The mystery of assignment units

[Stu Futrill]

I know this subject has been discussed, I have read the
posts. But I
have additional observations to add.

The msytery can set up as follows...

Plan a 5 day fixed units not effort driven task.
Create a resource (lets say 100% max units).
Assign this resource on the task at 100% assignment units.
This will create the profile of 5 days each with 8 hours
work
equalling a total of 40 hours work.

Now go to a task usage view and enter 16 hours of actual
work for day
1 of this task.
This has changed the work for that day to 16 hours and
reduced the
duration to 4 days. As we would expect.
But what also happens is the assignment units changes to
200% !!!

I know other people (Jan) experience the same thing, and I
sort of
accept that this is how Project works, although I don't
quite
understand why.

My additional observations are the effects of repeating
this task and
assignment, but updating the actual work via a Web Access
timesheet.

When we do this with 16 hours of actual work on day 1 of
the task, the
assignment units remain at 100%.

Can anyone explain this me please, why does a plan handle
actual work
updates differently if they come via Web Access?

Thanks

Stuart

 

[Dale Howard]

Stu --

Think of the Units value this way: when you are planning your project, the
Units value is the percentage of an average working day that the resource
will commit to working on a task. When you assigned a resource at 100%
Units on a 5-day Duration task, you are telling Microsoft Project that the
resource will work 100% of each working day on the task. In this case,
since a day is defined as 8 hours (Tools - Options - Calendar, Hours Per Day
value), the resource will work 8 hours each day for 5 days, which equals 40
hours of work on the task. No mystery so far, right?

Now, when actuals are entered into a project plan, the Units value takes on
a new meaning. The Units value that you see in any task or resource table
is actually the Peak Units value. The Peak Units value represents the
largest amount of Actual Work entered in any time period, compared against
the Hours Per Day value (8 hours). So, in your situation, when you entered
16 hours of Actual Work in a single day time period, Project calculates the
Peak Units for that assignment at 200%. In other words, in a single day,
your resource has done the work of two workers!

I know that this confuses people, but it's the way the software works. It's
not a bug. The Units field is actually the Peak Units field. Hope this
helps.

 

[Stu Futrill]

Dale

Many thanks for your reply. I was starting to assume
assignment units were taking on the Peak Units value, you
have confirmed this is so. And that's great.

Dale, the problem I have now is, updating a plan from a
Project Server 2002 Web Access timesheet. If I enter 16
hours actual work via Web Access, the assignment units
does not change in the way you describe. E.G. if I have
planned a days work, 8 hrs planned work 100% units, I
would expect the assinment units to change to 200% once
the actual work of 16 hours has updated the plan.

You have described how Project really works, but it works
differently when updated via Web Access!!!

Is this a bug?

Many Thanks

Stuart.

 

[tonys]

I don't know about why web access actuals differ from any other way of inputting actuals but on the subject of assignment units changing after actuals are input I get around this by creating a macro which does a search on the resource name field and replaces it with resource name[100%] or whatever the assignment units you require for that resource. this is the macro

Application.Replace Field:="Resource Names", Test:="contains", Value:="enter name of resource here", Replacement:="enter name of resource here[100%]", ReplaceAll:=True, Next:=True, MatchCase:=Fals

Change "enter name of resource here" to the names of your resource and repeat for each resource on the project

so if the resource enters 16 hrs of actual work on a day, the assignment units change to 200% but the macro changes it back to 100%. Then when you resource level you don't get any errors about resources being overallocated

Let me know if it help

Ton
----- Stu Futrill wrote: ----

I know this subject has been discussed, I have read the
posts. But
have additional observations to add

The msytery can set up as follows..

Plan a 5 day fixed units not effort driven task
Create a resource (lets say 100% max units)
Assign this resource on the task at 100% assignment units
This will create the profile of 5 days each with 8 hours
wor
equalling a total of 40 hours work

Now go to a task usage view and enter 16 hours of actual
work for da
1 of this task
This has changed the work for that day to 16 hours and
reduced th
duration to 4 days. As we would expect
But what also happens is the assignment units changes to
200% !!

I know other people (Jan) experience the same thing, and I
sort o
accept that this is how Project works, although I don't
quit
understand why

My additional observations are the effects of repeating
this task an
assignment, but updating the actual work via a Web Access
timesheet

When we do this with 16 hours of actual work on day 1 of
the task, th
assignment units remain at 100%

Can anyone explain this me please, why does a plan handle
actual wor
updates differently if they come via Web Access

Thank

Stuar

 

[Stu Futrill]

Hi Tony

Thanks for your reply.

I was doing something similar to your suggestion with
units.

I was actually using VBA to import timesheet data from an
excel file into a plan and updating actual assignment work
in line with the excel timesheet data.
To get round the units changing I was storing the units
value before the update and re-setting it after the
assignment was updated.
This appeared to work ok, but after the VBA code had
finished the plan still performed some re-calcs and
changed the assignment units again anyway.
So I have accepted that this is the way Project works. My
problem now is updates via Web Access (Project Server
2002) do not change the assignment units at all!!!
So is this a bug in the Web Access update process? I wish
someone knew the answer.

Regards

Stu.

-----Original Message-----
I don't know about why web access actuals differ from any

other way of inputting actuals but on the subject of
assignment units changing after actuals are input I get
around this by creating a macro which does a search on the
resource name field and replaces it with resource name
[100%] or whatever the assignment units you require for
that resource. this is the macro:

Application.Replace Field:="Resource Names",

Test:="contains", Value:="enter name of resource here",
Replacement:="enter name of resource here[100%]",
ReplaceAll:=True, Next:=True, MatchCase:=False

Change "enter name of resource here" to the names of your

resource and repeat for each resource on the project.

so if the resource enters 16 hrs of actual work on a day,

the assignment units change to 200% but the macro changes
it back to 100%. Then when you resource level you don't
get any errors about resources being overallocated.

 

[Dale Howard]

Stu --

How Microsoft Project behaves depends WHERE the actuals are entered in PWA.
If 16 hours of Actual Work are entered on a single day in the Timesheet
portion of the View My Tasks page (in the timesheet grid on the right side
of the View My Tasks page), then the Units value will be 200% as expected.

On the other hand, if 16 hours of Actual Work are entered in the Actual Work
column on the left side of the View My Tasks page (in the task list), then
the Actual Work hours will be spread across the task using the Units value
specified on the task. If the resource is assigned at 100% Units, then the
16 hours would be entered as 8 hours on the first day and 8 hours on the
second day, and the Units will remain at 100%. Hope this helps.

 

[Stu Futrill]

Hi Dale,

Again, thanks for your time on this.

Unfortunately it does not help me because I have tested
this scenario many times now and Assignment Units do not
react as you describe and expect.

I have just tested it again on a new plan. I published a
3 day fixed unit (not effort driven) task to Project
server 2002. I logged into Project Server and entered 16
hours of actual work on a single day in the 'timesheet'
portion of the 'view my tasks' page. The right hand side
of the screen. I accepted the work as a PM and Project
Server successfully updated the plan. When I look at the
Units value on the assignment it remains at 100%, this is
true for all views, Gantt, Task Usage etc... The 16 hours
of actual work are visible on day 1 of the assignment but
the Units remain at 100%.

Have you any idea what might be causing this? I have
eliminated my PC, copy of Project 2002 Pro etc... What I
describe is consistent on at least 3 PC's I have tried it
on.

I have demonstrated the 'bug' to a local Project
consultant, but he had no explanation for what we are
experiencing. The only conclusions we can draw are that
this is a bug in the Web Access update procedure.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Stu.