Knowledge Base

PRJ: Can't Enter Duration in Replace Resource Dialog Box

Article ID: 113312

Article Last Modified on 1/18/2007

Microsoft Project 2000 Standard Edition
Microsoft Project 98 Standard Edition
Microsoft Project 4.1 Standard Edition
Microsoft Project 4.1a
Microsoft Project 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Project 4.0 for Macintosh

This article was previously published under Q113312

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Project, when you replace a resource using the Replace Resource dialog box, and you enter a duration value in the Units column for the resource, such as 8h, you receive the following error message:

Units must be between 0 and 100 and in hundredths or greater amounts.

-or-

There is a problem with the value.

This is not a valid units value or is outside the range for this field. Units must be a postive number between 0 and 10,000 (or 1,000,000 percent) with up to two decimal places.

NOTE: To locate the Replace Resources dialog box, point to Resources on the Tools menu, and click Assign Resources. In the Assign Resources dialog box, click the Replace button.

CAUSE

By design, when you assign a resource to a task, the units of the resource assigned are converted to a number of units, even if the value you enter is a duration such as 4h. However, when you replace a resource, the units value is assumed to be in terms of units because the resource has already been assigned to a task.

Note that when you replace a resource, the replacement resource is assigned to the default units value (1.00). If you want to replace the resource with the Units value that the original resource was assigned, you must enter that value in the Units column for the replacement resource in the Replace Resource dialog box.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, use the Remove button in the Resource Assignment dialog box to first remove the resource, then use the Assign button to assign a replacement resource with a duration value in the Units field.

MORE INFORMATION

NOTE: If you attempt to enter a work value for an existing resource assignment in the Resource Assignment dialog, Microsoft Project behaves as follows:

For a resource driven task, the units will be increased or decreased by the same proportion by which you are trying to increase or decrease the work, but the work will remain the same. For example, if a resource is assigned at 2 units and 80h of work, and you enter a work value of 120h, the resource will be assigned at 2 units x (180h/120h) = 3 units, but work will remain at 80h.

If the task is fixed duration, the behavior is the same except that work also changes to the value you entered in the units column. In the example given, you would end up with the resource assigned at 3 units and 120h.

REFERENCES

For more information about the Replace Resource Dialog Box, choose the Search button in Help and type:

replacing resources

Additional query words: prj2000

Keywords: kbprb kbusage KB113312