Need help re working hours

[Larry E]

I change working hours in the general working hours and/or in tools-change
working time but when I enter the hours for a task, the gantt chart does not
match. For example, I want a 24 hour around the clock job but when I enter
12 hrs for a task, it looks like 3 days on the gantt. Every option I try, I
cannot get the gantt to reflect the time I enter. Please, anyone? I'm at my
wits end and almost threw my laptop off the balcony.

 

[JulieS]

Hello Larry,

I hope I'm in time to save your laptop! Check a couple of things:

In Project > Project Information have you set the 24Hours calendar as
the calendar for the project?
In Tools > Options, Calendar tab - have you set the default start and
end to 12:00 am?
In Tools > Options, Calendar - is hours per day set to 24 and hours per
week set to 168?
Have you assigned resources to the task? What base calendar are they
using?

When you note you enter "12 hrs for a task" are you entering work or
duration?

Take a look at FAQ #5 "Default Working Hours" at
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Larry E]

Julie,

Thank you so much for your reply.

Just for background - I have a preliminary schedule for a project with 45
activities. Based on standard calendar and entering durations everything
looks fine.

When I started having trouble going to 24 hour working time, I started
playing with a very small new project so that I wouldn't mess my file up.
So, now I keep experimenting with a simple portion of the project with 8
tasks.

Ok, I followed your steps even before entering a task in the gantt view.

In Project > Project Information have you set the 24Hours calendar as the
calendar for the project?
Yes, I did this first.
In Tools > Options, Calendar tab - have you set the default start and end to
12:00 am?
Yes, I did this second.
In Tools > Options, Calendar - is hours per day set to 24 and hours per week
set to 168?
Yes, I did this third.

Have you assigned resources to the task? What base calendar are they
using?
No, I have not assigned any resources as of now.
When you note you enter "12 hrs for a task" are you entering work or duration?
I am entering duration.

After doing all this, I enter durations. For task 1, 4 hrs looks like no
time on the gantt calendar; for tasks 2 and 3, 4 hrs looks like 12 hours on
the gantt calendar; for task 4, 4 hrs looks like no time on the gantt
calendar.

Sorry Julie, I feel like an idiot and I am sure I am doing something
incorrect that is simple to correct. I've never had serious problems with
Project 2003 that I haven't been able to fix myself after playing around.
This is the first time I've tried to put together a schedule double shifting
and working around the clock, though.

Thanks again for your reply and help.

Larry (still frustrated, laptop still intact)

 

[JulieS]

Larry, my comments are inline.

Julie

Julie,

Thank you so much for your reply.

[Julie] You're most welcome.

Just for background - I have a preliminary schedule for a project with
45
activities. Based on standard calendar and entering durations
everything
looks fine.

[Julie] Yes, it does and bear in mind that the "bias" towards Standard
calendar in the product leads many to have difficulty doing things in a
"non-standard" sort of way.

When I started having trouble going to 24 hour working time, I started
playing with a very small new project so that I wouldn't mess my file
up.
So, now I keep experimenting with a simple portion of the project with
8
tasks.
Ok, I followed your steps even before entering a task in the gantt
view.

In Project > Project Information have you set the 24Hours calendar as
the
calendar for the project?
Yes, I did this first.
In Tools > Options, Calendar tab - have you set the default start and
end to
12:00 am?
Yes, I did this second.
In Tools > Options, Calendar - is hours per day set to 24 and hours
per week
set to 168?
Yes, I did this third.

[Julie] All looks wonderful!

Have you assigned resources to the task? What base calendar are they
using?
No, I have not assigned any resources as of now.

[Julie] Thanks for the information. You will want to pay attention
when you create resources however. Most likely you'll have folks who
*don't* work 24 hours per day. Be sure to create additional base
calendars (2nd Shift, 3rd shift) as needed and set the correct base
calendar for each resource as you create them.

When you note you enter "12 hrs for a task" are you entering work or
duration?
I am entering duration.

After doing all this, I enter durations. For task 1, 4 hrs looks like
no
time on the gantt calendar; for tasks 2 and 3, 4 hrs looks like 12
hours on
the gantt calendar; for task 4, 4 hrs looks like no time on the gantt
calendar.

