Duration calculation

[trevor]

I have a schedule that spans from 7/21 to 8/25. Project is telling me the
duration is 35 days, but when I count the days on the calandar, its 36 days.
I need the proper count to show.Thanks.

 

[JulieS]

Hello Trevor,

You have obviously modified the project calendar to allow every day
(Sunday through Saturday) as working time. What hours (8:00 am to 5:00
pm ?) do you have set? If you haven't modified the 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
and haven't modified the definition of the number of hours in a day from
default (8 hours) then from July 21, 2007 8:00 am to August 25, 2007
5:00 pm *is* 35 eight hour time slots, thus 35 "days" not 36.

See FAQ #5 at http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for some additional
information.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[JulieS]

Hello Trevor,

Well obviously, I was not thinking straight or something. Either too
much coffee or not enough. When I create a task with a start date of
July 21, 2007 at 8:00 am and enter a 35 day duration, I show August 24,
2007 at 5:00 pm as the finish date. A duration of 36 days gives me
August 25, 2007. Is it possible you have one nonworking day in between
those dates?

Sorry for any ealier confusion.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[trevor]

I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the change working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

 

[JulieS]

Trevor,

What is the working time definition in the project calendar?
What is the definition of a "day" in Tools > Options, Calendar tab.
What time does the task begin?
What time does the task end?
Are there resources assigned to the task? Have the resource's calendars
been changed?
Is there a task calendar applied?

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Steve House]

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it end on 8/25? (Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date format that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and fractions of a day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from the number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a normal 8 hour workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm on Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3 days as you might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and ending Wed - and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday afternoon is 1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the final half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total duration of 2 8-hour
days.

 

[trevor]

I defined my working times as 7am to 5:30, 7 days a week. However, when i
change the date format to show times, it shows all tasks starting at 8am and
ending at 8am. There are no resources assigned. Additionally, when i try to
change the finish time to something else, the start time changes as well.
Thanks for helping me figure this out!
trevor

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it end on 8/25? (Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date format that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and fractions of a day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from the number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a normal 8 hour workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm on Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3 days as you might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and ending Wed - and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday afternoon is 1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the final half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total duration of 2 8-hour
days.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the change working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

 

[Steve House]

Very likely, when you initially setup the project your working times were
8am to 5pm. Thus the Project start date (Project menu, Project Information,
Start Date) was set to and is still saying "MM/DD/YYY 08:00AM" A subsequent
change of the hours of work to be 07:00 to 17:30 will not affect fixed dates
such as the project start that have already been set. So even though your
hours of work start at 07:00, the project doesn't officially start until an
hour into the first day has passed, causing all your downline times to be
offset by an hour as well. A 1 day task starting on Monday will finish on
Tuesday, not the end of the day Monday as you might expect, because it isn't
starting at the start of the workday and yet requires the number of hours in
a full workday before it's done.

Remember that the base calendar for working times sets the default work
schedule for each individual in your team. Are you seriously saying that
your people don't ever get a day off, never take a meal break or whatever?
I doubt it. Yet a 0700 to 1730, 7 day a week working time calendar without
breaking out the meal period says exactly that. Disregarding lunches, days
off etc leads to very signifigant errors in scheduling and budgets and I
urge you to rethink that approach. A worker doing 0700 to 1730 doesn't
produce 10 1/2 man-hours of work, you have to back out the meal period from
that time to be accurate.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I defined my working times as 7am to 5:30, 7 days a week. However, when i
change the date format to show times, it shows all tasks starting at 8am
and
ending at 8am. There are no resources assigned. Additionally, when i try
to
change the finish time to something else, the start time changes as well.
Thanks for helping me figure this out!
trevor

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it end on 8/25?
(Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date format that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and fractions of a
day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from the number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a normal 8 hour
workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm on Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3 days as you
might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and ending Wed -
and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday afternoon is
1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the final half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total duration of 2
8-hour
days.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the change
working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

:

Hello Trevor,

Well obviously, I was not thinking straight or something. Either too
much coffee or not enough. When I create a task with a start date of
July 21, 2007 at 8:00 am and enter a 35 day duration, I show August
24,
2007 at 5:00 pm as the finish date. A duration of 36 days gives me
August 25, 2007. Is it possible you have one nonworking day in
between
those dates?

