Making task dates tentative

[Kate]

Hi,
Is there anyway in MSProject 2003 that I can make the start/finish dates of
a task "tentative"? ie. the dates are tbc and not fixed. I would like to
report on these tasks from my project.

Thanks

 

[Steve House]

Jim's answer is a good one but just wanted to add a 'food for thought'
comment. Remember that Project's job is not to record the dates you think
you'll do some tasks, the task dates are NOT an input in other words. The
flow of information is in the opposite direction ... you tell Project what
you need to do, how long each task will take, and how all the pieces fit
together and then it tells YOU the dates when you should be planning to do
them if you kick off the process on a certain date. The task dates are an
OUTPUT, information Project gives to you, and not information you give to
Project.
HTH

 

[Kate]

Thanks Jim,
You've confirmed for me what I thought. I was aware of the estimated
duration and PERT analysis and it looks like that's the only way I'll be able
to report on estimated start dates.

Our estimates on task durations within our company are pretty accurate, so
that's not my concern. Our problem is that we're resource constrained, so
trying to schedule when tasks can start is our headache - ie determining
which tasks dates are "tentative" versus "absolute/fixed". Our key resources
span across many projects at once, so this is more a resource scheduling
issue and one I'm trying to get my head around.

We use Project Server, but found that our customised SQL reports give us
more useful information to help with resource scheduling. Will hopefully
work something out soon unless anyone has any other bright ideas.

Cheers for your help,
Kate

 

[Steve House]

If your resource calendars can accurately reflect when the various resources
are and are not available, Project's scheduling engine can do a good job of
calculating the task start and end dates for you (calculating those date for
you is what it's built to do, its reason for being). I've found one of the
greatest sources of frustration for newcomers to Project is when you try to
tell it the start and end dates you *want* for the tasks rather than letting
it tell you the start and end dates you *can have*. It is not really
intended to document a schedule you have already determined through some
other means; rather it's intended to generate the schedule from scratch.
You tell it what you need to do - the durations and the predecessor
relationships between the tasks - and what resources you have to do it with
(and when you have them) and it tells you the task's start and end dates you
can realistically expect to achieve. Remember that in Project task
schedules follow the resources and will only be scheduled for those dates
when the required resources are available to do the work, the resource
calendars being how it knows when that is. IMHO, any dates you see or
supply for tasks are completely meaningless until you have estimated
durations, created the required predecessor links to model the project's
process, and most importantly, assigned and leveled the resources.

Hope this helps

 

[Kate]

I assume you're referring to "Resource Levelling"?
I've always been so nervous doing that, especially as the plans don't belong
to me (I'm the Resource Mgr).

Is it possible to run resource levelling across multiple projects then so
that resources are taken into account across the board? How do I do that and
can it be done in draft first before I touch everyone's plans? (I assume all
project plans need to be open)

Thanks for your input

If your resource calendars can accurately reflect when the various resources
are and are not available, Project's scheduling engine can do a good job of
calculating the task start and end dates for you (calculating those date for
you is what it's built to do, its reason for being). I've found one of the
greatest sources of frustration for newcomers to Project is when you try to
tell it the start and end dates you *want* for the tasks rather than letting
it tell you the start and end dates you *can have*. It is not really
intended to document a schedule you have already determined through some
other means; rather it's intended to generate the schedule from scratch.
You tell it what you need to do - the durations and the predecessor
relationships between the tasks - and what resources you have to do it with
(and when you have them) and it tells you the task's start and end dates you
can realistically expect to achieve. Remember that in Project task
schedules follow the resources and will only be scheduled for those dates
when the required resources are available to do the work, the resource
calendars being how it knows when that is. IMHO, any dates you see or
supply for tasks are completely meaningless until you have estimated
durations, created the required predecessor links to model the project's
process, and most importantly, assigned and leveled the resources.

Hope this helps


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

Thanks Jim,
You've confirmed for me what I thought. I was aware of the estimated
duration and PERT analysis and it looks like that's the only way I'll be
able
to report on estimated start dates.

Our estimates on task durations within our company are pretty accurate, so
that's not my concern. Our problem is that we're resource constrained, so
trying to schedule when tasks can start is our headache - ie determining
which tasks dates are "tentative" versus "absolute/fixed". Our key
resources
span across many projects at once, so this is more a resource scheduling
issue and one I'm trying to get my head around.

