Settings non time specific tasks

[dsta]

Hi,

I am new to Project, and I'm trying to schedule some tasks which are not
actually time / resource dependant - for example, the signing and returning
of paperwork from the client. How am best to do this? I want to allocate a
period of time to this (ie one month) during which it can take place, but
also to somehow place no days work against it. Howeve when I do this I am
unable to set completion percentages. (As only one of two cotnracts may have
been signed.)

Thanks!

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Evn without work, you can set a %complete because that is based solely on
duration.
Hope this helps,

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[Javier]

Hi,
What I would do is set up the task as "Fixed duration" and assign a resource
"Customer" to it. You will not care about this resource usage but you will
have a fixed duration and you will be able to enter % complete. MS Project
uses the formula Duration=Work/Units in every taks, so as far as I know you
need to have all 3.
Hope it helps

 

[John]

Hi,

I am new to Project, and I'm trying to schedule some tasks which are not
actually time / resource dependant - for example, the signing and returning
of paperwork from the client. How am best to do this? I want to allocate a
period of time to this (ie one month) during which it can take place, but
also to somehow place no days work against it. Howeve when I do this I am
unable to set completion percentages. (As only one of two cotnracts may have
been signed.)

Thanks!

dsta,
If you have assigned a resource to the paperwork tasks, then by
definition there will be work hours involved. However, if the paperwork
task is intended strictly as a non-resource accounting of paperwork
activity, you could do the following.

First, enter the task as fixed duration (select the task and go to
Project/Task Description/Advanced tab and set the task type as "fixed
duration"). Second, you might want to consider entering calendar time
(in lieu of the default working time), in the duration field of the
task. Do that by using "ed" after the value. For example, 30ed for 30
elapsed days. Third, do not assign any resources to the task.

Then if you have 4 separate paperwork actions represented by the task
and 2 of them are signed and returned, enter 50% in the % Complete
field. Keep in mind though that if one or more of the actions is not
completed by the finish date, you will need to extend the duration AND
then re-enter % complete since the % Complete field is based on the
Duration field.

Other options you might want to consider. Use a separate task line for
each paperwork action. That will give you greater control. You might
just want to do each one as a completion milestone. In other words, its
completion is required by a certain date and it's either done (100%) or
not done (0%). Or, you could use a couple spare number fields to keep
track of total paperwork actions and how many have been done and leave
the task itself as simply a placeholder of time in your schedule.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[dsta]

Hi,

Thanks to all of you for replying so quickly. Your answers do help - but I
guess I was not being a clear as I could be, no doubt due to not
understanding the app well enough yet. The crux of my problem lies in the
following:

Ideally, I just just want to be able to assign a deadline, and a 'yes:
complete' or 'no: incomplete' value to this event (documentation signed.)
There are no days work involved in reality.

I think I understand from your answers that in trying to use % complete as
my yes / no value, I am making project refer to a timescale that doesn't
exist. (0 days). Is this a correct interpretation?

If this is the case, is the best answer, as suggested, to put a timeline
against this event (say 30 days if that is the period I find acceptable fro
the documentation to be returned within) to enable me to manually adjust
percentage complete. Or should I be using a different type of % / value
reference?

I'm currently evaluating Project to see if I think it would work for the
kinds of projects we work on here. We have a lot of these yes /no kind of
tasks in our projects, ie: has this person been contacted, do we have this
groups details etc. Is project right for this kind of work?

Thanks for helping with your time and knowledge on this!

Erin

 

[dsta]

Hi John,

I think our posts passed in the ether, but nonetheless this helps greatly.
Regarding my 2nd post, my only outstanding question would be do you think
that this is the right app to be using for projects that have a large
proportion (about 50%) of these binary type tasks?

Thanks,

Erin

 

[dlmckirdy]

Hi DSTA,

It is common to use milestone (zero duration) tasks for this type of
place-holder. I use one for delivery of the document to the client, and
another for receipt of the document back from the client. For a duration
place-holder, in the second milestone's predecessor field, use a lag time
("x" fs+10ed) ("x" being the first milestone's task number, finish to start
plus ten elapsed days). When the schedule is accepted by all aerties and
baselined, this will give you an accountable waiting period for return of the
document.

As far as whether Project is the right app to use, I would say that it
depends on whether the other features of the software suit your purpose. A
task is a task, no matter the duration, or number of similar occurances.

Good luck with your evaluation.

 

[John]

Hi John,

I think our posts passed in the ether, but nonetheless this helps greatly.
Regarding my 2nd post, my only outstanding question would be do you think
that this is the right app to be using for projects that have a large
proportion (about 50%) of these binary type tasks?

Thanks,

Erin

Erin,
You mention that about half of your tasks are "binary". May I assume
then that the remaining tasks are normal project activities that are
time/resource dependent (i.e. a "real" schedule). If so then Project is
a good application for your needs.

Reading more detail in your second post, I recommend you set up your
binary tasks as milestones (i.e. 0 duration) on the finish date. In
other words, if a paperwork action is due on 7/10/08, then set the
milestone on that date. Normally each paperwork completion milestone
should be linked to a predecessor task. For example, let's say the
"paperwork" is a report. The performance task is creating the report and
one or more resources will require a certain number of hours (work) to
create the report. When it is ready, perhaps it goes to a supervisor for
review and sign-off. If that review and sign-off process is given 5
days, then the predecessor of that particular paperwork milestone is the
ID of the creation task with a lag of 5 days. That will set the date of
the milestone.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[dsta]

Hi everyone,

Ok, I think I get this now - or at least I get that I can do what I need to
do. Now to put it into practice. Thanks all for your help, it's good to know
I can get this sort of support.

Erin

 

[John]

Hi everyone,

Ok, I think I get this now - or at least I get that I can do what I need to
do. Now to put it into practice. Thanks all for your help, it's good to know
I can get this sort of support.

Erin

dsta,
You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. The only reason we exist is
to help other users.

John
Project MVP

 

[Steve House]

I would not make that time period into a task at all. A "task" is
observable activity performed by a resource. You're waiting for paperwork
to be returned from someplace outside of the project's universe - it's not a
project task at all. Sitting on hold and waiting for something to happen is
the essence of non-activity, right? Enter both "Paperwork Sent to Client"
and "Signed Paperwork Returned" as milestone tasks (0 duration). Link them
FS and add a 30-day lag time to the link to insert the 30 day delay period
waiting for it to come back.

Note that % complete measures the passage of time, not the completion of
deliverable or the performance of work. Having 1 of 2 signed contracts
returned does NOT mean "Contract Signing" is 50% Complete. If we did
represent review and sign as a task with a 4 week duration and 3 weeks has
passed since we sent them, we're 75% complete even if neither contract has
been signed or even touched. If you have 2 contracts and need to track them
individually, use the method suggested above but perhaps with separate
milestones for "Signed Contract 1 Received" and "Signed Contract 2
Received."

HTH