Hours per Time Period
P6 Professional calculates and stores time unit values in hourly increments. However, through User Preferences, each user can choose to display time unit values as hours, days, weeks, months, or years. When a user displays units and durations in increments other than hours, P6 Professional converts the data based on the Hours per Time Period settings. Conversely, if a user enters time units in increments other than hours, the Hours per Time Period settings are used to convert these input values to hours for database calculation and storage.
As an administrator, you can globally specify the conversion factors on this tab, or you can mark the 'Use assigned calendar to specify the number of work hours for each time period' checkbox. If your organization typically plans and manages projects in time units other than hours, and your resources and activities require different hours per time period settings, you should mark this checkbox, then specify the hours per time period for all defined calendars (choose Enterprise, Calendars).
Use assigned calendar to specify the number of work hours for each time period: Clear this checkbox if you want to always use the Hours per Time Period settings you specify on this tab to convert and store units and durations in the database.
Mark this checkbox to ignore the Hours per Time Period settings on this tab. When you mark this checkbox, P6 Professional converts and stores units and durations using the Hours per Time Period settings defined in each activity's or resource's assigned calendar. Using a task-dependent activity as an example, the module converts units and durations for the activity using the settings defined in the activity's assigned calendar.
Tip
- When Hours per Time Period settings are defined per calendar, units and durations are displayed more accurately. When Hours per Time Period settings are defined globally and users display units and durations in time increments other than hours, units and durations will display unexpected values when the Admin settings for Hours per Time Period do not match the work hours specified in calendars assigned to activities. This occurs because the display reflects the conversion factor of the Admin Preference Hours per Time Period settings, not the hours per day defined by the activity's assigned calendar.
For example,
User Preferences, Time Units = day
Admin Preferences, Hours per Time Period = 8h/d
Activity calendar, Work hours per day = 10h/d
User-entered activity duration = 30h
Actual duration display = 3d6h (30h duration/8h per day, based on the conversion factor set in Admin Preferences)
Expected duration display = 3d (30h duration/10h per day, based on the conversion factor set in the activity calendar)
To avoid unexpected display results, mark the 'Use assigned calendar to specify the number of work hours for each time period' checkbox. Then, you can specify the Hours per Time Period settings for each defined calendar, and assign these calendars to the appropriate activities and resources.
Time Period Abbreviations
For each time period increment, specify the abbreviation you want to use when displaying time unit values.