Need help on resource assugnements

[Steve Scott]

Hi, I have several thousand tasks that need to be updated and for each one I
need to do the following: Assign Person A at 50% effort to the task and
Person B at 50% so they are essentially doing half the work each. However,
when I try this on the following example I do not get the results I need.

Task is 19 days in duration but only has 2 hrs of work to be carried out
sometime in the 19 days. Task Type is Fixed units, Effort Driven. When I
open up the Resource Information dialog box and add in the two resources at
50 units each, the assigment at 50% effort is shown correctly in the Resource
names field; the work remains at 1hr, but the duration is shortened to 0.13
days (based on 8hr day) and the finish date comes in earlier accordingly.
How do I get to the results I need (ie the duration doesnt change) bearing in
mind I have several thousand tasks to update. I have tried changing the task
type to fixed duration and this does not help with my approach either.

 

[JulieS]

Hello Steve,

Sorry, the details of what you describe are impossible to achieve in
Project. The task duration, assignment units, and work are mathematically
related in Project and cannot be what you describe. A task cannot be 19 days
in duration, with two hours work, being performed by two resources assigned
at 50% assignment units. The formula is:

Duration * Assignment Units = Work

So, you can have a task with 19 days duration and two resource assigned at
50% and have 152 hours of work. D * U = W

OR

You can have a task with 19 days duration and two resources doing the two
hours of work (one hour each) both assigned at under 1% assignment:
D/W = U

Or

You can have a task with .13d duration, two resources assigned at 50% both
doing one hour of work:
W/U = D

Assigning resources at 50% does not mean they are doing half the work. What
a 50% assignment units means is that for every hour of duration that passes,
the resource only generates 30 minutes of effort for evey hour in duration.
If you want each resource to perform half of the work, enter in 1/2 of the
total work you estimate for the task for each resource when you assign them.

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

Julie