Splitting Projects into Stages

You can split the stages of a project to add nonworking time. This can provide a better view of the amount of work required to complete a stage, the start date, and the completion date.

For example, a stage requires 40 hours of work to complete and has a two-week gap when work will not be done. You can split the stage into two 20-hour sections with an 80-hour (two-week) split. Without a split, this stage would cover 3 weeks, and would appear to have a completion percentage of 17% if 20 hours of work was completed. With the split, the completion percentage would be 50%.

To split projects into stages:

  1. Open and check out a project or create a new project.
  2. In the Planning tab, select a stage where you want to insert the split.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Right-click the stage and select Split Stage.
    • In the Move/Indent section, on the toolbar, select Split Stage.
  4. In the Split Stage dialog box, click and enter a value (in hours) in the Position column from where the stage begins to split.
  5. Enter the duration of the split in the Length column.
  6. Click Apply.
  7. Optional: Click to insert multiple splits or click to remove the splits.