Sorry for any ealier confusion.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project


"JulieS" <passport6847 at maine dot rr dot com> wrote in message
Hello Trevor,

You have obviously modified the project calendar to allow every day
(Sunday through Saturday) as working time. What hours (8:00 am to
5:00 pm ?) do you have set? If you haven't modified the 8:00 am to
5:00 pm and haven't modified the definition of the number of hours
in
a day from default (8 hours) then from July 21, 2007 8:00 am to
August
25, 2007 5:00 pm *is* 35 eight hour time slots, thus 35 "days" not
36.

See FAQ #5 at http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for some additional
information.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


I have a schedule that spans from 7/21 to 8/25. Project is telling
me
the
duration is 35 days, but when I count the days on the calandar, its
36 days.
I need the proper count to show.Thanks.

 

[trevor]

I need to know how to set these projects up right from the start then. I set
working times before I did the project to be 7:30 to 12, 12:30 to 5:30 6 days
a week, then changed to 7 days a week so that the duration would show the
total time elapsed, in order to see how long the pipeline will be out of
service for testing. In addition to setting my working times, you are saying
I must also set the start time in the project information field to 7:30 as
well? Is this all i need to do to set up my project properly? I dont want to
run into this again, so I need to know all the steps involved setting it up
right. What all do i need to do to do this?

Very likely, when you initially setup the project your working times were
8am to 5pm. Thus the Project start date (Project menu, Project Information,
Start Date) was set to and is still saying "MM/DD/YYY 08:00AM" A subsequent
change of the hours of work to be 07:00 to 17:30 will not affect fixed dates
such as the project start that have already been set. So even though your
hours of work start at 07:00, the project doesn't officially start until an
hour into the first day has passed, causing all your downline times to be
offset by an hour as well. A 1 day task starting on Monday will finish on
Tuesday, not the end of the day Monday as you might expect, because it isn't
starting at the start of the workday and yet requires the number of hours in
a full workday before it's done.

Remember that the base calendar for working times sets the default work
schedule for each individual in your team. Are you seriously saying that
your people don't ever get a day off, never take a meal break or whatever?
I doubt it. Yet a 0700 to 1730, 7 day a week working time calendar without
breaking out the meal period says exactly that. Disregarding lunches, days
off etc leads to very signifigant errors in scheduling and budgets and I
urge you to rethink that approach. A worker doing 0700 to 1730 doesn't
produce 10 1/2 man-hours of work, you have to back out the meal period from
that time to be accurate.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I defined my working times as 7am to 5:30, 7 days a week. However, when i
change the date format to show times, it shows all tasks starting at 8am
and
ending at 8am. There are no resources assigned. Additionally, when i try
to
change the finish time to something else, the start time changes as well.
Thanks for helping me figure this out!
trevor

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it end on 8/25?
(Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date format that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and fractions of a
day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from the number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a normal 8 hour
workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm on Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3 days as you
might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and ending Wed -
and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday afternoon is
1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the final half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total duration of 2
8-hour
days.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the change
working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

:

Hello Trevor,

Well obviously, I was not thinking straight or something. Either too
much coffee or not enough. When I create a task with a start date of
July 21, 2007 at 8:00 am and enter a 35 day duration, I show August
24,
2007 at 5:00 pm as the finish date. A duration of 36 days gives me
August 25, 2007. Is it possible you have one nonworking day in
between
those dates?

Sorry for any ealier confusion.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project


"JulieS" <passport6847 at maine dot rr dot com> wrote in message
Hello Trevor,

You have obviously modified the project calendar to allow every day
(Sunday through Saturday) as working time. What hours (8:00 am to
5:00 pm ?) do you have set? If you haven't modified the 8:00 am to
5:00 pm and haven't modified the definition of the number of hours
in
a day from default (8 hours) then from July 21, 2007 8:00 am to
August
25, 2007 5:00 pm *is* 35 eight hour time slots, thus 35 "days" not
36.

See FAQ #5 at http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for some additional
information.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


I have a schedule that spans from 7/21 to 8/25. Project is telling
me
the
duration is 35 days, but when I count the days on the calandar, its
36 days.
I need the proper count to show.Thanks.

