can project autoassign?

[Andy Barnhart]

Probably a very basic question, but I am new to Project...

Can I enter a bunch of tasks with no assignment and designate that they are
to be performed by a programmer, then enter 5 programmers and let it take a
stab at auto assigning for earliest finish? I have a large project and I
know the assignments for the near future, but all the later tasks will
depend on availability. But I need to generate a "best guess" schedule for
the whole thing and keep updating it as we go.

Thanks!
Andy

 

[davegb]

Probably a very basic question, but I am new to Project...

Can I enter a bunch of tasks with no assignment and designate that they are
to be performed by a programmer, then enter 5 programmers and let it take a
stab at auto assigning for earliest finish? I have a large project and I
know the assignments for the near future, but all the later tasks will
depend on availability. But I need to generate a "best guess" schedule for
the whole thing and keep updating it as we go.

Thanks!
Andy

Project does not have that capability. You have to assign resources to
tasks.

 

[John]

Probably a very basic question, but I am new to Project...

Can I enter a bunch of tasks with no assignment and designate that they are
to be performed by a programmer, then enter 5 programmers and let it take a
stab at auto assigning for earliest finish? I have a large project and I
know the assignments for the near future, but all the later tasks will
depend on availability. But I need to generate a "best guess" schedule for
the whole thing and keep updating it as we go.

Thanks!
Andy

Andy,
Dave is correct, Project doesn't have an "auto-assign" feature but that
functionality could be developed as a VBA macro. As long as you can
develop the assignment algorithm, the VBA code can do the rest. Granted,
this approach isn't of much use to someone new to Project, particularly
if you have no VBA experience, but it nonetheless is an option.

John
Project MVP

 

[Andy Barnhart]

That's a major bummer! That was one of the main features I was looking for
in upgrading from what I thought was a lesser package. The guys on my team
aren't exactly interchangeable programming units, but there are several
project components that can be assigned to any of 4 developers depending on
availability. I can just make a guess based on current estimates, but every
time I adjust anything I have to manually juggle a bunch of assignments to
get the current estimated end date keeping all developers busy as equally as
possible.

 

[John]

That's a major bummer! That was one of the main features I was looking for
in upgrading from what I thought was a lesser package. The guys on my team
aren't exactly interchangeable programming units, but there are several
project components that can be assigned to any of 4 developers depending on
availability. I can just make a guess based on current estimates, but every
time I adjust anything I have to manually juggle a bunch of assignments to
get the current estimated end date keeping all developers busy as equally as
possible.

Andy,
Project has two methods for dealing with your situation (if I understand
it correctly). The first is resource leveling (Project's algorithm for
minimizing resource overallocations). The second is defining a resource
group rather than resources as individuals. The second option seems more
in line with what you need.

For example, let's say you have 5 programmers, 3 of them are
functionally equivalent and the other 2 (Bill and Fred) are, let's say,
a little more versatile. Create one resource called "Programmers",
another resource called "Bill" and the third resource called "Fred".
Because there are three individual resources in the "programmers" group
their max units is 300% while the other two individual programmers have
a max unit of 100% each.

With the above method you will still have to assign resources and you
will still have to manage the project (no software can do that for you),
but at least the management of resources is much easier.

If the above just doesn't work for you, then as I mentioned in my
response to your original post, you MIGHT be able to create an
auto-assign algorithm with a VBA macro.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP