These slides attempt to explain a rather complicated part of MS Project: setting up calendars, understanding how 'schedule options' influence duration, how to set up non-working days other than weekends using the Exceptions tab, etc.
2. Understanding Project Calendars
In most enterprise-level organizations, the calendar settings are done by the Project
Server Administrators, and users will not need to make any changes to the working
time or schedule settings. Yet it is important to understand how these features work
so that one can anticipate and interpret the changes in the schedule correctly.
• Base Calendar – specifies working and nonworking time
– Can have multiple Base Calendars
• Project Calendar – base calendar used for a project
• Resource Calendar – used for unique exceptions for individual
resource
• Task Calendar – allows scheduling of specific tasks based on
time unrelated to the Project Calendar
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3. Base Calendar
The base calendar is a calendar that specifies working and nonworking time for a project, a task, a resource, or set
of resources. The project manager chooses a base calendar to be the default project calendar, and can apply a base
calendar to tasks as a task calendar or to resources as a resources calendar. Three base calendars are provided with
Project:
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Standard.
24-Hours.
Night Shift.
The Standard calendar is the base calendar that is used as the default for the project, resource, and task
calendars. This calendar reflects a traditional work schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.,
with an hour break
Your organization may have configured separate calendars, for example, for their factory and for their
Corporate Office. You can choose which of the two Calendars to apply when you start creating a new project
The 24-Hours calendar reflects a schedule with no nonworking time at all. The 24-Hours calendar can be used
when resources and tasks are scheduled for different shifts around the clock, or when equipment resources
work on tasks continuously
The Night Shift calendar reflects a graveyard shift schedule of Monday night through Saturday morning,
11:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M., with an hour break. This too can be modified to suit your organization’s timings
If you are working on a non-enterprise project, you can also create your own base calendars, provided you are
not connected to Project Server. You may request your PMO to create new base calendars if you are working
on enterprise projects that may have alternative schedules for multiple resources, such as a part-time
schedule, a swing-shift schedule, a 12-hour shift schedule, or a weekend schedule
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4. Project Calendars
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The Project calendar is the base calendar used for a project. By default, the Standard base calendar is the project
calendar. The working time hours defined on the Standard calendar are the default working hours and days off
for each resource
In our example below, the PMO of a fictitious company called NPC has specified calendars indicating nonworking
time (such as weekends and evenings), as well as special days off. The project manager can request NPC-PMO to
create special calendars for his projects, which can also indicate other nonworking times to reflect periods when
the entire team will be working on non-project activities, such as company meetings or departmental retreats
To specify which base calendar is the project calendar for the active project, from the Project tab, click Project
Information, then select a calendar from the Calendar drop-down list in the Project Information dialog box. If
you are connected to the NPC Project Portal, the options available are as seen in the picture below.
If a project manager, when connected to the company’s
Project Server, tries to change working times using the Change
Working Times option in the Project tab, he will notice that
the option is ‘greyed-out’ (unavailable). Changes can only be
effected by the Project Server Administrator
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5. Resource Calendars
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Resource calendars are used for unique exceptions for individual resources. The working hours and days off
defined on the Standard calendar are the default working times for each resource or resource group. In other
words, the Resource calendar is initially identical to the Standard calendar.
If desired, the project manager can request PMO to customize the resource calendars for special individual
resources to indicate specific working hours, vacations, leaves of absence, and planned personal time. This can
help the project manager create a more accurate schedule, especially if there are significant variations of working
time among resources. Project Portal only schedules resources when they are available, according to their
Resource calendars
If the PMO changes working times on a resource calendar, and the resource is assigned to a task, the task is
scheduled during the working time on the Resource calendar
A resource may have been assigned a special calendar by the administrator, on the request of another project
manager. Every project manager must take note of which calendars are in effect when assigning resources
To specify the base calendar for a resource, click the Resource tab, apply a Resource view, such as the Resource
Sheet, select one resource record, click Information, select the Working Time tab, then from the Base Calendar
field, click on the drop-down tab, and select a calendar from the Base Calendar drop-down list. There are other
ways as well to apply different calendars to resources.
To view the resource calendar working days/times, select the resource calendar from the list of calendars in the
Change Working Time dialog box, as described above. Resource calendars can override the parent base calendar
with resource calendar changes, called resource calendar exceptions
Material resources do not have a resource calendar. Material resources are scheduled according to
the Project Calendar, unless a task calendar is assigned to the task, in which case the material
resource is scheduled according to the task calendar
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6. Task Calendars
• Task calendars allow the project manager to schedule a task based on working and nonworking times that are
unrelated to the Project Calendar. When a task calendar is assigned, resources will not be scheduled during either
task or resource calendar nonworking periods. If resources are assigned, tasks are scheduled according to the
assigned resources’ calendar and the task calendar. There is, however, an option on the Task Information dialog
box for scheduling to ignore resource calendars
• For example, let's suppose the progress on a task depends on the availability of a particular piece of equipment.
Every Wednesday morning, this equipment undergoes routine maintenance that takes 4 hours. During this time no
other resources can do any work on the task. The project manager can request the creation of a base calendar that
shows the 4 hours as nonworking time and apply it to the task, allowing the other assigned resources to be
automatically scheduled on other tasks during that time
• If a suitable base calendar already exists in the project, it can be assigned as a task calendar.
• Otherwise, the PMO can be requested to create a task calendar as a new base calendar. The project manager then
applies the base calendar to a task using the Advanced tab in the Task Information dialog box.
