Resource Time

[RobinT]

We are currently trying to implement Project 2007 Pro, Server and Web Access
Enterprise wide. I am having difficulty understanding exactly how to use the
calendars to set non-working time. We want the employees in our dept. to have
6 hour project work days, not 8. This would not be enterprise wide, only for
our area. Then we want a way to keep track of how that non-working time is
used. I think I need to use a calendar and a project but am not sure how to
set duration, finish date, etc. I have looked for training and unfortunately
there just isn't any for 2007 yet. Please help.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Project is very weak, if not totally absent, in the possibilities to show
how NONWORKING time is used, because you cannot plan tasks during nonworking
time.
Hope this helps,

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Robin:

You need to create a new base calendar in Project Server and then apply it
to the resources in your group. There are a number of ways to capture the
other work detail, and choosing the best one for your circumstances depends
on how you intend to use the system for tracking. You could use
administrative time in the timesheet system, you could use activity plans
and you could use regular old projects.

As for 2007 training, I'm pleased to inform you that our 2007 PM training
has been available since May and we're running our first administrators
course this month. Checkout http://www.projectservertraining.com

In the future, please post your Project Server questions to
microsoft.public.project.projectserver - Thanks.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com

 

[RobinT]

Thanks for your help Gary. I was not sure where to post this question so
that's why I posted it in general. I wish I understood things well enough to
know where I should have posted it.

 

[Steve House]

One wrinkle to consider about this. When you say you want your employees
to work a 6 hour project day, do you mean that they will be on the property
*and available to work on the project* 8 working hours per day but will only
be able to average 6 of the 8 on project-specific activities, or do you mean
that a designated, specific 6 hours per day, say 10am to 5pm, will be
available to the project with the other 2 exact hours, 8am to 10am, will
*always* be dedicated to non-project related activities? If it's the former
it's an 8 hour calendar with a maximum availability of 75% while the latter
is a 6 hour calendar with a maximum availability of 100%. The problem with
the second is that you would not ever be able to schedule a task to run
during the two hours you set aside - it would always be considered
non-working time. If you used my example times, work on any tasks could
ONLY take place between 10am and 5pm and it would be impossible to start a
task at 8am. My advice would be to go with the former or even better, not
even try to micromanage it in such detail. I have to wonder if it's really
necessary to account for every minute of the employee's day - isn't it
enough to say that Task X can start on Monday and end on Thursday - does it
really matter if that time period represents 32 man-hours of actual effect
solely focussed on task X to the exclusion of everything else versus 32
man-hours of which 8 are just understood to be undefined overhead hours such
as email, bathroom breaks, misc meetings, etc. Before opening up such a can
of worms and trying to structure their day in such detail, I suggest
thinking about what real improvements might actually to be gained by doing
so. Only you can answer that for your situation, of course, but 99% of the
time it doesn't seem worth it to me - just because we can be so detailed
doesn't mean we ought to be. Just a thought ....

 

[RobinT]

Steve the reason we are doing this is because we want to be able to have a
TRUE availability report. I could care less what they do in the 2 hours we
set aside for them to do it in. I just want projects to be scheduled
according to the resources TRUE amount of time each week to work on tasks. We
do agile project management because we have many projects that are 2 - 3
weeks long, several that are 2 - 3 months long and only a few that are longer
than 3 months. Because we most often have very quick turn over of projects
our resource availability is crucial for proposals and estimates.
--
Robin T., PMP

One wrinkle to consider about this. When you say you want your employees
to work a 6 hour project day, do you mean that they will be on the property
*and available to work on the project* 8 working hours per day but will only
be able to average 6 of the 8 on project-specific activities, or do you mean
that a designated, specific 6 hours per day, say 10am to 5pm, will be
available to the project with the other 2 exact hours, 8am to 10am, will
*always* be dedicated to non-project related activities? If it's the former
it's an 8 hour calendar with a maximum availability of 75% while the latter
is a 6 hour calendar with a maximum availability of 100%. The problem with
the second is that you would not ever be able to schedule a task to run
during the two hours you set aside - it would always be considered
non-working time. If you used my example times, work on any tasks could
ONLY take place between 10am and 5pm and it would be impossible to start a
task at 8am. My advice would be to go with the former or even better, not
even try to micromanage it in such detail. I have to wonder if it's really
necessary to account for every minute of the employee's day - isn't it
enough to say that Task X can start on Monday and end on Thursday - does it
really matter if that time period represents 32 man-hours of actual effect
solely focussed on task X to the exclusion of everything else versus 32
man-hours of which 8 are just understood to be undefined overhead hours such
as email, bathroom breaks, misc meetings, etc. Before opening up such a can
of worms and trying to structure their day in such detail, I suggest
thinking about what real improvements might actually to be gained by doing
so. Only you can answer that for your situation, of course, but 99% of the
time it doesn't seem worth it to me - just because we can be so detailed
doesn't mean we ought to be. Just a thought ....
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

