i have created a p3 schedule with 250 activities
the schedule is currently set to duration in days
the problem is there are 3 times during the project where a shutdown must occur and you have a 6 hour max window to complete all tasks
so our activities look like this:
shutdown
weld beam
install new valve
change pc controller
restart plant
since these items must be done in succession i want to do: shutdown (o days) - weld beam (2 hours) - install new valve (2 hours) - change pc controller (2 hours) - restart plant (0 days)
the question is how can you mix days and hours in the schedule
since a day is defined as 8 hours and you know a certain task will take 2 hours can you input .25 days ?
For you knowledge you can change the planning unit by copying the project file into another file and during the process selecting the new planning unit.
Seems easy but the problem is that not all durations are converted, I believe lag durations are not converted and for these a global change will do it. The trick is on the view that will allow you to see lag on your tables. Try organize by predecessor.
http://www.planningplanet.com/forums/primavera-project-planner-p3/41267…
For this situation I would follow Ron Winter recommendation but in the case you have the real need to change the planning unit is good to know you do not have to start from scratch.
I never liked the idea of different planning unit as it creates all sorts of issues when attempting to transfer data between schedules using different planning units. Entering duration in days when your planning unit is hours can be confusing.
The idea on using an average work hours for your work day is also confusing, there is no much problem with average work hours per day when all days work the same amount of hours but when you combine days with different work hours per day it can be tricky. The best way to avoid confusion as to durations assignment is to only use the planning unit of your software, but that it cannot handle decimals is insane.
Just imagine the scenario where your work cycle is 4 consecutive 10 hours work days, and two consecutive nonworking days, not difficult to model in some software. But how about your average work week or average work hours per day? Depending on how you start your week might have 2 or 3 non-workdays.
Mike,
Once you set the duration in P3 to days, you cannot use any duration that is a fraction of a day. That simplicity is the beauty of P3.
I understand that a single P3 schedule will not meet all of your requirements. Would a spreadsheet listing the tasks to be performed in the 6 hours suffice? Then you would just have a single P3 1-day activity called, “Shutdown”.
You need to ask yourself, “How am I going to use an hourly shutdown schedule?” Will you be statusing it hourly? Is it complicated enough to need to model the logic to determine the correct reaction should an unplanned event occur? If so, then instead of a spreadsheet, perhaps you should have separate hourly P3 schedules just for these shutdown periods.
Good luck to you!