Displaying bars in the timeline

[greggp]

Just curious,

Why don't the length of the bars accurately reflect the length of time it takes to complete a task.

I'm seeing tasks that have a 30 minute duration with longer timeline bars than a 4 hour task. This doesn't make sense...

I'm sure this is because of the size of my scales and the settings for major and minor, but are there any rules-of-thumb for getting a more accurate timeline display?

 

[elizabeth]

Not sure exactly what you mean. The only way a bar would be longer than the time it takes to complete the taks is when the task spans non-working time (like a weekend) or the resource is not allocated at 100%.

 

[greggp]

The 1st task in my project has a 30 minute duration, starts at 8:00 AM and it's bar measures about 3/16" long on my screen. The 2nd task (linked to the 1st) has a 2 hour duration, so it spans from 8:30 to 10:30 AM and it's bar measures about 1/16" long.

-Gregg

 

[elizabeth]

Is the resource available at 100% during the time periods in question?
Is the link a finish-to-start relationship beginning with the 8:00 am task?
Please explain what your major and minor time scales are?

Rather than mention the physical length of the line, you might refer to the timescale to compare lengths. I've never used a minor scale of less than one day. Maybe that's why I've never come across this.

 

[greggp]

The resources are available at least 100% during the time periods. The 1st task has 1 human resource and 1 equipment resource (both set to 100%). The 2nd task requires two people and several pieces of equipment, so the human resources are at 200%.

The link between the 1st and 2nd task is finish-to-start.

The major scale is in weeks with a count of 1.
The minor scale is in days with a count of 1.

 

[elizabeth]

Well, I can tell you the scale is not the problem, as I've often used that, and the link is not the problem as that is the default type. By process of elimination I'm guessing then it may be the resources. You can further narrow this down by changing the tasks to be the exactly same resouces and duration, and see if they are then the same length. If so, go back to your original durations and compare. If still good, change just the machine, or just the human, resource, etc. Sorry I can't give more specific help.