Last Updated: June 3, 2026

Activity 6: Enter Estimates in Microsoft Project

This Activity Workspace is part of the MS Project Master Class, a practical training program that helps project managers, schedulers, students, trainers, consultants, and organizations create well-structured project plans using Microsoft Project and the Project MAP framework. In this Activity, you will learn how to enter and manage estimates in Microsoft Project by working with duration, work, cost, and resource estimates for activities in the Work Breakdown Structure you built in the previous Activity Workspace.

You will also see how Microsoft Project uses the Calculation Engine to link estimates, resources, calendars, and scheduling to produce useful project calculations and schedule details. Through step-by-step exercises, workflows, and real-world examples, this Workspace will help you build reliable project estimates that support accurate scheduling, resource planning, budgeting, forecasting, and project control for the rest of the Master Class.

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Activity 6 Workspace Outline

Activity 5: Build Work Breakdown Structure < Activity 6: Enter Estimates > Activity 7: Determine Schedule Logic

Workflow (25 minutes)

Exercises (4 hours 50 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.1: Enter Scope (30 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.2: Review Estimating Approaches (20 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.3: Complete PERT Customization (40 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.4: Enter Estimates for Master Project (30 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.5: Define Resources (30 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.6: Define Resources for the Master Project (30 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.7: Complete Assignment Calculations (10 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.8: Determine Calculation Selections for Master Project (10 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.9: Assign Resources (45 minutes) jump to

Exercise 6.10: Assign Resources to Master Project (30 minutes) jump to

Update Journal on Entering Estimates (15 minutes) jump to

This entire Activity Workspace should take about 6 hours and 7 minutes

This Activity Workspace is part of the MS Project Master Class learning system and the companion Master Class Book available on Amazon. Many students also complete the Master Class with the assistance of a Master Class Coach or Trainer.

Internalizing the Activity 6 Workflow (25 minutes)

Overview and What You Will Learn

Before you begin the exercises in this Activity Workspace, take a moment to review the Activity 6 Workflow. It shows that estimating in Microsoft Project is more than just entering numbers. You are actually building a project model that links scope, duration, work, resources, and cost.

In this Activity, you will create the estimates that turn your Work Breakdown Structure into a working project plan. You will define the details for each Activity, make duration and work estimates, set up resources, and assign them so Microsoft Project can calculate your schedule and costs.

You will also learn how Microsoft Project uses Task Type and Effort Driven settings to calculate assignments. These settings control how changes to resources affect duration, work, and cost, and are key to understanding how the software works. As you go through the exercises, you will see how assignments, resource availability, calendars, and calculation choices affect your schedule.

In this Activity Workspace, you will do exercises to:

• Define the scope of Activities using Notes fields.

• Create duration estimates using the PERT method.

• Set up work, material, and cost resources.

• Adjust task calculation settings.

• Assign resources and review the calculated results.

These exercises will help you understand not only how to enter estimates, but also why you do so. You will see how experienced project managers use Microsoft Project to make realistic, reliable, and flexible estimates as project needs change.

This Activity also highlights a key idea from the MS Project Master Class: Microsoft Project is more than a place to store project data. It is a professional tool for planning and calculations. When you enter estimates, resources, and assignments correctly, the software can give you reliable information for scheduling, forecasting, and managing your project.

Learn Enter Estimates Workflow (10 minutes)

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Activity 6: Enter Estimates Workflow Chart

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Complete the Exercises for Enter Estimates (4 hours 50 minutes)

In these Enter Estimates exercises, you will go through five main steps to build a project plan in Microsoft Project.

Enter Scope: First, you will define detailed scope information for each activity in an exercise and then in your Master Project.

Calculate PERT: You will create custom fields to calculate PERT-based duration estimates during an exercise, and then use those estimates in your Master Project.

Define Resources: You will identify the work, material, and cost resources needed to complete the project, both in an exercise and in your Master Project.

Make Calculation Selections: Set Task Type and Effort Driven options for all activities in an exercise, then apply these settings to your Master Project.

Assign Resources: Finally, you will assign resources to all Activities in an exercise and then in your Master Project. This allows the Calculation Engine to determine duration, work, and cost.

Exercise 6.1: Enter Scope (30 minutes)

Timing, work, and cost estimates are summarized at the project level. The WBS defines and organizes the project scope.

At the terminal element, often referred to as an activity in this Master Class or a work package by PMI, Microsoft Project designates it as a detailed task. Each activity will include estimates of time, work, and cost. However, Microsoft Project lacks a feature to capture the scope of a detailed task beyond the task's name and the information in the Notes field.

This project is already set up for entering scope statements in the note field.

This project's window is split between a Gantt Chart view on top and a Task Form on the bottom. The Note field is in the table applied to the Gantt Chart. It can display up to 256 characters, although the notes field will hold thousands of characters and graphics. The indicator field will show a little note icon if a task has notes.

You can always double-click a task. The Task Information dialog box will open, and the Note field will be shown under the Notes tab.

To apply the Notes theme to the Task Form view at the bottom of the split window or other themes for this type of view, select the view and right-click in the grey area to the right. The list of themes or details will open. Alternatively, select the view and then the Format tab on the ribbon.

You can split a window by going to the View tab on the ribbon and checking the Details box in the Split View group. Alternatively, if you can find the little line in the bottom right corner of Microsoft Project, you can click, hold, and drag the bottom view open or closed.

With these views open, you can easily navigate your WBS from the top view and add your scope statements to each detail task.

The Notes field is designed for anything you want to add, but we think it is the perfect place for scope statements. It offers basic formatting, and you can copy and paste between fields.

Let’s say Task 3 will be the perfect weekend you have been looking forward to. Rename the task Perfect Weekend. You must spend an entire weekend doing exactly the things you love to do the most.

Then, enter notes and fully define this perfect weekend. Your definition categories could be:

• Description

• Deliverable

• Constraints

• Assumptions

• Tasks (Activities)

There is no reason to save this project.

Open your Master Project. Enter the scope for each of your activities and milestones. The scope is already defined if you have Project SMART-A Objectives as milestones.

If you enter information in the Notes fields for several activities, it is easiest to split your view, apply the Task Form view as the bottom view, and use the Notes detail to see the Notes field.

If you do not break down the scope of an activity in the Notes field, consider using a document like the Activity.docx. Click the image above to download this form.

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Case Example

WBS Decomposition: Two examples of setting limits.

I once reviewed a project plan at MacDill Air Force Base where a single activity had a budget of several million dollars. The commander pointed out that the project was broken down to a level more suited for a billion-dollar program. For this activity, the scope was fully defined, with detailed notes and ample documentation. In other words, the activity (work package) was thoroughly broken down, just not within the Microsoft Project WBS. This shows that decomposition is not limited to the WBS structure. The WBS should be detailed enough to support estimating, assignment, and control, but an extra breakdown can and often should be included in supporting documents. In this case, breaking down the WBS further would have created thousands of activities, slowed performance, and made the schedule harder to manage.

At CP Ships, the IT team used a similar approach but made it more formal. Management set a rule that activities in the Microsoft Project WBS must be no shorter than 5 days or 40 hours of work. They believed that breaking things down too much in the WBS made Microsoft Project plans too detailed to manage across many projects. Instead, they used the appropriate level of WBS detail for planning and control and kept additional details outside the WBS when needed.

These examples show an important point: WBS decomposition should match the level of control you need, not just aim to capture every detail in the schedule. The WBS provides the structure for estimating and managing the project, while additional details can be kept in other documents to avoid a complex schedule.

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Exercise 6.2: Review Estimating Approaches (20 minutes)

We will examine resource assignment calculations more in-depth, but generally, two approaches exist for entering estimates and completing estimates by assigning resources. The first approach is to enter work estimates, decide how we want activities to be calculated, and then allocate resources. The second approach is to enter duration estimates, determine how we want activities to be calculated, and then assign resources.

In this exercise, you will review those two approaches.

Start by reviewing the Chart 3 - Estimating Approaches Chart.pdf file. While Microsoft Project offers five ways to calculate activity estimates once resource assignments are made, most people use just two main methods. These two are called estimating approaches because they align with how project managers typically estimate and assign work.

In practice, this Master Class suggests starting with one of two options:

• If you enter a Duration estimate, Microsoft Project will calculate Work and Cost once you assign resources.

• If you enter a Work estimate, Microsoft Project will calculate the Duration and Cost after you assign resources.

The 6 - 2  Estimating Approaches.mpp file contains three resources with different cost (standard) rates. 

• Ted at $150 an hour

• Ben at $175 an hour

• Susan at $200 an hour

Approach 1: Enter a Duration Estimate. This is often called Fixed Duration estimating.

• The estimated duration of Task 1 is 10 days. In the Resource Names column, check Ben and Ted to assign them to the activity.

• The total assignment time is 10 days, or 160 hours if they work full-time on the activity, and the work cost is $26,000.

Approach 2: Enter a Work Estimate. This is often called Effort-Driven estimating.

• All detail tasks have a 1-day duration by default. If you are going to do effort driven estimating, just leave the 1-day duration. You could also enter a duration estimate like the example, but the work estimate is fixed. An estimate of 80 hours was entered.

• Assign Ben and Susan to the activity.

• The duration stays at 5 days for $15,000.

• Assign Ted to the activity. The duration goes to 3.33 days at $14,000.

• Remove Ben from the activity. The duration goes back to 5 days, and the cost remains unchanged.

We will go into much more detail on how to refine these assignments and work with the calculation settings, but with a broad brush stroke, these are the two basic approaches to working with our estimates in Microsoft Project.

Let's look at two more things before moving to a new step or section. First, do you remember where Microsoft Project determines how to convert a duration so that if you say an activity is two weeks and you want to see the duration in days, it knows how to make the correct conversion?

Go to the Project tab and select the Change Working Time command. The conversion is a function of the interaction between the project calendar's definition and schedule settings in Options. Click the Options… button. 

Remember, as a general rule that we covered earlier in the MS Project Master Class Book on the Calculation Engine, the calendar definition should match the selections:

• Default start time

• Default finish time

• Hours per day

• Hours per week

• Days per month

In Options, in this same Schedule category, find the Duration is entered in: and Work is entered in:

These selections perform two distinct functions: first, they are the default setting for entering duration and work, and second, they determine how data is displayed for duration and work.

Let’s play with these a bit. Do the following:

• Let’s say you want the default task duration to be in weeks. Before you make this change, look at your tasks. The durations are all in days. On the detail level, you can use days, but you can also use minutes, hours, weeks, and months. On the summary level, the units used will be the default setting.

• Change the Duration is entered in: to Weeks. Click Ok and then Ok again.

• Notice a couple of things: first, the duration conversion on the summary level turned to weeks, and the detail task that Microsoft Project calculated the duration turned to wk (weeks).

• Create Task 3, make it auto scheduled, and then type 3 in the Duration field. The default unit is now weeks, not days.

This feature works a little bit differently with Work. Change Work is entered in: and select Days. Note the difference in the detail and summary level. For Task 3, enter 20 in the work field. 20 is now 20 days by default, not 20 hours.

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Exercise 6.3: Complete PERT Customization (40 minutes)

Breaking down the scope of a project and then estimating on the detail level is a bottom-up estimating technique. Another common technique is to account for uncertainty with your detailed estimating. In general, this is referred to as a three-point estimating or PERT.

Three-point estimating is a technique used in project management to estimate the duration or cost of a task or project. It's beneficial in situations where uncertainty or risk is high. This method involves considering three estimates to gain a more realistic view of the future. Here's a breakdown of the three key estimates used:

1. Optimistic Estimate (O): This is the best-case scenario. It assumes everything goes as well as possible, without any delays or unexpected costs. It's the minimum amount of time or money that it could take to complete the task or project.

2. Pessimistic Estimate (P): This is the worst-case scenario. It considers all possible challenges and obstacles, leading to the most extended duration or highest cost. This estimate is typically much higher than the optimistic estimate, reflecting the risk of significant delays or overruns.

3. Most Likely Estimate (M): This is the most realistic estimate based on the most probable events. It considers the usual, expected challenges and hiccups that might happen during the project's lifespan.

Once these three estimates are established, they can calculate an average or weighted average, giving a more balanced and realistic estimate. A popular way to combine these estimates is through the PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) formula:

Expected Time (E)=(O+4M+P)/6​

This formula assigns more weight to the most likely estimate, considering it four times, and treats the optimistic and pessimistic forecasts equally but with less weight. This weighted average helps balance the potential for over-optimism or over-pessimism.

Three-point estimating improves risk management and decision-making by providing a range of potential outcomes rather than a single, potentially inaccurate figure. It's widely used in project management methodologies and is particularly valuable in complex or novel projects where uncertainty is a significant factor.

Several industries use three-point estimating because simulations can be run with these estimates to predict an expected outcome. Three-point estimating can be used with duration, cost, and work estimates, but it is most common in project management with duration.

In the following exercise, you will work with custom fields to make these calculations for duration.

This file has a macro, so enable macros if asked when opening the file. If you have macros disabled, select Disable all macros with notification, close the project, reopen, and enable macros.

Regarding security issues, disabling all macros with notifications is the best option. You can select that in Options / Trust Center / Trust Center Settings.

In this step, we will customize a few basic fields so that you can quickly use the PERT calculation for any activity when there is some uncertainty related to the duration of an activity. While we do this, we are going to:

• Create a view.

• Create a table that can be placed in a task-based view that uses tables like the Gantt Chart view.

• Take a peek at the Visual Basic Editor.

• Attach some macros and place them as commands on the Quick Access Toolbar.

• Customize six fields.

• Manage all of the customizations in the Organizer.

The primary fields we are going to customize are for the PERT formula. One field will be a variance field, which we will use later in this MS Project Master Class. These are the custom fields we are going to use. They are duration fields, and there are 10 custom duration fields available:

• Duration5

• Duration6

• Duration7

• Duration8

• Duration9

We will want a task table to use the PERT calculation, so we will create a new view and a new table to apply to that view.

A table in Microsoft Project is a collection of fields or columns. Since a table is applied to a view, we will create it first.

Follow these steps to create a new Table:

• On the ribbon, select the View tab / Tables command / More Tables….

• Select the Entry table and select Copy.

• Name this Table PERT Table. Spell and space the name correctly, as we will use the view in a macro in the file you just downloaded.

• In the fields below, use the Table editing buttons (Cut, Copy, Paste, Insert and Delete) to create a table that has these fields displayed:

ID

Indicators

Task Mode

Name

Duration

Duration5

Duration6

Duration7

Duration8

Duration9

• Click OK to save this new view. There is no need to apply the table at this time.

Your custom table should look like the figure below.

Follow these steps to create a new Gantt Chart type of view that you will apply the PERT Table.

• On the ribbon, go to the Task tab, select the lower part of the Gantt Chart command, and then select More Views.

• Select the New button.

• This is going to be a Single view. A Combination view is a split window with views on both the top and bottom. 

• Name the new view PERT View. Spell and space the name correctly because we will use the view in a macro.

• The first decision is what type of view or screen to use for this new view. We will use the Gantt Chart screen, but look at the list. Microsoft Project has 17 different types of views, and there is no practical limit to the number of views based on these 17 types. 

• For this new view, select the PERT Table, the No Group Group, and the All Tasks filter and Show in menu.

When finished, Click OK to save this new view, then Apply the view.

Using the Table Definition dialog box, you created the PERT Table in this new view. You can edit this table in that dialog box or when it is applied to a view. For instance, you can rearrange or add/hide columns with the table applied. Either way, you are permanently changing the table in either location.

The field customization we will do is pretty simple, so we will run a macro that does most of the work to save some time. Then, you will manually create one custom field for practice.

In this next section, you will also work with macros and run those macros from a custom command on the Quick Access Toolbar.

If you record a macro or write code, that information is available in the Visual Basic for Applications Editor. To access the editor, press Alt+F11 on your keyboard. Other ways to open the VBA Editor are to edit the ribbon, display the Developer tab, and then click on the Visual Basic command, or select the View tab, select the bottom part of the Macros command at the end of the ribbon, and select Visual Basic.

In the VBA editor, click View and select Project Explorer to view your list of projects. At least two projects will show in the explorer: the Global.MPT and the PERT.mpp, unless you have other *.mpp files open. Under the PERT.mpp, expand the macros or Modules folder. There are two macros there.

Next, double-click on the Apply_PERT_View macro. This macro will apply the new table and view you just created regardless of what view you currently have applied. That is why you were asked to name them correctly. If you named them differently, you can edit the names or change the code in the macro. Or, in the Organizer, you can edit the name of the table and/or View.

These two macros are the type of macros you are likely to run routinely, such as before your weekly reports are due. One macro may make the appropriate checks or computations, and the other runs the correct reports. Completing this weekly routine only requires clicking a couple of commands, so recording or writing the macros is almost always worth the time.

Close the VBA Editor.

Next, we will attach these macros to the Quick Access Toolbar. Macros can be attached to the toolbar, to any “custom” group under each of the ribbon tabs, or to a new custom tab. Follow these steps to attach the macros.

• First, use the Organizer to add the two macros and the view and table you created to the Global.mpt. In addition, to make things less confusing in the next step, delete the macros from the PERT.mpp project in the Organizer once added to the Global.mpt.

• Next, we will add these to macros to the Quick Access Toolbar as commands.

• Open Options and select Quick Access Toolbar.

• In the Choose commands from the drop-down menu, select Macros.

• Find and then select the two macros we just looked at. Add them to the toolbar, moving them to the very top of the toolbar.

  ApplyPERT_View

  PERT

• Select the PERT macro and click the Modify… button. Name this macro Run PERT Macro.

• Select the ApplyPERT_View macro and click the Modify… button. Name this macro Apply PERT View, and select the calculator icon to represent this command.

Click OK to save your edits to the toolbar.

Then, follow these steps to calculate PERT and enter the calculation into the duration field.

First: On the toolbar, click the Apply PERT View icon to apply the PERT view and click on the Run PERT Macro icon. If you have done everything correctly, your custom duration columns will have custom names, and the Expected column will contain the formula.

([Duration2]+(4*[Duration3])+[Duration4])/6

Second: For Task 1, enter these estimates to test the Expected Duration formula; enter these values:

• Optimistic Duration = 3 days

• Most Likely Duration = 6 days

• Pessimistic Duration = 10 days

The Expected Duration should be calculated at 6.17 days.

Third: Enter that expected duration into the Duration field for Task 1.

The last thing to do is move the custom fields to the Global.MPT file so you can use them with any project you have open. Once you have done that, you can remove the Run PERT Macro from the toolbar; you will no longer need it. You can also delete that macro from the Global.MPT file. 

Save the project.

Try the PERT calculation in a different project. Open your Master Project. Add Task 1, make it Auto Scheduled, and enter these duration estimates.

• Optimistic = 10 days

• Most Likely = 12 days

• Pessimistic = 20 days

If everything works correctly, you should have a calculated Expected Duration of 13 days. If this were an actual activity for which you used the PERT formula, you would enter 13 days in the Duration field.

Let’s examine the Expected Duration field closely. Select the column header, right-click, and select Custom Fields.

Let’s review a couple of things about this dialog box.

• First, notice there are custom Task, Resource, and Project fields (if you are working in the enterprise). Each category has several fields, such as cost, date, duration, finish, etc.

• You can Rename a custom field or Delete the customization for one of these fields. You can not delete the actual field or create a new type of field for a category. Some fields, such as the Duration 1-10 fields, are available for customization in Microsoft Project. Using four of these custom duration fields means you only have six available for customization. You can also Import a custom field from another project into a custom field in the active project.

• The contents of the custom field can have attributes like selections from a Lookup… table that you create. For instance, you might have liked to specify any of the 120 store locations where the work could be performed for each activity. Those 120 locations would appear in a drop-down list to choose from.

• In the case of our Expected Duration custom field, the macro added a Formula. This is why the radio button is selected for Formula. To view or edit the formula, select the Formula… button.

• You can write a formula for a custom field. Otherwise, the Field and Function buttons will help you search for the fields you need and add the functions you want.

As mentioned in the MS Project Master Class Book, PERT estimates are also an important input for risk analysis. Uncertainty increases risk, and risk analysis involves mitigating that risk by determining the cause. The difference between Optimistic and Pessimistic can be valuable if you have the following PERT estimates.

Optimistic Duration = 10 days

Most Likely Duration = 12 days

Pessimistic Duration = 20 days

The Optimistic estimate assumes that all risk has been mitigated. The pessimistic estimate assumes that everything that could go wrong will go wrong.

None of us have the time or money to address every perceived risk, but when there is a large gap between Optimistic and Pessimistic estimates, we should mitigate the risk.

Suppose you want Microsoft Project to flag you when the gap is over a certain amount of time. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Rename the Duration9 field to PERT Variance.

2. Using the Formula button, Add the simple formula, Pessimistic minus Optimistic, to the field.

3. Next, flag any activity with a difference greater than five days. To do that, select the Graphical Indicators button and add the selections to the figure below.

Before you save and close this project, move this last custom field to the Global.MPT file.

Last, open the VBA Editor and save the Global.MPT project.

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Exercise 6.4: Enter Estimates for Master Project (30 minutes)

By now, you should have a good idea of the best estimating approach for your Master Project.

Enter duration and/or work estimates for all the detailed tasks in your Master Project. Consider entering PERT estimates and the calculated duration in the duration field if you enter duration estimates.