We use Project Server, but found that our customised SQL reports give us
more useful information to help with resource scheduling. Will hopefully
work something out soon unless anyone has any other bright ideas.

Cheers for your help,
Kate

 

[Steve House]

Yes, if you have a resource pool and are linking the various project files
to it to draw from the common pool then leveling does work across the entire
set. Your assumption is correct. So just make a copy of the relevant files
and use the copies for your experiments before you do it 'for real.'
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I assume you're referring to "Resource Levelling"?
I've always been so nervous doing that, especially as the plans don't
belong
to me (I'm the Resource Mgr).

Is it possible to run resource levelling across multiple projects then so
that resources are taken into account across the board? How do I do that
and
can it be done in draft first before I touch everyone's plans? (I assume
all
project plans need to be open)

Thanks for your input

If your resource calendars can accurately reflect when the various
resources
are and are not available, Project's scheduling engine can do a good job
of
calculating the task start and end dates for you (calculating those date
for
you is what it's built to do, its reason for being). I've found one of
the
greatest sources of frustration for newcomers to Project is when you try
to
tell it the start and end dates you *want* for the tasks rather than
letting
it tell you the start and end dates you *can have*. It is not really
intended to document a schedule you have already determined through some
other means; rather it's intended to generate the schedule from scratch.
You tell it what you need to do - the durations and the predecessor
relationships between the tasks - and what resources you have to do it
with
(and when you have them) and it tells you the task's start and end dates
you
can realistically expect to achieve. Remember that in Project task
schedules follow the resources and will only be scheduled for those dates
when the required resources are available to do the work, the resource
calendars being how it knows when that is. IMHO, any dates you see or
supply for tasks are completely meaningless until you have estimated
durations, created the required predecessor links to model the project's
process, and most importantly, assigned and leveled the resources.

Hope this helps


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

Thanks Jim,
You've confirmed for me what I thought. I was aware of the estimated
duration and PERT analysis and it looks like that's the only way I'll
be
able
to report on estimated start dates.

Our estimates on task durations within our company are pretty accurate,
so
that's not my concern. Our problem is that we're resource constrained,
so
trying to schedule when tasks can start is our headache - ie
determining
which tasks dates are "tentative" versus "absolute/fixed". Our key
resources
span across many projects at once, so this is more a resource
scheduling
issue and one I'm trying to get my head around.

We use Project Server, but found that our customised SQL reports give
us
more useful information to help with resource scheduling. Will
hopefully
work something out soon unless anyone has any other bright ideas.

Cheers for your help,
Kate

:

You can make the durations "estimated." Insert the Estimated Column
into
your file.
For all tasks with estimated durations, you can set the Estimated
field
to
"Yes" and then filter on that.

However, I do not know of a way to tell project ... "I might start
this
task
on next Monday but I am not sure." Project is not going to be able to
give
you estimated start dates like that... it needs to know predecessor
tasks
and
when you think they will finish. You cannot enter a range of dates
for
finsih (or start for that matter).

What it can do is link the tasks together. So, if you have TaskB as
successor to TaskA... TaskA would have some type of start date (you
may
have
a constraint on it such as Start No Earlier Than Monday 4/2/2007) with
an
estimated duration of 5 days. Estimated durations have a question
mark
to
identify them: "5d?"

Since the duration of TaskA is estimated, then Project will show TaskB
starting on 4/9. Your argument is that this date is estimated since a
predecessor has an estimated duration.

One other thing that might help you is a triple time estimate for the
tasks.
Task Estimating using this method requires each task manager to
provide
an
optimistic, most likely and pessimistic duration for a task. You can
enter
all three of these into project using PERT Analysis Toolbar
(View/Toolbars...). Select a task in question. With the task
selected,
click on the PERT Entry form button. Enter the triple time estimate.

What Project will schedule is a task duration that is weighted in
accordance
with the values you input for the three time estimates. You may
adjust
the
weighting clicking on the PERT Weights icon of the PERT Analysis
Toolbar.
There is a wealth of information available in help for PERT Analysis.
This
is the tip of the iceberg and how I make a lot of money in my day
job....

In short, your schedule is without value unless participants are
willing
to
stand up to the durations they bid to do the job. You need to have
your
task
managers make firm commitments.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim
It's software; it's not allowed to win.


:

Hi,
Is there anyway in MSProject 2003 that I can make the start/finish
dates of
a task "tentative"? ie. the dates are tbc and not fixed. I would
like
to
report on these tasks from my project.

Thanks