Make the Effort Calculation Optional

Question

Planner: Show of hands - who would like to see the Task Effort calculation based on Duration be OPTIONAL. If I give a resource 10 days to complete a 4 hour task, I don't want to see 80 hours in the effort field. I know I could work around by making the start and end date the same date and enter .5 in the duration, but I need to manage resources by weeks and months, not day by day. i.e. how many hours of work have we assigned Bob this month? Just give me a button to "Enter effort manually"

Answer 1

Hi there, I understand how this can catch you off guard when the numbers don’t match what you expect.

What’s happening is that the system automatically calculates effort based on the task duration and the resource’s availability, so if a task spans 10 days, it assumes full-time work across that period.

To fix this, you can either adjust the duration to match the actual work time or split the task into smaller chunks, so the effort reflects reality.

Could you tell me if you need the timeline to stay at 10 days for scheduling purposes, or is the main goal to keep the effort accurate for reporting?

That will help me guide you to the best option.

Regards,
Aron