Scheduling modes

Microsoft Project for the web will soon become Microsoft Planner, which is currently rolling out to customers. To learn more about setting up the new Planner for your organization, see Microsoft Planner for admins.

Project for the web enables administrators to define how their organization manages key variables in project tasks. Based on the specific needs of the organization, administrators can make changes to the scheduling mode when a project is created.

Change your organization’s scheduling mode

Project for the web sets Fixed duration as the out-of-the-box default scheduling mode for all organizations. However, administrators can choose a different default scheduling mode at the organizational level.

To change the scheduling mode for your organization, perform the following steps:

1. Launch the Power Apps portal.

2. On the bottom-left corner in the navigation pane, click Projects.

   

3. Navigate to Settings > General > Parameters, and then select the project parameter. The Project Parameters page appears.

   

4. Choose the scheduling mode that you want to apply from the Schedule Mode field, to make it the default one.

Enable project managers to override default scheduling mode

Administrators can determine if project managers can override the default scheduling mode on their projects. To enable the override, perform the following steps:

1. Choose Settings > General > Parameters, and then select the project parameter. The Project Parameters page appears.
2. Set Project Level Schedule Mode Override Permitted to Yes.

Note

If this setting is set to No, all projects in the organization will have the organization’s default scheduling mode.

If this setting is set to Yes, project managers can override the default scheduling mode setting & set a custom scheduling mode on their projects.

Project Manager

A project manager creates a project and is, therefore, entitled to change the default scheduling mode for that project.

Changing the scheduling mode setting on a project

To change a project's default scheduling mode, perform the following steps:

1. Create a new project in the Project Power app. Once the project is created, its summary page appears.
2. Navigate to the Schedule Mode setting.
3. Change the scheduling mode to your desired mode.
4. Save the changes.

Note

The scheduling mode can only be edited while a project is being created. After your project has been saved, you cannot edit the scheduling mode.

Even when this parameter is set to Yes, you can only change the scheduling mode for the project; you cannot change the scheduling mode of individual tasks.

Copy projects

A project manager has the privilege to create projects by cloning from an existing project. If the newly created project is a cloned one, the project manager can't set the scheduling mode. The destination project will always default to the mode defined at the organizational level.

Copy tasks

A project manager has the privilege to copy a task from one project to another. Such cloned tasks inherit the scheduling mode of the destination project.

The following three scheduling modes are available in a project:

• Fixed duration (default)
• Fixed effort
• Fixed unit

The values affected by the definition of a specific scheduling mode are determined by the following formula:

Effort = Duration x Units

When you define a project’s scheduling mode, you are setting one of these values to remain unchanged. Holding this value as a constant places a priority on that value, which notifies the system not to change it when the other two values change. The following table provides information about the impacts of selecting a specific mode:

In this task	If you revise units	If your revise duration	If you revise effort
Fixed units task	Duration is recalculated	Effort is recalculated	Duration is recalculated
Fixed effort task	Duration is recalculated	Units are recalculated	Duration is recalculated
Fixed duration task	Effort is recalculated	Effort is recalculated	Units are recalculated

For more information about the implications of a given mode, see Change the task type for more accurate scheduling.

Note

In the topic, the term Work is used instead of Effort.