Multiple Resource Actual Hours Entry Problem

A

aconsultant

Tasks are built in the 2007 ms-project tool that have multiple resources
assigned


Current Situation
------------------------
In many circumstances we may get only one or two of these resources
reporting progress in a week, meaning one or two have started working on the
task and report progress, but not all of them

Problem
------------
When progress is not taken against all resources, and less than all of them
have started working on it, ms-project 2007 results in scheduling errors when
this situation is resource leveled. The task will be unable to schedule
accurately and results in ms-project assigning thousands of hours (where
there should be at most a couple of hundred) to the remaining work when it is
unable to level successfully - no errors.

Remedy
------------
To fix this problem today I take one of two actions

a) assign some level of progress to the all the resources on the task wether
they actually started or not, if everyone is reported as having started then
project schedules just fine

b) break the task up into multiple tasks with each task having a one to one
relationship between the task and the resource assignment
 
A

aconsultant

Hi Dale and thanks for the following. I have attached the procedure we are
using to answer the question about why we are leveling. I will take your
suggestion back to the team to review as well. Back to the original question
from me about the hours increase - is this a bug in the software or is it the
500% availability that is being set (see below)? All projects are driven
from a template that is effort driven - fixed unit - and most projects are
managed that way. Although there may be individuals that may inadvertently
change these as they are running the project.

Part of the proc after the new project has been loaded into the stack:

Identify All Shared Project Resources And Highlight Their Total “Workâ€
Changes

Using The Combined Projects Resource Usage Sheet, For Each Resource That Is
Shared Among Projects
Change The Resources Maximum Unit Availability To 500%
Update The Multi-projects Stacked Plan By Rescheduling And Resource
Leveling The Plans
Now Verify That The Early Finish Dates Of All Projects Are Equal To The
Early Finish Dates Of The Stand Alone Schedules

I don't run the master plan - so please don't shoot the messenger. Thanks
for all of your help.

Best Regards,
aconsultant
 
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