 

[JulieS]

Hello trevor,

The steps and order of steps I recommend:

Modify the calendar through Tools > Change Working Time.
Modify the options in Tools > Options. I suggest the following changes:
View tab: Date format showing date and time.
View tab: Enable (check) show Project Summary task
General tab: Disable (uncheck) automatically add new resources and
tasks.
Calendar tab: Default start time and default end time set to match
your calendar.
Calendar tab: Modify definition of hours per day and hours per week
to match calendar.
Schedule tab: Disable (uncheck) autolink inserted or moved tasks.
Set the start date/time of your project in Project > Project
Information.
Set the calendar for the project in Project > Project Information (only
if you are using a project calendar other than Standard.)

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

I need to know how to set these projects up right from the start then.
I set
working times before I did the project to be 7:30 to 12, 12:30 to 5:30
6 days
a week, then changed to 7 days a week so that the duration would show
the
total time elapsed, in order to see how long the pipeline will be out
of
service for testing. In addition to setting my working times, you are
saying
I must also set the start time in the project information field to
7:30 as
well? Is this all i need to do to set up my project properly? I dont
want to
run into this again, so I need to know all the steps involved setting
it up
right. What all do i need to do to do this?

Very likely, when you initially setup the project your working times
were
8am to 5pm. Thus the Project start date (Project menu, Project
Information,
Start Date) was set to and is still saying "MM/DD/YYY 08:00AM" A
subsequent
change of the hours of work to be 07:00 to 17:30 will not affect
fixed dates
such as the project start that have already been set. So even though
your
hours of work start at 07:00, the project doesn't officially start
until an
hour into the first day has passed, causing all your downline times
to be
offset by an hour as well. A 1 day task starting on Monday will
finish on
Tuesday, not the end of the day Monday as you might expect, because
it isn't
starting at the start of the workday and yet requires the number of
hours in
a full workday before it's done.

Remember that the base calendar for working times sets the default
work
schedule for each individual in your team. Are you seriously saying
that
your people don't ever get a day off, never take a meal break or
whatever?
I doubt it. Yet a 0700 to 1730, 7 day a week working time calendar
without
breaking out the meal period says exactly that. Disregarding
lunches, days
off etc leads to very signifigant errors in scheduling and budgets
and I
urge you to rethink that approach. A worker doing 0700 to 1730
doesn't
produce 10 1/2 man-hours of work, you have to back out the meal
period from
that time to be accurate.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I defined my working times as 7am to 5:30, 7 days a week. However,
when i
change the date format to show times, it shows all tasks starting
at 8am
and
ending at 8am. There are no resources assigned. Additionally, when
i try
to
change the finish time to something else, the start time changes as
well.
Thanks for helping me figure this out!
trevor

:

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it end on
8/25?
(Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date format
that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and fractions
of a
day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from the
number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a normal 8
hour
workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm on
Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3 days as
you
might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and ending
Wed -
and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday
afternoon is
1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the final
half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total duration
of 2
8-hour
days.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the change
working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

:

Hello Trevor,

Well obviously, I was not thinking straight or something.
Either too
much coffee or not enough. When I create a task with a start
date of
July 21, 2007 at 8:00 am and enter a 35 day duration, I show
August
24,
2007 at 5:00 pm as the finish date. A duration of 36 days
gives me
August 25, 2007. Is it possible you have one nonworking day in
between
those dates?

Sorry for any ealier confusion.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


"JulieS" <passport6847 at maine dot rr dot com> wrote in
message
Hello Trevor,

You have obviously modified the project calendar to allow
every day
(Sunday through Saturday) as working time. What hours (8:00
am to
5:00 pm ?) do you have set? If you haven't modified the 8:00
am to
5:00 pm and haven't modified the definition of the number of
hours
in
a day from default (8 hours) then from July 21, 2007 8:00 am
to
August
25, 2007 5:00 pm *is* 35 eight hour time slots, thus 35
"days" not
36.

See FAQ #5 at http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for some
additional
information.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


I have a schedule that spans from 7/21 to 8/25. Project is
telling
me
the
duration is 35 days, but when I count the days on the
calandar, its
36 days.
I need the proper count to show.Thanks.

