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Project for the web provides the ability for organizations to define how they manage changes to key variables in tasks within the work breakdown structure. Based on the specific needs of the organization, Project Managers can make changes to the scheduling mode when a project is created.

There are three scheduling modes available in Project:

  • Fixed duration (this is the default mode).

  • Fixed effort (Work).

  • Fixed units.

The values impacted by the definition of a specific scheduling mode are determined by the following formula:

Effort = Duration x Units

When you define a project’s scheduling mode, you are setting one of these values, which then can't be changed. Holding this value as a constant places a priority on that value, which notifies the system not to change it when the other two values change. The following table provides information about the impacts of selecting a specific mode.

In this task               If you revise units                 If you revise duration         If you revise effort

Fixed units task        Duration is recalculated        Effort is recalculated           Duration is recalculated

Fixed effort task       Duration is recalculated         Units are recalculated        Duration is recalculated   

Fixed duration task   Effort is recalculated              Effort is recalculated           Units are recalculated

For more information about the implications of a given mode, see Change the task type for more accurate scheduling. In the topic, the term Work is used instead of Effort.

Change the organization’s scheduling mode

Complete the following steps to define the scheduling mode of an organization.

  1. Go to Settings > General > Parameters, and then select the project parameter.

  2. On the Project Parameters page, select the default scheduling mode for the organization, and then define ability for the Project manager to override the setting when creating a new project.

Change the scheduling mode setting on a project

If an organization allows the Project manager to override the default scheduling mode, the Project manager can make that change when they create a new project. However, after the project has been saved, the scheduling mode can't be changed.

Note: You can only change the scheduling mode of projects created in the Project Power Apps experience. Projects created at project.microsoft.com will always be created with the organization's default scheduling mode. 

Copied projects

Because a project is created when the copy project action is taken, the Project manager can't set the scheduling mode. The destination project will always default to the mode defined at the organizational level.

Copied tasks

When a task is copied from one project to another, the task inherits the scheduling mode of the destination project.

See also

Create a work breakdown structure | Microsoft Docs

Time overview | Microsoft Docs

Lite deployment overview | Microsoft Docs

Project management overview | Microsoft Docs

Develop project templates with Copy Project | Microsoft Docs

Use Project schedule APIs to perform operations with Scheduling entities | Microsoft Docs

Project schedule API performance | Microsoft Docs

Project scheduling logs | Microsoft Docs

Use Project schedule APIs with Power Automate | Microsoft Docs

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