MicrosoftHi OwenJones - The scheduling engine is the exact one used in the Microsoft Project desktop application that has been around for very many years. I can see why you might think step 3 is illogical, but it is due to the % Complete being % duration complete, for the fixed duration task - so the 5h completed work is half of the first week - even though the % work complete would be expected to be 50%, the completed duration is not.
This same calculation in the desktop app after changing duration to 2 weeks, and then changing % complete to 50%:
You might want to used different task modes to see which behavior feels most logical. Planner was made to be simple, but one challenge is some of the complexity of different task modes and work/duration differences are hidden away and there aren't the same views to understand just what is heppening. I hope the explanation helps, but can certainly understand why it looks 'wrong'.
Edit: adding the numbers behind that final calculation - visible through the Task Usage view in Project desktop - not a view that is available in Planner:
OwenJones on top of Brian's comment above you do have the ability to change the default 'task type' on a project when you set that project up in Planner Premium. If most of your tasks are 'fixed duration' (you know how long they take and want to measure progress based upon this), set it as 'Fixed Duration'. If you are more focused on updating effort (work), you can select 'Fixed Work'. You can also setup different calendars that reflect your standard work hours, so the Planner scheduling engine knows when it can and connect schedule work for people on your project. We always recommend setting up some test projects and playing around with different settings to see what works best for you, and is easiest for your end users.
You'll see calendar settings in the 'Information' tab on the bottom of the tab, under 'Calendar settings'. You'd need to setup the actual calendar templates in the Planner 'Power App' which literally displays a bit calendar on the page that you can modify and save as a template, and then select when you start a new project. 'Scheduling mode' settings like Fixed Duration or Work are in the Power App as well, see below. Hope this helps!
robhprojility Thanks very much that's really interesting and helpful, I wasn't aware of that access at all. However even when creating a new project it doesn't allow me to change the Schedule Mode, says it's defined by my organisation. I'm putting in a request to make this user-selectable. I have at least been able to change the "Hours per day" setting which will help.
I think this addresses my request about fixing the resourcing bug, although it is rather obscure for general use. But my other complaints still stand, really holding our organisation back and likely to push us to migrate to another tool...
Hi Owen, so this is unfortunately the not so easy part.
The first step is to go into the Power App for Planner, via your Power Apps portal. You'll need to determine which 'environment' your Planner Premium service is running in. Most organizations start by leveraging the 'Default' environment, which is the one everyone in the org can access. You'd go to the app currently called 'Project' (soon renamed Planner) in Power Apps, click the 'run' button, and you should see the screen below, that will list all your projects on it that you manage in Planner Premium today:
You may need to talk to your IT department to get access to this app, as it may be locked down (or they may not be aware that it's running in the background).
This is the area where you are going to setup your calendars, and also select the work 'type (fixed duration, fixed work) for each project.
To select the work type, click on 'New Plan' at the top, and you'll see a set of fields, and a section called "Calendar". This is where you can select work type for this new project, and access a calendar template. Calendar templates are setup via the Power App as well.
Note that you can only select the 'Schedule mode' upon creation of a project - it can't be changed once you actually start to add tasks to the project. All tasks in that schedule follow this scheduling mode.
From here if you go to the 'Tasks' tab, this is where you can start building out your Planner Premium schedule for a specific project. You can go to full screen by hitting the 'Open in Project' button at the top.
Our suggestion is to build a couple of test projects, one with fixed duration, one with fixed work, and determine which mode works for different types of projects. You can follow Brian's suggestions above re: updating task duration and work, and how they (and % complete) impact one another.
Our hunch is that Microsoft keeps this kind of functionality hidden from the end user as it's more complex, and they're trying to keep things simple, but allow for more enterprise functionality should you need it via the Power App. But the power is there should you want to use it.
Hope this helps.
Unfortunately OwenJones it is hidden in the Power Apps interface - you can set a new default and also say if the default can be over-ridden - so once set it will get used in the other UI. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/scheduling-modes-in-microsoft-project-for-the-web-b2d1626b-8dca-40a1-922e-fbaffd56e589 for details.
BrianSmithPhotos robhprojility Thanks very much for the above. Setting the task/type/project mode like this would be very helpful, but it doesn't seem to be generally available. I've tried creating new premium plans both through https://planner.cloud.com and Teams and I only see a very minimal set of options. Or am I missing something?
