About Effort Types

You can set the Effort Type for an activity to be duration-based or effort-based. When you select duration-based, the effort is calculated based on the duration of the activity and the resources assigned to it. When effort-based is selected, effort is calculated based on the time required by a resource to complete an activity.

Different Effort Type options are displayed for Planned Effort Type (PET) and Actual Effort Type (AET) modes. For the mode Planned Effort Type, you can select the following effort types:

Duration & Resource % Availability
Effort at Activity Level – Equal % Distribution
Effort at Activity Level - Unequal % Distribution
Effort at Resource Level (Summary)
Effort at Resource Level (Detailed)

For the mode Actual Effort Type, you can select the following effort types:

Duration & Resource % Availability
Effort at Activity Level – Equal % Distribution
Effort at Activity Level – Unequal % Distribution
Effort at Resource Level (Summary)
Effort at Resource Level (Detailed)
Effort at Resource Level from Timesheet
Effort at Resource Level from Finance

Duration & Resource % Availability

This is a duration-based Effort Type. Effort is calculated based on the duration and the number of resources assigned to the activity. You cannot edit the effort.

Effort at Activity Level - Equal % Distribution

This Effort Type is effort-based. The completion date and duration of an activity is calculated based on the start date, and the effort (Plan, Actual and Remaining) that is entered for each assigned resource. The effort is equally divided among the assigned resources. You cannot edit the completion date and the duration.

Plan duration for a task is computed based on the maximum duration across assigned resources. For example: Activity A starts on May 7th and requires 20 hours to complete. It is assigned to both Rick and Ann. Rick will work 10 hrs. starting on May 7th and finishing on May 8th. Ann on her calendar has marked May 8th as a non-working day, so she will work 10 hrs. starting on May 7th and finishing on May 9th. The completion date for this activity will be May 9th and not May 8th.

Effort at Activity Level - Unequal % Distribution

This Effort Type is effort-based. The completion date and duration of an activity is calculated based on the start date, and the effort (Plan, Actual and Remaining) that is entered for each assigned resource. You can use the Effort Distribution field to enter the effort for each resource assigned to the activity. The combined resource availability determines the completion date of an activity. You cannot edit the completion date and duration of an activity.

Plan duration for a task is computed based on the maximum duration across assigned resources. For example: Activity A starts on May 23rd and requires 56 hours to complete. It is assigned to both Rick and Ann with a 70/30 distribution. Rick will start on 23 and end on 28, and Ann will start on 23rd and end on 26th. The start date for the activity is 23rd and the end date will be 28th. The duration for the activity will be 5 days.

Effort at Resource Level (Summary)

This Effort Type is effort-based. The completion date, duration, and effort are calculated based on the start date, and the effort that is entered at the resource level for each assigned resource. The effort is entered only at the resource level and not at the activity level. You cannot edit the duration and the completion date of the activity.

Effort at Resource Level (Detailed)

This Effort Type is effort based. The total planned effort, total actual effort, completion date and duration are calculated based on the start date, and the effort that is entered at the resource level for each assigned resource. You cannot edit the duration and completion date. Detailed effort is added in weekly increments on the Resources tab.

Effort from Timesheets

This Effort Type pertains only to the Actual Effort Type and is displayed only if the timesheet feature is enabled. The actual start, completion dates, and duration are editable but do not affect the actual effort. The Actual Effort is a read-only field and its value is obtained from timesheets.