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Exercise 6.5: Define Resources (30 minutes)

This exercise focuses on defining resources. Microsoft Project defines three types of resources, each with unique characteristics. Please take a minute to review these types and their characteristics, and then define resources as directed.

Case Example

Variable Resource: A Missing Resource Type in Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project does not have a Variable resource type, even though it would be useful. This missing feature is especially noticeable in Activity 6: Enter Estimates, where you define resources and the Calculation Engine determines duration, work, and cost.

In real projects, some resources need to be scheduled and costed, but they should not create work hours. A Variable resource would have these features:

• A base calendar for defining availability and exceptions.

• No work (effort) calculated.

• Cost calculated using standard rates (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or annual).

• Cost rate tables are available.

• Availability is visible across the timeline.

Microsoft Project does not offer this resource type directly. Instead, users must use Work, Material, or Cost resources to fill the gap, but each option has its own limits.

At Abbott Laboratories, one team used Microsoft Project to schedule lab usage. The software was good for scheduling, but they did not want work hours calculated because it would make their project data less accurate. They needed a scheduling resource that could be added to the timeline and costed, but without adding work to the model. Older project management tools, including some I used at Symantec in the late 1980s, supported this type of resource more directly.

We have also used Microsoft Project to schedule training and consulting work. This method is not typical, but it works very well. Microsoft Project is a strong tool for time-based planning, but it is not used enough for scheduling events like training programs, street fairs, music festivals, and large coordination projects. For example, one client, a large paper company, used it to schedule engineering work at three plants being built in three different countries.

This idea matters even more in industries where time affects revenue. In pharmaceutical companies like Amgen, Eli Lilly, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson, getting products to market quickly is a main reason for using project management. Patent timelines start early, often during discovery or the first clinical trials, and last through the long FDA approval process. Every delay shortens the time a product can be sold and lowers potential revenue.

When I taught at Abbott, I once saw several project management classes happening at the same hotel at the same time. This showed how important careful planning and scheduling had become for the company.

This example highlights two key points in Enter Estimates:

First, Microsoft Project is not a complete estimating tool.

Second, not all resources work the same way, and not all of them should be used in calculations the same way.

Knowing how Microsoft Project defines and uses resources, and where it has limits, helps you make better choices when entering estimates. Sometimes, you will need to work around the software’s limits to make sure your model matches real life, not just the Calculation Engine’s default settings.

In this exercise, suppose your company provides training and development and has sold a training workshop to a customer that must be developed from scratch, and you are the project manager. The job is time and materials, so the rates are the ones you will bill the customer. At the top of the next column, define the list of resources.

As mentioned in the Master Class Book, the best way to learn this functionality is to repeat the cycle 10 times or as many times as it takes to get it. In general, our experience is that it takes most people about 4 attempts.

The steps to cycle through are:

1. #1 Define Resources.

2. #2 Determine Assignment Calculation. This is Task Type (Fixed Duration, Fixed Units, and Fixed Work) crossed by Effort Driven (Yes or No).

3. #3 Assign Resources.

4. Observe Calculations.

5. Repeat this process 10 times or until the concept is clear.

In the Resource Definition.mpp file, define these additional resources:

• Project Manager, Work type, Standard Calendar, set Max Units to 100%, and standard rate at $1,000 per day. Enter the Company in the Group field.

• Customer Contact is a little more challenging to define because you do not incur any cost. They have told you they are not available for more than 8 hours weekly, so you want to track their time.

  • Your company has also taken the initiative to develop a parametric database so that you can give customers a realistic estimate of how much time they will be expected to spend on future projects like this one.

  • In addition, this resource is on vacation for August 2021. Beginning September 1, 2021, when they hope to wrap up the project, they are available 20 hours a week.

  • The customer would be a Work type, Standard Calendar, with a Max Unit rate of 20% to start and a standard rate of $0. Enter the Customer in the Group field.

The figure below shows the definition of availability for the Customer Contact resource.

If you defined this correctly, you can go to the Resource Usage view, scroll out to August 2021, and zoom in on the monthly timescale; you will see that the Customer Contact resource is available at 20%. They are unavailable for August, and then availability goes up to 50% in September.

Go back to the Resource Sheet view and define these additional resources.

• Group Facilitator, Work type, Standard Calendar, set Max Units to 100%, and the Standard Rate at $1,200 per day, Enter Contractor in the Group field.

• Video Studio Rental, Material type, and the rate is $900 per day, which would be $900 per unit. Weekends are $700 per day; enter $900 in Table A and $700 in Table B.

  • Each time you book the studio, there is a setup fee, regardless of the number of days. Enter $300 in the Cost/Use field.

  • Enter Studio as the Material Label.

  • Enter Non-work in the Group field.

• Edit Suite, Material type, $300 per day, would be $300 per unit.

  • The price is going up to $400 in the fourth quarter of 2021.

  • Enter VEdit as a Material Label.

  • Enter Non-work in the Group field.

  • The setup fee is $100 initially, but it increases to $150 in the fourth quarter.

• Focus Group, Work type: you will need 24 people in two locations, and the focus group sessions will be on consecutive Saturdays.

  • Select the Saturday Calendar and set Max Units to 1,200%. (to allow multiple concurrent assignments)..

  • You will pay them $100 each for three hours, but mark that up to the customer by 100%.

