Resource task using 0h of work

[Isuva]

Hi,

In Project pro 2007 you can't resources task using 0h of work without the task is changed to as a milestone. This is a problem when you have the task that last the hole year like Sick leave and you just want to give the place to report hours not resource any.

Is this a bug or just a feature?

Does anyone have any work around?

[ssanderlin]

Originally Posted by Isuva

Hi,

In Project pro 2007 you can't resources task using 0h of work without the task is changed to as a milestone. This is a problem when you have the task that last the hole year like Sick leave and you just want to give the place to report hours not resource any.

Is this a bug or just a feature?

Does anyone have any work around?

You should be able to set set the Milestone field for the task to No after you set either Duration or Work to 0d or 0h, respectively.

Are you doing your work in the context of a larger Project Server 2007 deployment, or are you using it totally standalone?

[Isuva]

I'm using Project Server 2007 environment. I have test it in many different installations and allways it act the same way.

[ssanderlin]

Originally Posted by Isuva

I'm using Project Server 2007 environment. I have test it in many different installations and allways it act the same way.

Yes... that's the way Pro always behaves. Even though it autosets the Milestone flag, you can turn it off.

I would recommend capturing this time in Timesheets within PS07 rather than in your plans.

[Isuva]

Well..... 2003 pro didn't behave like this! I understand that if you set the duration to 0 the task changes to be as a milestone. But if you set the work for resource to 0 the duration is changed to 0 also and thats not the way it shut act.

I really can't recomend anyone to use timesheet!

[ssanderlin]

Originally Posted by Isuva

Well..... 2003 pro didn't behave like this! I understand that if you set the duration to 0 the task changes to be as a milestone. But if you set the work for resource to 0 the duration is changed to 0 also and thats not the way it shut act.

I really can't recomend anyone to use timesheet!

I apologize -- I misinterpreted your initial post as you asking if there was any way to stop the Milestone flag from being set when you set a task's Duration to 0d.

The issue you are referring to manifests when the Work for the task is set to 0h, whether by rollup or entry. This results in the task's Duration being set to 0d. This is true for all Task Types, including Fixed Duration.

You are partially correct when you say that Project 2003 did not behave this way; Project 2003 did not behave this way only for tasks with a Task Type of Fixed Duration, regardless of whether they were Effort Driven or not. Any other Task Type would zero out the Duration when Work was set to zero.

This change in behavior was made in Project 2007. As you've obviously noticed, this altered behavior is inconsistent with Project 2003 as it results in tasks with a Task Type of Fixed Duration having their Duration set to 0d when all the assignments under them have 0h of Work (or if the task's Work is set to 0h).

Please understand that there is a logical reason for this change. For example, consider a Fixed Work task in Project 2003 where Work and Duration are 8h and 1d, respectively. If you set the Duration of this task to 0d, the Work changes to 0h. The change in Project 2007 appears to simply align the behavior of the Fixed Duration and Fixed Work Task Types. However, this change has been a source of great confusion for users and was not really well communicated. Based upon information that I have, Microsoft is considering several courses of action that may result in a change to this behavior. In the mean time, I would suggest that you integrate this new behavior into your processes and practices surrounding Project 2007.

[lmccoy]

when scheduling development projects, i need the ability to create tasks for Business Unit testing. This will result in a duration task with no work effort involved. The true work effort is for Information Technology effort only in order for me to accurately reflect the amount of effort for actual development that may be billed to that Business Unit. I simply need a placeholder for their testing that does not affect my bottom line billable hours. So, Microsoft just removed my ability to accuratel reflect the billable work hours and still easily track a timeline for the project. i have to put 0.02 hours in the effort column and assign the business unit resource at 1% (or thereabouts). This is not a helpful change!