Times not calculating - Urgent!

Project 2003, new user to MS Project

I have built a project plan and put in some task and subtasks and it does
not seem to be calculating properly. For example, a main task heading is
"Create Speadsheets", where the total should calculate beside as it is in
bold, then the 3 subtasks below which have the following times, .25h, .25h,
and .5h. This should total 1 hour, but the main task shows .5 hours. I have
checked the rest of the project and it also seems to be doing the same thing.
It is not calculating the .25h properly. Is there some setting I am
missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have 2 plans to get out
in the next 2 days.

Thanks so much in advance.
Shauna

JulieS
Thu Feb 17 12:59:05 CST 2005

Hi Shauna,

The summary task ("Create Spreadsheets" in your example) does not add the
duration of the subtasks together. The duration of the summary task is the
amount of working time from the start of the earliest subtask to the finish
of the last subtask.

If your three tasks should be done sequentially (the second can't start
until the first task is finished etc.) then link the tasks together (use the
Link Task button on the Standard toolbar.)

I know you are on a very tight schedule, but having a look at Mike Glen's
series of articles may assist you greatly. The URL is
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23

or
http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

"Shauna Koppang" wrote:

> Project 2003, new user to MS Project
>
> I have built a project plan and put in some task and subtasks and it does
> not seem to be calculating properly. For example, a main task heading is
> "Create Speadsheets", where the total should calculate beside as it is in
> bold, then the 3 subtasks below which have the following times, .25h, .25h,
> and .5h. This should total 1 hour, but the main task shows .5 hours. I have
> checked the rest of the project and it also seems to be doing the same thing.
> It is not calculating the .25h properly. Is there some setting I am
> missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have 2 plans to get out
> in the next 2 days.
>
> Thanks so much in advance.
> Shauna

ShaunaKoppang
Thu Feb 17 13:23:03 CST 2005

Thanks so much Julie. Will look into these, and thanks for your advice.

Shauna

"JulieS" wrote:

> Hi Shauna,
>
> The summary task ("Create Spreadsheets" in your example) does not add the
> duration of the subtasks together. The duration of the summary task is the
> amount of working time from the start of the earliest subtask to the finish
> of the last subtask.
>
> If your three tasks should be done sequentially (the second can't start
> until the first task is finished etc.) then link the tasks together (use the
> Link Task button on the Standard toolbar.)
>
> I know you are on a very tight schedule, but having a look at Mike Glen's
> series of articles may assist you greatly. The URL is:
> http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
>
> or
> http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc
>
> I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.
>
> Julie
>
> "Shauna Koppang" wrote:
>
> > Project 2003, new user to MS Project
> >
> > I have built a project plan and put in some task and subtasks and it does
> > not seem to be calculating properly. For example, a main task heading is
> > "Create Speadsheets", where the total should calculate beside as it is in
> > bold, then the 3 subtasks below which have the following times, .25h, .25h,
> > and .5h. This should total 1 hour, but the main task shows .5 hours. I have
> > checked the rest of the project and it also seems to be doing the same thing.
> > It is not calculating the .25h properly. Is there some setting I am
> > missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have 2 plans to get out
> > in the next 2 days.
> >
> > Thanks so much in advance.
> > Shauna

JulieS
Thu Feb 17 13:31:02 CST 2005

You are very welcome Shauna. Thanks for the feedback and please let us know
if we can assist you again in the future. Good luck!

Julie

"Shauna Koppang" wrote:

> Thanks so much Julie. Will look into these, and thanks for your advice.
>
> Shauna

ShaunaKoppang
Thu Feb 17 13:45:03 CST 2005

Julie,

What is the best way to get times for this? I have linked the tasks and
still not updating the times. Should I copy the plan into Excel to
calculate? This is for not only planning, which I need the plan for, but for
costing for 2 project.

Thanks!
Shauna

"JulieS" wrote:

> You are very welcome Shauna. Thanks for the feedback and please let us know
> if we can assist you again in the future. Good luck!
>
> Julie
>
> "Shauna Koppang" wrote:
>
> > Thanks so much Julie. Will look into these, and thanks for your advice.
> >
> > Shauna
>

JulieS
Thu Feb 17 13:59:09 CST 2005

Hi Shauna,

I'm not sure I understand completely what you mean by "times". If you view
the Start and Finish fields in the table (move the split between the Task
Sheet and the Gantt Chart to the right), you should be seeing the Start Date
and Time of the tasks change when you link the tasks. If you are not showing
time in those fields go to Tools> Options and on the view tab select a date
format that shows dates and times. While in the Options dialog box, also
click on the Calculation tab and make sure your calculate is set to
"Automatic" not Manual.

Also, just to make sure - you didn't type in the dates, right? You want to
make sure that you allow MS Project to calculate your start and finish
dates/times for the tasks by supplying the start date of the project
(Project>Project Information), entering the task durations and then linking
the tasks. You also want to make sure your calendar for the project (Tools>
Change Working Time) is accurate.

As far as "Costing" you will need to create resources with rates (on the
Resource Sheet) and assign those resources to tasks to be able to have
Project calculate your projected costs based upon labor. You may apply the
Cost Table (View> Table> Cost) to see the costs for your project as well as
add any "Fixed" costs to the tasks.

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

"Shauna Koppang" wrote:

> Julie,
>
> What is the best way to get times for this? I have linked the tasks and
> still not updating the times. Should I copy the plan into Excel to
> calculate? This is for not only planning, which I need the plan for, but for
> costing for 2 project.
>
> Thanks!
> Shauna
>
> "JulieS" wrote:
>
> > You are very welcome Shauna. Thanks for the feedback and please let us know
> > if we can assist you again in the future. Good luck!
> >
> > Julie
> >
> > "Shauna Koppang" wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks so much Julie. Will look into these, and thanks for your advice.
> > >
> > > Shauna
> >

Joe
Thu Feb 17 15:47:02 CST 2005

My guess is that you are confused between "durations" and "workâ?? I think when
you say "times" I think you want to see the total amount of work for that
summary task. For this you want to see the "workâ?? for the amount of time it
will take to finish the summary task, look at the "durations".

If you are going to use MS project, you REALLY need to understand these
concepts, otherwise you will be making huge mistakes if you make decisions
based ion the information from these plans you are creating. You will
especially have a problem if you start over allocating resources and don't
realize it. You may think you are on track when you are far from it. Please
take the time to understand how MS Project works before you start running
your project based off it. I know you have only 2 days, but in my opinion,
you should NOT use this until you know what your doing.

Steve
Fri Feb 18 05:48:20 CST 2005

When you have a summary task and several subtasks under it, the duration of
the summary task is the amount of time between when the earliest subtask
begins and the latest subtask finishes. You summary is showing .5 hours
because all three of your subtasks start together, 2 of them finish 15
minutes later and 1 of them finished 30 minutes later. (This could be the
case if each worksheet is being worked on by a separate person and all of
them are working together, for example.) Thus the total time required all
three is 30 minutes, the time between when they all start (all at once) and
when the longest one finishes. If they are going to be done by ONE person,
she can't work on all of them at the same time. Instead, she'll do number 1
and when its finished do number 2 and when that one is finished do number 3.
To represent that sequence, create links from 1 to 2 to 3 so they are spread
out in order. Now the total of the summary will equal 1 hour because thet's
the total time between when she starts on number 1 and when she finishes
number 3, working on them one at a time.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


"Shauna Koppang" <ShaunaKoppang@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:27203BBE-69A5-4F3B-9523-184A3BD3FEE6@microsoft.com...
> Project 2003, new user to MS Project
>
> I have built a project plan and put in some task and subtasks and it does
> not seem to be calculating properly. For example, a main task heading is
> "Create Speadsheets", where the total should calculate beside as it is in
> bold, then the 3 subtasks below which have the following times, .25h,
> .25h,
> and .5h. This should total 1 hour, but the main task shows .5 hours. I
> have
> checked the rest of the project and it also seems to be doing the same
> thing.
> It is not calculating the .25h properly. Is there some setting I am
> missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have 2 plans to get
> out
> in the next 2 days.
>
> Thanks so much in advance.
> Shauna