Resource allocation for multiple users

[Rich]

I have a task that takes 40 hours to complete. I asssign 3 people to
it. Two work full time and 1 works part time. If I set the resource
allocation for 100% for all users project takes the 40 hours and gives
each person 13.33 hours of work to do causing the task to take longer
then needed as the part time user takes more days to complete is 40
hours.

I would like to be able to
1. Have it allocate the resources based on getting the task done in
the last amount of calandar days rather then giving each person the
same amount of work
2. I have a special employee that could be put to better use on
another task and a basic working that is just qualified for this task.
I would also like to shift the resources so that it uses my basic
worker full time on a basic task and only uses my speciality worker if
he is not needed for another task.

Are either or both of these time allocation methods possible in
microsoft project? I tried resource leveling which I thought worked
once but didnt have any luck after the first time I had it level the
project. The speciality employee also charges more per hour if that
can help microsoft project to figure out resource allocation.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Rich,

To cut a long story short, you can "do all this" in Project - in a sense
that you can enter the data you need
But Project will not optimize allocations, will definitely not automatically
replace a resource by an other one.
Leveling only postpones tasks causing overallocations, it does not change
resioources nor their allocated %.
HTH

 

[Rich]

You mention I can do this all in project but that leveling is not the
proper method. Any insight on what is the right function? Is there
an automatic function that would allocate resources for tasks that
multiple people can complete with the goal of making the projects
total time the shorest?

I am sure I can manually edit the hours worked but if a job that the
more skilled worker needs to complete shifts then my manual edits
might not make the most sense.

My project is a gut rehab of a three family house. My issue is that
my father and I are more skilled then my brother. The task that I
noticed the problem was "hang insulation." This is a simple task that
I estimated a combined 45 hours for. The problem is right now I work
a full time job and only have 3 hours per day during the week to work
on this project. My brother who could also complete this task works
part time and has 5 hours per day to work on the house.

When I assinged 3 resources(my, brother, father) to the insulation
task it gave each of us 15 hours. The job happened to start on a
monday so my brother was done on Wednesday while I was still doing my
15 hours until the weekend. In reality we would be better off if my
brother kept doing the insulation on thrusday and friday. And if you
take it another level it most likely would have been better if I
worked on a totally differnt task that was not insulation dependant.
This is because it is my house and I am almost toally allocated
throughout the project and because there is limited tasks that my
brother can do so he has a break of a few days after the insulation
task is completed.

Is there any automated way to make these resource alloations? I also
plan to pick up a ms project book today and mabye that will help me
with this issue..

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Rich

When I say you can do it all I mean make all the decisions yourself and
enter it into Project.
Needless to look within Project, there is no automatic tool for what you
want.
And unfortunately, I'm a one trick pony, I do not know other softwares.

HTH