 

[trevor]

Thank you, that helps.. The only thing I might prefer to do is change
working time under the tasks menu, define general working times, because its
a pain in Project 07 to do it under tools, change working time. In fact ,I
cant see how to easily make all sundays non-working or to set a lunch break.
Im going to rebuild my schedule from scratch and Ill get back with the group.

Hello trevor,

The steps and order of steps I recommend:

Modify the calendar through Tools > Change Working Time.
Modify the options in Tools > Options. I suggest the following changes:
View tab: Date format showing date and time.
View tab: Enable (check) show Project Summary task
General tab: Disable (uncheck) automatically add new resources and
tasks.
Calendar tab: Default start time and default end time set to match
your calendar.
Calendar tab: Modify definition of hours per day and hours per week
to match calendar.
Schedule tab: Disable (uncheck) autolink inserted or moved tasks.
Set the start date/time of your project in Project > Project
Information.
Set the calendar for the project in Project > Project Information (only
if you are using a project calendar other than Standard.)

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

I need to know how to set these projects up right from the start then.
I set
working times before I did the project to be 7:30 to 12, 12:30 to 5:30
6 days
a week, then changed to 7 days a week so that the duration would show
the
total time elapsed, in order to see how long the pipeline will be out
of
service for testing. In addition to setting my working times, you are
saying
I must also set the start time in the project information field to
7:30 as
well? Is this all i need to do to set up my project properly? I dont
want to
run into this again, so I need to know all the steps involved setting
it up
right. What all do i need to do to do this?

Very likely, when you initially setup the project your working times
were
8am to 5pm. Thus the Project start date (Project menu, Project
Information,
Start Date) was set to and is still saying "MM/DD/YYY 08:00AM" A
subsequent
change of the hours of work to be 07:00 to 17:30 will not affect
fixed dates
such as the project start that have already been set. So even though
your
hours of work start at 07:00, the project doesn't officially start
until an
hour into the first day has passed, causing all your downline times
to be
offset by an hour as well. A 1 day task starting on Monday will
finish on
Tuesday, not the end of the day Monday as you might expect, because
it isn't
starting at the start of the workday and yet requires the number of
hours in
a full workday before it's done.

Remember that the base calendar for working times sets the default
work
schedule for each individual in your team. Are you seriously saying
that
your people don't ever get a day off, never take a meal break or
whatever?
I doubt it. Yet a 0700 to 1730, 7 day a week working time calendar
without
breaking out the meal period says exactly that. Disregarding
lunches, days
off etc leads to very signifigant errors in scheduling and budgets
and I
urge you to rethink that approach. A worker doing 0700 to 1730
doesn't
produce 10 1/2 man-hours of work, you have to back out the meal
period from
that time to be accurate.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I defined my working times as 7am to 5:30, 7 days a week. However,
when i
change the date format to show times, it shows all tasks starting
at 8am
and
ending at 8am. There are no resources assigned. Additionally, when
i try
to
change the finish time to something else, the start time changes as
well.
Thanks for helping me figure this out!
trevor

:

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it end on
8/25?
(Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date format
that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and fractions
of a
day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from the
number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a normal 8
hour
workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm on
Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3 days as
you
might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and ending
Wed -
and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday
afternoon is
1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the final
half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total duration
of 2
8-hour
days.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the change
working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

:

Hello Trevor,

Well obviously, I was not thinking straight or something.
Either too
much coffee or not enough. When I create a task with a start
date of
July 21, 2007 at 8:00 am and enter a 35 day duration, I show
August
24,
2007 at 5:00 pm as the finish date. A duration of 36 days
gives me
August 25, 2007. Is it possible you have one nonworking day in
between
those dates?

Sorry for any ealier confusion.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


"JulieS" <passport6847 at maine dot rr dot com> wrote in
message
Hello Trevor,

You have obviously modified the project calendar to allow
every day
(Sunday through Saturday) as working time. What hours (8:00
am to
5:00 pm ?) do you have set? If you haven't modified the 8:00
am to
5:00 pm and haven't modified the definition of the number of
hours
in
a day from default (8 hours) then from July 21, 2007 8:00 am
to
August
25, 2007 5:00 pm *is* 35 eight hour time slots, thus 35
"days" not
36.

