Leveling Resource in Linked Project
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From: Tyler M on 4 Mar 2010 16:41 I have a "Master Schedule" that is made up from linked files that include schedules for individual projects. While in the "Master Schedule" I am trying to level the resources so no one is over allocated. When I try to level it is not working and states that one of my projects (lets say Project #3) is linked to another task that cannot move. I am not sure why this error message is coming up. I don't have it linked to anything else and all my seperate projects have predecessors so that all tasks are dependant on eachother. I am a newbie to Project and quite frankly not impressed with the level of difficulty. Now I am sure for the everyday user this is way easy to work with, but I have maybe a total of 100 hours in this software (I consider myself very green with this because I hear lots of good things about Project, I just have no training nor have I figured out a lot of it). Anyways, that is a little background and my situation that I am currently trying to handle. Let me know if you require more information. Thank you for your time. -- Thank you, Tyler M
From: Tyler M on 4 Mar 2010 16:56 By the way I am using MS Project 2007 -- Thank you, Tyler M "Tyler M" wrote: > I have a "Master Schedule" that is made up from linked files that include > schedules for individual projects. While in the "Master Schedule" I am trying > to level the resources so no one is over allocated. When I try to level it is > not working and states that one of my projects (lets say Project #3) is > linked to another task that cannot move. I am not sure why this error message > is coming up. I don't have it linked to anything else and all my seperate > projects have predecessors so that all tasks are dependant on eachother. I am > a newbie to Project and quite frankly not impressed with the level of > difficulty. Now I am sure for the everyday user this is way easy to work > with, but I have maybe a total of 100 hours in this software (I consider > myself very green with this because I hear lots of good things about Project, > I just have no training nor have I figured out a lot of it). Anyways, that is > a little background and my situation that I am currently trying to handle. > Let me know if you require more information. Thank you for your time. > -- > Thank you, > > Tyler M
From: Rod Gill on 4 Mar 2010 18:12 Firstly, let's explore what a computer can do to level resources. Firstly the computer (in a typical schedule) does not know who has what skills, or even if two people with the same skills can swap tasks. It does not know who will resign if they ever have to do that "!@#@&*!*#" job again! It does not know who has the hours available from other projects (unless you have a resource pool with updated calendars and all other projects accurately scheduled). It doesn't know if a task can safely or productively be interrupted or put on hold, nor many other options. To enter and maintain this level of detailed information would take far longer than leveling manually! Project can attempt to delay tasks, delay incomplete work but it can't adjust units or swap resources (not enough info to do this). Finally, if someone leveled my project for me and change a load of things, I would justifiably be very annoyed and immediately remove all leveling changes in my schedule. Leveling requires resource management processes, senior management input on project priorities and and a clear knowledge of resource skills and aptitudes. The only time I use resource leveling is to level low priority tasks so they fit into gaps in resource usage. My critical path tasks I always level manually. So leveling is not simple, using any tool. How far does this take you?! -- Rod Gill Microsoft MVP for Project - http://www.project-systems.co.nz Author of the only book on Project VBA, see: http://www.projectvbabook.com "Tyler M" <TylerM(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:8ED46FAA-B556-42CB-9689-290238613787(a)microsoft.com... > By the way I am using MS Project 2007 > -- > Thank you, > > Tyler M > > > "Tyler M" wrote: > >> I have a "Master Schedule" that is made up from linked files that include >> schedules for individual projects. While in the "Master Schedule" I am >> trying >> to level the resources so no one is over allocated. When I try to level >> it is >> not working and states that one of my projects (lets say Project #3) is >> linked to another task that cannot move. I am not sure why this error >> message >> is coming up. I don't have it linked to anything else and all my seperate >> projects have predecessors so that all tasks are dependant on eachother. >> I am >> a newbie to Project and quite frankly not impressed with the level of >> difficulty. Now I am sure for the everyday user this is way easy to work >> with, but I have maybe a total of 100 hours in this software (I consider >> myself very green with this because I hear lots of good things about >> Project, >> I just have no training nor have I figured out a lot of it). Anyways, >> that is >> a little background and my situation that I am currently trying to >> handle. >> Let me know if you require more information. Thank you for your time. >> -- >> Thank you, >> >> Tyler M > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus > signature database 4916 (20100304) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com > > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4916 (20100304) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com
From: Trevor Rabey on 4 Mar 2010 19:31 Well, there could be a few things causing the warning (not an error, just a warning). You may have predecessor/successor links to/from the summaries. You may have date constraints. You may have weird concoctions of SS, SF, FF predecessor/successor links, with also positive or negative lag. You may have actual starts and/or actual finishes. These 4, or a combination of them, just about cover it. This warning that you get is just a result of the way the you have modeled the project, and some part of it is wrong (even if you can't see where or why). If I could see it I could fix it. -- Trevor Rabey 0407213955 61 8 92727485 PERFECT PROJECT PLANNING www.perfectproject.com.au "Tyler M" <TylerM(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:939C1602-F1D5-4FD0-AEEF-830789570821(a)microsoft.com... >I have a "Master Schedule" that is made up from linked files that include > schedules for individual projects. While in the "Master Schedule" I am > trying > to level the resources so no one is over allocated. When I try to level it > is > not working and states that one of my projects (lets say Project #3) is > linked to another task that cannot move. I am not sure why this error > message > is coming up. I don't have it linked to anything else and all my seperate > projects have predecessors so that all tasks are dependant on eachother. I > am > a newbie to Project and quite frankly not impressed with the level of > difficulty. Now I am sure for the everyday user this is way easy to work > with, but I have maybe a total of 100 hours in this software (I consider > myself very green with this because I hear lots of good things about > Project, > I just have no training nor have I figured out a lot of it). Anyways, that > is > a little background and my situation that I am currently trying to handle. > Let me know if you require more information. Thank you for your time. > -- > Thank you, > > Tyler M
From: Prasad on 5 Mar 2010 11:03
On Mar 4, 5:12 pm, "Rod Gill" <rodATproject-systemsDOTcoDOTnz> wrote: > Firstly, let's explore what a computer can do to level resources. Firstly > the computer (in a typical schedule) does not know who has what skills, or > even if two people with the same skills can swap tasks. ....... > > To enter and maintain this level of detailed information would take far longer than leveling manually! .........Leveling requires resource management processes, senior management input on project priorities and and a clear knowledge of resource skills and aptitudes. > > So leveling is not simple, using any tool. How far does this take you?! > Rod, I appreciate your posts most often but I am unable to accept your last statement about "any tool". There are many scientific scheduling software that perform automatic resource leveling for multi-project scheduling in a sensible manner. Of course, they need most of the information that you mentioned. Many organizations have such information but project management (PM) software generally do not store and use it. My experience does not agree with your statement, "To enter and maintain this level of detailed information would take far longer than leveling manually". You would not enter such information as frequently as resource leveling. Moreover, the simple data entry effort does not create headache as resource leveling does. To the best of my knowledge, PM software are not designed and developed to automatically make use of this information in scheduling (like multi-functional machines, workers with different skill sets and different worker preferences for a task assignment). When resources are very limited, schedules without resource leveling may not be practical and dependable even over short time intervals. In fact, resource leveled scheduling helps resource management process more effectively. Resource-leveled schedules must be updated often like weather forecast to respond to uncertainty in the system. Multi- project scheduling becomes laborious and time consuming if resource leveling is to be done manually each time. Let a powerful, scientific scheduling tool do it automatically in seconds even for thousands of tasks across multiple simultaneous projects. Such a tool keeps the data about all projects and resources in a single file. You can perform extensive what-if analysis of multi-project schedules with respect to any changes like those in project priorities, increase or decrease in resource availability, calendar changes, rework, etc because it can generate a sensible, resource leveled schedule in seconds. Although some of those sophisticated scheduling tools do not require formal training, they are not as cheap as popular PM software. Since project management software like Project are highly popular and very cheap, many people never look at those scientific scheduling tools. Please look outside the world of project management software which have poor scheduling logic. Regards, Prasad ( www.optisol.biz ) |