You really can't - the best you can do is set up a calendar with generic
shift hours. Is there any pattern at all, such as some working days and
others working evenings? How about days in the week when they work, any
pattern there? Finally, does it really matter? You didn't mention the task
length that they will be assigned but in general what matters to the project
is when work starts on the task and when it finishes. It's important to
know that the customer callbacks start 1 Dec and are finished on the 15th
but usually it's micromanagement overkill to try to manage the exact hours a
day that each person doing those callbacks works. As long as they're done
by the required date, who cares if they start at 9 am or 10 am or 3pm ?
Remember, Project is not a substitute for your regular payroll timecard
system.
Is there a maximum number that can work at any given time due to limitations
on the phone facilities or could all of them work at once if they wished to?
Do the individuals have specific hours they are to work or do they schedule
themselves as they desire in a time frame? If it's the latter, try this.
Let's say all your calling is to be done Mon-Fri between the hours of 8am
and 10pm. Set up a calendar showing those hours of work and make it the
resource calendar. That makes it 80 hours per week where work *could* be
taking place. People work 14 hours a week so man-hours to be scheduled is
14 per person. Each person is 14/80 = .1750 units, so your max availability
is NOT 110 units but rather .1750 * 110, ie, 19.25 units or 1925 % . The
allocation represents the percentage of the calendar devoted to work. The
calendar shows 80 hours. 80*19.25 = 1540 man-hours which is the same number
you get from 110*14 for total man-hours to be worked each week. This also
shows you that for each hour your call centre is open you should shoot for
an average of about 19-20 people working. With this scenario you don't CARE
what time Billy Bob gets in or even if he does his whole 14 hours in one day
or spaces it out a couple or 3 hours a day. As long as you have an average
of 19 people on duty all the time your task will get finished on schedule
and that's all that MSP is concerned with. Let Payroll worry about exactly
how many hours Billy and Jane have worked, that not the project manager's
job <LOL>.
Hope this helps
