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Microsoft Project 2016 - Resource Hours Allocation

Anonymous
2024-04-23T04:04:08+00:00

Hi there,

I'm using the 2016 desktop version of Microsoft Projects and am looking for a solution for the following problem.

I work with a design team and within each project, the tasks are each given an allocation of time to complete. For example;

Task One - 3 hours of work

Task Two - 1 hour of work

Task Three - 5 hours of work

The task is then given a timeframe to complete, for example;

Task One - 3 hours of work to complete within 1 week

Task Two - 1 hour of work to complete within 1 week

Task Three - 5 hours of work to complete within 2 weeks

The next layer is to add in the resource for each task, for example;

Task One - 3 hours of work to complete within 1 week by Dave

Task Two - 1 hour of work to complete within 1 week by Julie

Task Three - 5 hours of work to complete within 2 weeks by Dave

Each task does also have actual dates and the tasks will be linked using the predecessor column.

Task One - 3 hours of work to complete within 1 week by Dave

Task Two - 1 hour of work to complete within 1 week by Julie

Task Three - 5 hours of work to complete within 2 weeks by Dave

What I'm looking for, is the best way to set this up so that we can easily see the resources at a glance and show how many hours of work each resource has week by week.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Cheers,

Laura

Microsoft 365 and Office | Project | For business | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-05-06T09:12:45+00:00

    Laura,

    I think I have figured out what you are doing.

    For each task (just consider task 1, ignore 2, 3), you start with an estimate of the work, 3 hours, and type that into the work column.

    Then you estimate the duration, 1 week, and type that into the duration column. Do you input in weeks or days?

    Then you decide who is going to do it so you assign Dave. If the task type is fixed units (default) and effort driven is off, Dave gets 0.6 hours of work/day

    Then what do you do?

    I would start with the duration, then assign the resource, by default that will be at assignment units = 100%, and then adjust the work to 3 hours in the task usage view, or the details lower pane, work menu.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-06T05:23:23+00:00

    Thanks Dale.

    I've tried your suggestions but the issue I am still having is when I adjust the 'work' hours, it changes the duration to the same amount. Can you please tell me how to overcome this?

    Cheers

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-06T05:22:48+00:00

    Thanks for your help Trevor.

    It was just my incorrect use of the word 'actual' - we are only looking at forecasting as it's a future programme, as you have mentioned.

    The issue I am still having is when I adjust the 'work' hours, it changes the duration to the same amount. Can you please tell me how to overcome this?

    Cheers,

    Laura

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  4. Dale Howard [MVP] 29,860 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-04-23T13:23:57+00:00

    Laura --

    Make each of the tasks Fixed Duration and then enter the Duration value for each task. Use the Task Entry view to assign the resources and the Work for each task. Doing so will "spread" the Work over the Duration of each task. Use the Resource Usage view to see the Work assigned to each resource over time. Hope this helps.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-04-23T07:47:33+00:00

    Well, that took about 2 minutes to set up, until I got to your sentence, "Each task does also have actual dates and the tasks will be linked using the predecessor column."

    "actual" usually means something in the past, ie facts, so it cannot be used for this project which is planned in the future.

    First make sure all of the tasks are auto-scheduled (task mode column).

    If you have Task One as FS0 predecessor of Task Two, and Task Two as the FS0 predecessor of Task Three, then the dates are calculated for you, and depends only on the project start date. So I linked them like that and got the dates.

    When you come to assign Dave and Julie, MSP will assign them at 100% by default, so Dave gets 40 hours of work in the first week.

    That's just the default, and then you can edit the work for each task.

    Display the details pane (view, details), right click and select the work screen.

    Before editing the work here, make all of the task types fixed duration (task information, advanced, task type).

    Then just type in the estimated work for each task.

    You can see how much work each person has and which hours, in the task usage or resource usage views.

    Any help?

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