Changing working days to calender days

[rugbysecondrow]

I have a schedule I am working on and I need to convert the work days to
calender days, but I am not able to find how to do that. I tried one way
(put ed after the days number) and that changed the finish time, but I would
like the start and end dates to remain the same, but have full calender days
reflected in the duration of days. This seems like it would be a simple
thing, I just can't find it.

Lastly, is there a way for the Duration days and the start/finish times to
be in lockstep?
Thanks,

Paul

[Rob Schneider]

That is not how Project works. Duration is the number of days *at work*,
not calendar. Elapsed days is when a task's duration is "elapsed"
without regard to working time defined in the work calendar, e.g. it
taks 1.5 eDays for paint to dry (since it will dry overnight when there
is no work time allocated on the calendar).

What are you trying to do?


--rms

www.rmschneider.com

Post by rugbysecondrow
I have a schedule I am working on and I need to convert the work days to
calender days, but I am not able to find how to do that. I tried one way
(put ed after the days number) and that changed the finish time, but I would
like the start and end dates to remain the same, but have full calender days
reflected in the duration of days. This seems like it would be a simple
thing, I just can't find it.
Lastly, is there a way for the Duration days and the start/finish times to
be in lockstep?
Thanks,
Paul

[JulieS]

Hello Paul,

A couple points of clarification:

When you refer to "work days" you really the value shown in the duration
field, not the work field.

You wish to maintain the current schedule (M-F as days when work can
occur) but you would like to count non-working time (Sat & Sun) in the
duration measure.

If those two points are correct, the following will work.
1. Create a new calendar making all days Sunday through Saturday as
working time. I would use the same working hours on Saturday and Sunday
as you have defined for Monday through Friday. I called the new
calendar "7Day".
2. Add a spare duration field (Duration1) to the table in the view.
3. Rename the field "Calendar Duration" or something suitable.
4. Add the following formula to the field:

ProjDateDiff([Start],[Finish],"7Day")

5. Ensure the setting for "Calculation for task and group summary rows"
is set to "Use formula."

You should now have a field available to you in all task views that will
show the number of calendar days between the task start and finish.

To your question:
"Lastly, is there a way for the Duration days and the start/finish times
to be in lockstep?"

I'm sorry, but I don't understand the question. Can you explain a bit more?

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

Post by rugbysecondrow
I have a schedule I am working on and I need to convert the work days to
calender days, but I am not able to find how to do that. I tried one way
(put ed after the days number) and that changed the finish time, but I would
like the start and end dates to remain the same, but have full calender days
reflected in the duration of days. This seems like it would be a simple
thing, I just can't find it.
Lastly, is there a way for the Duration days and the start/finish times to
be in lockstep?
Thanks,
Paul

[MalkiaSashko]

Hello everybody!!!

Dear JulieS,

I have encountered your solution to this common problem many times an
tried it numerously but something does not work right. Let me give th
following example.

I have a summary task, say "A". It has three subtask. Each of thes
three subtasks is a milestone. The first milestone occurs on the 27 Ma
2008, the second one on the 29 May 2008 and the third one on 2 Jun
2008. There is one weekend between them. Now I will describe the exac
steps I have performed after I entered these initial information:

Project - Project Information - Calendar: Standard

Tools - Change Working Time - Work weeks - Details - Saturday: Se
day(s) to these specific working times: 08:00 AM - 12:00 AM; 01:00 PM
05:00 PM - Sunday: Set day(s) to these specific working times: 08:00 A
- 12:00 AM; 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM - OK - OK

Right mouse click on Predecessors - Insert Column - Duration1

Right mouse click on Duration1 - Customize fields - Custom attributes
Formula: ProjDateDiff([Start],[Finish],"Standard") - Calculation fo
task and group summary rows: Use formula - OK

The result of all this was that the value in the new column for summar
task A was 5,25 instead of 6 (the same value as in the duration field).

How comes?

Thank you

--
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[Mike Glen]

Hi Malkia,

I've created exactly a project as you describe. In my Summary Task (A) shows 6 hours as I expected and the Duration1 value was the same. I suspect you have some mismatch of times. Change the Duration Format (Tools/Options/View) to show times of the day and check all the milestones and the Project Start show 08:00 start times.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials


"MalkiaSashko" <***@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message news:***@DoNotSpam.com...

Hello everybody!!!

Dear JulieS,

I have encountered your solution to this common problem many times and
tried it numerously but something does not work right. Let me give the
following example.

I have a summary task, say "A". It has three subtask. Each of these
three subtasks is a milestone. The first milestone occurs on the 27 May
2008, the second one on the 29 May 2008 and the third one on 2 June
2008. There is one weekend between them. Now I will describe the exact
steps I have performed after I entered these initial information:

Project - Project Information - Calendar: Standard

Tools - Change Working Time - Work weeks - Details - Saturday: Set
day(s) to these specific working times: 08:00 AM - 12:00 AM; 01:00 PM -
05:00 PM - Sunday: Set day(s) to these specific working times: 08:00 AM
- 12:00 AM; 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM - OK - OK

Right mouse click on Predecessors - Insert Column - Duration1

Right mouse click on Duration1 - Customize fields - Custom attributes:
Formula: ProjDateDiff([Start],[Finish],"Standard") - Calculation for
task and group summary rows: Use formula - OK

The result of all this was that the value in the new column for summary
task A was 5,25 instead of 6 (the same value as in the duration field).