We are currently trying to implement Project 2007 Pro, Server and Web
Access
Enterprise wide. I am having difficulty understanding exactly how to use
the
calendars to set non-working time. We want the employees in our dept. to
have
6 hour project work days, not 8. This would not be enterprise wide, only
for
our area. Then we want a way to keep track of how that non-working time is
used. I think I need to use a calendar and a project but am not sure how
to
set duration, finish date, etc. I have looked for training and
unfortunately
there just isn't any for 2007 yet. Please help.

 

[Steve House]

I can understand the need for accurate estimating but is the data you have
on which to base your estimates accurate enough to justify looking for such
precision? Most of the time you can certainly look back and say in similar
previous projects creating 25 widgets took an average of 37 hours but do you
really know exactly how many of those hours were spent actively working on
the widgets versus reading email or fielding phone calls? I have doubts
that human activities can be that precisely measured and scheduled, as a
species we're just not that predictable or consistent, and I worry about the
impact on the morale of the workers when one tries to structure them so
rigidly. The difference between 6 hours of actual project productivity per
day versus 7 hours or 8 hours over the course of an 8 hour workday isn't
that signifigant and much of the variation is already accounted for in the
data that's basis for estimating your requirements. Your call, of course,
and you know your situation and requirements far better then I. But I do
think there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to structuring
your resource's work days so just mentioning some things that pop into my
mind when thinking about scheduling.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Steve the reason we are doing this is because we want to be able to have a
TRUE availability report. I could care less what they do in the 2 hours we
set aside for them to do it in. I just want projects to be scheduled
according to the resources TRUE amount of time each week to work on tasks.
We
do agile project management because we have many projects that are 2 - 3
weeks long, several that are 2 - 3 months long and only a few that are
longer
than 3 months. Because we most often have very quick turn over of projects
our resource availability is crucial for proposals and estimates.
--
Robin T., PMP

One wrinkle to consider about this. When you say you want your
employees
to work a 6 hour project day, do you mean that they will be on the
property
*and available to work on the project* 8 working hours per day but will
only
be able to average 6 of the 8 on project-specific activities, or do you
mean
that a designated, specific 6 hours per day, say 10am to 5pm, will be
available to the project with the other 2 exact hours, 8am to 10am, will
*always* be dedicated to non-project related activities? If it's the
former
it's an 8 hour calendar with a maximum availability of 75% while the
latter
is a 6 hour calendar with a maximum availability of 100%. The problem
with
the second is that you would not ever be able to schedule a task to run
during the two hours you set aside - it would always be considered
non-working time. If you used my example times, work on any tasks could
ONLY take place between 10am and 5pm and it would be impossible to start
a
task at 8am. My advice would be to go with the former or even better,
not
even try to micromanage it in such detail. I have to wonder if it's
really
necessary to account for every minute of the employee's day - isn't it
enough to say that Task X can start on Monday and end on Thursday - does
it
really matter if that time period represents 32 man-hours of actual
effect
solely focussed on task X to the exclusion of everything else versus 32
man-hours of which 8 are just understood to be undefined overhead hours
such
as email, bathroom breaks, misc meetings, etc. Before opening up such a
can
of worms and trying to structure their day in such detail, I suggest
thinking about what real improvements might actually to be gained by
doing
so. Only you can answer that for your situation, of course, but 99% of
the
time it doesn't seem worth it to me - just because we can be so detailed
doesn't mean we ought to be. Just a thought ....
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

We are currently trying to implement Project 2007 Pro, Server and Web
Access
Enterprise wide. I am having difficulty understanding exactly how to
use
the
calendars to set non-working time. We want the employees in our dept.
to
have
6 hour project work days, not 8. This would not be enterprise wide,
only
for
our area. Then we want a way to keep track of how that non-working time
is
used. I think I need to use a calendar and a project but am not sure
how
to
set duration, finish date, etc. I have looked for training and
unfortunately
there just isn't any for 2007 yet. Please help.