Why is project splitting my tasks?

[Scott71384]

OK, I am trying to update my schedule and when I enter a percent completion
for any of the tasks, MP makes it a split task. Only when I enter 100%
complete, MP leaves the task as it was.
So this is what I am basically doing, I am a general contractor trying to
update my schedule. I sub-out all of my work (tasks) to subcontractors and I
assign each of these subcontractors to my tasks as "fixed contract fees". I
followed my “MP help book†to assign these tasks but I have this gut feeling
that may be the problem. I believe that is the problem because the book
tells you to enter 0 in the unit’s column on the task form and make it a
fixed duration. I would ABSOLUTELY appreciate it if anyone could solve this
dilemma for me; I have read all I possibly could out of the “MP help bookâ€
and have gotten nowhere. I am sure my question is not very clear, so if
anyone has a problem with my question, post it, and I will be happy to clear
it up for you.

Thanks, Scott

 

[Jack Dahlgren]

Scott,

Try going to the "tools" menu, choose "options" and check the "edits to
total task % complete will be spread to the status date" box.

You should also be setting a correct status date. To do this go to the
"Project" menu, select "project information" and set the status date to the
right date.

But I'm not convinced that this is a problem. There is nothing wrong with a
split task if that is the way the work is performed. Maybe some more
information about why this is an issue for you would help me understand.

Let me know how this works out for you.

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[Steve House]

Let's say I had a 5 day task that was supposed to run all last week. The
resource doing the work tells me he's 40% done. That means he worked 2 days
on it, Mon and Tues (unless he says different). So the work that was
supposed to take place on Wed, Thur and Fri didn't happen. That's what 40%
complete means - work that was supposed to take place over the course of 40%
of the total duration was physically performed but the rest of the work that
takes 60% of the required duration remains to be done at some point in the
future. Now it's the following week. I don't have a time machine to send
the resource to last Wed to catch up with the work he was supposed to do
then but missed - the earliest he can really do that work, as well as Thur
and Friday's, is tomorrow and the days after. So the task splits, showing
the physical reality that work was done last Mon and Tues and then stood
down, took a holiday, and will resume tomorrow and run for three days to
accomplish the remaining work required.

Remember that % Complete, % Work Complete, and % Physical Complete are three
different measures, usually but not always related to each other, but in any
case dealing with three totally different parameters (Duration, Man-hours,
Deliverable, or as I like to think of them Time, Sweat, and Stuff <g>).

HTH

 

[Scott71384]

Steve,
Thanks for your answer but thats not exactly the problem. So I am going to
try and give you a simple example of whats going on...Lets say I am updating
a four-day task that is 50% done after the second day of it's original start
date. So I would select the task and update it 50% complete, and when I do
this it makes the task split. When I say "task split", the bar on the Gantt
chart does not split normally. If you can try to picture this: instead of
the bar being split by dotts (......); half the bar is erased and replaced by
the dotts. It also shows inside the remaining half of the bar, the solid
progress-tracking bar.
I am thinking MP's calculations are being thrown off because each task(which
is fixed contract fee) has zero units of work in the task form. Anyway, if
my question is not making sense it is probally because I am not assigning the
resources properly.

Let's say I had a 5 day task that was supposed to run all last week. The
resource doing the work tells me he's 40% done. That means he worked 2 days
on it, Mon and Tues (unless he says different). So the work that was
supposed to take place on Wed, Thur and Fri didn't happen. That's what 40%
complete means - work that was supposed to take place over the course of 40%
of the total duration was physically performed but the rest of the work that
takes 60% of the required duration remains to be done at some point in the
future. Now it's the following week. I don't have a time machine to send
the resource to last Wed to catch up with the work he was supposed to do
then but missed - the earliest he can really do that work, as well as Thur
and Friday's, is tomorrow and the days after. So the task splits, showing
the physical reality that work was done last Mon and Tues and then stood
down, took a holiday, and will resume tomorrow and run for three days to
accomplish the remaining work required.

Remember that % Complete, % Work Complete, and % Physical Complete are three
different measures, usually but not always related to each other, but in any
case dealing with three totally different parameters (Duration, Man-hours,
Deliverable, or as I like to think of them Time, Sweat, and Stuff <g>).

HTH

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

OK, I am trying to update my schedule and when I enter a percent
completion
for any of the tasks, MP makes it a split task. Only when I enter 100%
complete, MP leaves the task as it was.
So this is what I am basically doing, I am a general contractor trying to
update my schedule. I sub-out all of my work (tasks) to subcontractors
and I
assign each of these subcontractors to my tasks as "fixed contract fees".
I
followed my â?oMP help bookâ? to assign these tasks but I have this gut
feeling
that may be the problem. I believe that is the problem because the book
tells you to enter 0 in the unitâ?Ts column on the task form and make it a
fixed duration. I would ABSOLUTELY appreciate it if anyone could solve
this
dilemma for me; I have read all I possibly could out of the â?oMP help
bookâ?Â
and have gotten nowhere. I am sure my question is not very clear, so if
anyone has a problem with my question, post it, and I will be happy to
clear
it up for you.

Thanks, Scott

 

[Steve House]

Well, I'd certainly expect the zero work units to have something to do with
it. A task is physical work activity extending over a period of time. If
there's zero work to be done, there's no task to be done as far as Project
is concerned, and it's likely to get confused. Just because the real amount
of labour is "hidden" from your view does not mean it's not taking place - a
"man-hour" of work performed by a contractor with 100 employees assigned and
paid by him behind the scenes is still a man-hour of work, just really
productive work when compared to an hour of an individual worker's time
<grin>. If you look at your Task Usage or Resource usage view of that task
I'll bet after posting your 50% progress you'll see the 4 days listed with
work as 8 8 0 0. If you enter your contractors as regular work resources
with an hourly rate of $0 you can assign them to tasks just as if they were
regular employees and then you'll be able to populate the task assignments
with a corresponding "scheduled work" value to give you something to post
actual's against. You would put their fee as a fixed cost on the relevant
tasks because you're paying them a fixed price instead of time and
materials. (The zero rate in the resource sheet reflects the fact that
you're not paying them on the number of hours they put in creating their
deliverable.) If you did pay on a time and materials basis, the time
portion of the charges would be an equivalent hourly rate for the contractor
in the resource list.

HTH

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Steve,
Thanks for your answer but thats not exactly the problem. So I am going
to
try and give you a simple example of whats going on...Lets say I am
updating
a four-day task that is 50% done after the second day of it's original
start
date. So I would select the task and update it 50% complete, and when I
do
this it makes the task split. When I say "task split", the bar on the
Gantt
chart does not split normally. If you can try to picture this: instead
of
the bar being split by dotts (......); half the bar is erased and replaced
by
the dotts. It also shows inside the remaining half of the bar, the solid
progress-tracking bar.
I am thinking MP's calculations are being thrown off because each
task(which
is fixed contract fee) has zero units of work in the task form. Anyway,
if
my question is not making sense it is probally because I am not assigning
the
resources properly.

Let's say I had a 5 day task that was supposed to run all last week. The
resource doing the work tells me he's 40% done. That means he worked 2
days
on it, Mon and Tues (unless he says different). So the work that was
supposed to take place on Wed, Thur and Fri didn't happen. That's what
40%
complete means - work that was supposed to take place over the course of
40%
of the total duration was physically performed but the rest of the work
that
takes 60% of the required duration remains to be done at some point in
the
future. Now it's the following week. I don't have a time machine to
send
the resource to last Wed to catch up with the work he was supposed to do
then but missed - the earliest he can really do that work, as well as
Thur
and Friday's, is tomorrow and the days after. So the task splits,
showing
the physical reality that work was done last Mon and Tues and then stood
down, took a holiday, and will resume tomorrow and run for three days to
accomplish the remaining work required.

Remember that % Complete, % Work Complete, and % Physical Complete are
three
different measures, usually but not always related to each other, but in
any
case dealing with three totally different parameters (Duration,
Man-hours,
Deliverable, or as I like to think of them Time, Sweat, and Stuff <g>).

HTH

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

OK, I am trying to update my schedule and when I enter a percent
completion
for any of the tasks, MP makes it a split task. Only when I enter 100%
complete, MP leaves the task as it was.
So this is what I am basically doing, I am a general contractor trying
to
update my schedule. I sub-out all of my work (tasks) to subcontractors
and I
assign each of these subcontractors to my tasks as "fixed contract
fees".
I
followed my â?oMP help bookâ? to assign these tasks but I have this
gut
feeling
that may be the problem. I believe that is the problem because the
book
tells you to enter 0 in the unitâ?Ts column on the task form and make
it a
fixed duration. I would ABSOLUTELY appreciate it if anyone could solve
this
dilemma for me; I have read all I possibly could out of the â?oMP help
bookâ?Â
and have gotten nowhere. I am sure my question is not very clear, so
if
anyone has a problem with my question, post it, and I will be happy to
clear
it up for you.

Thanks, Scott