Leveling based on Units

[Yoav]

Hi,
I asked a similar question a while ago, but I didn't get the answer I looked
for. Now I define the problem better.
I'm basing my leveling mechanism on the resource unit allocation. For each
period where the resource is overallocated I'm searching for the relevant
scheduled tasks, and reducing the units until I get sufficed results.
The problem is that if I report Actual Work that is greater that the planned
Word for any period (using the Resource Usage form), the showed units changes
(e.g. if the units is 100%, reporting for a certain day Actual Word of 16
hours where the Work is 8 hours will change the showed Units to 200%).
Now, I know that the showed units are the maximum among the units per
period, but that fact makes it impossible to perform the Leveling and to
understand the Gantt's allocation. The Team-Member keeps on changing the
units and wastes a lot of time on it.
Do you have any advice to me?
Thanks,
Yoav

 

[Rod Gill]

Apart from leveling do a poor job because of the limited info it knows about
any schedule, you should make sure that there is no incomplete work in the
past and no completed work in the future after you have updated your
schedule. Then in the Resource leveling dialog, only level from today's date
forward ignoring the past.

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[Steve House]

Remember that units is the rate at which time is converted into work.
Further, Project assumes ALL work is performed during the hours defined by
the working time calendar unless you explicitly break out the portion that
was performed outside of normal working hours as Overtime Work. But how is
it even possible to get 16 hours of work done in 1 day since the calendar is
defining a "day" as an 8 hour block of time? The most work 1 person could
possibly do in 8 hours of time is 8 hours of work - that limit is
represented by 100% units. When you simply say 16 hours of work was done,
Project will consider it to have been performed within an 8 hour time-frame
(meaning the resource somehow magically got 2 man-hours of work done for
each 1 hour of time spent!) UNLESS you enter the fact that 8 hours of it was
overtime (overtime defined as any work done at hours other than those
defined as regular working time in the calendar). 16 hours of work done in
8 hours of duration means the resource is working at 200% (which is also a
physical impossibilty for one person to actually do). 16 hours of work
including 8 hours of overtime, on the other hand, will result in a units
value of 100% since the overtime portion of the work takes place outside the
universe defined by W=D*U.

HTH

 

[Yoav]

Steve,
Thanks for your response.
16 hours is just an example. left's take another example where the resouce
is assigned by 50% (i.e. 4 hour per day), and of a certain day 8 hours
reported as Actual Work. Now, task task will show the resouce as assigned by
100% (because it's the maximum allocation by period), where for the remaining
work the allocation is 50%. if I'm adding duration, the work will be added
based on 50%, not 100%,.
The problem is I can't really know the "real" allocation - it says 100%
where the calculation in based on 50%.

Remember that units is the rate at which time is converted into work.
Further, Project assumes ALL work is performed during the hours defined by
the working time calendar unless you explicitly break out the portion that
was performed outside of normal working hours as Overtime Work. But how is
it even possible to get 16 hours of work done in 1 day since the calendar is
defining a "day" as an 8 hour block of time? The most work 1 person could
possibly do in 8 hours of time is 8 hours of work - that limit is
represented by 100% units. When you simply say 16 hours of work was done,
Project will consider it to have been performed within an 8 hour time-frame
(meaning the resource somehow magically got 2 man-hours of work done for
each 1 hour of time spent!) UNLESS you enter the fact that 8 hours of it was
overtime (overtime defined as any work done at hours other than those
defined as regular working time in the calendar). 16 hours of work done in
8 hours of duration means the resource is working at 200% (which is also a
physical impossibilty for one person to actually do). 16 hours of work
including 8 hours of overtime, on the other hand, will result in a units
value of 100% since the overtime portion of the work takes place outside the
universe defined by W=D*U.

