How to keep duration and work fixed

[Doug Patrone]

If a task takes 8 hours to complete and is assigned to someone with a
duration of 1 week, and now we want to shorten the duration by 2 days, but we
want the work to remain at 8 hours how can this be accomplished.

But at the same time we may want to adjust the work hours and still maintain
the 1 week duration.

We would want to see in either scenario the resource units change, not the
aforementioned (work, duration) fields. Can this be accomplished?

 

[JulieS]

Hi Doug,

In both scenarios you initially have a resource assigned at 20% assignment
units. [Based upon the assumption that 1 week = 40 hours, 1 day = 8 hours.]

For your first scenario set the task type to fixed work. Drop the duration
to 3 days and Project will recalculate the unit assignment to 33%.

In the second scenario set the task to fixed duration. Change the work and
Project will recalculate the unit assignment.

Please note that you cannot have both duration and work fixed on a single
task. Task types are either:
1) Fixed work. If you modify duration, Project will recalculate unit
assignment. If you modify unit assignment, Project will recalculate
duration. If you modify work, Project will recalculate duration.
2) Fixed Duration. If you modify units, Project changes work. If you
modify work, Project changes units. If you modify duration, project changes
work.
3) Fixed Units. If you modify work, project changes duration. If you
change duration, project changes work. If you modify units, project changes
duration.

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

Julie

 

[MikeR]

I believe JuilieS's take on the issue takes advantage of Projects default way
of operating, but I would be nice if all the entered tasks were of the same
type. I've have taken a look at Doug's problem from the view perspective of
making all tasks Fixed Duration. As JulieS stated this works for senario 2,
and I have found that it will work for senario 1, but not by default. When
the duration is changed, Work is automatically changed to accomodate this but
a little green triange appears in the upper left corner of the cell. Clicking
this and selecting the non-default setting returns Work to its original
setting and adjusts Resources accordingly. The best solution would be the
ability to change Project's default action. Unfortunately I do not know how
to do this but I and probably many others would love to know how to change
this. Anyone have any ideas?

Hope this helps and thank you for any following posts.

Hi Doug,

In both scenarios you initially have a resource assigned at 20% assignment
units. [Based upon the assumption that 1 week = 40 hours, 1 day = 8 hours.]

For your first scenario set the task type to fixed work. Drop the duration
to 3 days and Project will recalculate the unit assignment to 33%.

In the second scenario set the task to fixed duration. Change the work and
Project will recalculate the unit assignment.

Please note that you cannot have both duration and work fixed on a single
task. Task types are either:
1) Fixed work. If you modify duration, Project will recalculate unit
assignment. If you modify unit assignment, Project will recalculate
duration. If you modify work, Project will recalculate duration.
2) Fixed Duration. If you modify units, Project changes work. If you
modify work, Project changes units. If you modify duration, project changes
work.
3) Fixed Units. If you modify work, project changes duration. If you
change duration, project changes work. If you modify units, project changes
duration.

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

Julie

If a task takes 8 hours to complete and is assigned to someone with a
duration of 1 week, and now we want to shorten the duration by 2 days, but
we
want the work to remain at 8 hours how can this be accomplished.

But at the same time we may want to adjust the work hours and still
maintain
the 1 week duration.

We would want to see in either scenario the resource units change, not the
aforementioned (work, duration) fields. Can this be accomplished?

 

[Rod Gill]

Tools, Options, Schedule type and select default task type. However in over
a decade of using Project I still find Fixed Units to be the most flexible
type.

--

Rod Gill
Project MVP
Visit www.msproject-systems.com for Project Companion Tools and more

I believe JuilieS's take on the issue takes advantage of Projects default
way
of operating, but I would be nice if all the entered tasks were of the
same
type. I've have taken a look at Doug's problem from the view perspective
of
making all tasks Fixed Duration. As JulieS stated this works for senario
2,
and I have found that it will work for senario 1, but not by default. When
the duration is changed, Work is automatically changed to accomodate this
but
a little green triange appears in the upper left corner of the cell.
Clicking
this and selecting the non-default setting returns Work to its original
setting and adjusts Resources accordingly. The best solution would be the
ability to change Project's default action. Unfortunately I do not know
how
to do this but I and probably many others would love to know how to change
this. Anyone have any ideas?

