Scheduling two task that run the same time.

Question

I want to use MS Project to schedule multiple task at the same time, but only two can run at the same time.  Say Task1 takes 15 hours and task2 takes 25 hours.  These two would run simultaneously until task1 is finished.  Both task are done by the same person, so you need to add the times together.  Therefore task1 would be finished in 30 hours and task2 still has 10 hours left.  Now lets bring in task3, it takes 5 hours to complete.  Therefore it will take 10 hours to complete and task2 still has 5 hours left on it.  Is there a way to do this is microsoft project 2010?

Answer 1

IMO, there is no way to build such a schedule logic automatically using Project. I believe it may be possible by using VBA. Pls see this article for a detailed review of how scheduling works in Project: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project-help/how-scheduling-works-in-project-HA010373148.aspx

On the other hand, it may be possible to achieve this functionality using Team Planner view with manual scheduling. I am not sure but it's worth a try. Team Planner view of Project 2010 Professional is a very flexible tool. Some hints: define your single resource and assign two parallel manually scheduled tasks with initial duration values starting from the beginning of job/project. Keep your 3rd (unassigned/unscheduled) task with initial duration value on the bottom pane; then make a drag-and-drop assignment of the third one when one of the two tasks is completed. You can use a split view to update task durations and right-click shortcut menu on the task to update status. Pls also consider changing timescale to display hours as in 1, 2, 3... and modifying the resource calendar for non-working times etc...

I hope it works. Pls post feedback on your progress. And other participants of the forum may provide better solutions so keep following up with the thread.

Regards. 

Answer 2

Thank you for your response.  I am a very new to project and only used it once when I was in college, so I am not that familiar with it.  Would you happen to know any links with great tutorials?  Also, I have done some VBA in excel and word, so I am familiar with VBA.  It's probably just one of those things that you have to play around with it for a month or two before you become familiar with it.  I will keep you updated with my progress!  Once again, Thank You very much for your response.

Answer 3

You're welcome.

I would recommend to study Mike Glen's (Project MVP) free tutorials here at http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc and MPUG has tons of articles here at http://www.mpug.com/News/Pages/Default.aspx

You can also visit the product help website (pls go to the top page using the link I've provided in the previous post). The following is the official blog of the MS Office product development group: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/

Pls also review the new/changed features of Project 2010:

- Assignment Units in Project 2010,  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2010/04/29/assignment-units-in-project-2010.aspx

- Changes in Project 2010 (for ITPros), http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178965.aspx

Good luck.

Regards. 

Answer 4

Hi IPB14,

As Project User has suggested "Team Planner" is a good view to schedule the tasks manually, else you can also adjust the task's dependencies so as to trigger their start based on the Finish/Start of other tasks. Say you have Task 1 of 15 hrs and Task 2 of 25 hrs which will run in parallel, you can link them with SS dependencies, now based on fair assumption that Task 1 will finish before - you can link Task 3 with FS linkage to Task1.

Its all about proper linking and appropriate planning and continuous adjust of the schedule during the project life cycle.

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Sapna S

Answer 5

Hi,

You may try assigning resource by a percentage loading. Example assign Res1[50%] to task1 and Res1[50%] to task5. This way you can schedule the task together. let me know if this helps?

Sandeep