Task actual hours

[jp]

Hi,

I have a task that my employee has been working on. Question and example:
if the task was supposed to take 40 hours by 1 employee but he's been working
on it on and off due to other task priorities, how should I record his actual
hours for let's say last week where he's hours might look like this:

Monday = 3 hours
Tuesday = 0 hours
Wed = 1 hour
Thursday = 0 hours
Friday = 0 hours

-jp

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi jp,

Record the Actual Work as 4 hours and Remaining Work as 36 Hours.

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

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

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials




Hi,

I have a task that my employee has been working on. Question and example:
if the task was supposed to take 40 hours by 1 employee but he's been working
on it on and off due to other task priorities, how should I record his actual
hours for let's say last week where he's hours might look like this:

Monday = 3 hours
Tuesday = 0 hours
Wed = 1 hour
Thursday = 0 hours
Friday = 0 hours

-jp

 

[Jim Aksel]

If you are recording progress weekly, then record Actual Work = 4 Hours.
This will set Remaining Work to 36 hours. Confirm with the worker that 36
hours is sufficient along with the remaining duration.

Your worker may say, "I only need 22 more hours to finish the task" He may
say more than 36. It will also be important to confirm remaining duration
as he may be busy on other things and not be able to devote full time to the
effort.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[jp]

Hi Mike,

So there's no way/reason sto specify hours per day of the week?

-jp

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

jp --

Since you are doing daily tracking of progress (I commend you for this, by
the way), here is how I would handle the entry of actual progress for this
resource:

1. Open the project and apply the Task Usage view.
2. In the timephased grid (yellow/gray timesheet-like grid on the right),
right-click and select the Actual Work details.

You should now see Work and Actual Work rows in the timephased grid.

3. Double-click the right edge of the Details column in the timephased grid
so you can see the full name of each row.
4. Zoom to Weeks over Days on the timescale, if necessary.
5. Select the task in question and then click the Scroll to Task button
(right end of the top toolbar) to bring the Work hours into view in the
timephased grid.
6. On the Actual Work row for the resource in the timephased grid, enter
the daily progress on this task (enter 0 on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday as
indicated in your example).

DO NOT freak out when you see Microsoft Project rescheduling the uncompleted
work from each day into the next week. Remember, if work doesn't get
completed THIS WEEK, the team member must work on it NEXT WEEK! Hope this
helps.

 

[Mike Glen]

It depends, jp, on your needs to record by the day, hour, etc, which in turn depends on the length of your project. For example, if your project lasts a year or so, it would generally be over-managing to record to the hour. If you want that level of detail, then follow the Usage view detailed in the other replies. If not, Project does not demand such detail.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials


Hi Mike,

So there's no way/reason sto specify hours per day of the week?

-jp

 

[jp]

Hi Dale,

Thank you for the detailed answer. I did exactly per your suggestion and I
can see the work week very nicely. Here's another complicated issue; I
put-in the daily time and the task was actually "check marked" as though it
was complete and it still shows duration as the original amount of hours.

When I go into the "Gantt Chart" it shows me the task as complete with
duration = planned? What's the relationship of "Actual Work", "Work" and
"Duration" fields and how do they affect each other?

-jp

 

[jp]

Trevor,

Thank you for your answer. However, I'm still confused with the "Actual
Hours", "Work" and "Duration" fields. If I update one, these other fields
are updated and affected. What's their relationship? ;-(

-Jp

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

jp --

Duration is the "window of opportunity" during which Work (or Actual Work)
is performed. Microsoft Project calculates Duration using the following
formula:

Duration = Work / (Hours Per Day x Units)

Hours Per Day is 8 hours by default. In some cases, however, Microsoft
calculates Duration as the number of working days between the Start date and
the Finish date of the project. For example, I have a 10 day Duration task
that starts on a Monday and spans through Friday of the second week. There
are 12 calendar dates in between the Start and Finish dates of the task, but
2 days (Saturday and Sunday) are non-working days.

In your example, if you enter Actual Work that equals the amount of planned
Work, then Microsoft Project assumes the task is completed. If the task is
NOT completed, do the following:

1. In the Task Usage view, click View - Table - Work.
2. Pull the split bar to the right to expose the Remaining Work column.
3. Increase the Remaining Work to a value greater than 0h that represents
the amount of work remaining on the task.

Hope this helps.

 

[jp]

Dale,

Thank you. I got it now. Also, I want to thank such great resources
such as Mike Glen, Jim Aksel, and Trevor. ALL OF YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I'm beginning to sound like in the Grammy's but I truly appreciate you.

-jp
;-)

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

jp --

You are more than kind, my friend, and more than welcome for the help.