[HELP]: How to define project tasks for...

[Neil Greene]

My company has work which is planned in project, that is tied into our time
and billing system. In this particular situation, I have tasks which have
unknown hours, but known duration. Say, TASK A will last from Jan 1-Dec 31.
I want this tasks duration to be 1 year, and I want to allocate or buget N
number of hours for a particular resource.

I have created a calendar for the resource assignments which defines a day
as 24 hours, and 365 days a year. So, work can be conducted at any time of
the year. I want the task duration to ALWAYS START/END Jan 1 - Dec 31, or
some defined duration.

What is the best way to define the project and/or tasks?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Neil,

There are a few possibilities, none of them really elegant since Project is
meant to calculate start and end dates and has to be violated to do what you
want.

1. If you have a 7 days a week Project Calendar give the task a constraint
of Must Start On 1/1/6, a task type of fixed duration, not effort driven
(can be set on task information, advanced tab) and set the duration to 365
days

2. If you have a different project calendar, still create a new base
calendar 7 days a week, assign the calendar as task calendar to the task,
then as in 1.

3. If you want work on this task to be restricted to normal working hours,
so you do not want to use a 7 days calendar, count the number of working
days in the year and set this as theh fixed duration

4. Define 2 milestones, one must start on 1/1 and one must finish on 31/12,
and cover them by a summary task. That one will react as you need.

5. Create a hammock task based on these 2 milestones. Read about it in
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm , FAQ 19.

 

[Haris Rashid]

hi Neil Greene,

Following is a link to an article on Microsoft web site where you can
explore project scheduling:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010211711033.aspx

Regards,

 

[Neil Greene]

Thanks! This was helpful.

Hi Neil,

There are a few possibilities, none of them really elegant since Project is
meant to calculate start and end dates and has to be violated to do what you
want.

1. If you have a 7 days a week Project Calendar give the task a constraint
of Must Start On 1/1/6, a task type of fixed duration, not effort driven
(can be set on task information, advanced tab) and set the duration to 365
days

2. If you have a different project calendar, still create a new base
calendar 7 days a week, assign the calendar as task calendar to the task,
then as in 1.

3. If you want work on this task to be restricted to normal working hours,
so you do not want to use a 7 days calendar, count the number of working
days in the year and set this as theh fixed duration

4. Define 2 milestones, one must start on 1/1 and one must finish on 31/12,
and cover them by a summary task. That one will react as you need.

5. Create a hammock task based on these 2 milestones. Read about it in
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm , FAQ 19.


--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/
+32-495-300 620

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Task duration is defined as the time period between the moment work is first
done on the task and work is complketed on the task. So how can it have a
known duration but unknown hours? If the task starts Jan 01, that means
someone shows up on Jan 01 and does some physical activity leading towards
the creation of whatever that task creates. If it ends on 31 Dec, that
means someone is in the office or on the job site physically present and
doing something that wraps up the last bit of work necessary to fonish
whatever the task creates. The duration is the time frame over which actual
work extends, NOT the time frame during which work might take place.