Ongoing activities

[Kandy]

I want to track all activities that my company is working
on. Some are projects that have end dates, while others
are ongoing. I would like to have some ongoing activities
considered in the time for the projects, but I do not want
to assign a distant future end date, since that will push
out my timeline, nor do I want to use "0 days", since the
time would not be considered at all.

For example:
+ Task
Project A - 5 days
Project B - 3 days


Is there a way that I can have the time factored in,
without setting an end date? Please advise. Thanks.

 

[Kandy]

Sorry, disregard the example, the form submitted before I
was ready.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Kandy,
Never ever do you set an end date in Project!
Use duration instead.
HTH

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
Project Management Consultancy
Prom+ade BVBA
32-495-300 620

 

[Guest]

Apologies for my terminology.

But what do I do when I don't want to set "Duration"?
It's an ongoing activity that will not end, but I want to
be able to have the time included for projects that will
be ending.

Please advise. Thanks.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

If you want to include the time, that means you think of some time frame
don't you?
So your task does have a finite duration...
Project is a project maangement tool, and projects are undertakings with a
beginning and an end.
Sorry for that...

HTH

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
Project Management Consultancy
Prom+ade BVBA
32-495-300 620

 

[Steve House]

When you say "ongoing activities considered in the time for the projects"
just what are you getting at? Do you mean that some task X in this project
can't be done before the March accounting cycle is posted because it uses
those figures or do you mean that Bob isn't free to work on task X full time
because he needs to spend part of his day on getting the accounts payable
out?

Ongoing activities in general are very poor choices for inclusion in a
project plan or for modeling using PM methods. Projects are by definition
non-routine activities producing specific *unique* deliverables whereas
ongoing day-to-day business activity is just the opposite. Projects
themselves, and most important for your question, every single task within
them without exception, has a definite, observable, start and end and thus a
measurable duration. I need to produce a drawing as part of the project?
There's a point in the project where I sit down and start it and there is a
definite point when the drawing is completed and we can know exactly how
long it took me to do it. In fact I teach my project classes to start every
task name with an action verb - build, assemble, dig, paint, etc - as a
reminder that tasks always describe just that sort of measurable activity.
If you need to account for ongoing activity because it impacts the
availability of resources or produces something that the project needs, that
is easily done. But while Project is a great project management tool, it is
absolutely NOT a general business managment tool. Trying to kludge it into
doing so is like trying to teach a pig to whistle Beethoven - it's an
exercise doomed to failure whose only result will be a very annoyed pig
<grin>.