At-a-glance "whole project" resource allocation view. MSP 2k

[Clive Long,UK]

Hello,


I am trying to get an "at-a-glance" resource utilisation view
across the whole project

What would be ideal is an Excel / table type layout with resource
listed down the rows and the dates listed aross the columns. Then if a
resource is:

Allocated in the plan less than (say) half a day - put a blue box in
the appropriate resource / date "intersection" (RDI)

Allocated in the plan between half a day and a whole day RDI then a
GREEN box

Allocated in the plan more than one day on a particular RDI - a RED
box

Not allocated on a particular RDI - leave blank.

Thus, it is easy to see the resource usage profile across the whole
project and when a resource in uder-utilised and can be freed for
other work - or work re-assigned between particular resources.

I am prepared to buy an add-on product that does this task

Thanks

Clive

 

[John]

Clive,
Did you try the "analyze timescaled data in Excel" add-in? Granted you
will have to either do some manual manipulation or write a macro to set
up the colored boxes, but at least it is a cost-effective way to go.

I doubt there are any ready add-on products that will do what you want
right out of the box. You can however get exactly what you want with a
custom VBA macro. If you do not have the expertise or time to write one
yourself, there are people in this newsgroup, including myself, who can
help you. You may e-mail me direct if you wish.

John

 

[John Beamish]

Not "out of the box".

"Out of the box", you can come close.

1. Make certain you can see the Formatting toolbar and the Analysis
toolbar.

2. View | Resource Usage
3. Click on the upper-left corner box (just above the sequence number) to
select all data
4. If necessary, click on the Show/Hide assignments button (Formatting
toolbar) to hide the assignments.
5. Click on the Analyze Timescled Data in Excel button (Analysis toolbar)
6. On the 2nd step, I chose Overallocation and Work Availability. You
might make different choices.
7. On the 3rd step, choose Weeks.
8. On the 5th step, click on Finish and be prepared to wait a bit
(depending on the size of the project, the duration you selected and the
speed of your PC).

Although this doesn't reduce everyone to red, blue or green boxes, it does
let you see the numbers you are interested in. You'll have to "mess about"
in Excel to generate the colours.

 

[Clive Long,UK]

"Out of the box", you can come close.

1. Make certain you can see the Formatting toolbar and the Analysis
toolbar.

2. View | Resource Usage
3. Click on the upper-left corner box (just above the sequence number) to
select all data
4. If necessary, click on the Show/Hide assignments button (Formatting
toolbar) to hide the assignments.
5. Click on the Analyze Timescled Data in Excel button (Analysis toolbar)
6. On the 2nd step, I chose Overallocation and Work Availability. You
might make different choices.
7. On the 3rd step, choose Weeks.
8. On the 5th step, click on Finish and be prepared to wait a bit
(depending on the size of the project, the duration you selected and the
speed of your PC).

Although this doesn't reduce everyone to red, blue or green boxes, it does
let you see the numbers you are interested in. You'll have to "mess about"
in Excel to generate the colours.

This procedure looks to give me a solid start. I will work with this

Thanks,

Clive

 

[Clive Long,UK]

John

With conditional formatting applied directly to the value in the
"Work" cells, this gives me exactly what I need.


Thanks


Clive

 

[John Beamish]

Conditional formatting! That's the term!! I couldn't remember it off-hand
and so I was reduced to referring to it as "messing about". Good! Glad it
worked out.

JLB, PMP