Replies

What are you using elapsed duration tasks for? Elapsed time is a designation generally used for tasks that can span across non-working days. By inference this would mean that resources would not probably be assigned to these tasks. The textbook example of when elapsed time is used is when you have a construction task like allowing concrete to cure. This task will happen in its time frame regardless of if there are resources available or not .

If you want to schedule a particular resource to work on non-working days defined in the Project base calendar you would go to the calendar for the resource you want to assign to the task and make the particular non working days working days. This would allow this resource to work on what would otherwise be a non working day.

I have had good results in Project by not using the effort driven check box to control resource assignments. Project uses the resource scheduling formula Work = Duration * Units so for example if you assign resource A to a four day duration task the result would be Resource A is 1 full time unit * 4days * 8 hours per day = 32 hours of work. Project also uses Effort Driven scheduling by default. Another words if you have a 4 day task with Resource A assigned for 32 hours and you then also assign Resourse B to the task Resource A and Resource B will work full time on what becomes a 2 day task for 16 hours each for a total of 32 hours.

To maintain the integrity of this formula each time you edit or change one of the three variables in the scheduling formula Project will recalculate one of the other two remaining variables.

By default Project uses Fixed Unit Task type.

To control which variable project will recalculate you can set a task type of Fixed Duration, Fixed Units or Fixed Work. Setting a task type means Project won’t recalculate the value for that particular variable when assignments are edited, it does not mean the value cannot be changed. During the implementation of the project any of the three values can be edited regardless of the task type.

Work and Duration are separate fields in Project they are not the same thing. Duration is the chronological time between the start and finish of a task, Work is the work effort or number of hours needed to accomplish the task.

You might have a task of 4 days duration with 2 full time resources assigned for a total of 32 hours work, or you might have a 4 day duration task with one resource assigned for only 8 hours work within the time frame. Both of these scenarios could easily be created by using a Fixed duration task type.

I have found the split view of Gantt chart in the top of the screen and the task form in the bottom of the screen to be a good interface for assigning resources. This view displays all of the information pertinent to assigning resources, and allows you to make appropriate changes.

Good Luck,
Carla

What are you using elapsed duration tasks for? Elapsed time is a designation generally used for tasks that can span across non-working days. By inference this would mean that resources would not probably be assigned to these tasks. The textbook example of when elapsed time is used is when you have a construction task like allowing concrete to cure. This task will happen in its time frame regardless of if there are resources available or not .

If you want to schedule a particular resource to work on non-working days defined in the Project base calendar you would go to the calendar for the resource you want to assign to the task and make the particular non working days working days. This would allow this resource to work on what would otherwise be a non working day.

I have had good results in Project by not using the effort driven check box to control resource assignments. Project uses the resource scheduling formula Work = Duration * Units so for example if you assign resource A to a four day duration task the result would be Resource A is 1 full time unit * 4days * 8 hours per day = 32 hours of work. Project also uses Effort Driven scheduling by default. Another words if you have a 4 day task with Resource A assigned for 32 hours and you then also assign Resourse B to the task Resource A and Resource B will work full time on what becomes a 2 day task for 16 hours each for a total of 32 hours.

To maintain the integrity of this formula each time you edit or change one of the three variables in the scheduling formula Project will recalculate one of the other two remaining variables.

By default Project uses Fixed Unit Task type.

To control which variable project will recalculate you can set a task type of Fixed Duration, Fixed Units or Fixed Work. Setting a task type means Project won’t recalculate the value for that particular variable when assignments are edited, it does not mean the value cannot be changed. During the implementation of the project any of the three values can be edited regardless of the task type.

Work and Duration are separate fields in Project they are not the same thing. Duration is the chronological time between the start and finish of a task, Work is the work effort or number of hours needed to accomplish the task.

You might have a task of 4 days duration with 2 full time resources assigned for a total of 32 hours work, or you might have a 4 day duration task with one resource assigned for only 8 hours work within the time frame. Both of these scenarios could easily be created by using a Fixed duration task type.

