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#1
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Fixed duration, fixed units, fixed work, effort driven. How, why and when use it all
Dear all,
If I look at it, Microsoft Project effectively has 5 types of tasks (fixed duration, fixed units, fixed work. Plus each of them can be either effort driven or not effort driven, except fixed work, which is always efforts driven) I am using MS Project quite for a while, but I could never really understand, why Microsoft effectively has 5 types of tasks, why it is needed, and in which situation use one and not the other. For my schedules I use most of the time fixed duration and sometimes fixed work. Does anyone has a good guideline about this? Regards. Evgeny |
#2
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Hi,
There are only 3 true task types - fixed duration, fixed work, fixed units. The task type determines which of the 3 variables change when you change one of the other. Fixed Duration You change work - Project changes Units You change Units - Project changes work Fixed Work You change duration - Project changes units You change units - Project changes work Fixed Units You change duration - Project changes work You change work - Project changes duration. Effort driven and non-effort driven determine what occurs if you add or subtract named resources. If the task is effort driven and you add or subtract named resources, the total amount of work on the task remains the same. In effort driven fixed units and effort driven fixed work - add more resources and duration decreases. In effort driven fixed duration - add more resource and units decreases. Non-effort driven tasks - if you add more resources, work increases. Remove resources, work decreases. I hope this helps. Julie |
#3
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Julie,
thank you for your answer. I tested it, and it is more or less clear. I can see also, that there are also differences in other places: e.g. what happens if resource and a task has different calendars, etc. I will do some more testing and may be publish results here. Regards. Evgeny |
#4
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You're welcome.
Calendars are also mostly clear. When a task is first created its schedule is driven by the definition of working and non-working in the project calendar. (Set in Project Information). Resource also have their own calendars that are created when the resource is created. When a resource is assigned to a task, the definition of working and non-working time in the resource's calendar becomes the schedule driver. You may also assign specific calendars to tasks on the Advanced tab of the Task Information dialog. When assigning a calendar to a task you can select whether the resource's calendar is ignored - otherwise the task will be scheduled for common working time between the task calendar and the resource's calendar. I hope this helps. Julie |
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