How to specify?

[SoftwareTester]

I have several tasks that have to be done within 21 days but each task will
just take a few hours work. Most of the tasks will be done by a single
resource, but 1 task has 2 resources.

Task 1 start 01/01/2010 lasts 21 days maximum, takes 4 hours, resource A
Task 2 start 01/01/2010 lasts 21 days maximum, takes 3 hours, resource
A, B
Task 3 start 01/01/2010 lasts 21 days maximum, takes 2 hours, resource A

How do I specify this?

 

[Rob Schneider]

The tasks themselves would be:
Fixed Duration=21d (because you specified)
Work: 4h (because you specified)
Assigned Resources: A for Task 1, A and B for task 2, and A for Task 3
(again because you said so)

Uncheck "effort driven" (because per your spec the tasks are not "effort
driven")

Remembering the project triangle: unit x work x duration, you fix one
(duration), input a second (work), and Project computes the third
(unit). you'll see that Project computes units for each resource which
spreads their work hours across the 21 day duration.

Be careful about setting the start dates. I'm assuming you have more
than just these three tasks in your plans. Surely they start as
successors to other tasks which are, per the schedule, finishing on
1/1/2001. If this is the case, do not set the start date and instead
just set these above as successors. However, if in fact these are the
only three tasks in the plan, then what I would do is still not set the
start date of these tasks and instead set the project start date in
Project as 1/1/2010.

Would recommend you crack open a good book on Project.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com