how do I schedule a small task over a long period of time

[rdr]

I have a few tasks that will take about 4 days in actual duraction but would
like to schedule them over about a month so that the people on the project
can work on them when they find time. What's the best way to capture this in
project?

 

[John]

I have a few tasks that will take about 4 days in actual duraction but would
like to schedule them over about a month so that the people on the project
can work on them when they find time. What's the best way to capture this in
project?

rdr,
This is a common question and has been addressed many times in this
newsgroup. Rather than re-hash this again, take a look at the post in
this newsgroups by Gitmo on 5/22/06 titled "Project 2003 - set duration
in hrs(20) over 4 weeks".

If you still have a question after reading the post and responses, pleae
post again.

John
Project MVP

 

[rdr]

So if I have a suite of tasks that roll up to a summary task that can be
accomplished in 20 hours over 4 weeks then I would set each individual task
with that lengthy duration.

It doesn't look pretty, but I think it will work.

 

[John]

So if I have a suite of tasks that roll up to a summary task that can be
accomplished in 20 hours over 4 weeks then I would set each individual task
with that lengthy duration.

It doesn't look pretty, but I think it will work.

Rdr,
Well, not quite, at least the way you explain it. First of all, a
summary line is not a task. It only "summarizes" data for the subtasks
(performance tasks) under it. Second, the duration of a summary line is
the working time between the start of the earliest subtask under it to
the finish of the latest subtask under it. Project calculates this value
for you.

Given that, the subtasks can be set up in many ways to produce a total
of 20 hours work over a 20 day (4 week) duration. It may or may not be
appropriate to set the fixed duration of all subtasks to 20 days. If all
the subtasks are truly independent then perhaps so, but normally
subtasks are performed in a logical sequence and are therefore linked
(e.g. the room must be prepped before the walls can be painted).

John
Project MVP