[Julie] Ah, we may be getting somewhere with these comments. The Gantt
chart view does *look* very odd with a 24 hours schedule. The important
issue is what are the start and finish dates and times for your tasks?
Are they showing correctly? If they are, all is well and you just need
to tweak the Gantt chart view. If they aren't we need to do some more
checking about. But first, let's assume the calculations are good, it's
the display that's bad:

First, set the background of your Gantt chart to show the non-working
times from the 24Hours calendar, not Standard. (Right click in the
background and select Non-working time from the shortcut menu)

Then turn off bar rounding through Format > Layout and uncheck "Round
bars to whole days"

Do things look better?

Sorry Julie, I feel like an idiot and I am sure I am doing something
incorrect that is simple to correct. I've never had serious problems
with
Project 2003 that I haven't been able to fix myself after playing
around.
This is the first time I've tried to put together a schedule double
shifting
and working around the clock, though.

[Julie] Please, don't apologize and certainly don't ever feel like an
idiot when it comes to Project! Not a intuitive tool by any stretch.
As I noted above, doing things in a non-"standard" way is when Project
gets more challenging.

Thanks again for your reply and help.

Larry (still frustrated, laptop still intact)

[Julie] You're welcome. I'm still rooting for both you and the laptop.
Let us know how you get along.

Best,
Julie

 

[Larry E]

Thank you Julie! The pavement below my condo will not be a crimescene with a
chalk outline in the shape of a computer.

Followed all your suggestions. Eliminating rounding was the final blow that
won this little battle.

Much thanks from British Columbia, Canada.

Larry

Larry, my comments are inline.

Julie

Julie,

Thank you so much for your reply.

[Julie] You're most welcome.

Just for background - I have a preliminary schedule for a project with
45
activities. Based on standard calendar and entering durations
everything
looks fine.

[Julie] Yes, it does and bear in mind that the "bias" towards Standard
calendar in the product leads many to have difficulty doing things in a
"non-standard" sort of way.

When I started having trouble going to 24 hour working time, I started
playing with a very small new project so that I wouldn't mess my file
up.
So, now I keep experimenting with a simple portion of the project with
8
tasks.
Ok, I followed your steps even before entering a task in the gantt
view.

In Project > Project Information have you set the 24Hours calendar as
the
calendar for the project?
Yes, I did this first.
In Tools > Options, Calendar tab - have you set the default start and
end to
12:00 am?
Yes, I did this second.
In Tools > Options, Calendar - is hours per day set to 24 and hours
per week
set to 168?
Yes, I did this third.

[Julie] All looks wonderful!

Have you assigned resources to the task? What base calendar are they
using?
No, I have not assigned any resources as of now.

[Julie] Thanks for the information. You will want to pay attention
when you create resources however. Most likely you'll have folks who
*don't* work 24 hours per day. Be sure to create additional base
calendars (2nd Shift, 3rd shift) as needed and set the correct base
calendar for each resource as you create them.

When you note you enter "12 hrs for a task" are you entering work or
duration?
I am entering duration.

After doing all this, I enter durations. For task 1, 4 hrs looks like
no
time on the gantt calendar; for tasks 2 and 3, 4 hrs looks like 12
hours on
the gantt calendar; for task 4, 4 hrs looks like no time on the gantt
calendar.

[Julie] Ah, we may be getting somewhere with these comments. The Gantt
chart view does *look* very odd with a 24 hours schedule. The important
issue is what are the start and finish dates and times for your tasks?
Are they showing correctly? If they are, all is well and you just need
to tweak the Gantt chart view. If they aren't we need to do some more
checking about. But first, let's assume the calculations are good, it's
the display that's bad:

First, set the background of your Gantt chart to show the non-working
times from the 24Hours calendar, not Standard. (Right click in the
background and select Non-working time from the shortcut menu)

Then turn off bar rounding through Format > Layout and uncheck "Round
bars to whole days"

Do things look better?

Sorry Julie, I feel like an idiot and I am sure I am doing something
incorrect that is simple to correct. I've never had serious problems
with
Project 2003 that I haven't been able to fix myself after playing
around.
This is the first time I've tried to put together a schedule double
shifting
and working around the clock, though.

[Julie] Please, don't apologize and certainly don't ever feel like an
idiot when it comes to Project! Not a intuitive tool by any stretch.
As I noted above, doing things in a non-"standard" way is when Project
gets more challenging.

Thanks again for your reply and help.

Larry (still frustrated, laptop still intact)

[Julie] You're welcome. I'm still rooting for both you and the laptop.
Let us know how you get along.