  • Enter Contractor in the Group field. This example is typical of the resource definition you must figure out independently depending on how you intend to use the project plan. In this case, let’s say you are going to be giving updates to the customer, so you want to enter a standard rate of $200 per three-hour session. If you round up, you could enter this as $67 an hour.

• Lunch for Focus Group. Cost type of resource. Enter Non-work in the Group field.

• Transcript Service to record the focus group. Material type: $500 per session, so $500 per unit.

  • Enter Transcript as a Material Label.

  • Enter Non-work in the Group field.

Use the flag field to mark the resources and highlight the background in yellow. To create a highlight filter, use one of the flag fields.

If you sort the Group field A - Z, you should have the defined resource list shown below.

Save the project.

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Exercise 6.6: Define Resources for Master Project (30 minutes)

Define the resources for your Master Project.

In the Resource Sheet view, apply the Bridge Resources Defined table, and the standard fields for defining resources will be displayed. If you are not using the Standard base calendar, insert the Base Calendar field and make the appropriate selections.

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Exercise 6.7: Complete Assignment Calculations (10 minutes)

We are on the second step in learning how to complete our estimates by assigning resources. In this exercise, you assign resources to activities representing the five ways activities can be calculated when resources are assigned.

Notice in the project’s split window that the Type and Effort Driven fields are shown as columns in the top view. The bottom Task Form view will also display that field information and Notes field. If the Notes field is not showing, select the bottom view and then hover over the grey area to the right and right-click to select Notes.

Each activity is labeled for one of the five ways estimates are calculated when resources are assigned.

First, notice the appropriate selections for each activity, the Type and Effort Driven fields. For example, task #2 is named Type 2: Fixed Duration, and the Task Type is Fixed Duration and Effort Driven is No.

Second, in the Notes field for each of the five activities, answer these two questions:

• Given the calculation selections, what estimate would you start with: work, duration, or both?

• What do you expect to happen when you assign resources or adjust resource assignments?

Save the project.

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Exercise 6.8: Determine Calculation Selections for Master Project (10 minutes)

For all of the detail tasks in your Master Project, determine the calculation selections for each one. Apply the Bridge Task Behavior view as shown in the figure below. For each detail task, determine the Type (Fixed Duration, Fixed Units, and Fixed Work). If the activity is Fixed Duration or Fixed Units, determine whether it is Effort Driven.

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Exercise 6.9: Assign Resources (45 minutes)

The objective of this simulation is not to master all of these calculations. However, you must determine how you want activities calculated when assigning resources and become skilled at doing things your way.

The following is a review of each of the five sets of calculation settings.

Fixed Units

Expand the Fixed Units summary task.

• The first thing to do is always glance at your calculation selections. Check to make sure each of these three tasks are Fixed Units.

• Apply the Work theme to the Task Form view at the bottom of the split window.

• Then open the Assign Resources dialog box, Resources tab / Assign Resources command. This is the only floating dialog box in Microsoft Project, meaning you can always keep it open at the side of your Microsoft Project window, and the contents of the dialog box will reflect the task selected.

As you work through this exercise, remember that the undo and redo buttons are on the Bridge Quick Access Toolbar. Toggle back and forth to understand calculations.

Assign the Editor to Task 1.

• What was calculated?

• Why was the editor assigned at 100%, and why was $2,960 calculated?

Assign the Customer to Task 1.

• Why was the Customer assigned at 50%? Be sure to check the project start date.

• What happened to duration? But there are two people assigned now?

• Why was no additional cost calculated?

• Why is the Customer assigned 20 hours of work and the Editor 40 hours?

Assign the Instructional Designer to Task 1. Do those calculations make sense?

These calculations might be what you would expect with Fixed Duration settings. The duration does not change, but the work and cost change based on the assignments. This is the confusing aspect of these calculation settings; it seems like the duration is fixed, as in the Fixed Duration Type. Depending on how you assign resources, one set of selections may seem very much like another.

Task 2 has both a duration and work estimate.

Assign the Editor, Group Facilitator, and the Producer to Task 2. Do those calculations make sense?

This doesn’t make sense to me. With the first assignment, the work estimate and duration seemed fixed. However, because no theory or principle drives this calculation, some users may want or need to calculate resource assignments this way.

Change the duration estimate for Task 3 to 2.5 days.

Assign the same three resources (Editor, Group Facilitator, and the Producer) to Task 3.

• Are the calculations the same?

• Is that what you expected?

No, it doesn’t make much sense to me either. Again, it is just a possible calculation.

What if you change the duration or work? Change the duration of Task 1 from 5 days to 3 days.

What if you change the work? Change the work of Task 2 from 120 hours to 60 hours.

Change Task 3 to 2.5 days.

Do calculations make sense? If not, toggle back and forth with undo and redo buttons. It seems now that the Units assigned are fixed, not the duration or work estimates. Perhaps the name of the setting Fixed Units means that once resources are assigned, those units are fixed. This makes sense when you think about it.

• Fixed Duration tends to fix the duration estimate

• Fixed Work tends to fix the work estimates

• Fixed Units tends to fix the units once a resource is assigned.

I use the “tends” because there are always expectations regarding the rules. Microsoft Project is sophisticated software that does a lot and responds to numerous selections and input from the user, so the rules tend to bend.

What if you change Units? This is where the idea of Fixed Units starts to make more sense. Remember, for a Fixed Units task, the longest resource assignment determines the duration.

For Task 1, change the Instructional Designer’s assignment to 50%. The task will now be 6 days. Can you explain that calculation?

