Automatically level resources unit work

[Missy]

I have 'level Resource' turned on automatically.

Let's say John Smith completes Task 1 and only spent 10% of his work on it
(which makes him 90% available), and I assign John Smith Task 2 to work on
the same day that is estimated to take only 50% of his work. How do you get
Project to level John Smith to work on Task 2 on the same day as Task 1
without having to manually change the Work Unit to 50% yourself??? Is there a
setting or a check box i might have missed?

Thanks

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

There's no setting you missed. Leveling does NOT create or edit assignments
nor decide on appropriate assignment units for you. Project says to itself
"even though it says John can work 90%, Missy must have had a reason that I
know nothing about for only assigning him 50% therefore I'm not going to
mess around with it and overrule her decision."

Resource leveling is not the same thing as "resource optimizing." All
leveling EVER does is delay work when a resource is double booked so as to
resolve the conflict. If John is booked 100% on Monday for task X and has
also been booked Monday 100% on task Y, leveling will move one of those
tasks to Tuesday. That's it, period, that's all leveling can do. Anything
else is yours to decide and implement manually.

I strongly recommend you do NOT use automatic leveling. What that does is
when you make an assignment that creates an overallocation, Project will
immediately move one of the tasks involved so as to resolve it. As a
result, when you're making or editing resource assignments tasks tend to fly
about the schedule without any apparent rhyme or reason. But for all it
knows, you might be just about to do something else to the schedule that
would have resolved that double booking anyway. It's far better to trigger
leveling manually, when you're good and ready to let Project do its thing.

Be leary of assigning resources less than 100%. It's always a good idea to
expect your resources to devote their full attention to the work at hand -
if you have a task that requires 2 man-hours work to complete, it's
generally better to show that as a 2 hour duration task with the resource on
it 100% than it is to show it as a 1 day duration task with the resource on
it 25%. Going with the former gives you a schedule that is more manageable,
makes coordination of the resources easier, and reflects a more accurate
representation of reality.

 

[Missy]

Hey Steve,

Thanks for all that info! It has really helped. I understand Levelling a bit
more now!