enter September 15, 2008 into the calendar, the finish day
comes up October 24, 2008. should be October 15, 2008. I assume
what is going on is
the working calendar thing and not including Sat and Sun, How do
I get the
calendar to count all days for a particular task?

 

[Steve House]

I ask because in planning one should generally base the task durations on
the actual estimated time thay will take to do once started and not the time
until a delivery deadline. It gets a bit muddy in terms of a contractor, of
course, since they may schedule their work so they take the full time
allowed to them. What I'm getting at is that if there is a task that will
require a day's worth of work that can start Monday morning and absolutely
HAS to be delivered no later than Friday at 5, that is not a 5 day task but
rather it is a 1 day task. Even though the deadline might be Friday, I'd
still try to get it done as soon as possible and if I can goad the
contractor into giving it to me earlier than the deadline so much the
better. But IMHO one of the goals of planning is not just to meet
deadlines, it's to BEAT deadlines and finish as far ahead of them as
possible. That way your plans have some wiggle room to absorb the
inevitable delays and over-optimistic estimates.

Steve,

This worked, you are the man! I typed elapsed time in help and nothing
comes up! What is up with that, I am using MS project 2003, but I type in
39
edays in duration and Sep 15 â?" Oct 15 shows on the finish and start
date.
Why do you ask - â?oBut is that the

time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for >
delivery?â?

Rick

Enter the task's duration as 30 Elapsed Days (30ed). If it starts 15 Sep
that'll put it ending 15 Oct, ignoring non-working time. But is that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I am working on a schedule for a construction project that is based on a
contract. The contractor has 30 calendar days to complete a portion of
the
work

i.e. from September 15, 2008 to October 15, 2008.

When I enter September 15, 2008 into the calendar, the finish day comes
up
October 24, 2008. should be October 15, 2008. I assume what is going
on
is
the working calendar thing and not including Sat and Sun, How do I
get
the
calendar to count all days for a particular task?

 

[Steve House]

Do remember that Project is not intended just to document a schedule you
have already determined. You are saying that the schedule "ought to read'
such-and-such. But that's not Project's role - you could do THAT with
nothing more than a wall planner and a box of markers. Project's job is to
tell you what the schedule ought to be that will give you the most efficient
project. You don't tell it what dates you WANT things to happen on ... it
tells you what dates things CAN happen on. There's a very big difference.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

This schedule needs to read 30 calendar days, as per contract. So if I
understand you correctly, I set the deadline to Oct 15, 2008. The set the
predecessor field to the task number above. If I them set the duration to
30
days, the start and finish dates read â?" September 15, 2008 â?" September
25,
2008. This makes the â?oCalendarâ? check box in the Task Information
dialog box
available. If I set the duration to 30ed (elapse days) the start and
finish
date read September 15, 2008 â?"October 15, 2008 (this is what I need the
schedule to read) and the â?oCalendarâ? check box in the Task Information
dialog
box is not available (grayed out).

A couple of questions:
Why is the â?oCalendarâ? check box not available with â?oedâ? set in the
duration?
If I set the deadline date for the finish and let the predecessor set the
start date and have the duration set to â?oedâ?, does that still comply
with
your statement ;â?oThat is what Project is designed to do - to give you a
schedule.â??

Thanks
Rick

Hi Rick,

I think Steve asked that very pertinent question as entering a Finish
date
does not mean that the Contractor will finish on that date - there may be
some practical reasons why that date cannot possibly be met. What is
better
is to not enter dates in favour of letting the predessesor logic drive
the
Start date and the Duration to allow Project to calculate the Finish
date.
(That is what Project is designed to do - to give you a schedule.) I
would
then apply a Deadline Date to indicate when it must be done by - Project
puts an indicator on the Gantt Chart and it will give you a warning in
the
Indicator column if the deadline is due to overrun.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

Steve,

This worked, you are the man! I typed elapsed time in help and
nothing comes up! What is up with that, I am using MS project 2003,
but I type in 39 edays in duration and Sep 15 ââ,¬â?o Oct 15 shows on
the finish and start date. Why do you ask - ââ,¬Å"But is that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?ââ,¬Â

Rick

:

Enter the task's duration as 30 Elapsed Days (30ed). If it starts
15 Sep
that'll put it ending 15 Oct, ignoring non-working time. But is
that the
time the contractor thinks it WILL take or is that the deadline for
delivery?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I am working on a schedule for a construction project that is based
on a contract. The contractor has 30 calendar days to complete a
portion of the
work

i.e. from September 15, 2008 to October 15, 2008.

When I enter September 15, 2008 into the calendar, the finish day
comes up October 24, 2008. should be October 15, 2008. I assume
what is going on is
the working calendar thing and not including Sat and Sun, How do
I get the
calendar to count all days for a particular task?