MS Project 2016 Task Inspector inconsistent?

Question

I am using MS Project Professional 2016.  I seem to have the Task Inspector icon warning appear inconsistently.  Here's the situation.  I have a 5 day duration task.  I enter a resource on the Resource Sheet but using his Resource Availability table, make him unavailable until the first of the next month (1st row = NA, 1/31/2019, 0%, 2nd row = 2/1/2019, NA, 100%).  The task is currently scheduled for 12/24/2018 through 12/28/2018.  When I assign him to the task, sometimes, it turns into a milestone with zero hours duration, with no task inspector icon since there's no work (0 hrs).  The other times I see it keep the duration at 5 days, the work at 40 hours, and the red task inspector appears.  Also, the task type has not been set or changed and remains as Fixed Units.  I understand the calculation Project uses as     work=duration*units.    To that, in the first scenario where the task changes to a milestone, if I insert the work column/field and value it at 40hours, then the task inspector appears indicating the resource is over-allocated.  THis makes scenario #1 equal to #2.  That's what I would expect.  However, I'm not seeing this happen consistently.  Is there another setting causing this to act this way or the other?  Why would Project turn the task into a milestone sometimes, while flagging it as an over-allocation some other times?

Answer 1

In task information, advanced, what is the task type and effort driven settings on each of the two computers?

And why do you assign Bob at 0% instead of 100%?

Answer 2

Yeah, well, ok, I made the resource available at 0% in the first row and then assigned to the task at 0%. I do not see the point in dong this.

However, to answer your question, you will get a different result depending on the order or sequence of making the changes.

There has been a recent discussion along similar lines at:

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/8a589c69-fb6c-4b47-bbbf-a13ad7a817b3/the-latest-project-20162019online-versions-have-an-assignment-oddity-related-to-the-resources?forum=projectprofessional2010general

and at:

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/6a430cb8-f529-46e8-8b6b-f4b361c87cc1/task-calendar-do-not-ignore-resource-calendar?forum=projectprofessional2010general

Answer 3

I'm still trying to determine if this is a defect and if not, what the normally expected functionality should be.  I'm seeing two different results while performing the same steps on multiple PCs running Project 2016 Professional.

One more time......

A basic 5-day task without resources assigned, scheduled from 8:00 am (Project Start Date & Time) through 5 pm Friday, given the out-of-box Standard calendar definition (40 hours per weekday).

Then a resource was identified and accounted for the project.  In this case, Bob.  But we were informed that Bob will not be available to the project until a later date, (February).  So we account for this 'delay' using the Resource Availability section of the Resource Information dialog.

Now we assign Bob to the task, not knowing he's not yet available.  In a perfect world, we would ALL remember when our resources are NOT available.  Suppose we didn't, and we assign Bob to this task.  In one scenario or on some PCs, I see that Bob is assigned at 0%, and the task becomes a milestone since work is now 0%.

Yet on some PCs, I'm seeing that the red overallocation indicator appears and the work remains at 40h as shown below.

I understand the overallocation in this situation as Bob isn't available at that time to perform 40 hrs. of work.  I also understand that     work = duration x units.   I'm only asking for clarification as to why the inconsistencies between various PCs using MS Project 2016 Professional?  Is there a setting set on some and not for others?  What is the 'expected' functionality?  It's confusing as to why Project reacted one way on some PCs and another way on others.

Thanks.

Answer 4

Thanks for the reply.  We've always called the icon the task inspector, as in a role or person even though the task inspector is the pane that appears when you choose Inspect Task. 

In your setup, you never set the resource to 0%.  He's 100% before and after the 1st of the month.  As a result, I can understand why you don't see what I'm seeing.

I don't use dates on the 'From' on the first row, and 'To' on the second row as by default, they accept the start and finish of the project (project's date), therefore no restriction of time on both 'ends'.

In your setup, please change the first resource availability row to 0%, then see the overallocation.  You may need to remove then add the resource again.

Answer 5

I think you are incorrectly referring to the red man over-allocation symbol as the "task inspector".

If I do what you say you do, I don't see what you say you see.

The 5 day task is scheduled for Monday 24th, Tuesday 25th, Wednesday 26th, Thursday 27th, Friday 28th, like this. His unavailability doesn't even come into it.

The resource is available/unavailable like this. Why do you not have a from date on row 1 and a to date on row 2?