Update and a detailed example of a problem I'm having...
From: Lamby74 (anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 09/28/04
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Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:26:31 -0700
Thank you for your responses thus far. I very much
appreciate it.
I agree with both of you.
Right now I am self-teaching via 2 books - one is the
Project 2003 Dummies book, the other is Project 2003 Step
by Step by Carl Chatfield.
Mike - thanks for the Ezine link. I like that you give
your opinion as to how you prefer to do things. That is
helpful and is another step up from the books I am working
through.
Ian - You hit the nail on the head - the reason why I have
not done in-person training with anyone is because there is
not anyone in my area who gets in depth with Project. All
the training centers around here offer are the
point-and-click things. I can figure that out on my own!
It is extremely disappointing that training centers treat
people like they are idiots and shy away from getting into
the real "meat" of the software.
I am aware of the work + duration * units rule. It is
logical to me. For instance, a task may take 8 hours of
work time. But since a resource may not always be able to
be dedicated to one task the whole work day, the duration
may be 3 days, due to the need for that resource to
simultaneously work on other tasks. (If I am incorrect on
this, please correct me.)
However, what is not logical to me are the goofy addition
rules Project uses. It is why I do not trust the software.
Here is an example (just the facts listed here) from the
project file I am working with right now:
-A three-day task
-18 working hours available in that three days, according
to the project's standard calendar.
-One resource assigned to the three-day task, that resource
uses the standard calendar.
-Five subtasks
-One supertask (summary task?)
-No other tasks in the entire project are scheduled on
those three days, so I am positive there are no other
conflicts.
This is what I see in my Gantt chart view:
Task Name Duration Work
Supertask 14.5 Days 41.67 Hours
Subtask1 19.75 Hrs 1 Hr
Subtask2 20 Hrs 2 Hrs
Subtask3 20 Hrs 2 Hrs
Subtask4 12.01 Hrs 6 Hrs
Subtask5 17.14 Hrs 7 Hrs
How on earth could Project possible come up with a Duration
of 14.5 days, and a total Work time of 41.67 work hours?!?!
It's absurd! This is what I mean when I day Project has a
mind of its own and that it is completely out of touch with
what is actually going on in reality.
As you can see, the Subtasks Work Hours add up to 18 hours
(1+2+2+6+7), the exact amount of time my resource has in
those 3 days.
Yet, Project says my resource has a conflict, but he is not
assigned anywhere else.
This is just nuts! My gratitude in advance to the
mastermind out there who has ideas about what might be
going on here.
Thanks all!
>-----Original Message-----
>I am evaluating Project 2003 as potential PM software for
>an engineering group of a large company.
>
>I will admit right away that I am new to Project, and am
>likely ignorant of certain features and options the
>software has, and I am only beginning to really understand
>how the software functions (how it "thinks").
>
>My problem is that I do not trust Project. I do not trust
>that the reports (which are very nice, though I am
>disappointed that there is no report-builder function) are
>accurate.
>I can enter data for a Resource (an engineer in my case).
>For example, I want him to work for one hour on Task 1.
>Sometimes Project will schedule my engineer for 6 minutes
>per hour for six hours! Sometimes project will schedule
>him in for repeating one hour increments all day (when it
>is only a one hour task. It can't seem to manage such
>simple things - it wants to make everything complicated.
>
>It has a mind of it's own. I don't control it - it
>controls me (or tries to! ;-). I don't like that about
>Project one bit. Is there any way to get it to stop
>rearranging my resources? Also, it will insist I have a
>resource conflict, when in reality there is none. When I
>try to change the software to match reality, either it
>won't let me, OR it changes the data I enter to some crazy
>number.
>
>I have varied from effort driven, to un-checking that box
>on each task, but that makes no difference. Also, I have
>tried changing the task type - from fixed
>work-duration-units. No help.
>
>More knowledgeable users, please advise me. What am I not
>doing? What am I doing wrong. I'd like to give Project a
>fair shake, but right now, IMHO, it's like the QuickBooks
>of PM software!
>.
>
- Next message: Steve House [MVP]: "Re: Project has a mind of its own!"
- Previous message: MWDSR: "MS Project for Construction Projects"
- In reply to: Lamby74: "Project has a mind of its own!"
- Next in thread: JackD: "Re: Update and a detailed example of a problem I'm having..."
- Reply: JackD: "Re: Update and a detailed example of a problem I'm having..."
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