How do I schedule a task that's done a little each day for a month

[tbrown7777]

How do I schedule a task that's due in 30 days, but only takes 1 hour of work
each day? Project assumes that all 30 hours are done at once when it
schedules. Is there a way to constrain a task to 1 hour a day?

thanks,
Tim

 

[vanita]

Hi Tim

You could assign a separate calendar to that activity which has only 1 hr
working everyday. You could create this new calendar in Tools > Change
working time. Then assign it to the activity through Task information
dialogue box (open by double clicking on the activity) > Advanced (here
change the calendar from none to the new calendar created for the activity).
Now this activity would be scheduled only fo 1 hr/day.

I hope this helps.

Vanita

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Is there a reason you just don't "git 'er done?" In other words, if the
resource was available to give it his full attenion and get it done ASAP
once the task starts, why drag it out over 30 days? The duration of a task
is not the "window of opportunity" between when the task is able to start
and when it is due. Instead it is your estimate of the length of time it
will actually be in-progress between when it finally DOES start and when
work will actually be completed. If the resource will devote his full
attention to the task at hand after it does start, working at it steadily
without doing other things at the same time, the 30 hour task will take a
little less that 4 days to wrap up. If at all possible, making the primary
objective to get the overall project done in the shortest time possible,
you'd want to schedule the task with 4 days duration with a deadline of the
required due date and assign the resource 100%. But, assuming you have a
good reason to drag it out, not wanting or able to tie up the resource for
his full workday, for example, it's the resource assignment that will
stretch a 30 man-hour task out over 30 days. One hour per day is
approximately a 12.5% resource assignment, assuming an 8 hour workday. A 30
day duration task with the resource assigned 12.5% will result in 30
man-hours of work being done, the scenario you're looking for. Enter the
task with 30 Days as the duration, assign your resource at 12.5% and you're
all set with the task ending 6 weeks after it starts (30 Days duration is 30
Working days, 6 weeks at 5 working days per week. If you want it to end 30
calendar days later, that's approximately 20 days duration, not 30, because
the 2 non-working weekend days each week don't count in the duration
numbers.)

 

[tbrown7777]

thanks for the quick response. I am running an instrumentation and controls
shop and one of the tasks I have is daily monitoring of pollution control
equipment. Rather than having a work order kick every day, I have one setup
to kick on the first of each month, with a constraint that it be finished 30
days from when it kicked so it schedules the resources correctly. I have a
macro set up to pull from an excel spreadsheet and put it into project. I
have about 300 jobs in my backlog so it is helpful to have project's help in
determining priorities/schedules. I think I'll have it check for the title
and assign the 12.5% resource level. Thank you both for your help.

Is there a reason you just don't "git 'er done?" In other words, if the
resource was available to give it his full attenion and get it done ASAP
once the task starts, why drag it out over 30 days? The duration of a task
is not the "window of opportunity" between when the task is able to start
and when it is due. Instead it is your estimate of the length of time it
will actually be in-progress between when it finally DOES start and when
work will actually be completed. If the resource will devote his full
attention to the task at hand after it does start, working at it steadily
without doing other things at the same time, the 30 hour task will take a
little less that 4 days to wrap up. If at all possible, making the primary
objective to get the overall project done in the shortest time possible,
you'd want to schedule the task with 4 days duration with a deadline of the
required due date and assign the resource 100%. But, assuming you have a
good reason to drag it out, not wanting or able to tie up the resource for
his full workday, for example, it's the resource assignment that will
stretch a 30 man-hour task out over 30 days. One hour per day is
approximately a 12.5% resource assignment, assuming an 8 hour workday. A 30
day duration task with the resource assigned 12.5% will result in 30
man-hours of work being done, the scenario you're looking for. Enter the
task with 30 Days as the duration, assign your resource at 12.5% and you're
all set with the task ending 6 weeks after it starts (30 Days duration is 30
Working days, 6 weeks at 5 working days per week. If you want it to end 30
calendar days later, that's approximately 20 days duration, not 30, because
the 2 non-working weekend days each week don't count in the duration
numbers.)

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

How do I schedule a task that's due in 30 days, but only takes 1 hour of
work
each day? Project assumes that all 30 hours are done at once when it
schedules. Is there a way to constrain a task to 1 hour a day?

thanks,
Tim