See FAQ #5 at http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for some
additional
information.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


I have a schedule that spans from 7/21 to 8/25. Project is
telling
me
the
duration is 35 days, but when I count the days on the
calandar, its
36 days.
I need the proper count to show.Thanks.

 

[JulieS]

Hello trevor,

Glad to have helped and thanks for the feedback.

To clarify -- changing the information under Tools > Options, Schedule
tab is *NOT* sufficient to achieve what you need. If you need to change
the wokring time (make Sundays non-working, change hours, etc.) you need
to use Tools > Change Working Time.

For details on changing the working time in Project 2007, see FAQ #5
"Default working hours" at:

http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

The information on Project 2007 is in red. Pay particular attention to
the third line. Setting all Sundays to non-working is not at all
difficult.

Go ahead and start again, and post back when you need some more
assistance.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

Thank you, that helps.. The only thing I might prefer to do is change
working time under the tasks menu, define general working times,
because its
a pain in Project 07 to do it under tools, change working time. In
fact ,I
cant see how to easily make all sundays non-working or to set a lunch
break.
Im going to rebuild my schedule from scratch and Ill get back with the
group.

Hello trevor,

The steps and order of steps I recommend:

Modify the calendar through Tools > Change Working Time.
Modify the options in Tools > Options. I suggest the following
changes:
View tab: Date format showing date and time.
View tab: Enable (check) show Project Summary task
General tab: Disable (uncheck) automatically add new resources
and
tasks.
Calendar tab: Default start time and default end time set to
match
your calendar.
Calendar tab: Modify definition of hours per day and hours per
week
to match calendar.
Schedule tab: Disable (uncheck) autolink inserted or moved tasks.
Set the start date/time of your project in Project > Project
Information.
Set the calendar for the project in Project > Project Information
(only
if you are using a project calendar other than Standard.)

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project

I need to know how to set these projects up right from the start
then.
I set
working times before I did the project to be 7:30 to 12, 12:30 to
5:30
6 days
a week, then changed to 7 days a week so that the duration would
show
the
total time elapsed, in order to see how long the pipeline will be
out
of
service for testing. In addition to setting my working times, you
are
saying
I must also set the start time in the project information field to
7:30 as
well? Is this all i need to do to set up my project properly? I
dont
want to
run into this again, so I need to know all the steps involved
setting
it up
right. What all do i need to do to do this?

:

Very likely, when you initially setup the project your working
times
were
8am to 5pm. Thus the Project start date (Project menu, Project
Information,
Start Date) was set to and is still saying "MM/DD/YYY 08:00AM" A
subsequent
change of the hours of work to be 07:00 to 17:30 will not affect
fixed dates
such as the project start that have already been set. So even
though
your
hours of work start at 07:00, the project doesn't officially start
until an
hour into the first day has passed, causing all your downline
times
to be
offset by an hour as well. A 1 day task starting on Monday will
finish on
Tuesday, not the end of the day Monday as you might expect,
because
it isn't
starting at the start of the workday and yet requires the number
of
hours in
a full workday before it's done.

Remember that the base calendar for working times sets the default
work
schedule for each individual in your team. Are you seriously
saying
that
your people don't ever get a day off, never take a meal break or
whatever?
I doubt it. Yet a 0700 to 1730, 7 day a week working time
calendar
without
breaking out the meal period says exactly that. Disregarding
lunches, days
off etc leads to very signifigant errors in scheduling and budgets
and I
urge you to rethink that approach. A worker doing 0700 to 1730
doesn't
produce 10 1/2 man-hours of work, you have to back out the meal
period from
that time to be accurate.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I defined my working times as 7am to 5:30, 7 days a week.
However,
when i
change the date format to show times, it shows all tasks
starting
at 8am
and
ending at 8am. There are no resources assigned. Additionally,
when
i try
to
change the finish time to something else, the start time changes
as
well.
Thanks for helping me figure this out!
trevor

:

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it end
on
8/25?
(Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date
format
that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and
fractions
of a
day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from the
number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a normal 8
hour
workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm on
Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3 days
as
you
might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and
ending
Wed -
and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday
afternoon is
1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the final
half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total
duration
of 2
8-hour
days.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the
change
working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

:

Hello Trevor,

Well obviously, I was not thinking straight or something.
Either too
much coffee or not enough. When I create a task with a
start
date of
July 21, 2007 at 8:00 am and enter a 35 day duration, I show
August
24,
2007 at 5:00 pm as the finish date. A duration of 36 days
gives me
August 25, 2007. Is it possible you have one nonworking day
in
between
those dates?

