Project with Repeating Components Based on Units

[michael]

Hello all,

I am new to project, so please forgive me if this is a simple item.
I have looked, but just can't seem to find any help with it...

I have a project that has some pre-implementation tasks, then it
has tasks that are part of the implementation and then some post-
implementation tasks... I know... nothing fancy about that.

But... I need the implementation tasks to repeat based on the
number of units to be touched.

For example, lets say the project is a massive server upgrade
effort. There are some planning tasks that happen up-front.
Then there are tasks associated with each server to be upgraded.
Lets say that each task takes an hour and that adds up to 8 hours
per server. Lets say my project has a section that looks like
this:

Upgrade Server 8hr
Force user log-outs 1hr
Add new hard disk 1hr
Install OS Upgrade 2hr
Restart Applications 1hr
Test Applications 3hr


Now, I have 1000 servers to upgrade. I can handle 10 upgrades
per day in parallel.

How can I get project to handle this? I know project can repeat
tasks based on time (ie a repeating meeting, etc), but I need to
be able to repeat based on the number of units and to have the
timeline expand based accordingly as the number of units is
entered (ie a multiplier).

Also, I have some post-upgrade tasks that start after each server
is upgraded. These tasks can start as soon as the upgrade is done
on each server and they don't need to wait on other servers to be
complete before they can start on a completed server... or set of
servers.

So... really I guess the question is how to get a set of tasks
that that multiply by the number of units the tasks are to be
performed on, followed by a sliding scale of post-implementation
tasks that are tied to each unit being completed, but not dependent
on any single unit?

Does all of this make sense?

Thanks to all in advance who can help.

 

[John]

Hello all,

I am new to project, so please forgive me if this is a simple item.
I have looked, but just can't seem to find any help with it...

I have a project that has some pre-implementation tasks, then it
has tasks that are part of the implementation and then some post-
implementation tasks... I know... nothing fancy about that.

But... I need the implementation tasks to repeat based on the
number of units to be touched.

For example, lets say the project is a massive server upgrade
effort. There are some planning tasks that happen up-front.
Then there are tasks associated with each server to be upgraded.
Lets say that each task takes an hour and that adds up to 8 hours
per server. Lets say my project has a section that looks like
this:

Upgrade Server 8hr
Force user log-outs 1hr
Add new hard disk 1hr
Install OS Upgrade 2hr
Restart Applications 1hr
Test Applications 3hr


Now, I have 1000 servers to upgrade. I can handle 10 upgrades
per day in parallel.

How can I get project to handle this? I know project can repeat
tasks based on time (ie a repeating meeting, etc), but I need to
be able to repeat based on the number of units and to have the
timeline expand based accordingly as the number of units is
entered (ie a multiplier).

Also, I have some post-upgrade tasks that start after each server
is upgraded. These tasks can start as soon as the upgrade is done
on each server and they don't need to wait on other servers to be
complete before they can start on a completed server... or set of
servers.

So... really I guess the question is how to get a set of tasks
that that multiply by the number of units the tasks are to be
performed on, followed by a sliding scale of post-implementation
tasks that are tied to each unit being completed, but not dependent
on any single unit?

Does all of this make sense?

Thanks to all in advance who can help.

MIchael,
Boy you don't want much do you. Well, let's see, there are probably
various ways to approach this, some better than others.

The first question that comes to mind concerns the pre-implementation
tasks. Is there one set of pre-implementation for each server? For each
group of 10? Or for the whole lot?

For the 10 upgrades per day, you might just try showing all 100 or
whatever upgrades all starting at the same time (i.e. linked
finish-to-start from the last task in the pre-implementation tasks. Set
your max units on the resources to be able to handle 10 per day and then
set the priority of groups of ten upgrades. For example, set the
priority of the first 10 upgrades at the highest number, the next ten a
a lower number and so forth. Then use the resource leveling function to
spread the total job over a timeline.

For the post-upgrade tasks link, them as a finish-to-start relationship
with the last task of each upgrade.

To answer your last question, yes.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP