any MS project guru's out there???

[snoozer]

I am putting together a project schedule and I am about to shoot myself. Is there any way I can set up a project to track both duration and effort. Basically, I want to show task that may take 2 weeks to complete, but might only be 8 hours of effort. Other than adding resources and making them a %, I cannot figure out a way. I do not want to do the resource %, because we want to see how much effort we need first. In addition, I want to track what % the task is complete by both duration and effort. For example, the 8 hour task that takes 2 weeks to complete. If I put in that we have spent 8 hours on the task, then project automatically puts the task 100% complete, but we may only be 75% complete.

I want to be able to show this...
task start on 5/1 and goes through 5/12 (10 working days). The task is going to take 8 hours to complete. On 5/8, I want to show that we have spent 10 hours working on the task, but we are only 50% with the work.

If anyone can show me how to track both of these, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[dawgball]

I am putting together a project schedule and I am about to shoot myself.

If you are going to be workign with MS Project much, I would go ahead and hide all guns, add bars to your windows (so when you throw your computer, it doesn't actually go outside), and start smoking immediately!

It is a very feature-rich tool, but it is a nightmare to become an expert at.

 

[The Judge]

I want to be able to show this...
task start on 5/1 and goes through 5/12 (10 working days). The task is going to take 8 hours to complete. On 5/8, I want to show that we have spent 10 hours working on the task, but we are only 50% with the work.

The best way to accomplish what you need is by using the timesheet add on. This will allow time to be allocated as it is completed which will automatically generate the percentage of completion based on a budget number.

 

[snoozer]

The problem with the timesheet is that if I have a task that is supposed to take 4 hours to complete, as soon as I put 4 hours worked, it shows the task as 100% complete. I want to show that I work 4 hours, yet the task is still only 50% complete.

 

[snoozer]

has anyone ever used prima vera??? I guess that is what my company is supposed to be switching too.

 

[marine]

snoozer.

I am a pretty solid MS Project guy, began training for Primavera with 2 experts on it in November.

where you located at? and is it a DOD project?
anyway,
Prima vera is infinitely better than project.

By the sound of what you are trying to do... you aren't working smart. Why scheduled it for 8 hours and 10 days out?
use your milestones instead and link tasks into and out of the milestone.

 

[marine]

another thing you can do, which, I'd have to experiment with it to see if it holds true, go into your calendar and adjust your workable hours on the dates for the task duration to 1 hour days.
I'm not sure if it will screw up your entire project schedule or just that line item.

 

[marine]

If I put in that we have spent 8 hours on the task, then project automatically puts the task 100% complete, but we may only be 75% complete.

I want to be able to show this...
task start on 5/1 and goes through 5/12 (10 working days). The task is going to take 8 hours to complete. On 5/8, I want to show that we have spent 10 hours working on the task, but we are only 50% with the work.

Okay, this is why things are causing problems for you. You can NOT plan to get behind from the get go. Seriously, if you put in your plan that you are going to be running late, extend the duration now before you baseline it. You're going to hate life come 5/12 when you overrun your duration and then all your successors get hosed up, milestones become irrelevant, and your EVMS will crap out a nasty smelly turd for you.

I was recently on a project that we had 25,000 line items in project. one missed item snowballed into 4000 delayed tasks because of planning like you have there. Total nightmare. If we could have, we would have just thrown it all away and started fresh in primavera, but that wasn not an option. It simply became a game of re-basleline every fvcking monday morning to try and fix the mess.
plan it right. do not plan ahead to get behind. Build your lag and lead times in properly.
If it takes 8 hours, it is done in one day. if you want 8 hours over 10 days you better call it an 80 hour line item.

 

[snoozer]

marine,
I undestand what you are saying, but if I put that it is going to take 80 hours, that would change my total effort for the project.

The reason is takes 8 hours over 2 weeks is because information needs to be processed. Take this as an example, I want to paint a bedroom. From start to finish it may take 8 hours, but maybe only 2 hours of work. The reason being is this..I paint for 2 hours, but it takes 6 hours to dry. Once it is dry, I can verify that it is complete. during that 6 hours I can be doing other tasks. If I put that I was painting for 8 hours and also did those other tasks, my total allocation would be 14 hours, which is not true.

I think the basic fact is that MS project sucks. With that same example in MS project, If I put that I was painting for 2 hours, Project assumes I am done. What if I am not. Perhaps 1 hour into painting I dropped the paint and it took an hour to clean up. If I was tracking effort to complete the job, I would put in 2 hours, because that is how much time I spent. MS project would then say I am 100% complete, even though I am still only 50% done. What I am trying to avoid it what you mentioned. Changing 1 task and having a ripple effect throughout my schedule.

 

[marine]

turn your "paint the bedroom" into a summary task.
then underneath/inside it break it down to
paint room 2 hours
dry room 8 hours
clean up spilled paint 1 hour

and then the total for the "paint the bedroom" task would be 11 hours while the work performed would 2 hours.

I hear what you are saying, and I used to think the same logic when I first started scheduling. I was quickly taught that while I thought it was common sense... common sense is not applicable in Project.

 

[marine]

or, break it up even further, and say Paint ceiling - 1 hour
paint left wall 1 hour
paint right wall 1 hour.

while it goes into a bit more detail and breakdown of the actual tasks, you can separate your work performed.

or do a "paint the bedroom" for 2 hours, then on the following tasks use a "Start no earlier than" constraint 8 hours after paint the bedroom to allow for paint to dry.