Two constraints in one project.please help! 2

[tonew]

Hi, I am newbie in project.I want to create a project that will start on a fixed date and finish on a fixed date. My resources can be more than one for a project.Everytime I want to change working hours that changes my start date or finish date,which I want to keep fixed. All I want to see is a warning in indication column saying that I need more resources or I need more working hours to start and finish the project on those fixed dates.Could anyone please tell me how can I keep these two fields constant.I will really appreciate your help.
Thanks-Tonew

 

[JulieInMaine]

Sorry - that is not how Project works. You can define the start date, enter your tasks and resources and Project will calculate your finish date. If you need to meet a deadline, as Project tells you - you will either need more resources or fewer tasks. Only you can determine how to fit everything within the stated requirements.

 

[johnherman]

Julie is correct, this is not the way Project was intended. However, you may be able to achieve your desires by "fixing" the project start and end dates in the Project Information section under the Project tab. Note that this will only allow you to fix one of the two.

Let's say you anchor the start date in Project Information. You can "work around" fix the end date by establishing a Milestone task with a "Must Finish On" date and making everything else a predecessor to that Milestone.

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

 

[tonew]

Thanks a lot for your feedback.you are right microsoft project work does not work that way. I used two constrains, one fixed duration and another must finish on, which is keeping the start date constant and just giving me warning if I want more resourses to add since working hours have decreased)this is the case when I allocate only 50% of resourse time).for example for a 40 hours project if I had 3 days duration then 50% of one resource is not enough to finish the job.Exactly what I wanted.Thanks a lot for your help.I had another question, could you please tell me if I could assign 2 resources in one project based on time.Such as for a 160 hours job on month of january I want to assign one resource for first two weeks of the month and then the other resource for the rest of the month.I will really apreciate your help.Thanks in advance.

 

[JulieInMaine]

You can alter when resource work on tasks by showing the Task Form (right click in the Gantt chart and choose Show Split). Assign both resources with 80 hours of work. Format the Task Form to show resource schedules and delay the second resource's work by 80 hours.

 

[johnherman]

Another way to do this is via the Project Calendar. You can assign each Resource a calendar. If you mark Resource 1 as available for the first half of the month, and Resource 2 as available for the 2nd half, you will have accomplished what you're describing. That is, mark as "Non-Working Days" when they are not available. Caution: Do not change the project calendar. Make a copy for each resource.

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

 

[tonew]

Thanks Julie,That was a great help.It worked perfect.

 

[JulieInMaine]

Great. Glad to have helped and thank you for the feedback.

 

[remeng]

Here is a question. Can he use the resource over allocation report to help out?

 

[JulieInMaine]

If tonew assigns two resources each with half the work - there should be any overallcation. The Resource Usage view could help with the spread manually - but the Task Form allows easy access to the assignment start and finish fields.