When a task in Microsoft Project is resource driven, the duration will
change according to how resources are assigned to the task. When the units
for a resource are changed, Project recalculates the duration and the
driving resource's work for that task.
The following scenario illustrates this principal:
| 1. | Create a new project by selecting New from the File menu.
|
| 2. | Create a task with a duration of 10 days.
|
| 3. | Apply a resource named Joe with a unit value of 0.75.
|
| 4. | Apply another resource named Sally with a unit value of 0.25. NOTE:
Joe has 60 hours of work assigned and Sally has 20 hours of work
assigned to complete the task.
|
| 5. | Change Joe's unit value to 0.60 and Sally's unit value to 0.40;
note that the duration of the task has increased to 12.5 days.
|
| 6. | Change the duration back to 10 days.
|
Joe's work has been correctly recalculated to 48 hours (60 percent of
the 80 hours necessary to complete the task), but Sally's work has
remained at 20 hours. Project has recalculated only the
driving resource's work and leaves the remaining work for other
resources unchanged.
To obtain a correct calculation of the work for Sally, do one of the
following:
| 1. | Delete the resource and press ENTER twice.
|
| 2. | Reassign Sally with a unit of 0.40; her work will be calculated
correctly at 32 hours.
-or-
|
| 3. | Apply the Work table and change the work for the task back to 80h.
The duration will be calculated to 10d and the work for both resources
will be calculated based on their present unit values.
|
You may wish to consider whether or not this task should have
a fixed duration. With fixed duration turned on, both resources' work
will be calculated correctly whenever their units are changed.
"Microsoft Project for Windows", version 1.00. "Changing the
Schedule," pages 394-402.
