Nenad Trajkovski

Fixed Duration, actual work, remaining work – how are they linked in MS PROJECT 2013?

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

Today I’ll show you something that looks like a bug but it is not. Suppose that you have a Task with 5 days duration, and the Task Type is Fixed duration. I’ll do that Scenario in MS PROJECT 2013!

I will now Create John as Resource:

and I will assign John to the Task:

I will switch to the Task Usage View:

The Magic Formula is Work = Duration * Units, so Work is 5 days (8 hours per day in my Case) * 100% (John is assigned 100% to the Task) = 40 hours!

Now suppose that John has worked 16 hours on that Task, and he is done! The Task is Finished! So Remaining work is zero hours:

I’ll get:

As you can see, duration is unchanged, because it is Fixed. It is not a Bug! Let’s see Gantt Chart:

And what about % Completed:

As you can see Task is only 40% Completed, because it has Fixe Duration. It seems odd? I know what are you going to tell! If there is no work Remaining, it should be 100% Completed. So, mark it as 100% completed:

and you will get:

and in the Task Usage View:

You don’t like this? You want Duration to be 2 days? Change The Task type to, for example, Fixed Units here:

And everything looks fine now:

If you want Finish date to be Tue, 12.05.2014, than change Task Type before you put actual and remaining work, and the Task will be 100% Finished when you enter Actual work = 16 hours, and remaining work = 0 hours.

Regards

The Resume fields in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

Imagine this situation: you have a Task with one Resource, and duration is 5 days. The task is on Track, and it is 50% completed. Suddenly, Resource get sick, and will be able to continue with work after few days. what do you have to do? You can Split Task (I wrote about that), or you can use the Resume Field. I’ll show how to do it in MS PROJECT 2013.

First I’m going to Create new Project with 1 Task:

and I’m going to create one Resource:

Finally I’m going to Assign the Resource to the Task:

I will now add %Completed, and Resume fields in the Gantt Chart View:

As you can see, the Resume Field is NA, and that is because there are no Progress on that Task yet.

I will now Mark a Task as 40% Completed:

The Resume Field is now Wed 07.05.2014. Task is 40% completed, and that means that it was work on him from Monday till Tuesday (8 hours at Monday, and Tuesday, which is 16 hours, and 16 hours is 40% of 40 total 40 hours).

Now Suppose that Resource get sick, and he or she will be back at Monday, 12.05.2014. I will put this date in Resume Field, and I’ll get:

As you can see the Finish Date is Wednesday, 14.05.2014, and Task has a Split!

It is very easy, and very, very visible!

Regards 🙂

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Project 2013 - Scheduling, MS PROJECT, MS PROJECT 2010, MS PROJECT 2010 - Scheduling, MS PROJECT 2013 - TASKS! | Leave a comment

% Complete vs. Finish Date in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi, here is another problem from one of my Blog readers:

“Hi Nenad – allow me to give you an example of my problem. A task with a finish date of May 5/14 has a % complete of 25%. When the finish date is changed to May 30/14 the % complete automatically adjusts to 20%. I would like the finish date modification to be independent of the % complete. So when I change the finish date, the % complete does not change. Is there a way to change the relationship logic between finish date and % complete?”

I will show this relationship in MS PROJECT 2013! First I will Create brand new Project with only one Task:

and I will add % Complete field in the Gantt View:

Now I will mark Task as 25% Completed:

Finally, I will change Finish Date to May 30:

As you can see, Duration is now 23 days, and % Complete is 4%. Why?

Before changing Finish date, 25% of % Complete was actually 1 day because duration was 4 days and 25% is 4 * 25% = 1 day. SO actual duration was 1 day. Now the Finish Date is 30.04.2014, and Duration is 23 days. % Complete is calculated by formula: %Complete = Actual Duration / Duration = 1 day / 23 days = 0.0043478 = (rounded) 4%. You can see this here:

and:

So, to conclude, When you enter %Complete for any Task, and you change Finish date, or Duration, %Complete is recalculated, and will not remain same as you entered. It is always calculated by formula mentioned above. This is the way how MS PROJECT works. If you want to keep %Complete same as before changing End Date, or duration you should simply enter this Value again in %Complete field.

Regards.

Resources and Durations – how are they linked in MS PROJECT 2013!

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

very good friend of mine has a problem:

“Nenad, please help me. I want to have some Resources with different working hours (for Example, John 1 hour per day, Mary 2 hours per day), and when I assign Single Resource (for now) to the Task, I want duration to be changed. But, when I add John to the Task which should have 3 hours of Duration, the Task has the same duration, and nothing changed. What do I do wrong”

Friend of mine sent me an mpp file, and I will show you what was wrong in MS PROJECT 2013!

