Multiple shifts and resource usage

[Arthur A]

I have been simulating some work in an attempt to understand Project and how
it calculates. This is what I have entered. I have five tasks. Each has 8
hours of work associated with it. They are linked finish to start. With a
single shift, with one person working 8 hours, Project has provided the
answer I expected in terms of individual task completion dates and end date
for the fice tasks.
My next step was to go into a two shift operation. I added a second
resource which was the second shift person. Resource calendars were set up
so there was no time overlap between the two shifts. The first task start
was set at 8:00 AM on Monday. My expectations were that Project would show
that Task 1 was completed at 5:00 PM at the end of the first shift. Task 2
would complete at the end of the second shift and so on with each shift
completing a task as the FS relationship played out with the five tasks
completeing on Wednesday at 5:00 PM. But no, Project scheduled Task 1 to be
worked on by both resources equally. THis included the day shift working on
Task 2 before Task 1 was completed. This extended the end date to Thursday.
Now the easy answer is to only assign the tasks to onwe resourc. IE the day
shift works task 1, 3 and 5. The second shift works 2 and 4. My experience
with reality is the estimate of 8 hours of work is just that. Due to work
efficiencies, it might be done early or it might be done late. If it
finishes early, the first shift should start on Task 2. If it finishes late,
the second shift should finish task 1.

Are there any suggestions on how to get Project to perform in the FS order
with the correct resource?

 

[Arthur A]

Trevor, thank you for your response. I have made the changes that you
identified and I'm closer. One item seems to be a sticking point. I have
set the calendars to a 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM day. I have changed the project
start time to 6:00 AM. Project still splits the first task. There seems to
be a pre-set that requires the resources be split evenly. Is there a switch
to change that?

Thank you again,
Art

 

[Arthur A]

Project splits the first task by assigning first shift to work 4 hours and
then second shift works the next 4 on the 8 hr of work in task1. This is
seen in Resource Usage screen and also there is a break in the Gannt chart
bar for task 1.

By Reource split, I mean the following. I purposely set the number of tasks
so the day shift should finish 3 of the 5 tasks and the night shift would
finish 2 of the five. That would result in day shift doing 24 hours of work
and night shift doing 16 hours of work (8 hours per task). Project split the
tasks so that each shift puts in 20 hours. One of the other posts in a
different thread has a comment by Jan that states Project has resources share
the work evenly when the effort driven block is checked in the Advanced Tab.
With the effort being fixed work, the block is automatically checked by
Project.

And finally, no leveling is not set for automatic.

Trevor, thank you again for your time. It is very appreciated.

Art

 

[Arthur A]

Thanks Trevor, I have been able to modify the Resource Calendar.

Art