Sorry for any ealier confusion.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


"JulieS" <passport6847 at maine dot rr dot com> wrote in
message
Hello Trevor,

You have obviously modified the project calendar to allow
every day
(Sunday through Saturday) as working time. What hours
(8:00
am to
5:00 pm ?) do you have set? If you haven't modified the
8:00
am to
5:00 pm and haven't modified the definition of the number
of
hours
in
a day from default (8 hours) then from July 21, 2007 8:00
am
to
August
25, 2007 5:00 pm *is* 35 eight hour time slots, thus 35
"days" not
36.

See FAQ #5 at http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for some
additional
information.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


message
I have a schedule that spans from 7/21 to 8/25. Project
is
telling
me
the
duration is 35 days, but when I count the days on the
calandar, its
36 days.
I need the proper count to show.Thanks.

 

[trevor]

UNDER THE TASKS MENU, "define general working times" is what i clicked on.
Are we on the same page?

Hello trevor,

Glad to have helped and thanks for the feedback.

To clarify -- changing the information under Tools > Options, Schedule
tab is *NOT* sufficient to achieve what you need. If you need to change
the wokring time (make Sundays non-working, change hours, etc.) you need
to use Tools > Change Working Time.

For details on changing the working time in Project 2007, see FAQ #5
"Default working hours" at:

http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

The information on Project 2007 is in red. Pay particular attention to
the third line. Setting all Sundays to non-working is not at all
difficult.

Go ahead and start again, and post back when you need some more
assistance.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

Thank you, that helps.. The only thing I might prefer to do is change
working time under the tasks menu, define general working times,
because its
a pain in Project 07 to do it under tools, change working time. In
fact ,I
cant see how to easily make all sundays non-working or to set a lunch
break.
Im going to rebuild my schedule from scratch and Ill get back with the
group.

Hello trevor,

The steps and order of steps I recommend:

Modify the calendar through Tools > Change Working Time.
Modify the options in Tools > Options. I suggest the following
changes:
View tab: Date format showing date and time.
View tab: Enable (check) show Project Summary task
General tab: Disable (uncheck) automatically add new resources
and
tasks.
Calendar tab: Default start time and default end time set to
match
your calendar.
Calendar tab: Modify definition of hours per day and hours per
week
to match calendar.
Schedule tab: Disable (uncheck) autolink inserted or moved tasks.
Set the start date/time of your project in Project > Project
Information.
Set the calendar for the project in Project > Project Information
(only
if you are using a project calendar other than Standard.)

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


I need to know how to set these projects up right from the start
then.
I set
working times before I did the project to be 7:30 to 12, 12:30 to
5:30
6 days
a week, then changed to 7 days a week so that the duration would
show
the
total time elapsed, in order to see how long the pipeline will be
out
of
service for testing. In addition to setting my working times, you
are
saying
I must also set the start time in the project information field to
7:30 as
well? Is this all i need to do to set up my project properly? I
dont
want to
run into this again, so I need to know all the steps involved
setting
it up
right. What all do i need to do to do this?

:

Very likely, when you initially setup the project your working
times
were
8am to 5pm. Thus the Project start date (Project menu, Project
Information,
Start Date) was set to and is still saying "MM/DD/YYY 08:00AM" A
subsequent
change of the hours of work to be 07:00 to 17:30 will not affect
fixed dates
such as the project start that have already been set. So even
though
your
hours of work start at 07:00, the project doesn't officially start
until an
hour into the first day has passed, causing all your downline
times
to be
offset by an hour as well. A 1 day task starting on Monday will
finish on
Tuesday, not the end of the day Monday as you might expect,
because
it isn't
starting at the start of the workday and yet requires the number
of
hours in
a full workday before it's done.

