RPAX Risk Items: No Work Estimate

What it is: One or more SmartTasks in your project do not have work estimates assigned. The work estimate is the amount of time that will be needed to complete the task at hand. This is different from the duration, which is the number of days given for the task to be completed. For example, you are given from Monday to Wednesday to build a silt fence and you expect that it will take 16 hours to create. The duration is 3 days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) and the work estimate is 16 hours.

Why it matters: Work estimates are important for several reasons. Without work estimates you are unable to understand capacity of the resources to whom you've assigned tasks. When all tasks have work estimates and dates associated with them Office can total the number of hours assigned per person per day to flag users who have more work than they could feasibly complete in a day. The work estimate can also help to guide the number of days allowed in the task's duration and to set an expectation with the task owner of how much effort the task should require.

What's next: Enter a work estimate for each task, or coordinate with your team to get work estimates added.