Correctly splitting tasks

[merlyn888]

Hi there,

I am a newbie with Microsoft Project. A single resource has both teaching and development tasks. I have entered all of these tasks into MS Project. What I need to do is interrupt the course development tasks whenver a resource is teaching. The teaching is always the high priority task, so the course development tasks are the only ones that can be split or delayed.

I have tried manually splitting the course development tasks, but when I do, I cannot seem to resume the task on the appropriate day (after the teaching). MS Project will not let me move the remainder of the split task to the appropriate day; it skips days. (I am doing this in the Gantt view).

1. Is there a way to manually enter dates for when I need to interrupt and resume the development tasks?

Thank you!

 

[PDQBach]

Interesting situation.

There are a couple of work-arounds that I could suggest but I'm not sure I would recommend them.

Here's one you can try:
1. Create a "course development" task. It starts today and has a year long duration. Assign the resource.
2. Create several "course instruction" tasks. You know when they will start and the duration so you can enter that information. Assign the resource to these tasks at 100%.
3. Change the priority of the "course instruction" tasks to the maximum allowed. The value will vary depending on which release of project you are using (1000, 10 or High). That high vlaue tells project not to level those tasks.
4. View | Resources and select the resource.
5. Tools | Level Resources and then, when prompted, select the "level selected resources" and level him/her. Project will automagically create the appropriate splits in the "course development" task.

Since this works, why wouldn't I recommend it? You have to remember to do the levelling after each new course is added. If the resource is working on other tasks then you may find the levelling doesn't always give you the results you want.