Thanks for the response. MS Project IS pretty extensive, so it's probably just an ID10T thing going on.

At any rate, what I'm trying to do right now is figure out a project schedule. The problem is that most of the tasks require involvement from multiple individuals, and I can't figure out how to make that work well. For example, say I have an initial task that will take 5 days to which I need an employee devote 50% of his or her time. But then once it's over, the employee can now devote the rest of his or her time to task 2. The problem is, since there were other individuals on task 2 it really can begin at the same time as task 1, but MS project won't let it be scheduled that way because it requires task 1 to be finished first (since the same employee is on both tasks). Now I can schedule them simultaneously if I only schedule the employee for 50% on the second task, but then the total hours required are off, because what I really want is for the person to work 50% on both tasks until task 1 is finished, and then 100% on task 2.

I'm trying to estimate both the time required and the amount of money this is going to cost, which means I need to know hours. Since just about everyone will be tasked on multiple tasks I end up with lots of people scheduled at less than 100%, waiting for another task to finish. This gives me an inaccurate view of how much time the actual project will take.

WHEW! I hope some of that made sense.