Problem with resource usage durations

[WSH]

I am very stuck when inserting durations of tasks for resources on MS Project
2003.

First of all all resources calender are the same with 7.30 hours of work
time per day. However on the resource usage in the 'timephased' part of
'work' it states 7.5hrs. I don't understand why this is?

Secondly, when I assign a resource to a task say 3 days, in theory it should
be mon, tues and weds. However it goes onto Thursday aswell with 2.9hrs. I
don't understand why project is doing that. Really frustrating because I
don't want that to happen.

Any thoughts to why this is and how to resolve it?

 

[WSH]

Oh wait, I think I have found what the problem is. On the calender, there is
8.30 hrs of work per day not 7.30(sorry). But on the 'timephased' section of
resource usage, why does it still say 7:5hrs per day?

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi WSH,

I suspect you changed the working hours after you had entered the data. If
so, you will need to re-enter all the Durations for Project to react, as it
does not change what happened in the past. If you're not sure of this,
please see FAQ Item: 5. Default Working Hours

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi WSH,

7.5 hrs (decimal) is 7 and a half hour thus is the same as 7:30 hrs isn't
it?

HTH

 

[WSH]

Thanks for the reply Mike, that helped a bit. Still have a tiny problem, a
day has 7.30hrs and when I assign a resource to a task that takes up say 2
days, the timephased 'work' states '7.5hrs' (Mon), and 6.9hrs (Tues). How can
you make Project keep it 7.30 hrs for each working day on the timephased
'work'?

 

[WSH]

Yeah thanks for that, but why does it say 6.9hrs tho???

 

[Mike Glen]

Not sure - please recheck that you have 7.5 hours as the working day in
Tools/Options/Calendar and 7.5 hours per day in Tools/Change Working Time
calendar (check again for each resource calendar if you have set up any).
Check also in the timephased section that the tasks are starting at 0800
(assuming you set this in Tools/Options/Calendar) and finishing 7.5 working
hours later.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

From the rest of your correspondence it seems that you do not have a perfect
match between default times and "day" definitions in Tools, Options,
Calendar and the working time.

This can lead to durations that are no perfect multiples of "a day" -
remember, Project ONLY woprks in min-utes, all the rest is converted through
the "day setting in Options, Calendar!!

To understand what's happening
Set all durations in hrs or minutes
In tools, Options, View, select a date format including time of day.
That will allow you to find out the "Why".
HTH

 

[WSH]

Jan,

You were correct about how the calenders don't correspond. I kind of have it
working but then something still goes wrong.

I have now made sure all the calenders from resources to the calender in MS
Project to have the same number of hours.

But for some reason when I assign a resource to a task the overall duration
of that project changes to a decimal e.g. 11.33 days. It only happens to some
resources. Is it because they are overallocated? It's really annoying when
that happens.

Do you have any ideas why this is and how to fix it? Thanks for all the help
Jan!

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Two possibilities here

-You only toalk about calendars, resoruce and project. Did you also put same
values in Tools, Options, Calendar?

- Mind you, whan you have entered durations in days, at that time they have
been converted by Project into minutes; changing the parameters afterwards
does not change this value in minutes and values in days will no longer be
integer.

Overloaded does not change scheduling unless you do leveling.

When detail task are integer and the sumlmary isn't that points to a
mismatch between calendars and Tools, Options, Calendar - be it default
start time or the definition of a day.

Look for the detail: in tools, options, view, select a date format including
time of day. You will see where the decimal comes from.

HTH

 

[WSH]

Jan,

Hi again and sorry to disturb you again. yes I found out where the problem
is. On a Friday it is set to 7h a day and for the resources I have set them
7.50h for Fridays, thats why there is a mismatch.

I went on the calender to try to change Fridays to have 7.50hrs but it won't
let me change it. It defaults back to 7h a day. I opened the global pool,
created a new calender and changed the calender on there and saved it.

But when I go back onto MS Project, it defaults to the standard calender!!!
Any ideas? Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

When you say "global pool" do you mean you are using Project Server or do
you simply ean your projects are connected to a resource pool without using
server?
Mind you I know nearly nothing about server, but if is a "norml" pool I'm
convinced we'll crack this one.

Greetings,

 

[WSH]

Jan,

Yes it is on the Project Server. But it doesn't matter now, I have finally
fixed the problem! I kept changing the calenders and clicked on different
things then it worked!!

THANK YOU for helping me. No doubt I will be posting out more questions soon
when another problem pops up!

Cheers