Calendars and resource issues

I work on a project that uses MS Project 2003 Standard and we have a
developed a schedule (time only, no resources or cost) based on historical
data (they have done this many times before) where they know a certain number
of people will be needed on the various tasks. They want to add these
resources (people) to get an idea of who and when they will be needed, as
well as seeing where someone might be overallocated. All tasks are currently
in the schedule as "fixed units", non effort-driven.

All tasks are currently on a 6 day/8 hr work week and I've been asked to
change the calendar to a 6 day/10hr day calendar. I've added the resources
to a resource pool all at 100% and need to begin assigning people to tasks
(although not all tasks will have a resource associated with it).

Can someone provide my next steps? My thought is that I should change the
current calendar through "Tools, Change Working Time" to a 6 day/10 hr day
calendar and then change the base calendar on the resource sheet to the same.
Since I want the durations to remain the same throughout the schedule, will
making these changes to the calendars affect my current durations and dates?
Also, would I need to change each task that will have a resource assignment
to a "fixed duration", non effort-driven task?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Mike
Fri Oct 07 13:31:42 CDT 2005

Hi Mike,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :-)


You're on the right track. You must get the calendar and working hours set
correctly. If in doubt have a quick check here: FAQ Item: 5. Default
Working Hours.

Then you can get on with assigning resources. If you only have one resource
per task (the ideal), then effort driven doesn't come into play. Indeed, if
you assign multiple resources to a task AT THE SAME TIME, you can also
forget about effort driven. Effort driven settings only come into effect if
you change the assignments. Otherwise, press on and good luck!

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :-)

Mike Glen
Project MVP


mikejw wrote:
> I work on a project that uses MS Project 2003 Standard and we have a
> developed a schedule (time only, no resources or cost) based on
> historical data (they have done this many times before) where they
> know a certain number of people will be needed on the various tasks.
> They want to add these resources (people) to get an idea of who and
> when they will be needed, as well as seeing where someone might be
> overallocated. All tasks are currently in the schedule as "fixed
> units", non effort-driven.
>
> All tasks are currently on a 6 day/8 hr work week and I've been asked
> to change the calendar to a 6 day/10hr day calendar. I've added the
> resources to a resource pool all at 100% and need to begin assigning
> people to tasks (although not all tasks will have a resource
> associated with it).
>
> Can someone provide my next steps? My thought is that I should
> change the current calendar through "Tools, Change Working Time" to a
> 6 day/10 hr day calendar and then change the base calendar on the
> resource sheet to the same. Since I want the durations to remain the
> same throughout the schedule, will making these changes to the
> calendars affect my current durations and dates? Also, would I need
> to change each task that will have a resource assignment to a "fixed
> duration", non effort-driven task?
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated.

davegb
Fri Oct 07 13:34:37 CDT 2005


mikejw wrote:
> I work on a project that uses MS Project 2003 Standard and we have a
> developed a schedule (time only, no resources or cost) based on historical
> data (they have done this many times before) where they know a certain number
> of people will be needed on the various tasks. They want to add these
> resources (people) to get an idea of who and when they will be needed, as
> well as seeing where someone might be overallocated. All tasks are currently
> in the schedule as "fixed units", non effort-driven.
>
> All tasks are currently on a 6 day/8 hr work week and I've been asked to
> change the calendar to a 6 day/10hr day calendar. I've added the resources
> to a resource pool all at 100% and need to begin assigning people to tasks
> (although not all tasks will have a resource associated with it).
>
> Can someone provide my next steps? My thought is that I should change the
> current calendar through "Tools, Change Working Time" to a 6 day/10 hr day
> calendar and then change the base calendar on the resource sheet to the same.

Yes, change the current calendar, and also click on the "Options"
button in the calendar and change the working times there.

> Since I want the durations to remain the same throughout the schedule, will
> making these changes to the calendars affect my current durations and dates?

Yes, it will effect your current durations and dates.

> Also, would I need to change each task that will have a resource assignment
> to a "fixed duration", non effort-driven task?
>

As far as the type of task goes, it's hard to say without knowing more
about what you want to happen and how you schedule.

> Any help is greatly appreciated.

You might also consider reducing your resources productivity to 40 to
50% of normal. Working those kinds of hours, effective productivity
will be about 15 or 20 hours per week (factoring in overall quality).
In other words, mulitply all task durations by 2 or 2.5 to accurately
reflect working that kind of OT, if it continues more than 2 or 3
weeks.

mikejw
Fri Oct 07 14:23:01 CDT 2005

Thanks Mike & Dave,

Since I've already created this schedule, is there any way of preventing
Project from changing the durations and dates when I change the hours on the
calendar in "Tools, Change Working Time"? I'm guessing that going from a 8
hour day to a 10 hour day is going to bring my end date back and show me a
higher slack value. Would making all current tasks "Fixed Duration" work?
If not, I'm assuming I would need to make a copy of the project prior to the
calendar changes so that I could revise the durations upward based on the
original dates so as to get the dates back to where they were previously.
Does this seem correct?

"Mike Glen" wrote:

> Hi Mike,
>
> Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :-)
>
>
> You're on the right track. You must get the calendar and working hours set
> correctly. If in doubt have a quick check here: FAQ Item: 5. Default
> Working Hours.
>
> Then you can get on with assigning resources. If you only have one resource
> per task (the ideal), then effort driven doesn't come into play. Indeed, if
> you assign multiple resources to a task AT THE SAME TIME, you can also
> forget about effort driven. Effort driven settings only come into effect if
> you change the assignments. Otherwise, press on and good luck!
>
> FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
> this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/
>
> Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :-)
>
> Mike Glen
> Project MVP
>
>
> mikejw wrote:
> > I work on a project that uses MS Project 2003 Standard and we have a
> > developed a schedule (time only, no resources or cost) based on
> > historical data (they have done this many times before) where they
> > know a certain number of people will be needed on the various tasks.
> > They want to add these resources (people) to get an idea of who and
> > when they will be needed, as well as seeing where someone might be
> > overallocated. All tasks are currently in the schedule as "fixed
> > units", non effort-driven.
> >
> > All tasks are currently on a 6 day/8 hr work week and I've been asked
> > to change the calendar to a 6 day/10hr day calendar. I've added the
> > resources to a resource pool all at 100% and need to begin assigning
> > people to tasks (although not all tasks will have a resource
> > associated with it).
> >
> > Can someone provide my next steps? My thought is that I should
> > change the current calendar through "Tools, Change Working Time" to a
> > 6 day/10 hr day calendar and then change the base calendar on the
> > resource sheet to the same. Since I want the durations to remain the
> > same throughout the schedule, will making these changes to the
> > calendars affect my current durations and dates? Also, would I need
> > to change each task that will have a resource assignment to a "fixed
> > duration", non effort-driven task?
> >
> > Any help is greatly appreciated.
>
>
>
>

davegb
Fri Oct 07 14:41:42 CDT 2005


mikejw wrote:
> Thanks Mike & Dave,
>
> Since I've already created this schedule, is there any way of preventing
> Project from changing the durations and dates when I change the hours on the
> calendar in "Tools, Change Working Time"? I'm guessing that going from a 8
> hour day to a 10 hour day is going to bring my end date back and show me a
> higher slack value. Would making all current tasks "Fixed Duration" work?
> If not, I'm assuming I would need to make a copy of the project prior to the
> calendar changes so that I could revise the durations upward based on the
> original dates so as to get the dates back to where they were previously.
> Does this seem correct?

Yes