Cumulative Duration in MS Project

[Guy5]

Can anyone tell me how to (easily) set up a column in MS Project 2003 that enables me to see the total or cumulatative time spent on a project containing various independant tasks?

For example,for three tasks not dependant on each other, if Task One takes 2 days, Task Two takes 5 days and Task Three takes 7 days, the Duration is 7 days but the total time to do all three is 14 days. How can I get this to show in MS Project?

Thanks in advance

 

[PDQBach]

I don't have 2003 on this machine, but look at "Group By" and find something in common about the tasks that you can "group by". In the worst case, use one of the flag fields and set it to true for the tasks and then "Group By" that field. The total will be on the top (summary total) line. (In order to get a display that makes sense you might want to click on Tools | Options | View-tab and clear the check marks from the "Show Summary Tasks" box.)

I'm curious as to why you would want to do anything with with Duration though. I just don't see any benefit gained from analyzing it. Supposing each of those task has 8 hours of work and have (as you state) two, five and seven days duration ... what's the deal? The real deal is that they have 24 total hours of work. Suppose they overlap fully? Suppose they don't overlap at all?

Let me know.

 

[Guy5]

thanks info. Reason I want to do this is to analyse total number of "man-days of work" it takes for a project to complete.

For example:-
If Task One takes 2 days, Task Two takes 5 days and Task Three takes 7 days, the Duration is 7 days but the total time to do all three is 14 days. Each Task, in this case, is done by a different person and if they all start their tasks at the same time all three will be completed in 7 days. But the number of "man-days" involved to do all three tasks is 14 days. Thats what I need to report on.

 

[PDQBach]

Let's suppose you have three people working simultaneously on the same task. And let's suppose that they do other things as well. And let's suppose that they start this task on the first of the month. And let's suppose they finish it on the last day of the month. And let's suppose that there are five days of work for each of those three people.

What are you going to show?

30 days (because they do it in a month)?
90 days (because it takes 3 of them to do it in a month)?
15 days (because each person takes 5 work days)?
21 days (because there are 21 week days in a month)?
63 days (because there are 63 week days total for all 3 in a month)?

What if there is a statutory holiday in the middle of the month? What if someone is off sick? Or on vacation?

In your second message you said you wanted to show the number of "man-days of work" (your phrase). "Work". Not "duration".

 

[BNPMike]

if Task One takes 2 days, Task Two takes 5 days and Task Three takes 7 days, the Duration is 7 days but the total time to do all three is 14 days. How can I get this to show in MS Project?

If you put in the tasks you describe, MS Project will show a duration of 7 days and a total of 14. Where are you hitting a problem? Have you been on a course? Have you got a manual?