Project 2010 For Dummies®

Chapter 3

Mark It on Your Calendar

In This Chapter

Exploring the Base, Project, Resource, and Task calendars

Understanding how calendars work together

Setting calendar options, working times

Choosing the Project calendar

Working with Task calendars

Using Resource calendars

Creating your own calendar templates

Copying calendars to another project

Most people live their lives based on clocks and calendars. Think about it: You wake up, and your first thoughts are about what day it is, what time it is, and whether it’s a working day.

You have a familiar definition for what your typical workday is, whether you’re a 9-to-5 kind of person or your particular job calls for you to work from midnight to 8 a.m. You also vary from that routine now and then by putting in a 12-hour marathon in a crunch or slipping away after half a day to go fishing on a nice summer day.

Project 2010 calendars are sort of like your life in that they set some standards for a typical working time and then allow for variation. Unlike you, Project 2010 has several types of calendars to account for.

Mastering Base, Project, Resource, and Task Calendars

Bear with me because I won’t kid you: Mastering the four calendars in Project 2010 can be tricky. Understanding how calendars work in Project 2010, however, is essential to mastering the software. Tasks are scheduled and resources are assigned based on the calendar settings that you make. Thus, the costs accumulated by resource work hours won’t be accurate if you ...