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Manual mode tasks

Please allow tasks to be scheduled in “manual mode” allowing for Project Managers to define start and finish date without auto calculating the effort.

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Peter Kestenholz shared this idea  ·   ·  Flag idea as inappropriate…  ·  Admin →
in development  ·  AdminMicrosoft Project Team (Product Manager, Microsoft Project) responded  · 

This is currently in development and we will provide updates when we have them. We’re working on changing the scheduling behavior for tasks with assignees.

You will be able to set the Effort and Duration to be independent of each other for tasks with assignments. When Effort is set, Duration will not change. We will let you know when this update becomes available.

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22 comments

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  • Max commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    any ETA? please, add an option to manual schedule duration and work, we can't wait for this. Thanks.

  • Jeremy Howes commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Auto calculating doesn't make sense for tasks with assignments when the task is set to Manual. We really need every thing to be manual in the schedule.

  • Paul Doyle commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Why only on tasks with no assignments? I have an existing project and duration and effort are still linked for tasks assigned, but I'd like to be able to now update effort without changing the start and finish dates.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Hi

    It's key to our use of the P4W that duration and effort needed is not linked. Our project members often use effort/time on multiple projects in the same duration.

    Solving the issue when no resource is assigned to a given task does not fix our issue. Does it fix any issue at all?

    Our need is to use P4W for resource management. This is not possible with the current setup.

    Looking eagerly for a fix.

    Thanks

  • Chris Kegler commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    The calculation behavior only occurs when resources are assigned to a task, so I miss the point of the message above. As stated earlier, please keep it simple to my opinion. Let a user put in the start and end dates of tasks, the effort and assign the resources. No calculation needed at all to my opinion, just a intelligent Power Bi report showing me the outcome of all effort (in time, per resource). That will give enough insights to reschedule work, or duration or assignee. No blackbox please.

  • Michael commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    1) Create a field that lets you flip between "auto schedule, auto resource or manual"

    Auto Schedule = Present Behaviour for Project for the web
    Manual = Turn off all calculations
    Auto Resource = Calculate how many more hours or units are missing.

    Auto Resource Behaviour:
    1) If duration, effort or existing units on the assignment are adjusted, calculate a task level field called missing effort and/or missing units (based on the calendar for the assigned person for now)
    .
    2) Flag the task as requiring more resources (field or icon, don't care).. field would be better as it would let us trigger workflows.

    3) When a second person is added to the task, they are automatically assigned the missing work/units amount up to 100% of their availability. If there is still work left, repeat step 3 until you have enough people.

    That will meet most use cases I think.

    Add the same feature in the Project Desktop that matches this so that when you provide a way to save to project for the web they work the same ;-)

  • Martin Müller commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Let me just reemphasize the importance of this. We put the use of the entire solution on hold due to this missing feature. Any rollout date is highly appreciated since our consultants are asking to use P4W.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I share the opinion of everyone here. Without this functionallity, the tool does not make any sense. Could you please share a potential implementation date ?

  • Chris Kegler commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    This is blocking further use and roll-out of Pftw currently. Please fix ASAP. To my opinion Project does not have to calculate at all (fixed work, fixed duration, fixed units). It only adds complexity. Let a user tell Project the startdate, duration and work and who is going to do the work. The heatmap in Power Bi will tell if the planned effort is feasible or not.

  • Martin Müller commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I have to agree with Nuno here. Due to the lack of this critical functionality we cannot make P4W broadly available.

    In my opinion, this should be the most important feature to add since it represents a red flag for many organizations.

  • nuno costa commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    This is a basic function of a Project Management. "Duration" and "Effort" are not the same thing and could not be linked.
    I want to implement the P4W in our Department but it is not possible due this missing functions.
    The P4W represents a huge interface improvement but is not ready to be in Production Environment.

    Thanks.

  • Michael commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    It would be great if it could be done either project-wide or per-task.

    With some types of projects we would never want automatic scheduling (for example, most (not all) projects done by informal project managers).

    With other projects we would like to globally set it at the project level and then deal with exceptions for certain tasks (most formally managed projects).

    With most tasks, most clients we have dealt with would prefer the system to allow for true fixed duration (rather than fixed units as it is done now).

    It is much more intuitive for most users to:

    1) Make a guess as to how much work something is going to take
    2) Figure out when it needs to be done by (or when they think they can commit to finishing it)
    3) Have the system tell them how many units of people they need
    4) Go find the people

  • Michael commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Comment from a user today "We never are going to work on a task for a full day. Right now it assumes you will. That makes what you showed us actually harder to figure out our schedule not easier"

  • Peter Kestenholz commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    If we want Planner users to step up to Project for the Web, it must be able to handle effort separate from everything else.

  • Seetha commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    This is a upgraded project pro version which is a nimble to create a project and add updates to it with modern approach.

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