Remember that the base calendar for working times sets the default
work
schedule for each individual in your team. Are you seriously
saying
that
your people don't ever get a day off, never take a meal break or
whatever?
I doubt it. Yet a 0700 to 1730, 7 day a week working time
calendar
without
breaking out the meal period says exactly that. Disregarding
lunches, days
off etc leads to very signifigant errors in scheduling and budgets
and I
urge you to rethink that approach. A worker doing 0700 to 1730
doesn't
produce 10 1/2 man-hours of work, you have to back out the meal
period from
that time to be accurate.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I defined my working times as 7am to 5:30, 7 days a week.
However,
when i
change the date format to show times, it shows all tasks
starting
at 8am
and
ending at 8am. There are no resources assigned. Additionally,
when
i try
to
change the finish time to something else, the start time changes
as
well.
Thanks for helping me figure this out!
trevor

:

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it end
on
8/25?
(Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date
format
that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and
fractions
of a
day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from the
number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a normal 8
hour
workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm on
Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3 days
as
you
might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and
ending
Wed -
and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday
afternoon is
1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the final
half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total
duration
of 2
8-hour
days.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the
change
working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

:

Hello Trevor,

Well obviously, I was not thinking straight or something.
Either too
much coffee or not enough. When I create a task with a
start
date of
July 21, 2007 at 8:00 am and enter a 35 day duration, I show
August
24,
2007 at 5:00 pm as the finish date. A duration of 36 days
gives me
August 25, 2007. Is it possible you have one nonworking day
in
between
those dates?

Sorry for any ealier confusion.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


"JulieS" <passport6847 at maine dot rr dot com> wrote in
message
Hello Trevor,

You have obviously modified the project calendar to allow
every day
(Sunday through Saturday) as working time. What hours
(8:00
am to
5:00 pm ?) do you have set? If you haven't modified the
8:00
am to
5:00 pm and haven't modified the definition of the number
of
hours
in
a day from default (8 hours) then from July 21, 2007 8:00
am
to
August
25, 2007 5:00 pm *is* 35 eight hour time slots, thus 35
"days" not
36.

See FAQ #5 at http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for some
additional
information.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information

 

[JulieS]

Hello Trevor,

My apologies. I wasn't reading your post clearly enough and now I
understand you are using the Project Guide to change the working times.
Sorry, I never use the Project Guide as I find it easier to use the
Tools > Change working time command.

If you are changing the calendar through the "define general working
times" choice in the Project Guide toolbar, you should be fine. Based
upon your description of 7:30 am to 12:00 PM and 12:30 PM to 5:30 pm, I
assume you also changed the hours per day to 9 and hours per week to 63
in step 4 "Define time units". What I do notice is that step omits
setting the default start time and default end time that appears on the
Tools > Options, Calendar tab. I would have assumed that using the
Project Guide would have set that for you automatically as it is not a
choice in the guide, but it appears to have left it to the default 08:00
to 17:00. I recommend checking the calendar options and correcting as
needed.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

UNDER THE TASKS MENU, "define general working times" is what i clicked
on.
Are we on the same page?

Hello trevor,

Glad to have helped and thanks for the feedback.

To clarify -- changing the information under Tools > Options,
Schedule
tab is *NOT* sufficient to achieve what you need. If you need to
change
the wokring time (make Sundays non-working, change hours, etc.) you
need
to use Tools > Change Working Time.

For details on changing the working time in Project 2007, see FAQ #5
"Default working hours" at:

http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

The information on Project 2007 is in red. Pay particular attention
to
the third line. Setting all Sundays to non-working is not at all
difficult.

Go ahead and start again, and post back when you need some more
assistance.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project

Thank you, that helps.. The only thing I might prefer to do is
change
working time under the tasks menu, define general working times,
because its
a pain in Project 07 to do it under tools, change working time.
In
fact ,I
cant see how to easily make all sundays non-working or to set a
lunch
break.
Im going to rebuild my schedule from scratch and Ill get back with
the
group.
:

Hello trevor,

The steps and order of steps I recommend:

Modify the calendar through Tools > Change Working Time.
Modify the options in Tools > Options. I suggest the following
changes:
View tab: Date format showing date and time.
View tab: Enable (check) show Project Summary task
General tab: Disable (uncheck) automatically add new resources
and
tasks.
Calendar tab: Default start time and default end time set to
match
your calendar.
Calendar tab: Modify definition of hours per day and hours per
week
to match calendar.
Schedule tab: Disable (uncheck) autolink inserted or moved
tasks.
Set the start date/time of your project in Project > Project
Information.
Set the calendar for the project in Project > Project Information
(only
if you are using a project calendar other than Standard.)

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


I need to know how to set these projects up right from the start
then.
I set
working times before I did the project to be 7:30 to 12, 12:30
to
5:30
6 days
a week, then changed to 7 days a week so that the duration would
show
the
total time elapsed, in order to see how long the pipeline will
be
out
of
service for testing. In addition to setting my working times,
you
are
saying
I must also set the start time in the project information field
to
7:30 as
well? Is this all i need to do to set up my project properly? I
dont
want to
run into this again, so I need to know all the steps involved
setting
it up
right. What all do i need to do to do this?

:

Very likely, when you initially setup the project your working
times
were
8am to 5pm. Thus the Project start date (Project menu, Project
Information,
Start Date) was set to and is still saying "MM/DD/YYY 08:00AM"
A
subsequent
change of the hours of work to be 07:00 to 17:30 will not
affect
fixed dates
such as the project start that have already been set. So even
though
your
hours of work start at 07:00, the project doesn't officially
start
until an
hour into the first day has passed, causing all your downline
times
to be
offset by an hour as well. A 1 day task starting on Monday
will
finish on
Tuesday, not the end of the day Monday as you might expect,
because
it isn't
starting at the start of the workday and yet requires the
number
of
hours in
a full workday before it's done.

Remember that the base calendar for working times sets the
default
work
schedule for each individual in your team. Are you seriously
saying
that
your people don't ever get a day off, never take a meal break
or
whatever?
I doubt it. Yet a 0700 to 1730, 7 day a week working time
calendar
without
breaking out the meal period says exactly that. Disregarding
lunches, days
off etc leads to very signifigant errors in scheduling and
budgets
and I
urge you to rethink that approach. A worker doing 0700 to 1730
doesn't
produce 10 1/2 man-hours of work, you have to back out the meal
period from
that time to be accurate.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I defined my working times as 7am to 5:30, 7 days a week.
However,
when i
change the date format to show times, it shows all tasks
starting
at 8am
and
ending at 8am. There are no resources assigned.
Additionally,
when
i try
to
change the finish time to something else, the start time
changes
as
well.
Thanks for helping me figure this out!
trevor

:

What time does the task start on 7/21? What time does it
end
on
8/25?
(Go
to the Tools/Options menu, the View tab, and select a date
format
that
displays the time as well as the date).

Remember that duration is always measured in minutes and
fractions
of a
day
at either end can make the real duration slightly off from
the
number you
get counting dates on a calendar. For example, with a
normal 8
hour
workday
with working time of 8am to 5pm, a task that begins at 1pm
on
Monday and
finishes at noon on Wednesday has a 2 day duration, not 3
days
as
you
might
expect if you simply looked at the dates - starting Mon and
ending
Wed -
and
ignored the times. Each 8 hour interval is a day. Monday
afternoon is
1/2
day, Tuesday is 1 full day, and Wednesday morning is the
final
half day,
giving from Monday apparently through Wednesday a total
duration
of 2
8-hour
days.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


I checked to see if there were any non-working days in the
change
working
time and there were not. Still confused about it.
trevor

:

Hello Trevor,

Well obviously, I was not thinking straight or something.
Either too
much coffee or not enough. When I create a task with a
start
date of
July 21, 2007 at 8:00 am and enter a 35 day duration, I
show
August
24,
2007 at 5:00 pm as the finish date. A duration of 36
days
gives me
August 25, 2007. Is it possible you have one nonworking
day
in
between
those dates?

Sorry for any ealier confusion.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and
additional
information
about Microsoft Project


"JulieS" <passport6847 at maine dot rr dot com> wrote in
message
Hello Trevor,

You have obviously modified the project calendar to
allow
every day
(Sunday through Saturday) as working time. What hours
(8:00
am to
5:00 pm ?) do you have set? If you haven't modified
the
8:00
am to
5:00 pm and haven't modified the definition of the
number
of
hours
in
a day from default (8 hours) then from July 21, 2007
8:00
am
to
August
25, 2007 5:00 pm *is* 35 eight hour time slots, thus 35
"days" not
36.

See FAQ #5 at http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for some
additional
information.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and
additional
information