Duration 1 month = 1 calendar month
in [Project]
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From: Matt Schiemer on 16 Feb 2006 10:52 I need help with getting the "duration" of 1month to equal one calendar month in terms of start and finish times. When I set the calendar to a 7 day work week it seems to work for a duration set in days (i.e., 365 day duration with 1/1/06 start date will show end date of 12/31/06), but if I input a duration of 12 months for that same 1/1/06 start date, it goes from 1/1/06 to 1/7/07. Why won't 12 months also finish on 12/31/06?? How can I get one month to equal one month?? Thanks in advance for your help.
From: John on 16 Feb 2006 11:20 In article <0833DFFD-DCD0-4715-90D4-2CCE3697BE8B(a)microsoft.com>, "Matt Schiemer" <MattSchiemer(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > I need help with getting the "duration" of 1month to equal one calendar month > in terms of start and finish times. When I set the calendar to a 7 day work > week it seems to work for a duration set in days (i.e., 365 day duration with > 1/1/06 start date will show end date of 12/31/06), but if I input a duration > of 12 months for that same 1/1/06 start date, it goes from 1/1/06 to 1/7/07. > Why won't 12 months also finish on 12/31/06?? How can I get one month to > equal one month?? > > Thanks in advance for your help. Matt, Because Project does not use a lunar calendar. That is, some months have 30 days and most others have 31. However the real answer to your question is a settings found under Tools/Options/Calendar tab. The setting for "Days per month" is based on a default 20 working days per month and that's what Project uses when it calculates duration in months. You could reset it to be 30 days per month but then it wouldn't track with Feb, Mar, May, etc. Not the answer you were looking for but if you want more-or-less exact durations, use "days". You can set the duration to be elapsed days if you want. To do that add "ed" to the Duration value. John Project MVP
From: Matt Schiemer on 16 Feb 2006 12:36 Thanks, John. I'm very surprised that Project can't deal with lunar (normal) calendar months. I've noticed several other comments/questions regarding this issue -- hopefully it's something that Microsoft can build into future versions... Thanks again. "John" wrote: > In article <0833DFFD-DCD0-4715-90D4-2CCE3697BE8B(a)microsoft.com>, > "Matt Schiemer" <MattSchiemer(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > > > I need help with getting the "duration" of 1month to equal one calendar month > > in terms of start and finish times. When I set the calendar to a 7 day work > > week it seems to work for a duration set in days (i.e., 365 day duration with > > 1/1/06 start date will show end date of 12/31/06), but if I input a duration > > of 12 months for that same 1/1/06 start date, it goes from 1/1/06 to 1/7/07. > > Why won't 12 months also finish on 12/31/06?? How can I get one month to > > equal one month?? > > > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Matt, > Because Project does not use a lunar calendar. That is, some months have > 30 days and most others have 31. However the real answer to your > question is a settings found under Tools/Options/Calendar tab. The > setting for "Days per month" is based on a default 20 working days per > month and that's what Project uses when it calculates duration in > months. You could reset it to be 30 days per month but then it wouldn't > track with Feb, Mar, May, etc. > > Not the answer you were looking for but if you want more-or-less exact > durations, use "days". You can set the duration to be elapsed days if > you want. To do that add "ed" to the Duration value. > > John > Project MVP >
From: John on 16 Feb 2006 16:35 In article <E48F9018-1A7B-480B-8C04-A081AFA9B235(a)microsoft.com>, "Matt Schiemer" <MattSchiemer(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > Thanks, John. I'm very surprised that Project can't deal with lunar (normal) > calendar months. I've noticed several other comments/questions regarding > this issue -- hopefully it's something that Microsoft can build into future > versions... > > Thanks again. Matt, You're welcome. If enough people request a feature, I'd say there is a good change a future version will incorporate it. John > > "John" wrote: > > > In article <0833DFFD-DCD0-4715-90D4-2CCE3697BE8B(a)microsoft.com>, > > "Matt Schiemer" <MattSchiemer(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > > > > > I need help with getting the "duration" of 1month to equal one calendar > > > month > > > in terms of start and finish times. When I set the calendar to a 7 day > > > work > > > week it seems to work for a duration set in days (i.e., 365 day duration > > > with > > > 1/1/06 start date will show end date of 12/31/06), but if I input a > > > duration > > > of 12 months for that same 1/1/06 start date, it goes from 1/1/06 to > > > 1/7/07. > > > Why won't 12 months also finish on 12/31/06?? How can I get one month > > > to > > > equal one month?? > > > > > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > > > Matt, > > Because Project does not use a lunar calendar. That is, some months have > > 30 days and most others have 31. However the real answer to your > > question is a settings found under Tools/Options/Calendar tab. The > > setting for "Days per month" is based on a default 20 working days per > > month and that's what Project uses when it calculates duration in > > months. You could reset it to be 30 days per month but then it wouldn't > > track with Feb, Mar, May, etc. > > > > Not the answer you were looking for but if you want more-or-less exact > > durations, use "days". You can set the duration to be elapsed days if > > you want. To do that add "ed" to the Duration value. > > > > John > > Project MVP > >
From: Steve House [Project MVP] on 18 Feb 2006 06:54
The reason is that duration only includes working time, not elapsed time. The same thing happens with a "day." A duration day is not 24 hours, the time between one sunrise and another. It is a working day, typically 8 hours, the time that passes between when an individual resource comes in to work and when he goes home for the day. The elapsed hours when that resource is not there during a day or a week or a month simply don't count for duration. For planning purposes they might as well not exist at all. A basic question Project seeks to answer is "If task X requires this many man-hours of effort to achieve its results and we can start on Monday, when will we finish it?" Only times when people are physically present working will count to burning up required effort hours. Nothing happens during non-working time and so no progress is made during those hours. As a result, saying "I expect this task to take 3 calendar months" doesn't really convey any information about the task since it fails to take into account how much of that 3 months is productive time and how much is non-productive time. Remember Project tracks everything down to the minute and the ability even to use months as a unit in the first place is structly there as a convenience for planning to a very rough crude approximation. When you get to planning the real schedule you need to be thinking in smaller units than that. - I like to remember the 8/80 rule, which says tasks should be longer than 8 hours but less than 80 - over 80 you're not planning in enough detail to effectively manage the work and under 8 you're meddling excessively in the resource's workday. There are exceptions to that, of course, but it's still a pretty good guideline. -- Steve House [MVP] MS Project Trainer & Consultant Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs "Matt Schiemer" <MattSchiemer(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:E48F9018-1A7B-480B-8C04-A081AFA9B235(a)microsoft.com... > Thanks, John. I'm very surprised that Project can't deal with lunar > (normal) > calendar months. I've noticed several other comments/questions regarding > this issue -- hopefully it's something that Microsoft can build into > future > versions... > > Thanks again. > > "John" wrote: > >> In article <0833DFFD-DCD0-4715-90D4-2CCE3697BE8B(a)microsoft.com>, >> "Matt Schiemer" <MattSchiemer(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: >> >> > I need help with getting the "duration" of 1month to equal one calendar >> > month >> > in terms of start and finish times. When I set the calendar to a 7 day >> > work >> > week it seems to work for a duration set in days (i.e., 365 day >> > duration with >> > 1/1/06 start date will show end date of 12/31/06), but if I input a >> > duration >> > of 12 months for that same 1/1/06 start date, it goes from 1/1/06 to >> > 1/7/07. >> > Why won't 12 months also finish on 12/31/06?? How can I get one month >> > to >> > equal one month?? >> > >> > Thanks in advance for your help. >> >> Matt, >> Because Project does not use a lunar calendar. That is, some months have >> 30 days and most others have 31. However the real answer to your >> question is a settings found under Tools/Options/Calendar tab. The >> setting for "Days per month" is based on a default 20 working days per >> month and that's what Project uses when it calculates duration in >> months. You could reset it to be 30 days per month but then it wouldn't >> track with Feb, Mar, May, etc. >> >> Not the answer you were looking for but if you want more-or-less exact >> durations, use "days". You can set the duration to be elapsed days if >> you want. To do that add "ed" to the Duration value. >> >> John >> Project MVP >> |