Hi,

I’ve got a question from one of my blog readers: “Let’s suppose that I have a task “Task” with fixed work task type. Duration is 10 days. I assign 2 resource who work for 8hr per day. Total work is 160hr. After 6 days, found person2 is leaving. I expect MS PROJECT project to assign 64hr by default to existing 1 person and extend duration from 10 days to 14 days. Also I expect work 160hr remains same. Is MS PROJECT does it by itself as task is fixed work?”

I will explain this case using MS PROJECT 2016.

I will create a project, with the Task, and I will assign two resources to the Task. Task is Fixed Work type:

OK! In this case both John and Mary had finished their work after 6 days, so this is easy to track. I will make this Task as 60% finished (60% of 10 days is 6 days):

and:

Now, after I “setup the scene” suppose that Mary left the Project, and john should take over her Job.

With MS Project you can replace one resource with another, but not with the existing one. It means that I can replace Mary with Joanne for example, because  she is not assigned to the Task, but not with John.

I can delete Mary from the Task, but in that case I have to delete her work on that Task like on the picture below (it is shown after I delete Mary and click on OK button on Task Form:

If I click on OK button I will get:

So, now Total Work is 160 hours per John, Actual Work is 48 hours, and Remaining Work is 160-48=112 hours. Duration id 20 days (160 hours of total work / 8 hours per day = 20 days). Actual work is 48 hours because when john and Mary were together on the Task, they have 80 hours work each and I put 60% complete, so 60% of 80 hours is 48 hours.

This approach is wrong because I deleted the actual work done By Mary which is 48 hours. Why? Because if Mary leave the Project she cannot “undone2 the work already done in it.

So, how can I solve the problem. Let me show the status again before Mary has left.

I want to leave Mary on that Task but with no work remaining, and I want John to take over of her Job. For that I should follow next steps:

1. For Mary the Remaining work should be set to 0 hours
2. For john Total work should increase for 32 hours (that is how much work Mary left unfinished after she has gone), so the Total work will be 80 + 32 = 112 hours
3. For John  Remaining work should increase for 32 hours (that is how much work Mary left unfinished after she has gone), so the Remaining  work will be 32 (John’s unfinished part) + 32 (Mary’s unfinished part) = 64 hours

When I do it I will get:

Finally, after I click on OK button I will get:

This is the right approach. a lot of work, but this is the way how to handle this situation.

Regards!