MS project - sceduling in months

[Seami]

I am managing a 3 year research project in which the work plan is generally described in calender months.

MS project doesn't seem to like this, the closest approximation I have achieved so far is to set months to 30 days duration (doesn't like decimal places) so over the course of the project the timings don't add up.

I am a novice at both MS project and these fora, would be grateful for any assistance

 

[PDQBach]

I'm using P98 right now (P2000+ is on my other machine).

Months aren't really available but weeks are so close perhaps you could consider using weeks as the unit when entering work or duration numbers.

For the Gantt chart, click on View | Gantt to display it then click on Format | Timescale. Set the major scale to years and the minor timescale to months.

Not the answer you were hoping for, I expect.

One other possible workaround: Tools | Change Working Time ... and then set each calendar so that it has 20 working days per month by setting the second/third/fourth last day of each month to a non-working day. Keep the last day of the month as a working day unless it is a weekend or stat holiday. That way you should be able to see tasks starting on the first working day of a month and running until the last working day of the month. If you have a month like February where you end up with 19 working days then choose one of the weekend days and set it as a working day.

Then set up each task as a multiple of 20 work days or 4 work weeks: a task could last 100 work days (5 months) or 12 work weeks (3 months).

Hmmm ... on reflection that could work for you. Let us know how things go.

 

[Seami]

Cheers, that was very useful.

You are correct, I had (as ever) hoped for a point and click solution but the work-around you suggest may actually be more versatile in the long run.