Beginner Question

[Bryan Andrews]

I have read and understand that it is best to allow project to schedule your
tasks when possible.

When you sit down and create a project entering tasks and durations, you
will have all tasks starting as of the project start date. When you come
back and add resources to tasks, they will always be over allocated to the
degree of whatever you assign them to...

What is the preferred method to manage this? Start with leveling enabled and
level every few minutes? I have heard that the auto leveling is not
perferred... what if i don't live the leveling or want certain leveled tasks
to happen first?

It is not clear in anything i have yet read as to the preferred method for
this... it would almost seem that it would make sense to have a leveling
"successor/predecessor" field or a way to drag tasks into an order that you
prefer -- is this done with priorities?

If there is any clear information on how to handle this it is appreciated.
Most reference to this is in the form of "Use this if you have resource
overallocations", not "Assign resources with this selected to avoid resource
overallocations".

Thanks for any help on this topic.

 

[Sarah]

Bryan,

Have you linked your tasks in a logical manner (A must finish before B
can start)? If you have not, it may solve a lot of your problems to do
so. There are several ways to create links, and several types of links,
depending on your needs. I would suggest taking a two-day course in
using MS Project and project management before you will really be able
to fully use the software.

Sarah

 

[Bryan Andrews]

As far as i know creating task dependencies is not the proper way to
schedule tasks (unless there is a true dependency). Are you talking about
something other than dependencies?

 

[Bryan Andrews]

I thought task linkages were bad form as it prevents (or makes it more
difficult) to effectively add more resources to the project...

Are we talking about another kind of linkage?

 

[Bryan Andrews]

To clarify, I thought you were only supposed to create linkages when the
start of a task depends on the end of another task... not just to keep
resources allocated properly...

 

[Sarah]

No, your tasks should be linked in the logical order in which they
should occur. Otherwise, all you have is a simple to do list, for which
you could use something like Excel. The entire purpose of MS Project is
to allow you to plan all of your work, as it needs to occur, so you can
see WHEN tasks should start and finish. If you do not include logical
dependencies, Project has no way of knowing when to schedule tasks,
other than at the Project Start Date.

Sarah

 

[John]

I have read and understand that it is best to allow project to schedule your
tasks when possible.

When you sit down and create a project entering tasks and durations, you
will have all tasks starting as of the project start date. When you come
back and add resources to tasks, they will always be over allocated to the
degree of whatever you assign them to...

What is the preferred method to manage this? Start with leveling enabled and
level every few minutes? I have heard that the auto leveling is not
perferred... what if i don't live the leveling or want certain leveled tasks
to happen first?

It is not clear in anything i have yet read as to the preferred method for
this... it would almost seem that it would make sense to have a leveling
"successor/predecessor" field or a way to drag tasks into an order that you
prefer -- is this done with priorities?

If there is any clear information on how to handle this it is appreciated.
Most reference to this is in the form of "Use this if you have resource
overallocations", not "Assign resources with this selected to avoid resource
overallocations".

Thanks for any help on this topic.

Bryan,
I would guess that every Project Manager has their preferred method of
setting up a plan in Project. It sounds like you have a good start by
entering the Task Descriptions and estimated Durations. The next step
should be to link the tasks together in a logic sequence. This will
allow Project to calculate a schedule and will give you a first cut look
at how the plan works. For example, does the plan meet the required end
milestone? At this point it doesn't matter if resources are assigned to
tasks or not. Some people like to assign resources before the schedule
is reviewed for viability while others do not.

Resource leveling is a mixed bag. Some people like to use it all the
time. I don't use it at all. I prefer a more hands on approach. The
Priority field is used by Project's resource leveling algorithm to
resolve overallocations if they exist. Basically, higher priority tasks
are scheduled first and lower priority tasks are delayed (or split if in
progress) to resolve resource overallocation. Just be careful, leveling
may seem like a real handy tool but it operates on a fixed set of rules
and real life tasks tend not to always conform to fixed rules.

The bottom line. Add task linkages to establish the basic plan and use
leveling sparingly.

Hope this helps.
John

 

[Bryan Andrews]

OK, i will take this a step further and say that we have been using project
like you describe for quite a while and I am trying to figure out what is
the "correct" way to use it -- or does everyone just use it like this.

For example if Chris has 10 tasks in a row that he is working on that are
linked "finish to start", this means that I cannot add another resource to
this and gain any benefit without removing and reworking the linkages. As
such the cirtical path is always longer than it has to be even when modeling
with Project Server.

So does EVERYONE create linkages even though theoretically you don't have to
finish a task to have it start (with another resource)?

This doesn't seem correct....

 

[Sarah]

Theoretically, resources don't have anything to do with task
dependencies. Forget the resources for the moment. Lay out your tasks
with the order they should occur worked into your dependencies. For
instance, at a high level in software development, you create the
requirements, THEN create the design, THEN generate the code, THEN test
it. After you have all of your tasks laid out and the dependencies
created where necessary (every task should have at least one
predecessor and at least one successor, even if it's start and finish
milestones - any that don't are widows or orphans), then assign
resources and amounts of effort (work). Then you can add resources and
SPLIT the amount of effort (work) between the two resources to shorten
the duration of the task.

Sarah

 

[BAndrews]

OK, so say you have 10 illustrations to create and you have them broken out
into separate tasks. These should not be assigned finish to start because
theoretically i can assign them to 10 different designers which would allow
me to complete them in an hour -- and there is nothing about the first
illustration that must be completed before i can start the second
illustration.

I happen to have 1 designer available so i will assign him to all.

Now thoeretically i would think that i would level this with the tasks
starting back to back (no constraint), then if i want to model this i can
see easily that i can assign more resources to the tasks. Right?

I was under the impression that you create "finish to start" dependencies
only when you MUST have the first completed befire the second can start and
when you cannot assign another resource to the task and make it complete
sooner... ie Get Truck to Deliver Goods -> Load Truck.

Is this just a difference of preference for using project?

 

[Sarah]

Okay, I see better now. No you only use dependencies where they exist.
In this case, you would have to use some form of leveling; either
having Project do it, or doing it yourself. If you want to attempt it
yourself, use the Resource Usage view and adjust the work in the
timescale portion of the screen on the right side until you get a
reasonable amount of work per resource per day. Project is capable of
doing this for you, but you must REALLY be sure you understand
levelling before you go that route.

Sarah

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Bryan,

If I could step in here... I think you are absolutely correct in what
you're doing. Precedence links are LOGIC links, like you can't put the roof
on until the walls are built. You should not create dependencies just to
move tasks for the benefit of removing resource overallocations. The
solution where you have many tasks starting at the same time is to assign
resources as you see fit and then level. This will delay tasks until the
resources are available. However, you should know that Project, when
levelling, only delays tasks, nothing more. It does not optimise resources,
produce the best, shortest, cheapest or any other superlative plan. It just
gives you A plan. It is for you to earn your keep as a project manager, to
adjust that plan to meet your requirements. You have some control by using
priorities so that Project delays tasks with the least priority. The rest
is up to you

However, I do agree that to get up and running quickly you need to take a
course as Project is not the easiest of pieces of software to self learn.
As a minimum, you might like to have a look at my series on Microsoft
Project in the TechTrax ezine, at this site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or
this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP