Duration of successor task is influenced by duration of predecesso

I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with many
tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my project, i
found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.

Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5 minutes.

What is the cause of this ?

I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not reliable
now.

All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.

Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am running
a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
durastion releability is Key.

Gérard
Fri Jan 18 04:03:59 CST 2008

Andre,

May be these tasks are scheduled to start a little before the lunch break
(12:00 to 13:00) so they end after 13:00.
Look at your calendar : Tools / Change Working Time...
May be you will have to work all day long : so remove this lunch break
Hope this helps. Good appetite anyway ;-)

Gérard Ducouret

"Andre Bal" <Andre Bal@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message de
news: 38E4292E-9832-46E7-811C-A639B6DBBC24@microsoft.com...
>I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with many
> tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my project,
> i
> found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
>
> Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
> duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5
> minutes.
>
> What is the cause of this ?
>
> I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not reliable
> now.
>
> All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
>
> Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am
> running
> a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
> durastion releability is Key.
>

AndreBal
Fri Jan 18 04:39:02 CST 2008

Gerard,

I work with a 24 hour calender during the project, so this cannot be the
problem

Thanks for your post anyway
Andre

"Gérard Ducouret" wrote:

> Andre,
>
> May be these tasks are scheduled to start a little before the lunch break
> (12:00 to 13:00) so they end after 13:00.
> Look at your calendar : Tools / Change Working Time...
> May be you will have to work all day long : so remove this lunch break
> Hope this helps. Good appetite anyway ;-)
>
> Gérard Ducouret
>
> "Andre Bal" <Andre Bal@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message de
> news: 38E4292E-9832-46E7-811C-A639B6DBBC24@microsoft.com...
> >I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with many
> > tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my project,
> > i
> > found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> > information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
> >
> > Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
> > duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5
> > minutes.
> >
> > What is the cause of this ?
> >
> > I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not reliable
> > now.
> >
> > All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
> >
> > Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am
> > running
> > a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
> > durastion releability is Key.
> >
>
>
>

Gérard
Fri Jan 18 05:38:55 CST 2008

Andre,
If you are sure that there is no resource assigned to that tasks, can you
check that there not any "Standard" calendar attached to the task
See the Task information dialog, Advanced tab.

Gérard Ducouret

"Andre Bal" <AndreBal@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message de
news: 8CAF0F13-081D-4DD3-B155-06FDE012FFB9@microsoft.com...
> Gerard,
>
> I work with a 24 hour calender during the project, so this cannot be the
> problem
>
> Thanks for your post anyway
> Andre
>
> "Gérard Ducouret" wrote:
>
>> Andre,
>>
>> May be these tasks are scheduled to start a little before the lunch break
>> (12:00 to 13:00) so they end after 13:00.
>> Look at your calendar : Tools / Change Working Time...
>> May be you will have to work all day long : so remove this lunch break
>> Hope this helps. Good appetite anyway ;-)
>>
>> Gérard Ducouret
>>
>> "Andre Bal" <Andre Bal@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message
>> de
>> news: 38E4292E-9832-46E7-811C-A639B6DBBC24@microsoft.com...
>> >I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with
>> >many
>> > tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my
>> > project,
>> > i
>> > found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
>> > information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
>> >
>> > Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
>> > duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5
>> > minutes.
>> >
>> > What is the cause of this ?
>> >
>> > I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not
>> > reliable
>> > now.
>> >
>> > All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
>> >
>> > Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am
>> > running
>> > a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
>> > durastion releability is Key.
>> >
>>
>>
>>

AndreBal
Fri Jan 18 07:01:00 CST 2008

Gerard,

Calendar is NONE on these tasks.

Andre

"Gérard Ducouret" wrote:

> Andre,
> If you are sure that there is no resource assigned to that tasks, can you
> check that there not any "Standard" calendar attached to the task
> See the Task information dialog, Advanced tab.
>
> Gérard Ducouret
>
> "Andre Bal" <AndreBal@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message de
> news: 8CAF0F13-081D-4DD3-B155-06FDE012FFB9@microsoft.com...
> > Gerard,
> >
> > I work with a 24 hour calender during the project, so this cannot be the
> > problem
> >
> > Thanks for your post anyway
> > Andre
> >
> > "Gérard Ducouret" wrote:
> >
> >> Andre,
> >>
> >> May be these tasks are scheduled to start a little before the lunch break
> >> (12:00 to 13:00) so they end after 13:00.
> >> Look at your calendar : Tools / Change Working Time...
> >> May be you will have to work all day long : so remove this lunch break
> >> Hope this helps. Good appetite anyway ;-)
> >>
> >> Gérard Ducouret
> >>
> >> "Andre Bal" <Andre Bal@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message
> >> de
> >> news: 38E4292E-9832-46E7-811C-A639B6DBBC24@microsoft.com...
> >> >I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with
> >> >many
> >> > tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my
> >> > project,
> >> > i
> >> > found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> >> > information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
> >> >
> >> > Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
> >> > duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5
> >> > minutes.
> >> >
> >> > What is the cause of this ?
> >> >
> >> > I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not
> >> > reliable
> >> > now.
> >> >
> >> > All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
> >> >
> >> > Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am
> >> > running
> >> > a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
> >> > durastion releability is Key.
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

AndreBal
Fri Jan 18 08:32:00 CST 2008

Tested by importing my plan (MSP2002 created) into 2007 version.
Total leadtime reduces with 1 hour, however the problem still remains.

Removing the dependency reduces the leadtime of a succcessor.

How is it possible

"Andre Bal" wrote:

> I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with many
> tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my project, i
> found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
>
> Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
> duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5 minutes.
>
> What is the cause of this ?
>
> I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not reliable
> now.
>
> All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
>
> Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am running
> a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
> durastion releability is Key.
>

davegb
Fri Jan 18 08:45:59 CST 2008

On Jan 18, 2:36=A0am, Andre Bal <Andre B...@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:
> I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with man=
y
> tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my project,=
i
> found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
>
> Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
> duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5 minu=
tes.
>
> What is the cause of this ?
>
> I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not reliable=

> now.
>
> All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
>
> Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am runnin=
g
> a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
> durastion releability is Key.

When the tasks are linked, the project takes longer than when all the
tasks are being done at the same time. A bunch of 5 min tasks,
unlinked, no matter how many there are, take 5 min. If you have 12 5
min tasks, and they are linked, they take 60 min.

Hope this helps in your world.

AndreBal
Fri Jan 18 09:13:02 CST 2008

Problem is that the same task has a different duration in the bar when it is
unlinked, or linked.

Obvoiusly I understaand doing things paralell shortens duration. I an just
talking about 1 single task here that increases in duration when it is given
a predecessor.

Andre

"davegb" wrote:

> On Jan 18, 2:36 am, Andre Bal <Andre B...@discussions.microsoft.com>
> wrote:
> > I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with many
> > tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my project, i
> > found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> > information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
> >
> > Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
> > duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5 minutes.
> >
> > What is the cause of this ?
> >
> > I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not reliable
> > now.
> >
> > All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
> >
> > Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am running
> > a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
> > durastion releability is Key.
>
> When the tasks are linked, the project takes longer than when all the
> tasks are being done at the same time. A bunch of 5 min tasks,
> unlinked, no matter how many there are, take 5 min. If you have 12 5
> min tasks, and they are linked, they take 60 min.
>
> Hope this helps in your world.
>

Jan
Fri Jan 18 11:52:51 CST 2008

Hi,

You could stop having the people guess and send me the file at
jandemesATprom-ade.be
I'm sure I can tell you what.
Greetings,

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf
"Andre Bal" <AndreBal@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E209C216-8750-4159-83AE-821F61FFD83F@microsoft.com...
> Problem is that the same task has a different duration in the bar when it
> is
> unlinked, or linked.
>
> Obvoiusly I understaand doing things paralell shortens duration. I an just
> talking about 1 single task here that increases in duration when it is
> given
> a predecessor.
>
> Andre
>
> "davegb" wrote:
>
>> On Jan 18, 2:36 am, Andre Bal <Andre B...@discussions.microsoft.com>
>> wrote:
>> > I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with
>> > many
>> > tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my
>> > project, i
>> > found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
>> > information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
>> >
>> > Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
>> > duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5
>> > minutes.
>> >
>> > What is the cause of this ?
>> >
>> > I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not
>> > reliable
>> > now.
>> >
>> > All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
>> >
>> > Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am
>> > running
>> > a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
>> > durastion releability is Key.
>>
>> When the tasks are linked, the project takes longer than when all the
>> tasks are being done at the same time. A bunch of 5 min tasks,
>> unlinked, no matter how many there are, take 5 min. If you have 12 5
>> min tasks, and they are linked, they take 60 min.
>>
>> Hope this helps in your world.
>>

Jack
Fri Jan 18 14:12:20 CST 2008

Two things to look at:
1) from tools menu, view tab, select a date format that shows minutes.
Otherwise you are guessing about when a task ends.

2) Right click on the gantt chart area and select "layout" make sure that
the "round bars to whole days" option is not selected.

Other than that, have someone look at the file itself. It probably can't be
debugged from your description.

-Jack Dahlgren


"Andre Bal" <Andre Bal@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:38E4292E-9832-46E7-811C-A639B6DBBC24@microsoft.com...
>I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with many
> tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my project,
> i
> found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
>
> Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
> duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5
> minutes.
>
> What is the cause of this ?
>
> I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not reliable
> now.
>
> All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
>
> Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am
> running
> a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
> durastion releability is Key.
>

Steve
Sat Jan 19 07:36:06 CST 2008

Remember non-working time enters into the picture. Imagine 2 2-day tasks
starting on Wednesday - their bars will cover Wed and Thur. Now I link them
FS. Task 1's bar will cover Wed and Thur, Task 2's bar will cover Fri, Sat,
Sun, Mon. While the elpased time from start to finish for task 2 has
increased from 2 days to 4, its duration has not actually changed and
remains at 2 days, Sat and Sun not counting in the duration numbers because
they're non-working days. I'll bet something like that is what you're
seeing in your project. You can't count on the total length of the Gantt
bars as representing the duration and only the duration.

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs


"Andre Bal" <AndreBal@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E209C216-8750-4159-83AE-821F61FFD83F@microsoft.com...
> Problem is that the same task has a different duration in the bar when it
> is
> unlinked, or linked.
>
> Obvoiusly I understaand doing things paralell shortens duration. I an just
> talking about 1 single task here that increases in duration when it is
> given
> a predecessor.
>
> Andre
>
> "davegb" wrote:
>
>> On Jan 18, 2:36 am, Andre Bal <Andre B...@discussions.microsoft.com>
>> wrote:
>> > I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with
>> > many
>> > tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my
>> > project, i
>> > found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
>> > information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
>> >
>> > Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
>> > duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5
>> > minutes.
>> >
>> > What is the cause of this ?
>> >
>> > I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not
>> > reliable
>> > now.
>> >
>> > All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
>> >
>> > Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am
>> > running
>> > a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
>> > durastion releability is Key.
>>
>> When the tasks are linked, the project takes longer than when all the
>> tasks are being done at the same time. A bunch of 5 min tasks,
>> unlinked, no matter how many there are, take 5 min. If you have 12 5
>> min tasks, and they are linked, they take 60 min.
>>
>> Hope this helps in your world.
>>

AndreBal
Mon Jan 21 10:05:01 CST 2008

Stop: When setting other timescales (hours and minutes), the duration shows
correct!.

So it seems to be a grafical / display issue.

As far as i am concerned the problem is solved.

"Andre Bal" wrote:

> Tested by importing my plan (MSP2002 created) into 2007 version.
> Total leadtime reduces with 1 hour, however the problem still remains.
>
> Removing the dependency reduces the leadtime of a succcessor.
>
> How is it possible
>
> "Andre Bal" wrote:
>
> > I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan with many
> > tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my project, i
> > found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> > information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
> >
> > Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the task
> > duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5 minutes.
> >
> > What is the cause of this ?
> >
> > I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not reliable
> > now.
> >
> > All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
> >
> > Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am running
> > a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, so
> > durastion releability is Key.
> >

davegb
Tue Jan 22 09:03:53 CST 2008

On Jan 19, 6:36=A0am, "Steve House" <sjhouse at hotmail dot com> wrote:
> Remember non-working time enters into the picture. =A0Imagine 2 2-day task=
s
> starting on Wednesday - their bars will cover Wed and Thur. =A0Now I link =
them
> FS. =A0Task 1's bar will cover Wed and Thur, Task 2's bar will cover Fri, =
Sat,
> Sun, Mon. =A0While the elpased time from start to finish for task 2 has
> increased from 2 days to 4, its duration has not actually changed and
> remains at 2 days, Sat and Sun not counting in the duration numbers becaus=
e
> they're non-working days. =A0I'll bet something like that is what you're
> seeing in your project. =A0You can't count on the total length of the Gant=
t
> bars as representing the duration and only the duration.
>
> --
> Steve House [Project MVP]
> MS Project Trainer & Consultant
> Visithttp://project.mvps.org/faqs.htmfor the FAQs
>

Good call, Steve!

> "Andre Bal" <Andre...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>
> news:E209C216-8750-4159-83AE-821F61FFD83F@microsoft.com...
>
>
>
> > Problem is that the same task has a different duration in the bar when i=
t
> > is
> > unlinked, or linked.
>
> > Obvoiusly I understaand doing things paralell shortens duration. I an ju=
st
> > talking about 1 single task here that increases in duration when it is
> > given
> > a predecessor.
>
> > Andre
>
> > "davegb" wrote:
>
> >> On Jan 18, 2:36 am, Andre Bal <Andre B...@discussions.microsoft.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> > I have a bloking issue with a project file. IT is a detailed plan wit=
h
> >> > many
> >> > tasks that take between 5-15 minutes duration. After analising my
> >> > project, i
> >> > found that although several tasks take 5 minutes (listed in task
> >> > information), the gant chart bar displays about 1 hour.
>
> >> > Even stranger, if i remove the deprendency of such task, then the tas=
k
> >> > duration is still five minutes, however the bar will also change to 5=

> >> > minutes.
>
> >> > What is the cause of this ?
>
> >> > I have found no clues whatsowever, and my project duration is not
> >> > reliable
> >> > now.
>
> >> > All taks have fixed duration, effort drivven with NO resources used.
>
> >> > Please advise since my total leadtime is negatively affected (im am
> >> > running
> >> > a large disaster recovery test that MUST be fitted within a weekend, =
so
> >> > durastion releability is Key.
>
> >> When the tasks are linked, the project takes longer than when all the
> >> tasks are being done at the same time. A bunch of 5 min tasks,
> >> unlinked, no matter how many there are, take 5 min. If you have 12 5
> >> min tasks, and they are linked, they take 60 min.
>
> >> Hope this helps in your world.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -