Changing Available Units

[jamos]

(I posted this to the Project Server discussion list but realized that I
should have posted it here in the general questions...)

I have some of my resources tasked at less than 100%. In the resource
information boxes, I have them listed at 85% available units.

However, when they finish a task early, that percentage will change for that
particular task -- it goes down. And when they finish a task late, the
percentage goes up. I would think it would be the other way around. How do
I avoid Project changing this number and have it simply pull in (or push out)
successive tasks?

Thanks!

 

[Rod Gill]

How are you updating the tasks?

Best method is entering actual hours for each day in a Usage View or a
timesheet that updates Project. Second best is to enter Actual Start, Actual
Duration and Remaining duration for each task.

 

[Steve House]

Available Units and Task Assignment Units are two different things.
Available units is part of the resource definition and states the maximum
that the resource can be assigned before being considered overallocated. It
also become the default assignment percentage when adding resources to
tasks. Assignment units, OTOH, are the amount that the resource has
actually been assigned to a specific task. Joe could easily be available
100% as a maximum and yet be placed on a particular task at only 50%
(leavintg room for him to be assigend to other concurrent tasks as well, as
long as the total doesn't exceed 100%). When they finish a task earlier or
later than scheduled, the effective rate they have worked on the task might
differ from the original assignment but even so, that never changes the
maximum level that they could have been assigned to. A task had a duration
of 40 hours and Joe was assigned 50%. That means the task requires 20
man-hours worth of work. Joe actually does the task in 30 hours. In other
words, he did the 20 man-hours of work in 30 hours of time instead of 40.
So he really worked at a 66% effort level, not 50%. But this doesn't change
the fact that he COULD perhaps have worked at 100% and gotten the task done
in 20 hours of time had he not had other things on his plate at the same
time.

HTH