Microsoft KB Archive/105920

Resource Usage Copies Wrong Periods If Week Starts on Monday

PSS ID Number: Q105920 Article last modified on 03-15-1995

3.00 3.00a | 3.00

WINDOWS | MACINTOSH

= SYMPTOM =

If the Resource Usage timescale is formatted for weeks over none and Start Week On is set for Monday, then Microsoft Project may copy the wrong timescale columns when you choose Copy from the Edit menu and select the Table And Timescale option.

= CAUSE =

Microsoft Project ignores the Start Week On setting when deciding which columns to copy based on the From and To dates in the Copy Resource Usage dialog box. Microsoft Project always determines the columns to copy as if Sunday were the start of the week.

= STATUS =

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Project for Windows versions 3.0 and 3.0a. This problem does not occur in versions of Microsoft Project later than 3.0a.

= MORE INFORMATION =

Microsoft Project looks at a regular calendar week as Sunday through Saturday. However, Microsoft Project gives you the option to change how it views a regular calendar week by supplying the Start Week On= option in the Preferences file. This option accepts a value of 0 or 1 (where 0 represents Sunday and 1 represents Monday). The default setting is Sunday. The Start Week On setting effects only timescale labels formatted with units of Weeks. If you are using Microsoft Project for Windows, the Preferences file is the WINPROJ.INI file, and if you are using Microsoft Project for the Macintosh, it is called the “Microsoft Project Settings” file.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
  Exit Microsoft Project. Open the Preferences file in a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad or Microsoft Word. If necessary, change the “Start Week On=0” option to “Start Week On=1” (without the quotation marks). Save the changes. NOTE: If you do not edit the file in Microsoft Notepad, be sure to save the file in ASCII or TEXT file format.   Start Microsoft Project. From the Options menu, select Preferences, choose Reset and choose OK.   From the Options menu, select Base Calendar. Select the Standard Calendar and choose Edit. Choose Reset, Yes, OK, and then Close.   From the File menu, choose New.   From the Options menu, select Project Info and change the project start date to Friday 11/5/93 8:00am. Choose OK.   Enter a task T with a duration of 6d. Note that T has a scheduled start of Friday 11/5/93 8:00am and a scheduled finish of Friday 11/12/93 5:00pm.   Assign a resource R to task T.   From the View menu, choose Resource Usage view (top or full screen). </li>  From the Format menu, choose Timescale. Set Units on the Major Scale to Weeks with the Label option set to January 31. Set Units on the Minor Scale to None. Choose OK. </li>  From the Format menu, choose Work. Note that the period labels correctly reflect that Monday is the start of each week. Two timescale columns contain non-zero work as shown below: ID    Name          November 1     November 8 1       R               8              40 </li>  Select R, and from the Edit menu, choose Copy. In the Copy Resource Usage dialog box, select Table and Timescale. Enter the From and To dates shown below and Choose OK. From:    11/7/93 12:00am To:      11/7/93 1:00am Note that 11/7/93 is a Sunday and is part of the week starting on Monday 11/1/93 12:00am. </li>  If you are using Microsoft Project for Windows, open the Clipboard to view what was copied, or paste into a new Notepad document. If you’re using Project for the Macintosh, paste into a new Word document. </li></ol>

Expected behavior: Because the From-To range was contained completely within the week starting on Monday 11/1/93 12:00am, it should have copied the column for that week as shown below:

R 8

Actual behavior: Microsoft Project incorrectly copies the column for the second week, as shown below, because it treats Sunday as the start of the week when deciding which timescale columns to copy. That is, Microsoft Project interprets Sunday 11/7/93 as part of the second week, and therefore copies the data in the second timescale column, which runs from 11/8/93 12:00am to 11/15/93 12:00am.

R 40

NOTE: In step 5, if you enter From-To dates of 11/1/93 12:00am to 11/8/93 12:00am, Microsoft Project should copy only the first week period; however, both periods are copied because Microsoft Project interprets Sunday 11/7/93 to be part of the second week.

KBCategory: kbusage KBSubcategory:

= Additional reference words: 3.00 3.00a =

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1995.