In 8 Steps to Scheduling Success, we started with Step 1: Defining the Project and then moved on to Step 2: Entering the Tasks and Deliverables. If you haven’t had the chance to read those posts, follow the links and check them out before reading on.
In Step 1, I mentioned Task Types and suggested you set the appropriate task type before entering any tasks into your schedule but I didn’t tell you how to choose the appropriate task type. (I had to leave something to cover in Step 3) If you will be estimating in Work, set the task type to Fixed Work. If you will be estimating in Duration, set the Task Type to Fixed Duration with Effort Driven unchecked.
If you have already entered all your tasks and want to apply this change to everything, click on any column heading to highlight every task and then select Information from the Task Ribbon. To apply it to all new tasks, go to File >Options>Schedule. Once you have the task type set correctly, you are ready to enter the estimates. Simply enter duration estimates in the duration column and work estimates in the work column. See? I told you it was simple!
Step 3 is probably the easiest step of all….unless you consider the amount of time it can take to generate those estimates you are capturing in the schedule; that’s a post I’ll have to think about for another day.
Happy Scheduling 
