Leveling resources across multiple projects via master projects

[joeM]

Question:
What are best practices to level resources across multiple projects using a
master project methodology? Need a better understanding of leveling behavior
in this context.

Background:
I'm working plans for an enterprise software development firm. Read: I'm not
easily frustrated with seemingly strange behavior of software apps and I'm
willing to research, experiment, approach problems in a systematic way and
jettison one methodology for another if it makes sense. I've read all (and I
mean ALL) the newsgroup threads and dog-eared books (Gary Chefetz, Tim
Pyron, etc.) on master project methodologies within Project Pro 2002/Server
context. So I think I've done my homework to understand and consider the
pros/cons of master project approach and leveling in general. To avoid
double-booking of resources, I store master project locally and individual
projects on server. Admin settings are set to prevent inadvertant saving of
master project to server. Enterprise Resource Pool is setup and functioning
effectively. I insert 15 individual projects (link, read/write) into the
master. The master contains no tasks. All those projects are utilizing
enterprise resources. All this looks good... until I level resources. The
wheels seems to fall off then! The results are counter-intuitive. I find
multiple situations where short tasks (5 days) that are resource by a single
resource are spread out over several months and I can't account for the
delays. I find after two weeks of constant and mthodical experimentation
that the following leveling settings give best (but not good) results:
- Day by Day
- Priority/Standard
- adjust individual tasks
- create splits in remaining tasks

I use a single priority value across all tasks in indiviual projects to
simulate the project's priority within the entire portfolio. For instance:
Project A - 200 (priority)
Project B - 300 (priority)
Project C - 700 (priority)

Fallback plan:
Unable to get leveling to work using master plan approach -- and at the end
of my deadline for chunking something out, I consolidate (merge via cut and
paste) contents of all 15 projects into a single, monolithic 1300-task
project plan. I assign task priorities, and level using settings above.
Leveling results are much better than master approach... but it seems that
tasks towards the bottom of WBS are not getting sequenced properly in what
appears to to me to be no-brainer situations. It's almost like Project gets
tired and stops leveling when the task priorities go below 250.
Thanks in advace for your help!
Joe Messina/MedPlus, Inc--A Quest Diagnostic Company/Mason, OH

email: (e-mail address removed)

voice: 513.229.5500 x1275

 

[Ken]

Joe, I'm sure you've tried levelling on a minute-to-
minute basis. I noticed this clears up overallocation
for me when day-to-day comes up red. Do you know how to
create task lists PER resource? We want to print a
report that shows this info but haven't discovered how
it's done yet. Sounds like you are very experienced.

Ken

 

[Dale Howard]

JoeM --

I use the following technique for leveling overallocated resources,
regardless of whether the resources are in a single project or in a Master
project:

1. Open the project containing overallocated resources.

2. Go to the Resource Usage view. This is where leveling will take place.

3. Click the Window menu, click New Window., select the Leveling Gantt
view, and click the OK button. This will open a second window in which to
view the project, and will show us the results of our leveling.

4. Select the Resource Usage window and roll up all of the resource
assignments.

5. Select the first overallocated resource and roll out their assignments.
Examine where their overallocations are occurring in the project, and
determine why there are overallocations.

6. Level only the selected resource using your desired leveling settings in
the Resource Leveling dialog box. MAKE SURE that the Clear leveling values
before leveling checkbox is cleared before you do any leveling!

7. Go to the Leveling Gantt window and study the results of the leveling.

8. If the impact of leveling is not appropriate on any tasks, select only
those tasks, and clear the leveling for only those tasks.

9. Level the inappropriately-leveled task using one of the methods detailed
above.

10. When you are satisfied with the results of using a combination of
leveling methods on a single overallocated resource, return to the Resource
Usage window, select the next overallocated resource and continue leveling,
one resource at a time.

My principles for leveling overallocated resources can be summarized this
way: "Level one resource at a time in the Resource Usage view. Clear the
leveling from any inappropriately leveled tasks in the Leveling Gantt view."
When I don't like how Project has attempted to level an overallocated
resource, I clear the leveling on tasks that are unacceptably impacted, and
then level the resource on those tasks using another method. Other methods
include: subsituting an available resource for the overallocated resource,
reducing the Units on task assignments, adding Lag time and constraints on
tasks, etc.

I realize that the solution above is not a "one size fits all" to leveling,
but the subject is leveling is very complex, and cannot be treated in a
simple manner. In fact, when I teach leveling in my Advanced Project 2002
course, the lesson spans THREE FULL HOURS, and even then, I feel like we
have only scratched the surface of the subject!

Also, know this: the larger the project becomes, the more difficult it is
to level using ANY method. Hope this leveling methodology helps.