Hope this helps and thank you for any following posts.

Hi Doug,

In both scenarios you initially have a resource assigned at 20%
assignment
units. [Based upon the assumption that 1 week = 40 hours, 1 day = 8
hours.]

For your first scenario set the task type to fixed work. Drop the
duration
to 3 days and Project will recalculate the unit assignment to 33%.

In the second scenario set the task to fixed duration. Change the work
and
Project will recalculate the unit assignment.

Please note that you cannot have both duration and work fixed on a single
task. Task types are either:
1) Fixed work. If you modify duration, Project will recalculate unit
assignment. If you modify unit assignment, Project will recalculate
duration. If you modify work, Project will recalculate duration.
2) Fixed Duration. If you modify units, Project changes work. If you
modify work, Project changes units. If you modify duration, project
changes
work.
3) Fixed Units. If you modify work, project changes duration. If you
change duration, project changes work. If you modify units, project
changes
duration.

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

Julie

If a task takes 8 hours to complete and is assigned to someone with a
duration of 1 week, and now we want to shorten the duration by 2 days,
but
we
want the work to remain at 8 hours how can this be accomplished.

But at the same time we may want to adjust the work hours and still
maintain
the 1 week duration.

We would want to see in either scenario the resource units change, not
the
aforementioned (work, duration) fields. Can this be accomplished?

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Why should all tasks be of the same type? The task type is not an attribute
of the nature of the actual work being done - it is merely a switch that
Project provides you, the planner, to use so that when you edit a task
resource assignment the results are calculated in a manner consistent with
how you know the real world behaves. As such, a given task's task type
might change many times as the plan goes through various iterations to reach
the final schedule, dependinmg on the reason for the specific edit you're
making.

Project's actions are based on the mathematical identity Work = Duration *
Units and there is no way to disable it simply because doing so would
violate physical reality. Like the Law of Gravity or F=MA, that's a
description of the way the world's clockwork functions and is not something
subject to choice. You can freely choose what term to hold constant and
what term to edit, thereby choosing in the process what term to recalculate,
but you can't change the equation itself.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I believe JuilieS's take on the issue takes advantage of Projects default
way
of operating, but I would be nice if all the entered tasks were of the
same
type. I've have taken a look at Doug's problem from the view perspective
of
making all tasks Fixed Duration. As JulieS stated this works for senario
2,
and I have found that it will work for senario 1, but not by default. When
the duration is changed, Work is automatically changed to accomodate this
but
a little green triange appears in the upper left corner of the cell.
Clicking
this and selecting the non-default setting returns Work to its original
setting and adjusts Resources accordingly. The best solution would be the
ability to change Project's default action. Unfortunately I do not know
how
to do this but I and probably many others would love to know how to change
this. Anyone have any ideas?

Hope this helps and thank you for any following posts.

Hi Doug,

In both scenarios you initially have a resource assigned at 20%
assignment
units. [Based upon the assumption that 1 week = 40 hours, 1 day = 8
hours.]

For your first scenario set the task type to fixed work. Drop the
duration
to 3 days and Project will recalculate the unit assignment to 33%.

In the second scenario set the task to fixed duration. Change the work
and
Project will recalculate the unit assignment.

Please note that you cannot have both duration and work fixed on a single
task. Task types are either:
1) Fixed work. If you modify duration, Project will recalculate unit
assignment. If you modify unit assignment, Project will recalculate
duration. If you modify work, Project will recalculate duration.
2) Fixed Duration. If you modify units, Project changes work. If you
modify work, Project changes units. If you modify duration, project
changes
work.
3) Fixed Units. If you modify work, project changes duration. If you
change duration, project changes work. If you modify units, project
changes
duration.

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

Julie

If a task takes 8 hours to complete and is assigned to someone with a
duration of 1 week, and now we want to shorten the duration by 2 days,
but
we
want the work to remain at 8 hours how can this be accomplished.

But at the same time we may want to adjust the work hours and still
maintain
the 1 week duration.

We would want to see in either scenario the resource units change, not
the
aforementioned (work, duration) fields. Can this be accomplished?