Resource Groups with partial availability

[PetSeg]

Hi, my question/issue is partially answered by the thread below (Thanks Jan
De Messemaeker and Tom! - thread dated 12/10/04)
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...a81cfd-a2bc-4c08-98e1-ce8525010d50&sloc=en-us

However ... my issue goes one step deeper and I'm still looking for the best
practice (using MSP 2000).
I work with resource groups (Analysts, Developers, Testers, and so on) and I
want to predict as closely as possible my project finish date. However each
resource is available in a different way to my project:

Example: I have 4 analysts - each able to work 60% of their time to the
project. Based on the message of Tom and Jan I would create a calendar for
'Analysts' putting 60% of 8 hours a day, being 4.8 hours a day. Correct ?

But here it comes: I have 7 developers;
Developer1 can spend 75%, Developer2 95%, Developer3 45%, Developer4 25%,
and so on ... Total I have 4.34 FTE from 7 resources.

How would I parametrize this situation so that a/ the duration and workload
of each task reflects as closely as possible the real situation and b/ so
that the project finish date of the project is reliable (well, to a certain
extend of course because each project is due to change) - let's say, reliable
based on current knowledge of my project data.

As 4.34 (FTE) is 62% of 7 (resources), would I then have to create a new
calendar that has 62% of 8 hours a day, being 4.96 hours ?? This all looks so
complicated ... Isn't their a standard feature or option that I overlook ?

The Max.Units field for Analysts is 400%, for Developers is 700%, ... - the
assignment unit on each task is 100% as it does not make sense in this
project (and its current level of detail) to have more than one analyst doing
the same analysis task (or several developers to do the same developer-task,
and so on)

Unfortunately I'm unable to schedule my project based on resource names
because that information is not availble yet for each individual task (even
not in my head). I want to use MSP to trace bottlenecks and try to estimate
what kind of resources I need to add/shift to the project to realize the due
dates.

Anybody having a best practice tip for this % issue or this situation in
general ? Many thanks in advance for any advice.

Regards,
Peter

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

You really need to split your resources out of the groups and manage them as
unique individuals IMHO. What I call an "aggregate resource" such as your
analysts is for resources that are freely interchangeable - if I have 5
custodians on staff I really don't care which one of them the foreman sends
over to sweep up. But anaylysts and developers are unique talent pools and
by your posting each have unique scheduling constraints. You simply don't
have any option except to treat them as individuals. If you don't have the
names of the resources yet you can list them generically - Analyst 1,
Analyst 2, etc and edit the names when you know who you're got. OTOH, your
last paragraph sort of implies that you know who you have (and how else
would you know that Developer 1 is available 75%, Developer 2 65% etc) but
the decision as to who to put on the tasks is out of your hands - if that's
the case you need to grab it by the reins and do whatever it takes
politically to make sure that you control those assignments, whether you
have the formal authority or not. If it's a case where the resource's
functional manager controls that actual work assignments, you need to apply
pressure to that manager to insure he assigns according to the needs of the
project and not his personal needs. Selecting and assigning resources to
tasks is one of the fundamental (and one of the few real) controls the PM
has and trying to manage a project without it is just p***ing in the wind.