Scheduling Tasks in both hours and days- not either

[CystralTess]

Hi 

I am new to Ms Project and I am trying to schedule tasks in both hours and days. Eg a meeting of 3 hours ought to be less than a day. 

There is no column titled hours. I will really like to have them in both hours and days - Not either or.

Thanks

[#2]

CystralTess --

In Microsoft Project, Duration is the time span or "window" during which work will be performed on a task. It is measured by default in days, but it can be entered using any time units, such as Hours. Work is the effort expended by a team member assigned to a task. Work is measured by default in hours. Although it can be entered using any time units, I recommend using hours as the time units for Work. Does that help? Let us know.

[#3]

@Dale Howard 

Thanks for responding.

To an extent, the hours in work are not aligned to my my expectation.

It has picked certain days as 8 hours and certain one day tasks as 24hours because of the number of resources assigned to that task i guess.. so it doesnt really represent what Id like to use it for.

Eg .. We have a third party system supply workshop which three of our internal SME should attend. Three of them are represented as 8 *3 but what id really like project to show is the number of hours the workshop should last.

[#4]

CystralTess --

In Microsoft Project, keep in mind that Duration and Work are two entirely different concepts. Remember that Duration is the time span of the task, measured by default in days. Work is the effort on the task, measured by default in hours.

In your example, it appears the workshop task will last one day, so enter 1d in the Duration column for this task. Make sure you have the Gantt Chart view displayed. Then right-click anywhere in the white or gray part of the Gantt Chart screen and select the Show Split item on the shortcut menu. This will display a special view known as the Task Entry view, with the Gantt Chart view in the top pane and the Task Form view in the bottom pane. This view is ideal for assigning resources to tasks because it gives you full and complete control over the assignment process.

In the Task Form pane, in the Resource Name column, select each of the three SMEs who will attend the workshop (do not click the OK button yet) and enter a Units value of 100% for each of them. Click the OK button in the Task Form pane to make the assignments on the task.

Right-click again in the white or gray part of the Gantt Chart screen and deselect the Show Split item on the shortcut menu to hide the Task Form pane. Right-click on the Duration column header and select Insert Column on the shortcut menu. In the list of available Task fields, select the Work field. When you examine this task, you will see that the Duration is 1 day and the Work is 24 hours. Notice that Duration and Work are two entirely different numbers and two entirely different concepts as well.

This is how Microsoft Project works. Hope this helps.

[#5]

@Dale Howard 

Thank you for explaining.

The outcome as you said it will be but it doesn't really resolve my requirement.

I would have liked the outcome on duration to be 0.50 day if I booked in a 4hour workshop (in 8hr a day working day setting)irrespective of the number of resources attending that workshop.

[#6]

CystralTess --

Well, enter a Duration value of either .5d or 4h for the task in question. Then double-click the task and click the Advanced tab in the Task Information dialog. Click the Task Type pick list and select the Fixed Duration item, and then deselect the Effort Driven checkbox. Click the OK button. Once this is done, you can assign as many resources to the task as you want, but Microsoft Project will not change the Duration of the task. When you assign each resource to this task, by the way, set the Units value to 100%, which means that the resource will attend the entire 4 hour workshop. Hope this helps.