Overhead project

B

Bob O'Bryan

I would like to create an overhead project to track
nonproject based hours. For instance, if I know that
overhead runs at about 20% how should I set up the tasks
within the overhead project so that I can track the hours
worked from 1/1 - 12/31.

Thanks,
Bob
 
K

Kevin Flanagan

If you are using Project Server, there is an enterprise
setting that can be set up for non-project time such as
meetings, administrative tasks, vacation, etc. Then you
can track actuals instead of just estimating a percentage.
 
G

Gary Chefetz [MVP]

Your approach is sound. The built-in non-project time collection makes more
work for you than it saves. Some pointers:

1) Use fixed-duration tasks, turn off effort-driven
2) Assign the resources to the tasks so that the total of the assignments
equals the percentage you're estimating to be discounted. IOW, if your goal
is 20% and you have four administrative tasks, go with 5% each.
3) Keep it simple, keep the buckets fairly general.
 
D

dwolf

Gary,

We have implemented Overhead projects (1 per SBU)exactly as you
describe. The one frustration that we have observed is that as people
charge into these tasks the end date of the tasks keep moving out into
the future. Since the objective is to maintain these projects as
annual budgets this becomes difficult to understand. The idea was to
model these budgets as level loaded capacity drains against which
actuals would draw.

This year we thought we had discovered a solution using a constraint
of "Finish No Later Than" with a date of 12/23/2005. The concept was
that the level loaded budgets would pile up towards the end of the year
until used. We figured this modelled the probability of reality quite
nicely. However, when the first week's hours were recieved, the dates
did not hold as expected. When a group did not charge until the
Thursday or Friday, the entire task moved that many days into the
following year.

Any ideas how to constrain these "buckets" so that they do not do this?
The only other thought we've had was to hammock each task between two
milestones.

--DWolf
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz \(MVP\)

You can use this technique for loading. You have to put an actual start date
on the fixed duration tasks in order to keep them anchored, other wise
they'll be fixed duration from the first day time is entered. Nobody ever
said you didn't have to keep managing the tasks, though. I wouldn't use this
for budget projection because of the difficulties you describe, unless
you're very good about managing the tasks.
--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
"We wrote the books on Project Server"
http://www.msprojectexperts.com

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