How comes?

Thank you.


--
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[JulieS]

Hello MalkiaSashko,

I see Mike as given you the perfect answer. Thanks, Mike {waving at
Mike}. Even though you are seeing dates, Project is storing dates and
time. My guess would be either the first milestone doesn't start at
08:00 or the last milestone ends before 17:00

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

Post by MalkiaSashko
Hello everybody!!!
Dear JulieS,
I have encountered your solution to this common problem many times and
tried it numerously but something does not work right. Let me give the
following example.
I have a summary task, say "A". It has three subtask. Each of these
three subtasks is a milestone. The first milestone occurs on the 27 May
2008, the second one on the 29 May 2008 and the third one on 2 June
2008. There is one weekend between them. Now I will describe the exact
Project - Project Information - Calendar: Standard
Tools - Change Working Time - Work weeks - Details - Saturday: Set
day(s) to these specific working times: 08:00 AM - 12:00 AM; 01:00 PM -
05:00 PM - Sunday: Set day(s) to these specific working times: 08:00 AM
- 12:00 AM; 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM - OK - OK
Right mouse click on Predecessors - Insert Column - Duration1
Formula: ProjDateDiff([Start],[Finish],"Standard") - Calculation for
task and group summary rows: Use formula - OK
The result of all this was that the value in the new column for summary
task A was 5,25 instead of 6 (the same value as in the duration field).
How comes?
Thank you.

[Steve House]

Another more subtle issue with your example is you really don't have any
scheduable tasks at all. Tasks are observable physical actions extending
over time. A milestone, OTOH, is an instantaneous event that is the outcome
of one or more tasks and marks the transition from one state into another,
ie a transition from "contract not signed" to "contract signed." Tasks can
be scheduled, milestones happen whenever the tasks driving them allow them
to happen. As far as the project work schedule is concerned, a summary task
that only has milestones as its subtasks is at the very best merely a
restatement of the project's objectives.
--
Steve House
MS Project Trainer & Consultant

Post by MalkiaSashko
Hello everybody!!!
...>
I have a summary task, say "A". It has three subtask. Each of these
three subtasks is a milestone. The first milestone occurs on the 27 May
2008, the second one on the 29 May 2008 and the third one on 2 June
2008. There is one weekend between them. Now I will describe the exact
...> MalkiaSashko
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[MalkiaSashko]

Thank you all for the extensive replies :-)))

As I mentioned in my last post, I had entered wrong working times fo
Sat and Sun. It appears that when I enter "17:00" in the second cell o
the second row than I have to click again in the table, so that thi
value is entered successfully. Otherwise, if a click on another week da
or even click OK (while the cell is still active), it automaticall
transforms 17:00 to 14:00 (since the value in the first cell of th
second row is 13:00 and by default Project generates one hour blocks)
When I enter the working times correctly though, it all works fine.

By the way, I encountered another issue. When I create the new calenda
with a seven day work week, I, of course, set it as a project calenda
in the Project Information dialog box. After that the start and finis
dates of tasks are recalculated correctly. However, when I look at th
Gantt chart it still shows Sats and Suns as work days (gray pattern)
This is not a big deal since I can just change the pattern for showin
nonworking time to white, but still does anybody has a clue why this i
not done automatically by Project?

Thanks

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[JulieS]

Hello MalkiaSashko,

Yes, the issue with the need to press Enter or Tab into the next row
while changing working time is a bother.

To your new question, if you change the Project Calendar to a different
calendar (not modifying the Standard calendar), set the new calendar as
the background of the timescaled views through Format > Timescale,
Nonworking time tab.

I hope this helps.
Julie

Post by MalkiaSashko
Thank you all for the extensive replies :-)))
As I mentioned in my last post, I had entered wrong working times for
Sat and Sun. It appears that when I enter "17:00" in the second cell of
the second row than I have to click again in the table, so that this
value is entered successfully. Otherwise, if a click on another week day
or even click OK (while the cell is still active), it automatically
transforms 17:00 to 14:00 (since the value in the first cell of the
second row is 13:00 and by default Project generates one hour blocks).
When I enter the working times correctly though, it all works fine.
By the way, I encountered another issue. When I create the new calendar
with a seven day work week, I, of course, set it as a project calendar
in the Project Information dialog box. After that the start and finish
dates of tasks are recalculated correctly. However, when I look at the
Gantt chart it still shows Sats and Suns as work days (gray pattern).
This is not a big deal since I can just change the pattern for showing
nonworking time to white, but still does anybody has a clue why this is
not done automatically by Project?
Thanks.