Dear Steve,
I think I understand what you mean and the logic you're using. Let me
use
another example that might represent in a more timely manner what I
find
to
be a problem.
A) A task T1 of 20 days long and set to fixed duration is created with
a
resource assignment of resource R1 for 7 hours (R1 is set to 100% max
units
in the resource sheet). Using 7 hours per day, the assignment is
calculated
at 5% units. All is OK.
B) After the 1st week, the resource reports 8h of actual work. The
remaining work is calculated automatically to 0h. All is OK.
C) Shortly after, resource R1 informs us that he needs another hour to
complete the work within the original 20 days duration. When writing
1h
of
remaining work, MS Project calculates the duration to be 22,5 days.
Why
is
that happening ? If I try to set the duration back to 20 days, the
remaining work is calculated back to 0h. If I put back 1h of remaining
work,
the duration is changed again... Why is the fixed duration task type
not
respected ?
D) I found that if I set the work to be 9h before writing the actuals
of
8h, MS Project would respect the fixed duration task type and calculate
remaining work to be 1h. Also, if I change the 1h remaining work to
another
figure (for example 10h or 20h), MS Project recalculates the units and
keeps
my duration unchanged. Exactly what it should do.
What is happening to the resource assignement when it hits 0h remaining
work
that, if modified again to another value, the task duration changes ?
Regardless of when we are in time and even when R1 is way below is 100%
max
units.
Regards,
David
:
It does respect the task type - always. It's that you are misinformed
as
to
what the task type represents. It is not an inherent property of the
task
that says its duration may never change. The Task Type is a switch
whose
ONLY function is to control the behavior of the calculation engine
when
you
are editing one of the values of work, units, or duration in a
resource
assignment. W=D*U is a basic linear equation. When editing resource
assignments directly or indirectly, you can arbitrarily choose any
term
to
edit, select one of the two remaining terms, and Project will
recalculate
the third ... the Task Type setting is how you select the constant
term
you
want for the edit at hand. Since you can manually edit the duration
of
even
a fixed duration task, when you do Project defaults to behaving as if
the
task type was Fixed Units for the purposes of the instant edit. This
also
makes sense since a resource simply cannot give more than 100% (or
whatever
units he's assigned at - if he could, that's what you'd have assigned
at
in
the first place). A units figure over 100% means that somehow the
resource
is giving you 10 man-hours of work for every 8 hours spent on the job
or
whatever, something that just cannot ever occur because it would
violate
one, if not all three, of the fundamental laws of thermodynamics
<grin>.
Think about the logic of what you are asking. You want to import
actual
work that is greater than the scheduled work and yet somehow show it
to
have
taken place in the same time period. You have a task scheduled for 5
days
duration, have it reported to you that after starting work we find we
have
worked on it for 5 days and yet there's still 5 more days to go or
alternateively when it is completed the resource reports it really
took
him
10 days to do it, and yet have yet you want the project schedule still
claim
that it somehow got finished in 5 days. How is it physically possible
for
it to happen that way? It is impossible to do MORE than a day's work
in
a
day's time.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
Thank you for your reponse Mike.
I am quite disappointed that MS Project does not respect the task
type.
Is
there an option that exist that could force MS Project to respect
task
type
at all times ?
I have tried different scenarios and it seems that MS Project will
keep
my
duration fixed only if my remaining work is > 0h, regardless of the
"total"
work. In this condition MS Project will recalculate units when I
add
remaining work.
The only solution that I found so far is to check that the "actual
work
to
be imported" is < than the work, so that remaining work > 0h. If
the
"actual
work to be imported" is > than the work, I have to change the work
to
be
at
least "actual work to be imported" + 1 h so that MS Project allows
me
to
change the remaining work and still keep the same duration.
It is not optimal, but I think it will do the job.
Regards,
David
:
Hi David,
Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup
Duration will remain fixed during any planning phase. Changing
Units
or
Work will leave the Duration fixed. However, there's nothing to
stop
you
from changing the Duration.
Now, if you start adding actual work, Project expects you know what
you're
doing and will re-calculate Duration if it has to. If you enter 7
days
of
work in a 10 day task, Project can only assumes everything is on
schedule.
If you say, however, there is still 5 days work left, Project will
recalculate the Duration to allow for this and give you 12 days.
Project
will not change Units or Work in this case as it has no
intelligence
and
doesn't know what you would want.
FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can
be
seen
at
this web address:
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm
Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on
Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See
http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials
Hello,
I have a few questions concerning the fixed duration task type
and
it's
behavior with resource assignments.
1. Does the duration always stay fixed when using fixed duration
task
type
? Can I change work and units of the resource assignments
without
having
a
special concern for the possibility that task duration might
change
?
2. When using actual and remaining work with resource
assignments,
is
there
a situation that might cause the task duration to change ?
3. Could someone explain to me why the duration changes in the
following
situation, using Project 2002, 7h per day (35h per week):
a) I have task T1 (fixed duration, not effort driven) of 10 days
and
resource R1 assigned 100% to it. Total of 70h work. OK until
now.
b) I plug in 80h of actual work to R1. Task shows 100% complete
and
remaining work = 0h, Work = 80h. Still OK.
c) I need to show an additional 10h of work. So I plug in 10h
of
remaining
work to R1 and... BOOM ! MS Project shows me message telling it
need
to
recalculate the duration. What happened here ? How come the
fixed
duration
is not respected ? What can I do to prevent this ? I have to
figure
out
a
way to control this since I have to develop a macro that will
import
actuals.
Thanks for your help !
David
