Capture Actual work when a task is complete

I want to be able to capture the actual amount of work a task took and when I mark the task complete the actual amount of work entered doesn't get recalculated to match the planned work.

Does anyone know how to do this?

Example:
A task has a duration of 5 days and 40 hours of work. The person doing the tasks spends 5 hrs on the task. We enter 5 in the actual work column and the % complete changes to 13%; which is correct. Then if they enter 100 into the %complete column the actual work changes to 40 hrs, which isn't true, it was 5 hours. How can I capture the real value?

Hello DWall,

Add the remaining work field to your view. Enter 5 hours of actual
work, set the remaining work to zero. The task will be 100% complete
with a duration of .63 days.

The most accurate and detailed method of entering actuals is using
either the Task Usage or Resource Usage view. You can then enter when
the actual work took place. So, in the instance that the task was 5
hours of work but spread across 5 days, entering the hour per day in
either view will show the 5 days duration (zero duration variance) but
5 hours of actual work.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

"DWall" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> I want to be able to capture the actual amount of work a task took
> and
> when I mark the task complete the actual amount of work entered
> doesn't
> get recalculated to match the planned work.
>
> Does anyone know how to do this?
>
> Example:
> A task has a duration of 5 days and 40 hours of work. The person
> doing the tasks spends 5 hrs on the task. We enter 5 in the actual
> work
> column and the % complete changes to 13%; which is correct. Then if
> they enter 100 into the %complete column the actual work changes to
> 40
> hrs, which isn't true, it was 5 hours. How can I capture the real
> value?
>
>
> --
> DWall
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> DWall's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?u=53185
> View this thread:
> http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=1002169
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

% Complete is about Duration only, not Work or Cost nor even about the
progress of the Task.
The sequence in which you put the data in, and which data you put where, are
crucial to getting your progress measurement right.
There is some information left out of your example.
What is the Status Date?
What date did the Task actually start?

Use the Tracking Gantt View and the Tracking Table, so you can see what you
are doing when you input the data.
Show the Tracking Toolbar (View, Toolbars)
Avoid typing in % Complete or % Work Complete, ie don't do it.
They will be calculated for you when you input the Actual and Remaining.

Let's say that the 5 Day Task started as planned on Monday and the Status
Date is the end of Monday.
8 Hours of Work was planned for that 1 day.
5 Hours was done and the Task is finished.

Address Duration first (just as you did when you first planned the Task).
In the Tracking Table, input the Actual Start Date (Monday), then input the
Actual Duration (1 Day).
Alternatively, select the Task and just click the "Update as scheduled"
button on the Tracking Toolbar.
MSP will assume that the Actual Start date was the planned start date and
that the Task was worked on continuously up to the Status Date.
Next input the Remaining Duration which in this case is 0 since the Task is
finished.
Next input the Actual Work which is 5 Hours.

If the situation was slightly different, say the Status Date is the end of
Wednesday and there was various numbers of Hours of Work, such as 5, 6 and 7
on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and suppose the Remaining Duration is not 0,
say 2 Days.
You can use the Task Usage View to input the Actual Work for each day.
Right click anywhere on the yellow grid to get a menu which allows you to
show the Actual Work.
Input 5, 6 and 7 for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
MSP pushes the unused part of the total Work (3+2+1 = 6 Hours) to the
following Monday, extending the Duration by 1 Day, ie 1 day more than you
think it will take.
Just delete the Work from that day and the Remaining Duration goes back to 2
Days.
Alternatively, return to the Tracking Gantt View and the Tracking Table and
set Remaining Duration back to 2 Days.

Next look at adjusting the Actual and Remaining Cost. By default, Actual
Cost is calculated automatically from Duration and Work but you can
disconnect it in Tools, Options, Calculation.

Hope this helps.

Trevor Rabey 0407213955 61 8 92727485 PERFECT PROJECT PLANNING
www.perfectproject.com.au
"DWall" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> I want to be able to capture the actual amount of work a task took and
> when I mark the task complete the actual amount of work entered doesn't
> get recalculated to match the planned work.
>
> Does anyone know how to do this?
>
> Example:
> A task has a duration of 5 days and 40 hours of work. The person
> doing the tasks spends 5 hrs on the task. We enter 5 in the actual work
> column and the % complete changes to 13%; which is correct. Then if
> they enter 100 into the %complete column the actual work changes to 40
> hrs, which isn't true, it was 5 hours. How can I capture the real
> value?
>
>
> --
> DWall
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> DWall's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?u=53185
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=1002169
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>