Not from the project managers perspective. Feeding the shop floor with reports.

J

John Sitka

We have about 100 sub projects all battling for a fixed set of resources
mostly machines and operators of various types..
When an overallocation occurs we need to consult the shop floor management
if there is anyway that he can shift things around
to get a shorter duration on the tasks which are contending for the
resource. If that is insurmountable then a decision has to be made to
outsource.
I'd say in the classic scenerio most described there is the notion of two
resources can't do the same thing at the same time. The reality
here is that the resource itself is a complex entity. If I asked what we
call our Value Stream Manager to machine a large complicated block
of steel Starting on Monday and get it done by Friday he would use many
resources at his disposal and apply a lot of "tribal knowledge"
on how to get it done. He may have an assortment of depricated machines that
while not capable of a full task may be able to contribute to the total
completion if used timely at a micro level. Or he may know of an open
machine at one of the outsources with an operator that can expidite
a bottleneck in the machining better than anyone so within that Mon->Friday
he may make a judgement to move the steel out for two days
to get things on track.

The point is the project manager is not going to be able to anticipate these
gyrations. He is going to build the schedule based on historical
durations and delivery date. Once the project has been built in this case
there is a large amount of overallocations. The best person to
evaluate if these are true overallocations is the above mentioned Value
Stream Manager, as each task is highly unpredictable based on the
custom nature of it, and the ebb and flow of the accomplishments of the
people and machines under his control. SO this Value Stream Manager
needs to see a report that shows the overallocations of his resources on a
day by day basis.

I would walk up to him and show a report showing
Project X - Task A is demanding 5 hours of your Resource C time today
Project Y - Task B is demanding 6 hours of your Resource C time today
For a ten hour/day resource calendar for Resource C this results in a one
hour overallocation on this day and I need to
consult him if he can do the 11 hours of work in 10, or will he have someone
stay an hour extra to keep the build on schedule etc,
or is it more accurate Project Y - Task B is demanding "5" hours of your
Resource C time today. Each one of these
options removes the overallocation and keeps the schedule intact. That I see
as the power of the report I'm trying to find/build

So I need Resource C across all projects showing overallocation and projects
that make up that overallocation.

I have read of copy and paste special from the resource usage view which
when filtered by resource is basically what I need but
by column accoss all projects.

Thanks.
 
J

John Sitka

Another approach I though of was if I was to apply Leveling would the stock
Overallocated Resources Report show me the Delay
in the leveled state.

The Idea being that that would be close to the same as overallocation hours.
And focus the responsibility and efforts.

Ie. We have a delay of two days on Project Z -Task AAA. That is
unacceptable. So we need to fix that NOW.
 

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