start and finish times in hours not days

[Liz Ross]

Hi,

I have a project which will run 24x7 over 4 days. I need to specify the
start and end times in hrs and minutes, rather than days. I need project to
calculate the duration based on the start and end times.
Any ideas? I don't want to revert to excel.

Thanks,

Liz

 

[JulieS]

Hi Liz,

First, I would set the project calendar (Project > Project Information)
to the 24 Hour calendar. Then change the date format (Tools > Options,
View tab) to one showing time. I do *not* suggest typing in dates as
this will constrain every task. Enter the task, enter the durations of
the tasks, create the dependencies (predecessors & successors) to drive
the start and finish times.

You may wish to look at Mike Glen's excellent series of articles on MS
Project particularly parts 1-4. They can be found at the MVP site:
http://project.mvps.org/mike's_tutorials.htm

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

There's good news and bad news. You can get the times as well as the dates
or just the times by going to the Tools, Options menu, View tab, and select
the date format you want. The bad news is you cannot actually set start and
end dates/times for tasks. Entering a start entry sets a Start No Earlier
Than constraint which sets the earliest allowed start time, but Project is
still free to move it later. Entering a finish entry sets a Finish No
Earlier Than constraint, again the earliest that it will be allowed to
finish but again circumstances might cause it to move later. IF you enter a
start followed by entering a finish, Project will calculate the duration
based on those two entries and then sets a FNET constraint.

Remember Project is not designed simply to document a schedule you have
determined elsewhere. It's designed to accept as input information about
the work you need to do and the assets you have to do it with, and then it
tells YOU the optimum schedule that will best meet your final objectives.
You don't create the schedule, Project creates it.