• If the project manager has a task calendar applied as well as resources assigned to a task, by default, the task is
scheduled for the working times that the task calendar and resource calendars have in common. If the project
manager wants the task to be scheduled using only the task calendar, also on the Advanced tab in the Task
Information dialog box, select the Scheduling ignores resource calendars checkbox.
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7. Understanding Schedule Options-1
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Make sure you understand the impact of the settings defined in the Schedule section
(File>Options>Schedule). The following example illustrates the impact
In the above project we have Standard Calendar set as 8 hours a day and Thursday and Friday as nonworking time. However, we have set the Schedule default as 9 hrs. a day and total hours/week at 48hrs.
Notice that a 5-day task takes approx. 6 working days to finish. This is because the Duration, based on
the Default Scheduled 9 hours per day, translates to 45 hours. To complete the 45 hours it will take 6
days because the calendar is set to 8 hours a day * 5 days a week =40 hours. For the task to complete 45
hours, it will use the 40 hours of one week and spill over to the next working day for 5 hours. Thus t1
Starts on 18/12/2010 and finishes on 25/12/2010, which is more than 5 working days that was set as the
Duration. (The additional 2 days are on account of the weekend holidays set)
Similarly, task t2 which is a 3-day task Starts on 18 December and Finishes on 21 December (3+ days)
instead of 20 December. To complete 27 hrs. of work, task t2 starts at 8:00 AM on Dec 18 and Finishes at
11:00 AM on Dec 21. (3days x 9hrs/d =27 hrs. Remember, Calendar was set to 8h/d).
Continued…
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8. Understanding Schedule Options-2
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In the project schedule shown below we have Standard Calendar set as 9 hrs. a day
and Thursday and Friday as non-working time. However, we have set the Schedule
default as 8 hrs. a day and total hours/week at 40hrs. Notice that a 5-day task takes
a little less than 5 full working days to finish. This is because the Duration, based on
the Default Scheduled 8 hours per day, translates to 40 hours. But the Calendar has
been set to 45 hours a week (9hrs*5days). Thus, to complete the 40 hours Duration
it will take 4 days and 4 hours only. For a task to complete 40 hours, it will use the
36 hours of 4 days (9hrs*4d) and 4 hours of the 5th day.
Thus, task T1 Starts on 18/12/2010 8:00 AM and finishes on 22/12/2010 11:
AM, and T2 starts the same day as T1 finishes since there are another 4 hours
remaining in the same day.
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9. Setting up the Calendar
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For Projects that will be published to the Project Portal, Calendars will be set up by
the Administrator. This and the following slides show you how to create a calendar
for a stand-alone project
The Change Working Time dialog
box.
Note:
• If you change the number of working hours
per day, hours per week, or days per month in
your project calendar, you might want to
match the settings on the Calendar tab of the
Options dialog box. While the working times
calendars actually control when work is
scheduled, it's helpful to have this
synchronized with the Calendar tab settings.
The Calendar tab settings affect how Office
Project 2010 converts the durations you enter
for new tasks into work. These settings also
control how the work is to be displayed, for
example, 1 day as 8 hours or 1 day as 4 hours.
• Office Project 2010 does not use resource
calendars for material resources or cost
resources .
Next slide will show
you how to
add/change the
Exceptions.
Continued…
10. Setting up the Calendar– Exceptions tab
1. Type a name for
the calendar
With the exception row still
selected, click this button to
open the Details dialog box in
which you can specify nondefault working times for the
exception dates, and any
recurrence pattern, if applicable.
You can also double-click
anywhere in the exception row
to open the Details dialog box
Use this button to
remove a selected
exception row.
2. Click the next available row in the
Name column and type the name of
the exception (for example Eid
holidays, Hajj Holidays, National
Day, etc.). No work will be scheduled
during these days
Next slide will show
you how to
add/change the
Work Weeks.
Continued…
11. Setting up the Calendar – Work Weeks tab
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Use the Work Weeks tab to set up the normal work week for the selected calendar. For example, if a resource
does not work on Fridays, use the Work Weeks tab to change every Friday to a nonworking day. Also use the
Work Weeks tab to set up alternate or temporary work weeks for the selected calendar. For example, you can
specify that your project team will be working an extended work week for a rush project throughout April, or a
reduced work week throughout May
With the edited work week row still
selected, click this button to open the
Details dialog box and specify changes to
days of the week from the default. You
can also double-click anywhere in the
work week row to open the Details
dialog box.
Next slide will show
you the details of
Work Weeks.
Click the next available row in the Name column
and type the name of the work week change
you want to make. You cannot change the name
or dates of the Default row, although you can
change the details for the default work week
Use this button to remove a
selected work week row.
The Default work week
cannot be deleted
Continued…
12. Setting up the Calendar – Work Weeks Details
This option is available when
you have selected the Default
work week on the Work Weeks
tab. Select this option to keep
or return to the default
working times for the selected
day.
Click the day of the week
for which you want to set
working times for the work
week selected on the
Work Weeks tab. You can
select multiple days and
change them at once by
dragging across the
days, using the SHIFT
key, or using the CTRL key
Select this option to make the
selected day(s) nonworking days.
Select this option to change the
working times for the selected
day(s). Then specify the working
times in the Working times
table.
Type the time work begins on
the selected day(s) for the work
week selected on the Work
Weeks tab.
Type the time work ends on the
selected day(s) for the work
week selected on the Work
Weeks tab.
Note: If you want to account for meal breaks or
multiple shifts, add more entries in the From and To
boxes.