Best,
Julie

 

[JulieS]

You're most welcome Larry. Glad I could help and thanks for the
feedback. It's good to know the laptop will live to compute another
day!

Julie

Thank you Julie! The pavement below my condo will not be a crimescene
with a
chalk outline in the shape of a computer.

Followed all your suggestions. Eliminating rounding was the final
blow that
won this little battle.

Much thanks from British Columbia, Canada.

Larry

Larry, my comments are inline.

Julie

Julie,

Thank you so much for your reply.

[Julie] You're most welcome.

Just for background - I have a preliminary schedule for a project
with
45
activities. Based on standard calendar and entering durations
everything
looks fine.

[Julie] Yes, it does and bear in mind that the "bias" towards
Standard
calendar in the product leads many to have difficulty doing things in
a
"non-standard" sort of way.

When I started having trouble going to 24 hour working time, I
started
playing with a very small new project so that I wouldn't mess my
file
up.
So, now I keep experimenting with a simple portion of the project
with
8
tasks.
Ok, I followed your steps even before entering a task in the gantt
view.

In Project > Project Information have you set the 24Hours calendar
as
the
calendar for the project?
Yes, I did this first.
In Tools > Options, Calendar tab - have you set the default start
and
end to
12:00 am?
Yes, I did this second.
In Tools > Options, Calendar - is hours per day set to 24 and hours
per week
set to 168?
Yes, I did this third.

[Julie] All looks wonderful!

Have you assigned resources to the task? What base calendar are
they
using?
No, I have not assigned any resources as of now.

[Julie] Thanks for the information. You will want to pay attention
when you create resources however. Most likely you'll have folks who
*don't* work 24 hours per day. Be sure to create additional base
calendars (2nd Shift, 3rd shift) as needed and set the correct base
calendar for each resource as you create them.

When you note you enter "12 hrs for a task" are you entering work
or
duration?
I am entering duration.

After doing all this, I enter durations. For task 1, 4 hrs looks
like
no
time on the gantt calendar; for tasks 2 and 3, 4 hrs looks like 12
hours on
the gantt calendar; for task 4, 4 hrs looks like no time on the
gantt
calendar.

[Julie] Ah, we may be getting somewhere with these comments. The
Gantt
chart view does *look* very odd with a 24 hours schedule. The
important
issue is what are the start and finish dates and times for your
tasks?
Are they showing correctly? If they are, all is well and you just
need
to tweak the Gantt chart view. If they aren't we need to do some
more
checking about. But first, let's assume the calculations are good,
it's
the display that's bad:

First, set the background of your Gantt chart to show the non-working
times from the 24Hours calendar, not Standard. (Right click in the
background and select Non-working time from the shortcut menu)

Then turn off bar rounding through Format > Layout and uncheck "Round
bars to whole days"

Do things look better?

Sorry Julie, I feel like an idiot and I am sure I am doing
something
incorrect that is simple to correct. I've never had serious
problems
with
Project 2003 that I haven't been able to fix myself after playing
around.
This is the first time I've tried to put together a schedule double
shifting
and working around the clock, though.

[Julie] Please, don't apologize and certainly don't ever feel like an
idiot when it comes to Project! Not a intuitive tool by any stretch.
As I noted above, doing things in a non-"standard" way is when
Project
gets more challenging.

Thanks again for your reply and help.

Larry (still frustrated, laptop still intact)

[Julie] You're welcome. I'm still rooting for both you and the
laptop.
Let us know how you get along.

Best,
Julie

:

Hello Larry,

I hope I'm in time to save your laptop! Check a couple of things:

In Project > Project Information have you set the 24Hours calendar
as
the calendar for the project?
In Tools > Options, Calendar tab - have you set the default start
and
end to 12:00 am?
In Tools > Options, Calendar - is hours per day set to 24 and
hours
per
week set to 168?
Have you assigned resources to the task? What base calendar are
they
using?

When you note you enter "12 hrs for a task" are you entering work
or
duration?

Take a look at FAQ #5 "Default Working Hours" at
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


I change working hours in the general working hours and/or in
tools-change
working time but when I enter the hours for a task, the gantt
chart
does not
match. For example, I want a 24 hour around the clock job but
when
I
enter
12 hrs for a task, it looks like 3 days on the gantt. Every
option
I
try, I
cannot get the gantt to reflect the time I enter. Please,
anyone?
I'm at my
wits end and almost threw my laptop off the balcony.