If the Instructional Designer is going to work 24 hours on the task and can only work 4 hours a day, the task must take 6 days.

If you swap out the bottom view with a Task Usage view and zoom in the timescale with the top view displaying every day, you will notice that the Editor works 8 hours for three days. The Customer works 4 hours for the first three days, and the Instructional Designer works 6 hours daily until they have completed 24 hours. At 4 hours a day, it will take 6 days to complete the task. The longest resource Unit assignment determines the duration of the task. It is Fixed Units.

I hope that is starting to make sense.

Fixed Duration

Next, let’s look at Fixed Duration tasks.

Expand the Fixed Duration summary task.

The first thing to always do is glance at your calculation settings. Check to make sure each of these three tasks has a Fixed Duration.

With this calculation type, the duration estimate stays the same, and the work and cost are adjusted accordingly based on resource assignments.

Assign the Group Facilitator and Instructional Designer to Task 1. What changed?

Adjust the assignments. The instructional designer only needs to work a few hours daily. In the bottom view, change Units to 20% and click OK. For example, if the Group Facilitator conducts five one-day sessions upfront, enter 40 hours in the Work field for this resource in the bottom view and click OK. 

Did the duration change? Try this: In the work field at the bottom of the view, assign the Group Facilitator 120 hours on this activity and click OK. The resource will be assigned, but did the Duration change?

No, because the duration estimate is fixed. This makes sense to me and to most people. Because it is easy to understand, it is easy to predict what will happen each time assignments change.

As you use these different selections and make a lot of assignments, I think you will start to notice irregularities or calculations that don’t seem sensible. So, I think that even if the activities in your project plan are effort driven in theory, you may well choose Fixed Duration for your task Type. It is OK to do that, and as I tried to explain in the MS Project Master Class Book, because Microsoft Project used Fixed Units as the default Type, many people misunderstood not only the Type but the purpose behind using Fixed Units/Effort Driven and Fixed Work early in project planning. They also haven’t understood that the calculations do not change unless you make adjustments to assignments if you change Type and Effort Drive.

The necessity of having more control of the calculations later in the planning process leads many, if not most, users to select Fixed Duration eventually.

Let’s assign some non-work resources. Material or Cost resources do not change the duration or the work, regardless of the assignment calculations.

• Select Task 2.

• In the Assign Resources dialog box, filter for Material resources.

• Double-click on each resource to review the Standard Rates.

• First, assign the Video Studio Rental. We need the studio for 2 days. The Standard Rate for this resource is $900. Can you explain the cost calculation?

• Next, we need 75 Course Materials, the Edit Suite for 3 days, and the Transcript Service 4 times.

• Then, filter for Cost resources in the Filter by: field. Assign the Lunch resource. We are budgeting $15 for each lunch and expecting 75 participants, so add those cost in the Cost field of the Assign Resources dialog box.

Notice that the duration does not change, and no work has been calculated.

Last, select Task 3 and filter all of the Work resources, select all of the resources, and assign them to the task.

Did the duration change?

No. You must make the change if you think the duration should be changed based on resource assignments. Change the duration to two days.

Cost and Work change accordingly.

Fixed Duration is a simple, reliable, and consistent way to calculate assignments. Rarely does the rule bend for this Type of task.

Fixed Work

Fixed Work means that when you assign resources, the work estimate remains constant, and the duration and cost adjust accordingly. The Fixed Work calculation is the closest setting to this Effort-Driven estimating and scheduling idea. Assign more resources to an activity, and the duration decreases; remove resources, and the duration increases.

The selection isn’t as robust as we would like; the setting does not always calculate sensibly in complex situations. However, this is likely the best setting if you want an effort-driven approach. Plus, these settings work very well, as intended, for “what if” assignments of skill resources.

Expand the Fixed Work summary.

The first thing to remember is to glance at your calculation selections constantly. Check to make sure Task 1 is Fixed Work.

• Assign the Project Manager. The task will take 10 days because they will spend 80 hours on it.

• Assign the Seminar Leader. The duration is cut in half, and both resources share 80 hours of work.

• Assign the Writer to Task 1. The duration goes down.

• Remove the Writer and the duration goes back up.

Change the Work from 80 hours to 60 hours; what changes?

Change the Project Manager’s Work to 20 hours and click OK. What changes?

Change the Seminar Leader’s Work to 40 hours and click OK. What changes?

As mentioned in the MS Project Master Class Book, this setting can be useful in the early planning phases, especially if you start with Work estimates. With this setting, you could quickly complete a “What if” on a large schedule: “What if I assign five people to this task, three to that task, and seven to that task?”

Of course, real people are not all equal, do not have the same level of skill, and work at the same speed. When you get to the point of assigning the actual people, you could change every task to a Fixed Duration and refine your assignments. If you switch like this, none of the calculations will change until you adjust the assignments.

Fixed Units Effort-Driven

The next two selections have no theoretical basis that I am aware of, but they are calculations that may work well for you.

This calculation setting is closely related to Fixed Work. Some users find this calculation suitable, especially since it was the default setting for at least the first 10 versions of Microsoft Project.

Expand the Fixed Units Effort-Driven summary.

The first thing to always do is glance at your calculation settings. Check to ensure that each of these three tasks is set to Fixed Units and that Effort Driven is Yes.

By now, you know which values to watch when you make an assignment:

• Duration

• Work

• Cost

• Individual Work assignments

Assign the Project Manager and Seminar Leader to Task 1. Then, adjust the Work on the task to 60 hours, change the Project Manager’s units to 50%, and click OK.

Does this calculate differently than Fixed Work?

To see the difference between these Fixed Units/Effort Driven and Fixed Work, do the following:

• Enter 80 hours for Task 2.

• Enter 80 hours for Task 3, make the task Fixed Work, and enter 1 day in the duration field.

• Assign the Project Manager and Seminar Leader to both tasks. You can select both tasks and resources and assign them all at once. So far, the calculations are the same.

• Then, change the Duration of Task 2 and Task 3 to 10 days. Each task calculates differently.

Fixed Duration Effort-Driven

Expand the Fixed Duration Effort-Driven summary.

The first thing to always do is glance at your calculation settings. Ensure these three tasks have a Fixed Duration Type and that Effort Driven is Yes.

Assign the Project Manager and the Seminar Leader to Task 1. The calculations should be self-explanatory.

What is the difference between Fixed Duration Effort Driven and Fixed Duration?

To see a difference between Fixed Duration vs. Fixed Duration Effort Driven, do the following:

• Make sure Task 2 and Task 3 are 10 days in duration.

• Make Task 3 just Fixed Duration and Effort Driven is No. Again, these selections are what we have called Fixed Duration.

• Assign the Project Manager and Seminar Leader to both tasks.

• Change the Work for both tasks to 80 hours.

• Change the Duration for both tasks to 5 days.

So far, the calculations have been the same. Now, do this:

• Assign the Editor to both tasks.

This calculation is a hybrid type of fixed duration. You tell Microsoft Project to keep the Duration fixed but attempt to share the work evenly across the resource assignments when it is Effort Driven.

Save the project.

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Exercise 6.10: Assign Resources to Master Project (30 minutes)

You have defined resources and made the appropriate calculation selections for your detail tasks in your Master Project. Now, it is time to assign resources.

This is the best setup for making resource assignments:

A - Apply the Bridge Assignments view. This is a view with a Gantt Chart view on the top and a Task Form view on the bottom.

B- Select the bottom view and ensure the Work details is applied to the view.

C - Select the top view and apply the Bridge Duration Work Estimates table.

D - Insert the Cost field after the Work field.

E - Select the top view and open the Assign Resources dialog box.

Begin at any point in your WBS. Make the appropriate resource assignment for all of your detail tasks. When finished, you will have the constraints calculated for Work and Cost. The most important question to ask right now is:

• Are those calculated Work and Cost aligned with your project constraints?

• If the answer is no, what do you do now?

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Review Microsoft Project Features Used in Activity 6 (10 minutes)

Scope

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a key project management tool for defining scope. It breaks the project into smaller, manageable parts down to the activity level. The WBS covers all project work and helps with planning, execution, and control.

Microsoft Project is great for scheduling, resource management, and cost calculation. However, it does not directly define or manage scope at the activity level, so you need to take extra steps to document scope clearly.

One practical way to capture scope details is by using task Notes. Here’s how:

• Select an activity in your project plan.

• Open Task Information.

• Navigate to the Notes tab.

• Enter the scope definition, including deliverables, acceptance criteria, assumptions, and constraints.

Notes Fields

Microsoft Project includes three primary note types that support detailed documentation:

Task Notes. Used to document scope, instructions, and clarifications for a specific activity.

Resource Notes. Used to capture details about a resource, such as skills, constraints, or availability considerations.

Assignment Notes. Used to describe how a specific resource is assigned to a specific activity, including expectations, conditions, or special instructions.

Using these note fields helps you document scope, resources, and assignments in more detail than the activity record shows.

Defining Resources

Resources include everything needed to complete project work. They fall into three categories:

Work resources (people or equipment performing work).

Material resources (consumables).

Cost resources (financial costs applied to activities).

You define resources in the Resource Sheet, where you specify details such as type, rates, and availability.

Setting up resource calendars is an important part of defining resources. These calendars show working times, exceptions, and availability. Accurate calendars help ensure your schedule is reliable.

Cost behavior varies by resource type:

• Work resources use standard and overtime rates.

• Material resources use cost per unit.

• Cost resources apply fixed costs at the assignment level.

Defining resources enables the Calculation Engine to calculate work, duration, and cost accurately.

Task Type

Task Type controls how Microsoft Project calculates duration, work, and units when assignments change. There are three types:

Fixed Units (default setting). Units (the assignment percentage) stay the same. If you change the duration, it affects the amount of work. This is the default setting, but it is not the main focus of this Master Class.

Fixed Work. The total work stays the same. If you add or remove resources, the duration changes. This is useful for 'what-if' analysis, but it often does not match real-world results.

Fixed Duration. The duration stays the same. If you change assignments, it affects work and units. This option gives you the most control and is recommended when you are finalizing resource assignments.

Effort Driven

Effort Driven is a setting that controls how work is shared out when you add or remove resources.

Conceptually: Fixed Work = Effort Driven (total work stays constant)

Microsoft lets you apply Effort Driven to other task types, which can be confusing. The default settings have changed over time, and users often try to make sense of these combinations.

A more practical approach is:

Fixed Duration / Not Effort Driven → aligns with fixed duration activities.

Fixed Work (Effort Driven) → aligns with effort driven activities.

Other combinations are possible, but they are not based on standard project management theory. Still, they might be useful depending on how your organization handles assignments.

For example, Fixed Duration with Effort Driven keeps the duration the same but spreads the work across resources. This might seem unusual, but it can be helpful in certain situations where you want that result.

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