Level of Effort (Task.task_type)

What the field is

Professional help (most precise):

• Duration is calculated from the earliest early start of the predecessors/successors linked to the start of the LOE, to the latest early finish of the predecessors/successors linked to the finish of the LOE.
• The LOE uses its assigned calendar to summarize those dates.
• Any relationship type can be assigned (unlike a hammock, which only allows SS and FF).
• LOE activities cannot have constraints.
• LOE activities are not included when leveling resources.

EPPM "About Activity Types": ongoing; duration calculated from the schedule dates of its predecessors and successors. EPPM Activity Type column: "Choose level of effort to indicate that the activity's duration depends on its predecessor and/or successor activities."

TASK.task_type is Activity Type on the Oracle column map. The map does not list stored enum strings. Do not invent a code such as TT_LOE. Treat the stored value as unverified until read from a live XER.

What it is not

It is not a WBS node, not a WBS Summary activity, and not a hammock. A WBS Summary is still a TASK that rolls up a WBS when you schedule. A hammock (Professional only) is a different type: hammocks are not scheduled using their own calendar; hammock duration is earliest early start of predecessors to latest early finish of successors, and only SS and FF are allowed. EPPM "About Activity Types" as fetched does not list hammock.

Professional lists six types (Task Dependent, Resource Dependent, LOE, Start Milestone, Finish Milestone, WBS Summary). EPPM "About Activity Types" lists five (no WBS Summary). EPPM Activity Type column does include WBS Summary. Write both pages; do not collapse the type list.

Do not treat an LOE as a normal task-dependent duration that the planner types in. Do not drop LOE rows from a look-ahead just because Oracle said to — excluding them from a field plot is practice, not an Oracle rule.