Multiple resources working together at same time

[Chris B]

I need to assign multiple resources to a task that requires that all the
resources work together in order to do any work. As an example.

A big screen television needs to be moved up a flight of stairs. Assigned
to the task are the resources Bob, Frank, and Julie. All three are needed to
move the TV and all are needed to be present and working at the same time to
complete the task. The total time needed to move the television is 20
minutes. All of this needs to be schedule around the normal work schedule of
all three and completed before a set time.

Using Units for work:
Normally if I were to assign multiple resources to the task at 100%
utilization, the allocation of the work would have Bob working for 10 minutes
and both Frank and Julie working for 5 minutes each to complete. This goes
against the concept of all three working together.

Using Duration for work:
At 100% utilization for all three, they all do 2 min of work, but they are
not scheduled to work at the same time.

how would I go about setting up the resources and task so that each of the 3
resources have simultaneous 20min assignments to do the task at 100% effort.

I've looked for quite a while and don't know if I missing something or
looking for something that isn't present. If this type a resources
allocation is missing then microsoft really needs to get back to reality.

 

[Rod Gill]

Sounds like you have effort driven on which is the only default I strongly
disagree with in Project.
Select Window, Split.
Select your task in the top pane, deselect Effort Driven in the lower pane
ad reselect the top pane again.
Alt+F10 to display the Assign resources dialog.
Remove all resources
Rest the duration to what you want
Assign the three resources.

You should now have what you want.

Effort driven basically means the second and subsequent resources on a task
SHARE the task's total work, so reducing duration.
Effort driven off means each resource has their own work and the duration
doesn't change.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

You might like to have a look at my series on Microsoft Project in the
TechTrax ezine, particularly #10 - Multiple Resource Assignment, at this
site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

There are two issues at work here. Rod and Mike have both covered one of
them but I'd like to clarify just a tad, if they don't object. Project
calculates the "work value" of the task when you make the initial resource
assignment. Your task is 20 min duration - you assigned Bob and it
calculates the task costs 20 minutes work. When you add Frank and Julie and
the task is marked effort driven, that 20 minutes is distributed evenly, be
between Bob and the pair of newbies so he gets 10 minutes and they get 10
minutes for the pair, 5 minutes each. Non-effort driven means the work
isn't distributed but instead is replicated, so each addition gets an
additional 20 minutes for a total work of 60 minutes being done during the
20 minutes duration.

What I wanted to add to their posts was a mention of the important
distinction between the *first* resource assignment and *subsequent*
additions or removals of resources after that. The work required is
calculated during the creation of the first assignment. If you had selected
the task, selected ALL THREE resources in the assignment window and clicked
"assign," all three of them are assigned at once as the first assignment and
Project acts the same whether the task is marked effort driven or non-effort
driven - each resource is assigned 20 minutes of work for a total work of 60
minutes exerted over the span of 20 minutes duration, 20 minutes per
resource. IF you do them in stages, first one and then another, clicking
assign in between, then the work is based only on the first one assigned and
the results depend of the effort driven setting.

Note that this doesn't guarantee that the resources stay together.
Regardless of how you assign them, the work of each resource is scheduled
independently. If Julie now gets marked unavailablbe because of vacation on
the day you're moving the TV, you'll find Bob and Franbk move their 2/3 of
the TV together but Julie moves her 1/3 when she get's back from vacation.
<grin> There's a setting in resource leveling "Leveling can adjust
individual assignments on a task" that allows you to make the leveling
process treat the group of resources as a unit versus individuals but
unfortunately its influence doesn't extend beyond the leveling engine. This
can lead to some strange occurances if you're not on your toes - the company
pilot flies to New York on Monday but the plane flys in by itself on
autopilot on Tuesday. <grin> When it's critical they work as a team, you
need to manually examine the assignments to insure Project hasn't pulled any
surprises.

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

 

[Maurice Birchler]

This is tricky to do, but I have it working in my Preventive Maintenance
Application for Project. http://www.preventive.co.nz.
Is assigns the resources to the task and moves the start time to the first
time all the resources are able to work together on the task. If the task is
a short duration, it will avoid lunch breaks (shift, evening and weekends for
longer tasks)
Because you don't appear to need the Maintenance Scheduling (tasks created
when meters clock hours etc), you could use the demo version to manually
assign the resources to the tasks. Check the web site and request a copy.