 

[Steve House]

Now that you've figured out how to resolve your issues, consider the
implications of using the 24 hours work schedule after all. If you use the
24 calendar and day a task has 72 hours duration, that once it starts work
will procede on it for 3 24-hour calendar days without interruption. And
that it turn means the person or persons assigned to the task will work
continuously for the full duration of the task. Machines may work 24/7 but
people need breaks, meals, and sleep. That's why I hold the view that
although the firm may operate 24/7 and so work on some of the project's
tasks might go around the clock, since tasks are typically broken down to
define the assigned to one resource or a team that works together as a unit,
most tasks will go on for only one of the shifts on any given 24-hour
workday, being interrupted when the one guy or team assigned to them goes
home for the day and resuming the next day when they return. Therefore the
project calendar should represent the most common work schedule of a single
generic individual working on the project. Resource calendars are used to
adjust the timing for those tasks where it is done by people from more than
one shift. A 24-hour task assigned to one guy from day shift thus would be
scheduled for 8 hours per day from, say, Mon 8am to Wed 5pm but if you add a
swing shift and a grave shift worker to it it will run from 8am Mon to 8am
Tue. It's sometimes argued that "we have tasks done continuously by all
shifts around the clock that last for days or weeks" and while that may
rarely be true, in almost all cases that I've heard of that argument, it is
an illusion caused by lumping together what really should be individually
scheduled as many smaller tasks into one big task.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Thank you Julie! The pavement below my condo will not be a crimescene
with a
chalk outline in the shape of a computer.

Followed all your suggestions. Eliminating rounding was the final blow
that
won this little battle.

Much thanks from British Columbia, Canada.

Larry

Larry, my comments are inline.

Julie

Julie,

Thank you so much for your reply.

[Julie] You're most welcome.

Just for background - I have a preliminary schedule for a project with
45
activities. Based on standard calendar and entering durations
everything
looks fine.

[Julie] Yes, it does and bear in mind that the "bias" towards Standard
calendar in the product leads many to have difficulty doing things in a
"non-standard" sort of way.

When I started having trouble going to 24 hour working time, I started
playing with a very small new project so that I wouldn't mess my file
up.
So, now I keep experimenting with a simple portion of the project with
8
tasks.
Ok, I followed your steps even before entering a task in the gantt
view.

In Project > Project Information have you set the 24Hours calendar as
the
calendar for the project?
Yes, I did this first.
In Tools > Options, Calendar tab - have you set the default start and
end to
12:00 am?
Yes, I did this second.
In Tools > Options, Calendar - is hours per day set to 24 and hours
per week
set to 168?
Yes, I did this third.

[Julie] All looks wonderful!

Have you assigned resources to the task? What base calendar are they
using?
No, I have not assigned any resources as of now.

[Julie] Thanks for the information. You will want to pay attention
when you create resources however. Most likely you'll have folks who
*don't* work 24 hours per day. Be sure to create additional base
calendars (2nd Shift, 3rd shift) as needed and set the correct base
calendar for each resource as you create them.

When you note you enter "12 hrs for a task" are you entering work or
duration?
I am entering duration.

After doing all this, I enter durations. For task 1, 4 hrs looks like
no
time on the gantt calendar; for tasks 2 and 3, 4 hrs looks like 12
hours on
the gantt calendar; for task 4, 4 hrs looks like no time on the gantt
calendar.

[Julie] Ah, we may be getting somewhere with these comments. The Gantt
chart view does *look* very odd with a 24 hours schedule. The important
issue is what are the start and finish dates and times for your tasks?
Are they showing correctly? If they are, all is well and you just need
to tweak the Gantt chart view. If they aren't we need to do some more
checking about. But first, let's assume the calculations are good, it's
the display that's bad:

First, set the background of your Gantt chart to show the non-working
times from the 24Hours calendar, not Standard. (Right click in the
background and select Non-working time from the shortcut menu)

Then turn off bar rounding through Format > Layout and uncheck "Round
bars to whole days"

Do things look better?

Sorry Julie, I feel like an idiot and I am sure I am doing something
incorrect that is simple to correct. I've never had serious problems
with
Project 2003 that I haven't been able to fix myself after playing
around.
This is the first time I've tried to put together a schedule double
shifting
and working around the clock, though.

[Julie] Please, don't apologize and certainly don't ever feel like an
idiot when it comes to Project! Not a intuitive tool by any stretch.
As I noted above, doing things in a non-"standard" way is when Project
gets more challenging.

Thanks again for your reply and help.

Larry (still frustrated, laptop still intact)

[Julie] You're welcome. I'm still rooting for both you and the laptop.
Let us know how you get along.

Best,
Julie

:

Hello Larry,

I hope I'm in time to save your laptop! Check a couple of things:

In Project > Project Information have you set the 24Hours calendar as
the calendar for the project?
In Tools > Options, Calendar tab - have you set the default start and
end to 12:00 am?
In Tools > Options, Calendar - is hours per day set to 24 and hours
per
week set to 168?
Have you assigned resources to the task? What base calendar are they
using?

When you note you enter "12 hrs for a task" are you entering work or
duration?

Take a look at FAQ #5 "Default Working Hours" at
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project


I change working hours in the general working hours and/or in
tools-change
working time but when I enter the hours for a task, the gantt chart
does not
match. For example, I want a 24 hour around the clock job but when
I
enter
12 hrs for a task, it looks like 3 days on the gantt. Every option
I
try, I
cannot get the gantt to reflect the time I enter. Please, anyone?
I'm at my
wits end and almost threw my laptop off the balcony.

 

[Markarina]

Think this is down to the fact that project uses project time (set under
tools->options->calendar) for calculating duration and does not use working
time, a possible way round this is to set resource units to 300% this should
help

 

[Steve House]

Calendar time IS working time, that's why they're called working time
calendars. If I work a normal 8-hour shift, I have 8 hours of working time
during each 24 hour calendar day not including weekends. If I say a task
will require me 24 hours to accomplish and starts Monday morning, I'll need
to work on it 8 hours Monday, 8 hours Tuesday, and 8 hours Wednesday to
complete it. If I want it to be a round the clock job, starting Monday AM
and finishing Tuesday AM I'll need a total of three resources, one from each
of the three shifts involved - with a very few exceptions it's against the
law to work a single individual resource 24 hours solid without a break.
When I assign Joe Dayshift, Mary Swingshift, and Fred Graveshift, each with
a resource calendar that describes their true hours of work, to my 24 hour
duration task that's exactly what I'll get.

 

[Markarina]

Agreed you can only work so many hours in a day, I've come across a similar
problem in that we US and UK based engineers, UK work 7.5 hours and US work
8 hours per day, on a UK based project we set the project working time to
37.5 hours per week, 5 days per week, 7.5 hours per day. I've then defined a
US engineer calendar with working time set such that it adds up to 40hrs per
week, 8 hours a day ... and have yet to get project to recognise that a US
resource can work 8 hours, just by using a non standard calendar, the only
way I have found to date s to change the resource units for the US resource
to 107%

Calendar time IS working time, that's why they're called working time
calendars. If I work a normal 8-hour shift, I have 8 hours of working
time during each 24 hour calendar day not including weekends. If I say a
task will require me 24 hours to accomplish and starts Monday morning,
I'll need to work on it 8 hours Monday, 8 hours Tuesday, and 8 hours
Wednesday to complete it. If I want it to be a round the clock job,
starting Monday AM and finishing Tuesday AM I'll need a total of three
resources, one from each of the three shifts involved - with a very few
exceptions it's against the law to work a single individual resource 24
hours solid without a break. When I assign Joe Dayshift, Mary Swingshift,
and Fred Graveshift, each with a resource calendar that describes their
true hours of work, to my 24 hour duration task that's exactly what I'll
get.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Think this is down to the fact that project uses project time (set under
tools->options->calendar) for calculating duration and does not use
working time, a possible way round this is to set resource units to 300%
this should help

 

[JulieS]

Hello Markarina,

I believe you are confusing Work and Duration. It sounds as though you
have modified your project calendar to 7.5 hours per day, 37.5 hours per
week through Tools > Change Working Time as well as defined a day as 7.5
hours and a week as 37.5 hours in Tools > Options.

