Resource allocation by percentage

A

Alex

Has anyone attempted to spread a resource by percent
across a task and let project determine the date range?

For example:

I have a resource available for 3 hours per day. I set
his available time to 8:00 - 11:00 AM. Then I assign him a
9 hour task, but Project shows a start/end date of one day.

I tried leaving the available time alone and making the
resource available for 30%, but no difference.

-Alex
Reply with questions if I am not communicating effectively.
 
D

Dale Howard

Alex --

Another approach you might consider would be to do the following:

1. Set the resource's calendar back to the default Standard schedule of
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday
2. Set the resource's Max Units value back to 100%, if you have changed it
to anything less than that
3. Remove the resource from the task in question, and set the task Duration
back to the default of 1 day
4. Apply the Gantt Chart view
5. Select the task in question
6. Click Window - Split to apply the Task Entry view
7. In the lower pane (Task Form), select the desired resource, set the
Units to 38%, and set the Work to 9 hours
8. Click OK and the Duration will be calculated correctly at approximately
3 days

The reason the Duration does not calculate exactly at 3 days is because of
round off error on the Units value. 3 hours of work out of an 8 hour day is
exactly 37.5%, but the Units value is rounded to the nearest whole
percentage.

The approach I am recommending for you is making effort-based assignments,
in which you set the Units value (% of an average working day spent on the
task) and the Work value. So, if your resource in question can only work 3
hours each day, then you should assign him/her to no more than 38% Units on
any task. Hope this approach helps.

--
Dale A. Howard
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
 
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