Options dialog box, Calendar tab

Use the Calendar tab in the Options dialog box to enter, review, or change date and time settings in Microsoft Office Project 2007. These are all local settings saved with the current project. You can:

• Specify when the active project's week and fiscal year begin.

• Specify the default start and end time for task constraint dates in which you enter a date but do not include a time.

• Specify how many hours are in a day or week, and how many days are in a month when entering values for duration or work.

Dialog box location

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Calendar tab.

Details

Start times

Week starts on    Specifies the day of the week on which you want the scheduling week to begin. Only week start days of Sunday and Monday are visible in the Calendar view, in the Change Working Time dialog box, and the timescale, although Office Project 2007 performs internal calculations based on the day selected. Drop-down calendars on the Task Information dialog box, the Project Information dialog box, and the Assignment Information dialog box do reflect alternative week start days. The default setting varies depending on your Windows Regional Options when you installed Project.

Fiscal year starts in    Specifies the month that begins the fiscal year. Project displays years on the timescale using the fiscal year rather than the calendar year. For example, if you select July as the beginning of the fiscal year, Office Project 2007 displays the year "2008" in the timescale for the date December 2, 2007. The default setting is January.

Use starting year for FY numbering    Labels the fiscal year using the calendar year in which the fiscal year begins. Clear the check box to label the fiscal year using the calendar year in which the fiscal year ends. For example, if you selected the check box and set July as the beginning of your fiscal year, Office Project 2007 displays the year "2007" on the timescale for the date March 2, 2008. This check box is unavailable if the fiscal year begins in January. By default, this check box is cleared.

Default start and end times

Default start time    Specifies the start time that Office Project 2007 assigns to tasks by default when you enter a start date without specifying a time. Time is used with dates even if the date format does not display time. If you enter a start date for a task, such as 6/15/06, but do not enter a start time, and if the project calendar or task calendar does not dictate another start time, then Project uses the default start time in this box. This is most useful when entering constraints and actual start and finish dates. For example, unless you explicitly specify the start time, a Must Start On time will be the start time set on this tab. The default setting is 8:00 A.M.

Default end time    Specifies the finish time that Office Project 2007 assigns to tasks by default when you enter a finish date without specifying a time. Time is used with dates even if the date format does not display time. If you enter a finish date for a task, such as 6/15/06, but do not enter a finish time, and if the project calendar or task calendar does not dictate another finish time, then Project uses the default finish time in this box. This is most useful when entering constraints and actual start and finish dates. For example, unless you explicitly specify the finish time, a Must Finish On time will be the end time set on this tab. The default setting is 5:00 P.M.

Note: 

• The Default start time and Default end time settings also control the round-off time for Gantt bars (on the Format menu, click Layout, and then select or clear the Round bars to whole days check box).

• If you change this setting, consider updating the project calendar to match using the Change Working Time command on the Tools menu.

Time definitions

Hours per day    Defines the number of hours that you want Office Project 2007 to assign to a task when you enter a duration of one day. For example, Project assumes by default that you want a duration of one day to equal 8 hours. If you enter a duration of 2 days for a task with the default settings, Project translates this as 16 hours of work. However, if you change the definition of a day to 4 hours, then a 2-day task would be 8 hours of work. If you change the number of hours per day on this tab, it's a good idea to update the project calendar to match, using the Change Working Time command on the Tools menu. The default setting is 8.00.

Hours per week    Specifies the number of hours that you want Office Project 2007 to assign to a task when you enter a duration of one week. For example, Project assumes by default that you want a duration of 1 week to equal 40 hours. If you enter a duration of 2 weeks for a task with the default settings, Project translates this as 80 hours of work. However, if you change the definition of a week to 30 hours, then a 2-week task would be 60 hours of work. If you change the number of hours per week on this tab, it's a good idea to update the project calendar to match, using the Change Working Time command on the Tools menu. The default setting is 40.00.

Days per month    Defines the number of days that you want Office Project 2007 to assign to a task when you enter a duration of a month. For example, by default Project assumes that you want a duration of one month to equal 20 days. If you enter a duration of two months for a task, with the default settings, Project assumes a duration of 40 days. This setting also works with the Hours per day setting. For example, if a month is equal to 20 days and a day is equal to 8 hours, then Project assumes that a task that requires two months to complete has a duration of 320 hours. The default setting is 20.

Set as Default button

The Calendar options are all local settings and apply only to the active project. If you want to make these settings the global default for all new projects, click the Set as Default button.

• Changing options on the Calendar tab does not affect the project calendar or resource working times calendars. It only affects how Office Project 2007 converts the durations into related time amounts used throughout your project. For example, if the Hours per day box is set to the default of 8 hours, and then you enter 2d in the Duration field, the two days of duration is displayed on the Gantt bars as 16 hours. If you set Hours per day to 5, and then enter a 2-day duration for a task, the task has a duration of 10 hours. The time amounts you set here also apply to the translation of duration to work amounts. The translation of time amounts operates the same way with the Hours per week and Days per month boxes.

  To control the way the work is actually scheduled, change the appropriate working times calendars. Also, if you change the number of hours per day, hours per week, or days per month, you might want to update the project calendar to match so that times and durations are properly synchronized. On the Tools menu, click Change Working Time.

• Settings on the Calendar tab apply only to new tasks entered after you change the setting. For existing tasks, the amount of work stays the same, but the duration is recalculated to use any new values for the existing amount of work. For example, if you have a task with a 2-day duration, and then you change the Hours per day setting from 8 hours per day to 4 hours per day, this still equates to 16 hours of duration (and work) on the task, but the duration changes from two days to four days.