effort driven scheduling

[Vinayak Bhat]

Hello

I am using MS Project 2003. I find that Effort driven, Fixed Units task
type is same as Fixed Work; please clarify.

The following is my observation.

Effort driven is OFF:
Task Type: Fixed Duration or Fixed Units: adding additional resources,
increases work, removing decreases the work.


Effort driven is ON:

(1) Task Type : Fixed Duration: adding additional resources decreases the
individual values for the resources.
(2)Task Type : Fixed Units: adding additional resources shortens the
duration of the task.
(3)Task Type : Fixed Work: adding additional resources shortens the duration
of the task.

Vinayak Bhat
PM@RCOM

 

[JulieS]

Hello Vinayak Bhat,

My comments are in-line.

Hello

I am using MS Project 2003. I find that Effort driven, Fixed Units
task
type is same as Fixed Work; please clarify.

The following is my observation.

Effort driven is OFF:
Task Type: Fixed Duration or Fixed Units: adding additional resources,
increases work, removing decreases the work.

[Julie] Correct.

Effort driven is ON:

(1) Task Type : Fixed Duration: adding additional resources decreases
the
individual values for the resources.

[Julie] Correct. Adding additional resources without specifying the
work value for the resource keeps the total amount of work on the task
the same as initially. As Project cannot change Duration (you fixed it)
it will alter Assignment Units for the resources on the task --
decreasing assignment units if you add resources, increasing assignment
units if you remove resources.

(2)Task Type : Fixed Units: adding additional resources shortens the
duration of the task.

[Julie] Correct. Adding additional resources without specifying the work
value for the resource keeps the total amount of work on the task the
same as initially. As Project cannot change Assignment Units it will
alter Duration -- shortening the duration if you add resources,
increasing duration if you remove resources.

(3) Task Type : Fixed Work: adding additional resources shortens the
duration
of the task.

[Julie] Correct.

See the help topic "About task types" in Project for some very clear
information about the effect of changing either Work, Duration, or Units
in the three task types.

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

Julie
MVP

 

[Steve House]

Adding a note to Julie's explanations, the distinction between effort driven
and non-effort driven comes into play when you are adding or removing
resource NAMES on the task. If I have Joe already assigned and add Bill,
both listed as individuals in the resource list, what happens depends on the
effort driven setting. But if I have a single listing of a generic resource
such as "Carpenters" with an availability of 500% to indicate that the one
resource name consists of 5 individuals, I have one carpenter assigned as
"Carpenter - 100%" and I add a second one by increasing the assignment
percentage to 200%, I have NOT "added a resource" as the effort driven
scheduling setting sees it. In that scenario, the effort driven setting is
irrelevant and the task type setting governs the calculation. It's not
smart enough to figure out that an edit changing an assignment from 50% to
100% is increasing the one individual's commitment but an edit going from
100% to 200% is adding another body.

 

[Vinayak Bhat]

Hello

Thanks for confirmation.

I find that in Effort driven scheduling, Fixed Units task type is same as
Fixed Work. Is it true or is there any difference?

Thanks very much in advance.
Vinayak Bhat

Adding a note to Julie's explanations, the distinction between effort driven
and non-effort driven comes into play when you are adding or removing
resource NAMES on the task. If I have Joe already assigned and add Bill,
both listed as individuals in the resource list, what happens depends on the
effort driven setting. But if I have a single listing of a generic resource
such as "Carpenters" with an availability of 500% to indicate that the one
resource name consists of 5 individuals, I have one carpenter assigned as
"Carpenter - 100%" and I add a second one by increasing the assignment
percentage to 200%, I have NOT "added a resource" as the effort driven
scheduling setting sees it. In that scenario, the effort driven setting is
irrelevant and the task type setting governs the calculation. It's not
smart enough to figure out that an edit changing an assignment from 50% to
100% is increasing the one individual's commitment but an edit going from
100% to 200% is adding another body.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hello

I am using MS Project 2003. I find that Effort driven, Fixed Units task
type is same as Fixed Work; please clarify.

The following is my observation.

Effort driven is OFF:
Task Type: Fixed Duration or Fixed Units: adding additional resources,
increases work, removing decreases the work.


Effort driven is ON:

(1) Task Type : Fixed Duration: adding additional resources decreases the
individual values for the resources.
(2)Task Type : Fixed Units: adding additional resources shortens the
duration of the task.
(3)Task Type : Fixed Work: adding additional resources shortens the
duration
of the task.

Vinayak Bhat
PM@RCOM

 

[JulieS]

Hello Vinayak,

The *result* produced by adding or removing named resources from
Effort-Driven, Fixed Units tasks and Effort-Driven, Fixed Work tasks is
the same. If you add a named resource, duration drops or if you remove
resources duration increases and work remains the same. However, I
would not go so far as to say that Fixed Units is the same as Fixed
Work.

The help topic "About task types" in Project help outlines the effect of
changing one of the three factors (work, duration, units) and the result
in Fixed Work, Fixed Units, and Fixed Duration task types. A snippet
from the topic:
-----------------------------------------------
Each of the task types affects scheduling when you edit one of the three
elements as follows.

In a... If you revise units... If you revise duration... If you
revise work...
Fixed-units task Duration is recalculated. Work is recalculated.
Duration is recalculated.
Fixed-work task Duration is recalculated. Units are recalculated.
Duration is recalculated.
Fixed-duration task Work is recalculated. Work is recalculated.
Units are recalculated

---------------------------------------------
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

Hello

Thanks for confirmation.

I find that in Effort driven scheduling, Fixed Units task type is same
as
Fixed Work. Is it true or is there any difference?

Thanks very much in advance.
Vinayak Bhat

Adding a note to Julie's explanations, the distinction between effort
driven
and non-effort driven comes into play when you are adding or removing
resource NAMES on the task. If I have Joe already assigned and add
Bill,
both listed as individuals in the resource list, what happens depends
on the
effort driven setting. But if I have a single listing of a generic
resource
such as "Carpenters" with an availability of 500% to indicate that
the one
resource name consists of 5 individuals, I have one carpenter
assigned as
"Carpenter - 100%" and I add a second one by increasing the
assignment
percentage to 200%, I have NOT "added a resource" as the effort
driven
scheduling setting sees it. In that scenario, the effort driven
setting is
irrelevant and the task type setting governs the calculation. It's
not
smart enough to figure out that an edit changing an assignment from
50% to
100% is increasing the one individual's commitment but an edit going
from
100% to 200% is adding another body.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs



message

Hello

I am using MS Project 2003. I find that Effort driven, Fixed Units
task
type is same as Fixed Work; please clarify.

The following is my observation.

Effort driven is OFF:
Task Type: Fixed Duration or Fixed Units: adding additional
resources,
increases work, removing decreases the work.


Effort driven is ON:

(1) Task Type : Fixed Duration: adding additional resources
decreases the
individual values for the resources.
(2)Task Type : Fixed Units: adding additional resources shortens
the
duration of the task.
(3)Task Type : Fixed Work: adding additional resources shortens the
duration
of the task.

Vinayak Bhat
PM@RCOM