I have found the split view of Gantt chart in the top of the screen and the task form in the bottom of the screen to be a good interface for assigning resources. This view displays all of the information pertinent to assigning resources, and allows you to make appropriate changes.

Good Luck,
Carla

There is a field named created and it tracks the date the task was created already in Project. If you right click any field heading in any task based table and select insert column it will give you the field list. Select the created field.
Carla

Hans,

I database that I was able to resolve the problem with a compact and repair was a split database used by about 25 users.
This is a large complex database and has been in use for about eight years whitout having this problem It only has happened on one occasion about one month ago.
The database that I resolved the problem by changing the datatype of the field from Memo to Text is not a split database used by only a couple of users. I am not sure of it’s history I was working on it for a business collegue.
Thank you for the information on how the memo field us used. I have known for a while there are problems with a Memo datatype in terms of what you can do with it in expressions and that it was not a “true” datatype but never knew what exactly Access did with the field. I also have found and heard from others the Decimal datatype can bring some inconsistent results so I have just pretty much decided I don’t have a need to use it.

I thought it really unusual to see the same thing happen twice in different databases within a short period of time, and have never seen it before.

I very much appreciate the information in your post.
Carla

Hans,

I database that I was able to resolve the problem with a compact and repair was a split database used by about 25 users.
This is a large complex database and has been in use for about eight years whitout having this problem It only has happened on one occasion about one month ago.
The database that I resolved the problem by changing the datatype of the field from Memo to Text is not a split database used by only a couple of users. I am not sure of it’s history I was working on it for a business collegue.
Thank you for the information on how the memo field us used. I have known for a while there are problems with a Memo datatype in terms of what you can do with it in expressions and that it was not a “true” datatype but never knew what exactly Access did with the field. I also have found and heard from others the Decimal datatype can bring some inconsistent results so I have just pretty much decided I don’t have a need to use it.

I thought it really unusual to see the same thing happen twice in different databases within a short period of time, and have never seen it before.

I very much appreciate the information in your post.
Carla

I looked in the 2002 Version of Project and was able to successfully remove the date element from the right of the milestone markers in Gantt chart view from the format bar dialog box and print it without the date. An alternative method is to use the Gantt Chart Wizard under Format in the Menu bar and select None in the area where it asks you for what text you want next to the Gantt Bars. This choice will remove the resource names as well. I could not tell from your post if you wanted all text removed or just the dates next to the milestones.

Carla Simmons

I looked in the 2002 Version of Project and was able to successfully remove the date element from the right of the milestone markers in Gantt chart view from the format bar dialog box and print it without the date. An alternative method is to use the Gantt Chart Wizard under Format in the Menu bar and select None in the area where it asks you for what text you want next to the Gantt Bars. This choice will remove the resource names as well. I could not tell from your post if you wanted all text removed or just the dates next to the milestones.

Carla Simmons

Wendel,

Your suggestion helped me find my solution. In the Mail area of Control Panel where the available Profiles are listed there is a check box that says Always prompt for profile. The check box was checked on the PC’s that were working and not checked on the ones that were not. By making this change they are all working. Go figure?

Thank you for helping me find a solution for what has been about a weeks worth of investigaion.

Carla

Wendel,

Your suggestion helped me find my solution. In the Mail area of Control Panel where the available Profiles are listed there is a check box that says Always prompt for profile. The check box was checked on the PC’s that were working and not checked on the ones that were not. By making this change they are all working. Go figure?

Thank you for helping me find a solution for what has been about a weeks worth of investigaion.

