How to create a new project which forecasts the time to finish a project

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    • #410080
      vinay
      Guest

      Hello, Guys, i want to create a project file using ms project 2013 …Multiple projects and need to get an exact forecast by adding the work done per day and remaining …for example..in my factory they do 100 sqm per day …we will put project name…each project will be in units that is for example…Project One 3000 sqm… Daily prouction 100 sqms…if we produce daily 100 sqm when will the project will complete …i need a forecast like that and i also wanted to update the percentage of completion .can any body help am a beginner in project pls help

    • #410081
      Larry Christofaro
      Participant

      Vinay, good question. Your reference is all about using material resources, which should work fine with minor caveats around automatic scheduling. Work resources will automatically schedule duration based on capacity, but material resources don’t use capacity. In other works, you can put much material you want in a single day. Try this to see if it works for you.
      – Setup a material resource. Enter sqm as the material label. You can also add cost/sqm if needed.
      – Create a task. Enter a duration that corresponds to the expected duration (IE: 3000sqm equates to 30 days)
      – Assign the material resource with the required sqm (3000 in this example). The assignment will spread out the total to 100/day)
      – Update the task % complete as executed. This will update actual and remaining sql
      Tip is to assign material resources and labor resources on separate tasks. If you do, make sure it works for you as expected.

      Give that a test and see if that works as expected. Good luck…

    • #410092
      vinay
      Guest

      Thanks for the reply can you please tell me the steps as am totally noob am confused where can i the total sqm of the project and daily sqm produced

    • #410093
      vinay
      Guest

      Can you guys create me a mock up one then i can build on it

      i want these things in it….Project 1 ..Total sqm is 3000. duration to complete is 46..these are the data’s i have
      i want to get …how many days it will take if we produce 100sqm per day on that project ..i want to get that forecast updated as per i update the amount of work finished …then it have to show the remaining days

    • #410107

      This is a question about how to use the scheduling calculation of MS Project to derive the duration of a task based on the capacity of a production unit rather than the normal work capacity of work resources. All the terminology and units of measure for the formulae are in terms of hours of work but if we were to put in values that related to the capacity of the production unit, the calculation of dates and durations would still work. Others may have a more intuitive solution, but the following appears to work:
      1. Figure out what the hourly output of the Production Unit machine is – let’s assume an 8 hour day to fit with normal Project defaults. In your example, that would be 12.5. We know we’re talking about SqM but all the Project references will be treating them as hours of effort;
      2. Under File->Options->Schedule set the option for “Show Assignment Units as” Decimal. Set New Tasks created to be Auto Scheduled. Set Default Task Type as Fixed Work. Set Calculation option to On;
      3. In the Resource Sheet view, set up a resource line (keep the standard Type as Work) with Resource Name of Unit A (Or whatever you like). Set the Max units to 12.5 (the same number as in 1 above);
      4. Use the View tab to Select the Gantt Chart view and the View->Tables option to select the Usage Table;
      5. In the Gantt Chart view, create a task corresponding to a production project – e.g. Project 25;
      6. Select Resource->Assign Resources to display the Assign Resources dialog box;
      7. Highlight the task for your Project 25 in the main screen. In the Assign Resources dialog box against the line for Unit A, enter 12.5 in the Units column;
      8. Against the Project 25 task, in the Work column, enter the number of SqM for the project – in your example 3000. Don’t worry that it says 3000 hours – you know that it refers to SqM – and the duration will calculate out as 30 days.

      That’s the basic approach. Once you have that, you can elaborate it with more resources (i.e. extra production units), changing the calendars (change from the 5 day week, 8 hour day default), more projects (i.e. tasks), setting planned start dates for each project, using resource levelling to deal with overallocation of production units, etc.
      It will get messy if you also want to schedule real work resources (people) for the same projects. In any case you’ll need to experiment a bit before you feel comfortable with using this kind of approach. Don’t forget the Help function in Project – there are lots of essential functions outlined there to get you over some of the basic questions.
      Good Luck

      Graham

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