I asked because work and duration are not the same thing. Duration is the
amount of potential working time between when the task actually starts and
when it actually finishes. Work is the amount of effort expended in doing
the task, measured in man-hours. You could think of it as the Full Time
Equivalent duration of the task times the number of people assigned to it.
If the task could start any time after 8am on the 18th, needs to finish by
5pm on the 21st, once it starts will be worked on full-time for 8 hours and
then will be done, it is a 1 day duration task with the resource assigned
100% and with a deadline of 5pm on the 21st. Since things are scheduled to
start ASAP it will be listed as starting on the 18th at 8am and finishing
the 18th at 5pm with the aforementioned deadline in case it doesn't start
on-time.
If the task can start as early as 8am on the 18th, would take one day if the
resource worked on it to the exclusion of everything else but because of
other duties he will work on as he can make time and you expect him to
finish 4 days later at 5pm on the 21st, it's a 4 day duration task with the
resource assigned 25%, meaning he takes 4 working days to achieve the
results he could get in one day of full-time work on the task without
distractions. You could also put a similar deadline on it as above if
that's an accurate description of the requirements.
HTH
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
Sam B. said:
I see, it would be interesting how to see it represented in both ways
actually.
I'm just starting to use the software the "correct" way.
Thank you
Steve House said:
First of all, are you clear on the term "duration"? Are you saying that
the
task will start on the 18th and finish on the 21st because the person
doing
it can't devote full attention to it but would only take him one day to
do
it if he could, or are you saying that it will require someone to work on
it
full-time for one day, it could start as soon as the 18th, and it needs
to
be finished no later than the 21st? It does make a difference in how you
represent it in the plan.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
Sam B. said:
Hi,
I have a very simple question that I can't figure out the answer to.
Here are the tasks
1. SmartKey Training 1d 4/17/06 4/17/06
2. SmartKey Creation 1d 4/18/06 4/21/06 2
I need the timeline to reflect that task number 2 has a duration of one
day,
but can be completed anytime during the timeframe of 4/18/06 - 4/21/06.
I
know I need to change settings in "Task Information", but I can't
figure
out
what setting to put. I tried finish no later than 4/21/06, but it's not
working. Please help.
Thank you,
Sam
