Resource Allocation

[JR Winder]

Can't seem to figure how to make this simple thing happen.

I have two tasks: Task A, Task B. Task A has a five day duration and a
single resource assiged to it at 50% (20 hrs of allocated work during the
five day duration)

Task B has a duration of 2 hours and a signle resource assigned to it at
100%. The resource for Task B is the same as Task A.

When Project scheduleds these two tasks it schedules each to begin on
separate weeks. The resource usage for Task A is 50% for five days. Since
Task B only takes two hours I assumed Project would fit tje two hours for
Task B to begin and end on one of the days Task A is scheduled for since the
resource is only at 50% for Task A work.

Without setting too many constraints on either Task what do I need to change
in order for Project to recognize the available time for other tasks (Task
B) duirng the same time Task A is being worked on?

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

JR

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Set leveling to schedule on a week by week basis.

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[Steve House]

50% does not mean he is working on Task A for 4 hours of duration during
each workday leaving the other 4 hours per day free for other things. He's
still tied up actively working on Task A for the ENTIRE 8-hour day, it's
just he's giving it only 50% of his attention because of other things going
on at the same time so he only gets 4 hours worth of full-time-effort work
done on it. Without those distractions so he could work on it 100% Task A
would only have a duration of 20 hours, not 40. Now he may, in fact, go
full speed on A for 4 hours a day and then do something else for the other 4
but Project isn't concerned with that micro-managed level of detail, it only
looks at effective averages. When you assign him to another task at 100%,
regardless of its length, that overlaps the first one, you have essentially
scheduled him to be doing two things at once with a total allocation of 150%
for the length of Task B. Now leveling never adjusts the percentages - all
it does is delay one of the tasks until they no longer overlap. This means
B moves to start once A has ended. To correct the problem, instead of
leveling reduce the percentage on B by hand to 50% while letting its
duration go to 4 hours and let the resource figure out on his own how he'll
structure his workday so it all gets done.

 

[JR Winder]

Thanks Steve! Your comments regarding resource availability when less than
100% opend my eyes to a number of things....I appreciate your insite.

JR

50% does not mean he is working on Task A for 4 hours of duration during
each workday leaving the other 4 hours per day free for other things.
He's still tied up actively working on Task A for the ENTIRE 8-hour day,
it's just he's giving it only 50% of his attention because of other things
going on at the same time so he only gets 4 hours worth of
full-time-effort work done on it. Without those distractions so he could
work on it 100% Task A would only have a duration of 20 hours, not 40.
Now he may, in fact, go full speed on A for 4 hours a day and then do
something else for the other 4 but Project isn't concerned with that
micro-managed level of detail, it only looks at effective averages. When
you assign him to another task at 100%, regardless of its length, that
overlaps the first one, you have essentially scheduled him to be doing two
things at once with a total allocation of 150% for the length of Task B.
Now leveling never adjusts the percentages - all it does is delay one of
the tasks until they no longer overlap. This means B moves to start once
A has ended. To correct the problem, instead of leveling reduce the
percentage on B by hand to 50% while letting its duration go to 4 hours
and let the resource figure out on his own how he'll structure his workday
so it all gets done.


--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Can't seem to figure how to make this simple thing happen.

I have two tasks: Task A, Task B. Task A has a five day duration and a
single resource assiged to it at 50% (20 hrs of allocated work during the
five day duration)

Task B has a duration of 2 hours and a signle resource assigned to it at
100%. The resource for Task B is the same as Task A.

When Project scheduleds these two tasks it schedules each to begin on
separate weeks. The resource usage for Task A is 50% for five days.
Since Task B only takes two hours I assumed Project would fit tje two
hours for Task B to begin and end on one of the days Task A is scheduled
for since the resource is only at 50% for Task A work.

Without setting too many constraints on either Task what do I need to
change in order for Project to recognize the available time for other
tasks (Task B) duirng the same time Task A is being worked on?

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

JR