Another resource allocation question

[mankoni]

First a statement of my understanding

There are 2 resource attributes with respect units

Max Units - Entered in Resource Sheet and is SET at the RESOURCE Level
Assignment Units - Entered for a given resource BUT at task level.

If the above stmts are correct here is my question.

I have resource R1 set at max units = 50% in the resource sheet. R1 is
not a part time employee so I do not want to mess with the calendar. R1
works on Projects P1 & P2 and hence the 50%.

I have R1 assigned to tasks T1 in Proj P1. At the task level in the
Task Form I specify units = 50%. Work = 8 hrs . Resource = R1. I expect
the DURATION to be calculated as

duration = 8 hrs / 2 hrs = 4 days

The 2 hrs is calculated as --- 50 % * 8 hrs = 4 hrs/ day based on max
units of 50 %
50 % of 4 hrs = 2 hrs / day for Task T1 based on assignment unit of 50
%

Am I right to expect a 4 day task duration ?

 

[Jeanders]

As far as I know unless you use project's resource leveling feature (<Tools>
<Level Resources>) it does not take 'Max Units' into consideration when
scheduling durations. Therefore, the 2 day duration would be correct if
your Work = 8hrs and your Units = 50%.

 

[Steve House]

Sorry, but not even close. 50% assignment means that time is converted into
work at 50% rate. Think of the resource polishing widgets - if he really
puts his mind to it he can polish 10 widgets an hour. But he's chatting
with his buddy about the ball scores so he only does 5 widgets an hour. So
he's doing 30 minutes of FTE work out of every hour he spends on the job -
he's working at 50%.

Max units means the the total that the resource could be assigned at any
given moment- it's the amount that the sum of the assignments to all the
tasks going on at any single point in time can never exceed. There are two
tasks, each with a duration of 8 hours. Joe is assigned to each of them at
50%. The work on each tasks lasts 8 hours from start to finish. Over the
course of that 8 hours he produces the output on each task that he COULD
have done in 4 hours if he hadn't been trying to do double duty. The
duration of each task is 8 hours, the work produced for each task is 4
man-hours, and his total assignment level is 50% on each task for a total of
100%. If his maximum allocation is 100% he's cool. If his maximum
allocation is 50%, he's doing twice as much work as he is physcially capable
of and he is overallocated - essentially he's been scheduled to be in two
places at once. Ths fix, if both of those tasks are on Monday lets say, is
to move the lower priority task to Tuesday.

A maximum allocation of 50% does NOT mean he's available 4 hours per day.
It means he's doing other things not part of the project that we haven't
listed as tasks at the same time he's doing the tasks in the project that
he's assigned to and we figure that whatever those other things are, they
mean he's only going to be able to complete the project's tasks at half the
rate he'd be able to do them if he wasn't distracted. He may still work on
our task for his full 8-hour workday but because he's juggling other things
on his plate at the same time, he'll only get done the amount of progess
that would have taken him 4 hours if he was able to devote his full
attention to it.

When you're planning a trip, Distance = Speed x Time. In a Project,
Distance = Work, the number of widgets you have to build, Duration = Time
spent, and Assigment Units = Speed, the number of widgets you'll make in an
hour expressed as a percentage - the number of widgets you DO make divided
by the number of widgets you COULD make if all you did was make widgets.

HTH