Why is my Task Type changed from Non Effort Driven to Effort Driven automatically in MS PROJECT 2016

Hi I have a question from one of my Blog readers:

“I wonder if this is a bug in MS Project 2016?
Here what I did:
1. Created a 3-day fixed units, non-effort-driven task
2. Assigned one resource at 100% capacity
3. Changed Duration from 3d to 5d
4. Chose the option “Decrease hours resources work per day but keep the same amount of work” so that scheduled Work remained unchanged

In response Project :
a). changed Peak Units to 60%. Which is correct. But it also changed the Assignment Units to 60%. And I don’t understand why?!!!
b). Project made the task to be an effort-driven. Why?”

First of all, that is not a BUG! I will show you that in MS PROJECT 2016

I’m going to create simple Project with one Task with 3 days Duration:

Then I am going to create one Resource and assign it to the Task.

and:

I will now turn on Task Form, and I will get:

Now I am going to change Duration from 3 to 5 days:

Finally I will get:

Now, I am going to answer to questions:

Changed Peak Units to 60%. Which is correct. But it also changed the Assignment Units to 60%. And I don’t understand why?!!! – Because if what happens when you decrease or increase duration. It is real assignment units now, in this new situation
Project made the task to be an effort-driven. Why? – Because if you say that you want to have fixed numbers of hours (same amount of work), than when you add, for example, new resource to the same task, duration or assignment units will be decreased, but the work will remain the same. This is, at the end, all about Effort driven.

Hope this helps!

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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1 Response to Why is my Task Type changed from Non Effort Driven to Effort Driven automatically in MS PROJECT 2016

Chris R says:

July 26, 2016 at 3:23 pm

Nenad. Good post. To put a finer point on it, in the example you show you refer to the task resource allocation as “peak units”. That’s not quite it. Peak units applies to the resource, not the allocation of that resource on a given task. In the example above, the peak and allocated units are the same. If there was another task added that used “Resource”, and started at the same time, you’d see “Peak Units” for the “Resource” at 160%.