When you enter a task as a duration of 1d Project will schedule the task
for 7.5 hours as that is what you defined a day to mean in Tools >
Options. When you simply assign a US resource, project will calculate
7.5 hours of work based upon 1day duration (7.5 hrs) * 100% assignment
units. If you want the US resource to work 8 hours, enter the 8 hours
of work and the duration of the task will change to 1.07 days. What you
are doing by increasing the assignment units of the resource is saying
that the resource can generate 1.07 hours of effort for every 1 hour of
duration which passes (8 hours of work in 7.5 hours duration). It will
take the resource 8 hours (1.07 days) to generate 8 hours of effort.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

Agreed you can only work so many hours in a day, I've come across a
similar problem in that we US and UK based engineers, UK work 7.5
hours and US work 8 hours per day, on a UK based project we set the
project working time to 37.5 hours per week, 5 days per week, 7.5
hours per day. I've then defined a US engineer calendar with working
time set such that it adds up to 40hrs per week, 8 hours a day ... and
have yet to get project to recognise that a US resource can work 8
hours, just by using a non standard calendar, the only way I have
found to date s to change the resource units for the US resource to
107%

Calendar time IS working time, that's why they're called working time
calendars. If I work a normal 8-hour shift, I have 8 hours of
working time during each 24 hour calendar day not including weekends.
If I say a task will require me 24 hours to accomplish and starts
Monday morning, I'll need to work on it 8 hours Monday, 8 hours
Tuesday, and 8 hours Wednesday to complete it. If I want it to be a
round the clock job, starting Monday AM and finishing Tuesday AM I'll
need a total of three resources, one from each of the three shifts
involved - with a very few exceptions it's against the law to work a
single individual resource 24 hours solid without a break. When I
assign Joe Dayshift, Mary Swingshift, and Fred Graveshift, each with
a resource calendar that describes their true hours of work, to my 24
hour duration task that's exactly what I'll get.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Think this is down to the fact that project uses project time (set
under tools->options->calendar) for calculating duration and does
not use working time, a possible way round this is to set resource
units to 300% this should help
I change working hours in the general working hours and/or in
tools-change
working time but when I enter the hours for a task, the gantt chart
does not
match. For example, I want a 24 hour around the clock job but when
I enter
12 hrs for a task, it looks like 3 days on the gantt. Every option
I try, I
cannot get the gantt to reflect the time I enter. Please, anyone?
I'm at my
wits end and almost threw my laptop off the balcony.

 

[Markarina]

Julie - I wish I was confusing the two, cutting it down to the basic
problem, what we want to see is when we assign a US resource to an 8
hour work task the duration comes to 1 day and not 1.07days, or that
when we assign a US resource to a 7.5 hour work task the duration is
0.94 days.

Though we are also considering the saying that as the work is the same
regardless of the resource it has no impact on monitoring cost, and
that unless the project is very long then ignore the difference and go
with a day length applicable to the majority of resources.

Mark

Hello Markarina,

I believe you are confusing Work and Duration. It sounds as though you
have modified your project calendar to 7.5 hours per day, 37.5 hours per
week through Tools > Change Working Time as well as defined a day as 7.5
hours and a week as 37.5 hours in Tools > Options.

When you enter a task as a duration of 1d Project will schedule the task
for 7.5 hours as that is what you defined a day to mean in Tools >
Options. When you simply assign a US resource, project will calculate
7.5 hours of work based upon 1day duration (7.5 hrs) * 100% assignment
units. If you want the US resource to work 8 hours, enter the 8 hours
of work and the duration of the task will change to 1.07 days. What you
are doing by increasing the assignment units of the resource is saying
that the resource can generate 1.07 hours of effort for every 1 hour of
duration which passes (8 hours of work in 7.5 hours duration). It will
take the resource 8 hours (1.07 days) to generate 8 hours of effort.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visithttp://project.mvps.org/for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

Agreed you can only work so many hours in a day, I've come across a
similar problem in that we US and UK based engineers, UK work 7.5
hours and US work 8 hours per day, on a UK based project we set the
project working time to 37.5 hours per week, 5 days per week, 7.5
hours per day. I've then defined a US engineer calendar with working
time set such that it adds up to 40hrs per week, 8 hours a day ... and
have yet to get project to recognise that a US resource can work 8
hours, just by using a non standard calendar, the only way I have
found to date s to change the resource units for the US resource to
107%

