Advanced Task Management

Use the Advanced tab on the Task Information dialog box to enter, review, or change supplemental task information. You can:

Specify the task type: A characterization of a task based on which aspect of the task is fixed and which aspects are variable. There are three task types: Fixed Units, Fixed Work, and Fixed Duration. The default task type in the Project is Fixed Units. See Task Types below.

Specify the task calendar: The base calendar that you can apply to individual tasks to control their scheduling, usually independent of the project calendar or any assigned resources' calendars. By default, all tasks use the project calendar. You can select to ignore the resource calendar. Use the Working Time dialog box to modify calendars.

Mark the task as effort-driven: In effort driven scheduling the duration of a task shortens or lengthens as resources are added or removed from a task, while the amount of effort necessary to complete a task remains unchanged.

Task Types
The three task types used in Project are:
• Fixed units: Fixed unit is a fixed value and any changes to the amount of work or the task's duration do not affect the task's units. It is a default task type.
• Fixed work: Fixed-work task is a task in which the amount of work is a fixed value and any changes to the task's duration or the number of assigned units [or resources] do not affect the task's work.
• Fixed duration: Fixed duration task is a task in which the duration is a fixed value and any changes to the work or the assigned units don't affect
Each of the task types affects scheduling when you edit one of the three elements as follows: