Resource Assignments

[Diane76]

I am fairly new to project management and have no guidance within my company,
so please forgive me if this question should be a straightforward one: I
have a set of tasks that can be done in any order by any one of 4 resources.
I have estimates for each task, but of course those can change. Basically,
we were hoping to assign resources from the group of 4 as we go, so whoever
finishes their task first, gets the next one in line. I would like to be
able to plug in the resource as I know who it is going to be, but still have
Project figure out my projected project completion date based on best-case
scenario, regardless of the resource. Is there a way to do this? Thank you
for any help you can provide.

 

[Jim Aksel]

I am not sure Project is the right tool to use here. Making the assumption
that all the tasks are independent and can be worked by any one of four
available resources, you have more of an "assignment" problem than a
"schedule" problem.

Consider this: MS Project has no ability to dynamically assign resources
(that is, move them from task to task). For analysis let's use this simple
example of three tasks and two workers. Let's assume each task will require
1 full time resource at 8/day for the duration of the task.

Task A: 3 days
Task B: 5 days
Task C: 2 days.

It is obvious to assign Worker1 to A & C and Worker2 to Task B. That way
the whole program gets accomlished in 5 days with the tasks running in
parallel. Depending on real durations it may be possible to hop the worker to
a differnt task.

However, Project does not have the ability to make those decisions for you.
If you were to assign the resources in order from the top down, then Project
is going to tell you Worker1 is overallocated (TasksA & B run in parallel).
If you apply "Leveling" all Project is going to do for you is move TaskB to
after A to relieve the over allocation position of Worker1.

I think what you are trying to do is more like this: Given a series of "N"
tasks of known unique durations and 4 workers available 40 hours/week ---
assign the workers to the tasks such that the total task list is completed in
the shortest possible number of work days.

I do know there are assignmnent algorithms out there. Awhile ago I used to
teach a class in Quantitative Analysis. We used a book called: Quantitative
Analysis by Render & Stair. Here is a link to the current version on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Quantitative-...5656851?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214943107&sr=1-2

The publisher is Prentice Hall (Pearson Education) and here is a link to the
book on their site:

http://www.mypearsonstore.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0136036252

You want Chapters 10 and 11.

At one time there was student software in that book that had the exact
algorithm I think you need. It was like Chapter 12 or something. You may
want to look into it. Of course, since it is "academic software" they have
all kinds of disclaimers and what not saying they do not quaranty it will
even calculate 2+2 correctly.

--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim

Check out my new blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[Diane76]

Thanks Jim. I figured this might be the case, but I wanted to make sure I
wasn't missing something. Let me make sure I am understanding your
explanation: In the scenario you gave, Project is not 'smart' enought to
tell you that with 2 resources the tasks can be completed in 5 days. Is this
correct? If so, I would be better off focusing on the assignment algorithms
you mentioned and going from there...

 

[Jim Aksel]

Project is unable to alter resource assigments between tasks. This prevents
the program from determing the minimum possible schedule using differnt
resource names.

If you wish, if the resources are all "interchangeable" then you can just
assign one resource name and increase the units to 400%. This will allow
Project to interpret that you have 4 interchangeable resources such as
"Carpenters"

Then, try Tools/Level Resources and level the whole project. It seems to
work OK, but test it on a small file to be sure the leveling algorithm does
not depend on the order in which the tasks are entered. I am getting various
results.

Also, there is a leveling order (ID Only, Standard, Priority) that can be
adjusted. I have not tested that with this scenario.

I think you can get a reasonably close answer. Make sure you clear the
leveling between each "trial" I was using 7 tasks, 2 resources, and task
durations of 5,5,5,2,2,3.3. I was able to achieve durations of 12, 13 and
15 days depending on the order the task durations fell. It will also depend
on the leveling order.

So, before you go an invest some money in a more robust algorithm, see if
you can get close. You will be able to tell by visual inspection because
each block of four tasks will need to fill out to occuppy four people's time.

--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim

Check out my new blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com