Calendar time IS working time, that's why they're called working time
calendars. If I work a normal 8-hour shift, I have 8 hours of
working time during each 24 hour calendar day not including weekends.
If I say a task will require me 24 hours to accomplish and starts
Monday morning, I'll need to work on it 8 hours Monday, 8 hours
Tuesday, and 8 hours Wednesday to complete it. If I want it to be a
round the clock job, starting Monday AM and finishing Tuesday AM I'll
need a total of three resources, one from each of the three shifts
involved - with a very few exceptions it's against the law to work a
single individual resource 24 hours solid without a break. When I
assign Joe Dayshift, Mary Swingshift, and Fred Graveshift, each with
a resource calendar that describes their true hours of work, to my 24
hour duration task that's exactly what I'll get.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visithttp://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htmfor the FAQs
Think this is down to the fact that project uses project time (set
under tools->options->calendar) for calculating duration and does
not use working time, a possible way round this is to set resource
units to 300% this should help
I change working hours in the general working hours and/or in
tools-change
working time but when I enter the hours for a task, the gantt chart
does not
match. For example, I want a 24 hour around the clock job but when
I enter
12 hrs for a task, it looks like 3 days on the gantt. Every option
I try, I
cannot get the gantt to reflect the time I enter. Please, anyone?
I'm at my
wits end and almost threw my laptop off the balcony.

 

[JulieS]

Hello Mark,

I'm sorry, Project just doesn't work that way. You have defined a "day"
to mean 7.5 hours so if a resource is working 8 hours, there is no way
for Project to "round" the duration value to a day. Certainly on a
single task, the .50 hours is not going to make a huge difference, but
if you wish the resource to work 8 hours not 7.5 hours on tens of tasks,
then eventually the total work on the project and therefore the cost
will make a difference.

The amount of work on the task is calculated on Duration * units = Work.
If you assign a US resource to a one day (7.5 hour) duration task, at
100% assignment units, then project will calculate 7.5 hours of work.
If you want the resource to work 8 hours, enter the 8 hours of work and
Project will calculate the duration of the task to 1.07 days.

Project doesn't understand the idea of the "majority" of resources when
showing duration calculation. Project's level of calculation is a
minute and only shows us mere mortals duration in "days" to make things
a bit easier to grasp but we only get to define how many hours are in a
"day" once per project.

At this point, I can see only two ways out:

If you are to the point in saying that the work is the same, I guess I
would suggest changing the US resource's calendar to only allow 7.5
hours per day. Then there is no issue 7.5 hours of work is a "day".

Alternatively, convert the durations to hours through Tools > Macro

Macros and run the Format Duration macro. Also set the "Duration is

entered in" on the Schedule tab of the Tools > Options dialog box to
hours.

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

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Steve House]

It'll recognize the various calendars no problem. Where the problem comes
about is in using units of "days" and "weeks" to describe durations.
Project actually does all its work in minutes to the nearest 10th. When you
say that a task has a duration of "xx days" it has to convert that value
into minutes and there only has one project level setting of the number of
hours in a standard day and standard week to work with. Stop thinking of
durations in terms of calendar days or weeks and instead think work hours
and your issues will disappear.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Agreed you can only work so many hours in a day, I've come across a
similar problem in that we US and UK based engineers, UK work 7.5 hours
and US work 8 hours per day, on a UK based project we set the project
working time to 37.5 hours per week, 5 days per week, 7.5 hours per day.
I've then defined a US engineer calendar with working time set such that
it adds up to 40hrs per week, 8 hours a day ... and have yet to get
project to recognise that a US resource can work 8 hours, just by using a
non standard calendar, the only way I have found to date s to change the
resource units for the US resource to 107%

Calendar time IS working time, that's why they're called working time
calendars. If I work a normal 8-hour shift, I have 8 hours of working
time during each 24 hour calendar day not including weekends. If I say a
task will require me 24 hours to accomplish and starts Monday morning,
I'll need to work on it 8 hours Monday, 8 hours Tuesday, and 8 hours
Wednesday to complete it. If I want it to be a round the clock job,
starting Monday AM and finishing Tuesday AM I'll need a total of three
resources, one from each of the three shifts involved - with a very few
exceptions it's against the law to work a single individual resource 24
hours solid without a break. When I assign Joe Dayshift, Mary Swingshift,
and Fred Graveshift, each with a resource calendar that describes their
true hours of work, to my 24 hour duration task that's exactly what I'll
get.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Think this is down to the fact that project uses project time (set under
tools->options->calendar) for calculating duration and does not use
working time, a possible way round this is to set resource units to 300%
this should help
I change working hours in the general working hours and/or in
tools-change
working time but when I enter the hours for a task, the gantt chart
does not
match. For example, I want a 24 hour around the clock job but when I
enter
12 hrs for a task, it looks like 3 days on the gantt. Every option I
try, I
cannot get the gantt to reflect the time I enter. Please, anyone? I'm
at my
wits end and almost threw my laptop off the balcony.