Here is the Task, with 3 hours Duration:

Here it John, as Resource:

and modified Standard Calendar for him:

When I assign John to the Task I get:

As you can see, nothing has changed. Let’s look at Resource Usage View:

The main, and only reason for that kind of behavior is because the Task is in Manually Scheduled mode.

I’ll now delete the old Task and I’ll create a new one in Auto Schedule Mode:

and again I’ll assign John to the Task:

Voila, duration is changed. Again, let’s look at Resource Usage View:

As you can seem John will work three days, one hour per day, and that is exactly what my friend wants.

To conclude, to have all benefits from MS PROJECT 2013, use Auto Schedule Mode whenever you can.

Regards.

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Project 2010 - RESOURCES, Microsoft Project 2013 - Calendars, MS - Calendars, MS PROJECT, ms project - scheduling | 2 Comments

Adding new Resource on the Partial Finished Task in MS PROJECT 2013 – Part 2 of 2!

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

Today I’ll show another way of adding Resource after it is, for example, 40% Finished.

first, I’ll show you pictures from my Previous Post, so I will create on simple Project in MS PROJECT 2013:

and I will create tow Resources like this:

and I’ll assign John to the Task:

Now I will make Task 40% Completed, like this:

and:

Now I’ll use Detail View with Task form:

As you can see, Task is 40% Finished. I’ll now add Mary as Resource form the Gant Chart:

and I’ll get:

In this case, I will get EXACT what I’ve got in my Previous Post, e.g.:

As you can see, Mary will work only 24 hours (not 40) for this Task! Let’s see Task Usage View:

As you can see, John is done with work on Monday and Tuesday (this is 40% of Job done), and now wee need Mary. Mary will work 8 house at Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Duration remains the same e.g. 5 days.

If I choose this Option:

I will get:

So duration is shortened, and Total hours (40) are same. Let’s look at Task Usage View:

As you can see, John is done with work on Monday and Tuesday (this is 40% of Job done), and now wee need Mary. John and Mary will split the Remaining work (32 hours) at Wednesday (John will work 8 hours, and Mary as well), and Thursday (John will work 4 hours, and Mary as well). So, work distribution will be:

Monday –> John 8 hours TOTAL: 8 hours

Tuesday –> John 8 Hours TOTAL: 8 hours

Wednesday-> John 8 Hours, Mary 8 Hours TOTAL: 16 hours

Thursday –> John 4 hours, Mary 4 Hours TOTAL: 8 hours

GRAND TOTAL: 40 hours

Finally I’ll choose the Third Option:

and I’ll get:

Again, I’m going to use Task Usage View with Peak field:

Duration remains same, But for the Rest work, John and Mary will work less hours per day. So, work distribution will be:

Monday –> John 8 hours TOTAL: 8 hours

Tuesday –> John 8 Hours TOTAL: 8 hours

Wednesday-> John 4 Hours, Mary 4 Hours TOTAL: 8 hours

Thursday –> John 4 hours, Mary 4 Hours TOTAL: 8 hours

Friday –> John 4 hours, Mary 4 Hours TOTAL: 8 hours

GRAND TOTAL: 40 hours

To conclude, if you want to get those three Options do not add additional Resource from Task Form Screen!

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010 | Tagged Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2013, MS PROJECT 2013- Resources | 3 Comments

Adding new Resource on the Partial Finished Task in MS PROJECT 2013 – Part 1 of 2!

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

I had a very good question from one of my Blog Readers:

“Hi Nenad. Can you tell me what is going to happen if I have one Resource on the Task, and that Task is finished, for example, 40%, and I add new resource to that Task?”

Well, let’s see. I will create on simple Project in MS PROJECT 2013:

and I will create tow Resources like this:

and I’ll assign John to the Task:

Now I will make Task 40% Completed, like this:

and:

Now I’ll use Detail View with Task form:

As you can see, Task is 40% Finished. I’ll now add Mary as Resource form the Task Form:

and I’ll get:

As you can see, Mary will work only 24 hours (not 40) for this Task! Let’s see Task Usage View:

But, there is another way in which you can shorten duration or Maximal units when you add Mary later. For that you will have to wait next week.

Regards,

Strange Duration in MS PROJECT 2013 – Bug or Not!

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

I will show you something that makes MS PROJECT users crazy! Of course I’ll use MS PROJECT 2013.

I will first, create a Brand new Project with one Task with 5 days Duration, like this:

Everything is just fine. Now I will add one Resource with 24 Hours Calendar:

and I’ll assign this Robot to the Task:

or in Task Usage View:

So Robot will work 16 hours at Monday (From 8 AM till Midnight), and from 00:00 to 00:00 at Tuesday!

But, as you can see Task Duration is 5 days! WHY? the simplest answer is: Because MS PROJECT works that way.

The Magic Formula is: Duration = Work / Units. So, Work = 40 hours and Units = 100%. Since 1 Day is 8 hours, Duration = 40 / 100% (8 hours) = % Days.

It may look silly (actually it does), but MS PROJECT Calculates duration in that way, no matter which Calendar did you use. Duration of Project Summary Task is, on the other hand, Finish Date – Start date, and it is 2 days!

But, If you want to see “correct” duration for the Task, you can use, for Example, Duration 1 custom field with formula, like this:

and then:

and finally:

Now I will add this Field to the Gantt Chart, and I’ will get:

And I got what I wanted.

It’s a little bit Tricky, but well….

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Project 2013 - Calendars, MS - Calendars, MS PROJECT, MS PROJECT 2010, MS PROJECT 2013 | 1 Comment

24 Hours Calendar – how it works in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

I have a lot of questions about MS PROJECT 2013 Calendars, especially about 24 hours Calendar.

I will explain how does it work in MS PROJECT 2013.

First I will Create a very Simple Project with only one Task and only one Resource:

and:

I will assign Mary to Task:

Now let’s Look to Task Usage View:

As you can see Mary will work on the Task from Monday till Friday 8 hours per day, because of this:

and:

So 5 days Duration means 5 days * 8 hours per day = 40 hours. Or Magic formula:

Work = Duration * Units ==>> Work = 5 days (5 days * 8 hours per day) * 100% Units for Mary = 40 Hours

Now I will say that Mary will work on 24 Hours Calendar:

If I now look at the Task Usage View, I’ll get:

As you can see Mary will work 16 hours at Monday (From 08:00 am till 00:00 = 16 hours), and 24 hours on Tuesday (From 00:00 till 00:00), and that makes in total 16+24 = 40 hours, sop she will finish in two Days.

You should be careful when you are working with that Calendar. Ask yourself this: “Is it really possible that someone will work 24 hours per day?” I don’t think so. So when you can use this Calendar? From my point of View when you are using Machine (Automatic work), and not a human, because Machine can work 24 hours per day.

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, Microsoft Project 2013 - Calendars, MS - Calendars | 1 Comment

Material Resources and Calendars in MS PROJECT 2013 – where is the link?

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

as usual, I have a question from one of my Blog Readers:

“Hi Nenad. i follow your blog step but i added resource as material not as work, but it doesn’t come up to me in the calendars list to adjust its working/non working time. is there a reason for that or is it just a bug?
thanks”

I’ll show you that in MS PROJECT 2013.

Suppose that you want to build a wall:

You need two type of Resources: John as Work Resource (he will build the wall), and Bricks as Material Resource (you need Bricks for the wall, don’t you?)

As you can see, I can not assign any Calendar to the Material Resource

I will now assign John to the Task, and 100 Bricks for the same Task:

and I’ll get:

Let’s say that there is a Holliday at Tuesday 11.3.2014:

I’ll get:

As you can see, the Task will be finished at Monday, 10.03.2014, nota at Friday 14.3.2014, because it needs 5 working days.

And only John is affected (e.g. Working Resources) with Calendars. But why not Material Resources as well?

Because, for example Bricks, are not available at certain period. You have them or not. It is logical. On the other hand, let suppose that you have a machine need for building a wall, and you do not have them available all the time. In that Case, you should create, for example, Machine as work Resource, make a Calendar for it’s availability and then assign them to the Task.

Now I will tell to MS PROJECT when the Machine is available for my Project:

and I will get:

Now let’s look at Resource Usage View:

As you can see, the Machine is over allocated at Monday, and Tuesday. If I do not use this method, but if I change Calendar for Machine like this:

I will get:

So the Task will be finished two day latter. let’s see Task Usage View:

No the Machine is not Over allocated, but there is something wrong with this scenario. I John need the Machine for the work he couldn’t work without it at Monday, and Tuesday .

So you have to be extremely careful when you are using exceptions, and calendars for Resources.

Regards

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, Microsoft Project 2013 - Calendars, Microsoft Project 2013 - Resources | 2 Comments

Task Calendar in MS PROJECT 2013 – when to use it?

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

Again, I have a request (question) from one of my Blog readers: !

“Hello,

Your tutorials are very helpful – thank you! I was wondering if it is possible to make a particular task not allowed on a particular day? For example, as a rule we do not deploy any projects on a Friday, therefore the task for ‘go live’ would need to automatically be moved to the next working day if it falls on a Friday. This is only valid for that one task and not all of the others therefore changing the calendar for the whole project would not work. Do you know if this is possible?

Many Thanks,
Emily”

I’ll show you how to do it in MS PROJECT PRO 2013.

First of all I am going to create a brand new Calendar, called ”No Friday”: