How to not draw Saturday & Sunday?

[regattagirl]

For example: I have tasks that are 3 days that go over weekends and because
the weekends are drawn they look as if they are 5 days. I found where to
choose S, M, T...but I really want M, T, W....

Thanks,
regattagirl

 

[John]

For example: I have tasks that are 3 days that go over weekends and because
the weekends are drawn they look as if they are 5 days. I found where to
choose S, M, T...but I really want M, T, W....

Thanks,
regattagirl

regattagirl,
First, non-working days cannot be deleted entirely from the Gantt chart
but their appearance can be modified. If you do not want task bars to
show during non-working time, go to Format/Timescale/non-wroking time
tab. Set the option to have non-working time in front of the task bars.

You also mention that you want the week to start on Monday. For that
option go to Tools/Options/Calendar tab. The default for week start is
Sunday but it can be changed to any day of the week.



Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Newbie]

First, non-working days cannot be deleted entirely from the Gantt chart

That's got to be the stupidist thing about MS Project. If I want to view or
print 2 weeks everything has to shrink to fit the page because of 4
non-working weekend days that I don't even care about. Why would there not
be an option to hide the non-working days? Or maybe there is and I
misunderstood your response.

Thx.

Craig

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

You did not misunderstand. There is not.
HTH

 

[RA]

regattagirl,
First, non-working days cannot be deleted entirely from the Gantt chart
but their appearance can be modified. If you do not want task bars to
show during non-working time, go to Format/Timescale/non-wroking time
tab. Set the option to have non-working time in front of the task bars.

You also mention that you want the week to start on Monday. For that
option go to Tools/Options/Calendar tab. The default for week start is
Sunday but it can be changed to any day of the week.



Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

I don't have a non-working time tab under Format --> Timescale. I am
working with MS Project 2003. Is this functionality found under a different
menu?

 

[John]

I don't have a non-working time tab under Format --> Timescale. I am
working with MS Project 2003. Is this functionality found under a different
menu?

RA,
It doesn't really matter which version of Project you are using, if I
recall. even Project 4.x had the option for non-working time. At any
rate, when you go to Format/Timescale you should see a tab for
"Non-working time" on the far right of the Timescale window. If it truly
isn't there then I suspect your installation of Project is corrupt - you
should run "Detect and Repair" found under the Project Help menu.

John
Project MVP

 

[RA]

RA,
It doesn't really matter which version of Project you are using, if I
recall. even Project 4.x had the option for non-working time. At any
rate, when you go to Format/Timescale you should see a tab for
"Non-working time" on the far right of the Timescale window. If it truly
isn't there then I suspect your installation of Project is corrupt - you
should run "Detect and Repair" found under the Project Help menu.

John
Project MVP

Thanks John...I later found it when I was in the Gantt chart. The
non-working time tab just wasn't present in the Calendar view. I am trying
to set up the calendar so that tasks don't span non-working time. If a task
is 1.5 weeks, I would like the task bar to break after working hours on
Friday and start again on the following Monday. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks,

RA

 

[Mike Glen]

In the Calendar view, Format/Timescale/Week Heading tab and select Show week
with 5 days.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[RA]

In the Calendar view, Format/Timescale/Week Heading tab and select Show week
with 5 days.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

Mike,

I was hoping there would be a way that I could keep the weekends on the
calendar, grayed out as non-working time without having tasks span the
weekends. Also, even if I use the 5 day format, tasks will still span
holidays or other non-working time. Is there any way that the tasks,
calendar, time or project can be configured so that the tasks don't span
non-working time without lengthening the duration of the task? I really have
no idea why it would display the task as though it was being actively worked
on over non-working time.

Thanks,

RA

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi RA,

The only options for shading appear in Format/Timescale/Date Shading tab.
The Duration is not changed by the bar spanning the weekends as the Duration
is a measure of the WORKING time between start and Finish. The facility in
the Gantt Chart to put the non-working time shading in front of the bars is
not available in the Calendar view.


Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[John]

Thanks John...I later found it when I was in the Gantt chart. The
non-working time tab just wasn't present in the Calendar view. I am trying
to set up the calendar so that tasks don't span non-working time. If a task
is 1.5 weeks, I would like the task bar to break after working hours on
Friday and start again on the following Monday. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks,

RA

RA,
Wow, there seems to be a large number of posts recently concerning the
Calendar view. It must have some kind of "draw" that I just don't see.

To answer your latest question, the only way to "show" tasks not
spanning the non-working time is either on the Gantt View as I suggested
or on the Calendar view as Mike suggested.

I sense you have some confusion about task duration. Project normally
displays duration (the the Gantt bars that represent it) in working time
based on the Project or Task calendar. Work is not performed during
non-working hours of course but it was most likely easier for Project's
developers to set up Project's display with a continuous bar than to try
and break it up. However I might add that by using either the method I
described or the one Mike described, the Gantt bars are effectively
"hidden" during non-working time.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[RA]

Hi John and Mike,

Thanks for your help. Your suggestions led me to look at some menu options I
might not have happened upon or fully understood even if I did. I am using
the calendar view for reporting concurrent projects. That way if something
slides the impact to a service delivery date is immediately evident. If
there's some more effective way to do this with Project (probably something
really obvious), please let me know.

RA

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, RA

Have you had a look at the Tracking Gantt view?

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Also different tasks may have different non-working times. While the
company in general might stand-down over the weekend, the maintainance
department might be there around the clock - a task assigned to maintainance
might very well run over the weekend even if no one else in the company is
at work. So if you can have one and only only one out of all the possible
calendars control the appearance of the Calendar view, how do you pick? The
answer is, you don't worry about the fact that tasks are shown spanning the
generic non-working times - it's only a picture illustrating an
approximation of reality and of no consequence in the way the work really
gets done! No offense to regattagirl, but I think there comes a point when
you have to step back and ask yourself "Why does it really matter? It's
only a visual aid, not the arbiter of reality."

 

[John]

Hi John and Mike,

Thanks for your help. Your suggestions led me to look at some menu options I
might not have happened upon or fully understood even if I did. I am using
the calendar view for reporting concurrent projects. That way if something
slides the impact to a service delivery date is immediately evident. If
there's some more effective way to do this with Project (probably something
really obvious), please let me know.

RA

RA,
You're welcome. Your situation is probably the main reason I have little
use for the Calendar view - it is so limited in the amount of data it
can show that from my viewpoint it is essentially useless except for
very simple plan with a very limited number of tasks.

The Gantt display was conceived to graphically show a timeline of linked
activities that typically make up a project plan. It has been used
successfully by project managers for years and it has so much more
flexibility than a simple calendar type view. Granted, the Gantt display
in Project is not the most versatile and there are certainly add-ons
that have improved some aspects of the Gantt display but nonetheless,
the Gantt in Project is more than adequate for the great majority of
project management needs.

With regard to your comment about seeing whether a slipping activity
will impact a service date, Mike's suggestion for using the Tracking
Gantt is a good approach. I personally like to use critical path
analysis and the Total Slack field gives a very good metric for
assessing the impact of slips in the schedule. If you haven't worked
with critical paths or aren't familiar with the concept of total slack,
you can read more about them in the Project help file.

John
Project MVP