Proj 2003. Adjusting task duration according to Resource Availabil

[Chris]

I am using Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003.

I have defined my project, added all the tasks with expected durations, and
organised all these tasks into phases. All the durations were calculated at
the planning stage based on a single resource working 100% of their time on
the task.

All the task are 'Fixed Unit' type and 'Effort Driven'.

I am now at the stage where I want to setup and assign the available
resources, and I have run into a couple of problems.

I am anticipating that a proportion of the resources assigned to the project
will be working at about 80% productivity. It seemed that the easiest way to
represent this information in Project was to open up the Resource Information
for the pertinent resources and change their 'Resource Availability' to 80%.

However, when I assign a resource with a lower than 100% availability to a
task, it does not adjust the duration accordingly. It seems to be making the
assumption that the duration was initially calculated with the lower
availability in mind. If you then change the resource to someone with a
different 'Resource Availability' it does change the duration. I had a read
through the help - and although I couldn't ascertain for certain, I believe
this is the intended behaviour?

I made the assumption this was the case, and tried an alternative approach.
I changed the Resource Availability back to 100% via the Resource Information
dialogue. On the Gantt Chart I then assigned this resource to the relevant
tasks. I then went back to the Resource Information and changed the Resources
Availability down to 80%. The task duration did not change - I had to
re-assign the same resource manually to get it to update correctly.

I couldn't find anyway of getting the task duration to update automatically
when changing the availability of a resource. I even tried levelling - and
this just reported it as an error.

I would be surprised if this was the expected behaviour? Can you recommend
an alternative approach, or an option I may be missing?

Many thanks,

 

[Steve House]

For better or worse, when you make the first resource assignment to a task,
Project assumes that whatever percentage units you use was what you had in
mind when you came up with the duration estimate in the first place and
doesn't adjust it. On subsequent EDITS to that assignment, OTOH, it will
adjust either the duration, the work, or the units depending on which term
of the W=D*U equation you've edited and whether the task is marked Fixed
Work, Fixed Units, or Fixed Duration. Since your duration estimates are
based on the assumption of a 100% assignment level, simply assign your
resource at 100% and then edit the assignment to reduce it to 80% or
whatever. You'll see the duration increase to take the reduced rate into
account.

 

[Jim Aksel]

Changing a resource availability on the Resource Information does not change
task duration. If I assign a resource to a task at 100% units and then
change the resource availabiltiy in the Resource Information down to 80% all
I have done is show the resource to be overloaded.

If I go to the Task on the Gantt chart and lower the resource availability
from 100 to 80%, the task duration increases as expected and the resource is
no longer overloaded. This appears to be correct behavior.

As for a blanket change in duration based on a Resource Information setting,
this may have been a design trade. They had to pick something to remain
constant.

For thought - If I had a resource availability of 100% and assigned him to a
task at 40% would you want him to automatically creep down to (.8)(40)=32% if
his availability was changed to 80% or would you want him to continue on the
40% task and then just do less effort on others?
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Chris]

That's how I solved it in the end.
--
Project Manager
Swordfish Studios Ltd

For better or worse, when you make the first resource assignment to a task,
Project assumes that whatever percentage units you use was what you had in
mind when you came up with the duration estimate in the first place and
doesn't adjust it. On subsequent EDITS to that assignment, OTOH, it will
adjust either the duration, the work, or the units depending on which term
of the W=D*U equation you've edited and whether the task is marked Fixed
Work, Fixed Units, or Fixed Duration. Since your duration estimates are
based on the assumption of a 100% assignment level, simply assign your
resource at 100% and then edit the assignment to reduce it to 80% or
whatever. You'll see the duration increase to take the reduced rate into
account.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I am using Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003.

I have defined my project, added all the tasks with expected durations,
and
organised all these tasks into phases. All the durations were calculated
at
the planning stage based on a single resource working 100% of their time
on
the task.

All the task are 'Fixed Unit' type and 'Effort Driven'.

I am now at the stage where I want to setup and assign the available
resources, and I have run into a couple of problems.

I am anticipating that a proportion of the resources assigned to the
project
will be working at about 80% productivity. It seemed that the easiest way
to
represent this information in Project was to open up the Resource
Information
for the pertinent resources and change their 'Resource Availability' to
80%.

However, when I assign a resource with a lower than 100% availability to a
task, it does not adjust the duration accordingly. It seems to be making
the
assumption that the duration was initially calculated with the lower
availability in mind. If you then change the resource to someone with a
different 'Resource Availability' it does change the duration. I had a
read
through the help - and although I couldn't ascertain for certain, I
believe
this is the intended behaviour?

I made the assumption this was the case, and tried an alternative
approach.
I changed the Resource Availability back to 100% via the Resource
Information
dialogue. On the Gantt Chart I then assigned this resource to the relevant
tasks. I then went back to the Resource Information and changed the
Resources
Availability down to 80%. The task duration did not change - I had to
re-assign the same resource manually to get it to update correctly.

I couldn't find anyway of getting the task duration to update
automatically
when changing the availability of a resource. I even tried levelling - and
this just reported it as an error.

I would be surprised if this was the expected behaviour? Can you
recommend
an alternative approach, or an option I may be missing?

Many thanks,