Task Types and how they affect the Schedule–Part 3

Hi,

I am going on with Task Types. I will make both Task: Read the Article as Fixed work:

As you can see, this task type is always Effort driven. I will assign John to this Task, and I will get:

First I will change the Units field from 100% to 150%, and I will get:

Work is same = 16 hours! Because John can work with 150% capacity, he will work 8 * 150% = 12 hours at first day, and remaining 4 hours at second day, to fulfill 16 hours! But why is Duration=1,33 days? It seem it should be 1,5 day (because John will work only 4 hours at second day, instead of 8)! Well here is the explanation! Because I put 150% in Unit, MS PROJECT assumes that John has to work 12 hours / day (150% * 8 hours= 12 hours). And the Duration is calculated: 12 hours on first day = 1 day! 4 hours on second day (4/12)= 0,33, and total is = 1 + 0,33 = 1,33

OK. Now I will go back to initially Setup:

and I will change Work to 32 hours, click on OK button, and I will get:

Work is 32 hours! The Magic Formula is Work = Duration * Units, and that means 32 = Duration * 100%. Because 1 day has 8 working hours It will be 32/8 = 4 days in the Duration field.

Finally I will (from initial setup) change the Duration from 2 to 3 days, click on the OK button, and I will get:

Because we have Fixed work, and the Duration is 3 days instead of 2, MS PROJECT 2010 will divide 16 hours (Fixed work) with 3 days and, 16/3 = 5,33 hours per day.

Now I will make a Task as a Fixed Duration type:

I will now change Units from 100% to 150% and I will get:

Because the Magic Formula is: Work = Duration * Units, and Duration is Fixed, it means: Work = 2 days * 150%= 16 hours * 1,5 = 24 hours in two days!

Now I will change Work from to 32 hours, and I will get:

As you can see, because Duration is fixed, John will have to work 32 hours in 2 days, and it means 16 hours per day! Finally I will change the Duration field from 2 to 3 days, and I will get:

The Work is now 24 hours, because 3 days duration mean 3 * 8 hours = 24 hours.

In my next post I will explain what happens when I assign additional resource with different type of resource on effort and non effort driven Tasks.

Regards,

About Nenad Trajkovski

Location: Zagreb, Croatia Occupation: Project Manager Interests: Project Management and MS PROJECT He was born in Zagreb, Croatia at 1963. After completing his college he started working on projects in different business areas (banking, manufacturing, automotive industry, distribution, oil companies, etc.) developing and implementing ERP systems into different companies. He has got a lot of experience working with people in different business processes and also possesses great knowledge in information technologies and financial services. Today he works as a business consultant, adn Project Manager in PERPETUUM MOBILE d.o.o. Zagreb. He is a regular lecturer for Project Management in MS Innovation Center in Varaždin, Logosoft Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina and SEAVUS GROUP in Skopje Macedonia. He was named the best lecturer of WINDAYS 2008 while his lecture was also voted as the best. In addition, he was in TOP 10 lecturers at the MS SINERGY 2009 and MS VISIA 2009, 2010. Shares first place as the best lecturer of KulenDays 2009 and 2010 and PMI Conference 2009 in Zagreb. He is also a regular lecturer in the MS Community. He is a Certified Accountant and a PMP (Project Manager Professional) and a PMI-RMP (Risk Manager Professional), MCP, MCT, and Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist - Microsoft Project 2010. From 01.01.2012 awarded with MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Proffesional - Microsoft Project)!

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