HTH


--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hi,
I asked a similar question a while ago, but I didn't get the answer I
looked
for. Now I define the problem better.
I'm basing my leveling mechanism on the resource unit allocation. For each
period where the resource is overallocated I'm searching for the relevant
scheduled tasks, and reducing the units until I get sufficed results.
The problem is that if I report Actual Work that is greater that the
planned
Word for any period (using the Resource Usage form), the showed units
changes
(e.g. if the units is 100%, reporting for a certain day Actual Word of 16
hours where the Work is 8 hours will change the showed Units to 200%).
Now, I know that the showed units are the maximum among the units per
period, but that fact makes it impossible to perform the Leveling and to
understand the Gantt's allocation. The Team-Member keeps on changing the
units and wastes a lot of time on it.
Do you have any advice to me?
Thanks,
Yoav

 

[Yoav]

Gill,
Thanks for you answer.
The issue is not the leveling, but the units the are presented and the
maxumum units among the units per period.
Let's say that the resource is assigned by 50% (i.e. 4 hour per day), and of
a certain day 8 hours are reported as Actual Work. Now, task task will show
that the resource as assigned by 100% (because it's the maximum allocation by
period), where for the remaining work the allocation is 50%. Now only that,
but if I'm increasing the remaining duration, the work will be added based on
50%, not 100%.
The problem is I can't really know the "real" allocation - it says 100%
where the calculation in based on 50%.
Do you have any idea?

 

[Steve House]

I gotta confess I'm totally confused as to what you're doing here. You went
from entering Actual Work to adding duration. If actual work was done at a
greater rate than scheduled, why would you add duration in the first place?
Joe is producing 100 widget and the schedule is based on the assumption he
does 10 per day so it calls for 10 days duration. But somehow one the first
day he does 20. Doesn't it make sense that the duration would decrease to
reflect the fact you got a "two'fer" that day? Why would you add duration
at all?

Remember that the percent allocation is a rate metric. It's not the
percentage of his workday that Joe is assigned to task X except when viewed
superficially. Instead it measures how much real work gets done during an
hour of time spent - it is the rate at which time gets converted into useful
work. It does not mean Joe spends 4 hours a day on the task. He spends 8
hours a day but only gets 4 hours worth of full-time results out of it.

"Leveling" doesn't mean you juggle the percentages until they add up to 100
each day. When a resource is overallocated it essentially means he's double
booked, scheduled to be in two places at once. Leveling is the process
where you delay some of the tasks until the other tasks are done.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Steve,
Thanks for your response.
16 hours is just an example. left's take another example where the resouce
is assigned by 50% (i.e. 4 hour per day), and of a certain day 8 hours
reported as Actual Work. Now, task task will show the resouce as assigned
by
100% (because it's the maximum allocation by period), where for the
remaining
work the allocation is 50%. if I'm adding duration, the work will be added
based on 50%, not 100%,.
The problem is I can't really know the "real" allocation - it says 100%
where the calculation in based on 50%.

Remember that units is the rate at which time is converted into work.
Further, Project assumes ALL work is performed during the hours defined
by
the working time calendar unless you explicitly break out the portion
that
was performed outside of normal working hours as Overtime Work. But how
is
it even possible to get 16 hours of work done in 1 day since the calendar
is
defining a "day" as an 8 hour block of time? The most work 1 person
could
possibly do in 8 hours of time is 8 hours of work - that limit is
represented by 100% units. When you simply say 16 hours of work was done,
Project will consider it to have been performed within an 8 hour
time-frame
(meaning the resource somehow magically got 2 man-hours of work done for
each 1 hour of time spent!) UNLESS you enter the fact that 8 hours of it
was
overtime (overtime defined as any work done at hours other than those
defined as regular working time in the calendar). 16 hours of work done
in
8 hours of duration means the resource is working at 200% (which is also
a
physical impossibilty for one person to actually do). 16 hours of work
including 8 hours of overtime, on the other hand, will result in a units
value of 100% since the overtime portion of the work takes place outside
the
universe defined by W=D*U.

HTH


--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hi,
I asked a similar question a while ago, but I didn't get the answer I
looked
for. Now I define the problem better.
I'm basing my leveling mechanism on the resource unit allocation. For
each
period where the resource is overallocated I'm searching for the
relevant
scheduled tasks, and reducing the units until I get sufficed results.
The problem is that if I report Actual Work that is greater that the
planned
Word for any period (using the Resource Usage form), the showed units
changes
(e.g. if the units is 100%, reporting for a certain day Actual Word of
16
hours where the Work is 8 hours will change the showed Units to 200%).
Now, I know that the showed units are the maximum among the units per
period, but that fact makes it impossible to perform the Leveling and
to
understand the Gantt's allocation. The Team-Member keeps on changing
the
units and wastes a lot of time on it.
Do you have any advice to me?
Thanks,
Yoav