Practical work No. 3.

Project calendar

I. PLANNING OF WORKING HOURS IN THE PROJECT

1. Calendar Usage Methodology

The use of calendars in the project is necessary to determine the actual work schedule.
Microsoft Project 2013 can have project, task, and resource calendars.

The default project calendar, named Standard, defines:

1. Working days and non-working (weekends) days in weeks;
2. Working hours on working days;
3. Government and corporate holidays called exceptions in Microsoft Project.

Exceptions are periods other than the working periods of a given calendar. This means that within
the calendar, in the selected period of time, work will be carried out in hours other than the hours of the
main calendar, or will not be carried out at all.
Task calendars will allow you to determine the periods when certain tasks can be executed. For
example, tasks performed by office workers can be performed from 9:00 to 18:00, tasks of workers
employed in the construction of the facility can be performed from 7:00 to 19:00, and acceptance of
documents for approval at the mayor's office is possible only on Tuesdays.
Resource calendars define the work schedule of each resource, including working hours and non-
working hours (vacations, time off).
Calendars allow you to define a possible resource load. The intersection of task calendars and
resources assigned to its execution will determine the time when the task can be executed. So if the task is
performed according to the calendar with working hours from 9:00 to 18:00, and the resource can work
according to the calendar from 8:00 to 19:00, then the work will be performed from 9:00 to 18:00. If the
resource can work from 10:00 to 16:00, then the work on the task in this case will be performed from
10:00 to 16:00.
All characteristics of the project calendar and its changes automatically fall into task and resource
calendars.

By default, the duration of the day, week, month is determined based on the information laid down
in the schedule parameters (menu "File - Options - Schedule - Calendar parameters for this project").
If in these parameters you change the indicators of the beginning of the working day, its end,
duration in the framework of work on the project, then Microsoft Project automatic will NOT recalculate
the project and tasks for new data.
The project calendar, then the resource calendar, and the task calendar have the lowest priority.
You should apply task calendars only when the task has a unique schedule that is independent of
project calendars and assigned resources.

You can create new calendars based on existing or blank calendars. In the first case, all the
properties of the calendar from which the creation is based, hours/exceptions, will be saved in the created
calendar. In the second case, all properties will need to be recreated.

2. Change the standard calendar

To change the properties of the standard calendar in Microsoft Project in terms of working hours and
exceptions, you need to:
1. Go to the "Project" tab and in the "Properties" section click on the "Change working time"
button;
2. In the “Change Working Time” window, go to the “Work Weeks” tab, select the “Default”
name, and click the “Details” button;
3. Select the first five calendar days from Monday to Friday with the left mouse button;
 4. Select the radio button "Set days to use these working hours" and enter working hours in our
project according to the properties of the standard calendar, Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 - Standard Calendar Parameters

Calendar name Working hours Days of work
9:00 – 13:00;
Standard calendar Monday-Friday
14:00 – 18:00

To set exceptions to standard weeks, days, and hours of work in the calendar, in the “Change
Working Time” window:
1. Go to the "Exceptions" tab;
2. Find and select dates in the calendar for which you want to set an exception;
3. Enter the name of the exception.

You can immediately enter the name of the exception, but then you will have to change the start and
end dates with your hands, since immediately the start/end dates that were highlighted at the time the
exception was created will be selected.

If you want to specify the frequency or working hours of the exception in the exception, you need to
click on the button in the "Change Working Time" window on the "Exceptions" tab.
"Details" and:
1. If you want to set working hours different from those specified in the calendar, select the
"Working hours" radio button and enter the working time for the specific selected exception;
2. If you need to set a certain exclusion frequency, you need to select a certain sequence (daily,
weekly or other) of repetitions;
3. Select the number of times to repeat.

So, if the frequency is "daily" with the period "every 1 day" with the limit of repetitions "end after
10 repetitions," then the exception will be repeated ten days from the start date, and if the frequency is
"daily" with the period "every 2 days" with the limit of repetitions "end after 10 repetitions," then the
exception will be repeated every other day for twenty days from the start date, Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1 - Specification of exclusion frequency

Exception recurrence cannot be set for exceptions longer than one day. I.e. if you always have a
weekend from December 30 to January 8 and if you need to create a "every year" periodicity, you need
to create exceptions for each day and select a "every year" recurrence periodicity for each.
3. Calendars in the Training Project

So, initially we make exceptions to the standard calendar, except for the last two, in the image and
similarity as in Table 3.2, based on the completion date of the work 5.02.22.

Table 3.2 - Exceptions of calendars in the project

Presence in Working hours for Repetition
Exception Beginning Termination
calendars exceptions frequency
New Year's Eve 01.01.2018 01.01.2018
March 8 08.03.2018 08.03.2018 Every year (5
years)
Victory Day In all calendars 09.05.2018 09.05.2018
except the
Exit 10 calendar
"7x8" (see 10.05.2018 10.05.2018
May 2018
Table 5)

Working out for

19.05.2018 19.05.2018 9:00-14:00 Once
10
May 20181

Second shift
work2 1 shift (refer to 15:00 – 18:30;
1.01.2018 31.12.2018
Table 5) 19:00 – 22:00
6 days of the
week every
other week
Work in the 2 shift (refer to 7:00 – 11:00;
01.01.2018 31.12.2018
first shift Table 5) 11:30 – 15:00

Notes:
1
This exception is required to show how weekend activities are modeled.
2
Calendar exceptions "Work in the first shift" and "Work in the second shift" are necessary to
simulate the shift work of resources so that they work one week in the morning, the second week in the
evening. For this, the repetition frequency is also used - every second week.

After making exceptions to the calendar, create new calendars in accordance with the table
3.3.

Table 3.3 - Calendars in the project

Calendar name Working Days of work
hours
7x81
9:00-18:00 7 days a week
7:00-11:00;
Calendar of workers 11:30-18:30; Monday - Saturday
19:00-22:00
7:00-11:00;
1 shift Monday - Saturday
11:30-15:00
15:00-18:30;
2 shift Monday - Saturday
19:00-22:00

Notes:
1
We will need a “7x8” calendar to analyze the duration of the project in calendar days.
So, to create a "Calendar of Workers" based on the standard one, you need:
1. On the "Project" tab, in the "Properties" section, click on the "Change working hours" button;
2. In the "Change working time" window, click on the "Create a new calendar..." button;
 3. Select the option "Create a copy of a standard calendar" and enter the name of the calendar:
"Calendar of Workers";
4. Click "OK," Figure 3.2;
5. In the window that appears, select "Yes" if you want to save changes to the calendar based on
which you are creating a new calendar.

If you created the wrong calendar and need to delete it, you need to go to the "File" tab
- Organizer. " I n t h e “Organizer” w i n d o w , c l i c k the “Calendar” t a b , s e l e c t an unnecessary
calendar f r o m t h e right side (project side), and click “Delete".

Figure 3.2 - Creating a new calendar based on an existing one.

The next step is to change the working days and hours of the created work calendar. To do
this, in the “Change Working Time” window, you must:
1. Select "Work Calendar" and go to the "Work Weeks" tab;
2. Select “Default” and click “Details”;
3. In the “Default” Details window, select the first six days of the week;
4. Select the "Set days to use these working hours" radio button and enter the working hours
according to table 3.3 and figure 3.3. Thus, we have set a six-day work schedule for this calendar.
 Figure 3.3 - Setting properties of the working calendar

If you plan to change the working week, you need to go to the cell below "Default" and enter the
name of the new week, the validity period and then set the working hours.
After the end date of the new week, the default week will be valid.
After setting the properties of the created week, we proceed to create calendar exceptions, see Table
3.2. So to create an exception to the calendar "Work in the second shift" you need to:
1. On the "Project" tab, in the "Properties" section, click on the "Change working hours" button;
2. In the Change Working Time window, select the 1 shift calendar;
3. Find the date you need in the center of the window on the calendar and select it;
4. Enter the exception name on the “Exceptions” tab;
5. Correct the start and end dates of exceptions;
6. Go to the "Details" tab and set the working hours for the exception;
7. Select a repeat period (every second week, i.e. repeat every 2 weeks) and specify the days of the
week on which this exception will be used;
8. Select a recurrence start and/or recurrence frequency or recurrence end date.

Figure 3.4 - Generation of calendar exceptions "1 shift."

 TASK

1. Set the standard project calendar parameters according to Table 3.1.

2. Set exceptions in the standard calendar in accordance with Table 3.2 (except for
the exceptions "Work in the first shift" and "Work in the second shift").
3. Based on the standard calendar, create calendars "7x8," "Calendar of workers," "First
shift," "Second shift."
4. Change the parameters of the created calendars according to Table 3.3.
5. Create a “Second Shift Work” exception for the “First Shift” calendar and an
exception, “First Shift Work” for the “Second Shift” calendar.

QUESTIONS
1. What are project calendars created for? How do I change the properties of a
standard project calendar?
2. How do I create a new calendar? How do I change the working time in the new
calendar?
3. What are calendar exceptions? How do I create a calendar exception?