MS Project Beginner frustrations

[bling10]

Hi Everyone, I have some frustrations about Project and hope you guys can give me some tips.

Background:
I came into this project right before development of the application began. The PM wanted me to take over the project plan and detail is out so it includes all the development tasks etc. I inherited a bad plan and want to make it functional so that everyone can actually track progress...scrapping it and starting over isn't an option.

The plan is based on target dates and Project is calulating the duration. There was no input as to how much effort is involved, only that it must be delivered on specific dates based on the contract.

Is it a must that I have to enter in duration dates? Can I leave it so that each task is due on the target dates?

Many of the resource names have been left out, so when i go back and enter in resources for tasks that have % completes entered, it changes the duration and the target dates.

All in all I am finding that any changes made will affect other tasks somewhere else and its frustrating!

Can help guys??

Thanks,

-B

 

[johnherman]

On each task, there is a choice between Units, Work, and Duration, and an Effort Driven checkbox. This is in the Advanced tab for each task in Project 2003. You should change duration tasks such as meetings to duration, and effort tasks such as testing to work and effort driven. For further info, search here in TekTips for PDQBach, who has answered this question nicely, or consult MS Project Help, which is less helpful.

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The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was - Steven Wright

 

[AerospaceBrett]

Thanks John, that was a helpful tip for something I'm working on as well.

 

[PDQBach]

See my answers here and here.