About using calendars in Project

A base calendar (base calendar: A calendar that can be used as a project and task calendar that specifies default working and nonworking time for a set of resources. Differs from a resource calendar, which specifies working and nonworking time for an individual resource.) is used as a template that the project calendar (project calendar: The base calendar used by a project.), resource calendars (resource calendar: A calendar that specifies working and nonworking time for an individual resource. A resource calendar differs from a base calendar, which specifies working and nonworking time for more than one resource.), or task calendars (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.) are based on. Three base calendars are provided with Project:

• Standard (8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. weekdays, with an hour off for lunch)
• 24-Hours
• Night Shift

 Note   Only someone with administrative privileges (privileges: These specify the items in a project that a user can either see or modify. For example, only someone with administrative privileges can modify outline codes to be used by all project managers within an organization.) (for example, your project management administrator) for Project Server 2003 can change the base calendar used for all projects within the organization.

The calendar used to designate the default work schedule for all tasks in a project.

For each resource you enter, Project creates individual resource calendars based on the settings in the Standard calendar. You can modify those calendars on the Working Time tab of the Resource Information dialog box. You can also create and assign resource calendars for individual resources or resource groups to indicate specific working hours; for example, you can assign a resource to the swing shift or night shift. You can edit resources' calendars to indicate nonworking time (nonworking time: Hours or days designated in a resource or project calendar when Project should not schedule tasks because work is not done. Nonworking time can include lunch breaks, weekends, and holidays, for example.), such as vacations and leaves of absence.

 Note   To make changes to schedule information for an enterprise resource (enterprise resources: Resources that are part of an organization's entire list of resources. Enterprise resources can be shared across projects.), you must first check out the resource.

Tasks are scheduled based on the working times (working time: Hours designated in a resource or project calendar during which work can occur.) in the project calendar; however, you can customize the working times from the project calendar in a task calendar if you have tasks to be completed at different times, especially tasks that are independent of resources. A task calendar is especially useful for equipment that runs and completes tasks throughout nights or weekends, which is designated as nonworking time in the project calendar.

Project calculates when a resource and task are scheduled to work by using the calendars in the following order: project calendar, resource calendar, and task calendar. If a task has no resources and no task calendar, it's scheduled according to the project calendar. If a task has resources assigned and no task calendar, it's scheduled according to the resource calendars. You can set the task calendar to ignore the resource calendars if you need to schedule a task during a nonworking time for a resource. In the Task Name field, click the task with the task calendar that you want to override the resource calendars of any assigned resources. Click Task Information , and then click the Advanced tab. Select the Scheduling ignores resource calendars check box to have the task calendar override all applicable resource calendars.