Resource actual hours

[Steve W.]

We have one resource with 100% units who was scheduled to work on a fixed
units task for four hours. The four hours of scheduled work on the task also
had a duration of four hours.

The resource actually required 8 hours to complete the task and the Gantt
Chart showed her units to increase to 200%. In other words, Project assumed
the 8 hours were still done in the scheduled 4 hour duration. Essentially,
when the resource entered the 8 hours, Project treated the task like it was a
fixed duration task in that the work changed (from the scheduled 4 to the
actual 8) and therefore the units are re-calculated. The reality is that the
resource did not complete the 8 hour task in four hours, it took her all day.
Why doesn't Project adjust the duration and spread the 8 hours over the 8
hour day, which would be consistent with the resources's 100% availability
and with reality?

Any advice and information would be appreciated.

 

[JulieD]

Hi Steve

when i test this i get duration increased to 8hrs not units increased.

what version of project are you using (what service releases?) and how did
you enter the actuals? (did you happen to enter actual start & finish dates
as well or did you change the % complete?)

also not sure what you mean by "The four hours of scheduled work on the task
also had a duration of four hours."

Cheers
JulieD

 

[Steve W.]

Julie,

Thank you for your assistance and advice. While we started using Project
Server 2003, training has not been completed and the project managers are
still recording actual work accomplished by their resources using either the
Resource Usage or Task Usage views which, as I am sure you know, allows the
project managers to enter actual work for each day. They are not using %
complete. What I meant by "The four hours of scheduled work on the task also
had a duration of four hours" is that since only one person was performing
the task, the task work of four hours equalled the task duration of four
hours.

What I have discovered is that if the project managers initially assign
resources to a task then the hours of work (they all have the Work column
next to the Duration column) the duration does not change and the Units
increase if the actual work entered (in either Task or Resource Usage)
exceeds scheduled work. This is the problem I described in my original
question.

However, if the project manager does the opposite and initially assigns the
hours of work and then the resources to a task, the duration changes and the
Units remain constant as you pointed out if the actual work is greater than
the scheduled work.

My conclusion therefore is that we should make project officers assign hours
then resources to project tasks and this problem appears to go away.

Once again, thanks for your help.

 

[Steve House [MS Project MVP]]

Are they entering the work values in the Work field or have you displayed
the Actual Work row and are entering progress there? There is a difference
in the results obtained when editing the assigned work in the Work row
versus entering work performed in the Actual Work row.

 

[Steve W.]

Steve,

The actual work row has been added to both the Resource Usage and Task Usage
views and the resources's hours are being entered into the Act. Work row.

 

[Steve House [MS Project MVP]]

So much for that theory <grin>