Carla

I used a VBA Function that I found in an Email database from Candace Tripp’s web site. This is the main Function:

If intObjectType = acSendNoObject Then
If strOutputFormat = “HTML (*.html)” Then
DoCmd.SendObject Val(Me!ObjectType), , Me!OutputFormat, strTo, strCC, strBCC, Me!Subject, Me!MessageText, Val(Me!EditMessage), Me!TemplateFile
Else
DoCmd.SendObject Val(Me!ObjectType), , Me!OutputFormat, strTo, strCC, strBCC, Me!Subject, Me!MessageText, Val(Me!EditMessage)
End If
Else
If strOutputFormat = “HTML (*.html)” Then
DoCmd.SendObject Val(Me!ObjectType), Me!ObjectName, Me!OutputFormat, strTo, strCC, strBCC, Me!Subject, Me!MessageText, Val(Me!EditMessage), Me!TemplateFile
Else
DoCmd.SendObject Val(Me!ObjectType), Me!ObjectName, Me!OutputFormat, strTo, strCC, strBCC, Me!Subject, Me!MessageText, Val(Me!EditMessage)
End If
End If

There is some additional code I did not send that would do some evaluating from selections in combo boxes and grouped controls, the object type would be evaluated to be acSendNoObject, Output Format would be evaluated to be .txt files in previous procedures. I also did not send the code that pulls in the email addresses from the listboxes. Both of those pieces are working correctly when I work through the code line at a time and examine the variable values. I am not currently using any of the other options as to other Output Formats, Templates, or Attachments.

Thank you for any suggestions,
Carla

I used a VBA Function that I found in an Email database from Candace Tripp’s web site. This is the main Function:

If intObjectType = acSendNoObject Then
If strOutputFormat = “HTML (*.html)” Then
DoCmd.SendObject Val(Me!ObjectType), , Me!OutputFormat, strTo, strCC, strBCC, Me!Subject, Me!MessageText, Val(Me!EditMessage), Me!TemplateFile
Else
DoCmd.SendObject Val(Me!ObjectType), , Me!OutputFormat, strTo, strCC, strBCC, Me!Subject, Me!MessageText, Val(Me!EditMessage)
End If
Else
If strOutputFormat = “HTML (*.html)” Then
DoCmd.SendObject Val(Me!ObjectType), Me!ObjectName, Me!OutputFormat, strTo, strCC, strBCC, Me!Subject, Me!MessageText, Val(Me!EditMessage), Me!TemplateFile
Else
DoCmd.SendObject Val(Me!ObjectType), Me!ObjectName, Me!OutputFormat, strTo, strCC, strBCC, Me!Subject, Me!MessageText, Val(Me!EditMessage)
End If
End If

There is some additional code I did not send that would do some evaluating from selections in combo boxes and grouped controls, the object type would be evaluated to be acSendNoObject, Output Format would be evaluated to be .txt files in previous procedures. I also did not send the code that pulls in the email addresses from the listboxes. Both of those pieces are working correctly when I work through the code line at a time and examine the variable values. I am not currently using any of the other options as to other Output Formats, Templates, or Attachments.

Thank you for any suggestions,
Carla

eIf you enter an Actual Start and Actual Finish it does look like a completed task, but if there are not any assigned resources there would not be any Actual Work for the tasks. You could flag these tasks and change their color, you could add task notes, you could use the drawing tools to make notes on any of the chart views, or you could select those tasks and from Format Bar put some text on them indicating they were not necessary. You would have to look at your dependency relationships. If any of these tasks were on the critical path you might want to remove them from dependency relationships.
Carla

eIf you enter an Actual Start and Actual Finish it does look like a completed task, but if there are not any assigned resources there would not be any Actual Work for the tasks. You could flag these tasks and change their color, you could add task notes, you could use the drawing tools to make notes on any of the chart views, or you could select those tasks and from Format Bar put some text on them indicating they were not necessary. You would have to look at your dependency relationships. If any of these tasks were on the critical path you might want to remove them from dependency relationships.
Carla

You might like the Tracking Gantt/Variance Table combination view to help you see actual vs. baseline values for task Start and Finish dates.

Carla

I don’t know if this book has been updated for the 2003 Version yet, but of the Project books I have read I found the Sybex book Mastering Microsoft Project 2002 by Gini Courter ISBN 0-7821-4147-1 to be very straight forward and comprehensive. I have read several Project books that were very feature rich, but not much practical application. This book really helped me understand the product.
Carla Simmons