Resource Units

[JR Winder]

What's causing Project to assign resource availablity? I have two tasks,
each requiring 3 hours and one being the successor of the other. I have one
and the same resource assigned to both tasks; the resource's max units is
set to 90% in the 'Resource Sheet'. Projct is takeing the tasks and
splitting them over two days? Any idea why this is?

Thanks in advance

 

[Michael @ BLITZ]

Hi JR Winder:

Are you picking Fixed Duration, Units, or Work? If you want the resource to
only work on it for one day, you should try setting it to Fixed Duration.
It's pretty confusing and I'm still trying to grasp the concept. Here's a
URL maybe it'll help you out:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/HP100920391033.aspx

Good luck.

Michael
BLITZ Agency
www.blitzagency.com

 

[Steve House]

What time of day does the first task begin? If the first task begins 3
hours or less before the end of the workday, the successor task won't be
able before the resource assigned to it goes home for the day and so will
have to move to the second day.

Project doesn't assign resource availability - you do by creating their
calendar (when they're available) and designating their maximum units (how
much of that time can be devoted to task specific activity).

I like to think of the assignment percentage as indicating the rate at which
time is converted into work. If you put this guy on a task starting at 8am
that requires 7 man-hours of full-time work and watch him doing it, should
you see that task finish at 4pm or 5pm? If it's the former, it's a 7-hour
duration task with him working 100%. If it's the latter, it's an 8-hour
duration task with him working 88%.

 

[JR Winder]

Hi Steve- I think I'm getting myself even more confused. I'm obviously
missing something in the way I have things setup so what I've done is create
a new 'test' project in an attempt to understand what is happening in
regards to my resouce availability. Here's what I've done.

Test project with three tasks: Task 1, Task 2, Task 3.
Task 2 has a SF link to Task 1, and Task 3 has a SF link to Task 2
(basically each task needs to end before the next can begin)

I've set the 'work' for each task to be #1 = 2 hrs, #2 = 5 hrs, and #3 =
3hrs

I have one resource set up and is assigned to the standard project calendar.
I set the Max Units for this resource to be 100% in the Resource Sheet view.

I've assigned the resource to all three tasks...the result are as follows

Task 1 - start 10/15, finish 10/15 (resource 25%)
Task 2 - start 10/16, finish 10/16 (resource 63%)
Task 3 - start 10/17. finish 10/17 (resource 38 %)

So my question is, why won't the resouce Units remain at 100% (what is
defined in the Resource Sheet)? And why is 10 hours of work taking three
days to complete? Why is my assumption wrong in that 10 hrs of work for one
person should only take a little more than a day to complete?

Thanks

What time of day does the first task begin? If the first task begins 3
hours or less before the end of the workday, the successor task won't be
able before the resource assigned to it goes home for the day and so will
have to move to the second day.

Project doesn't assign resource availability - you do by creating their
calendar (when they're available) and designating their maximum units (how
much of that time can be devoted to task specific activity).

I like to think of the assignment percentage as indicating the rate at
which time is converted into work. If you put this guy on a task starting
at 8am that requires 7 man-hours of full-time work and watch him doing it,
should you see that task finish at 4pm or 5pm? If it's the former, it's a
7-hour duration task with him working 100%. If it's the latter, it's an
8-hour duration task with him working 88%.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

What's causing Project to assign resource availablity? I have two tasks,
each requiring 3 hours and one being the successor of the other. I have
one and the same resource assigned to both tasks; the resource's max
units is set to 90% in the 'Resource Sheet'. Projct is takeing the tasks
and splitting them over two days? Any idea why this is?

Thanks in advance

 

[Steve House]

10 hours of work MIGHT take a little more than one day for one person to do
or it might take a LOT more than one day to do ... about the only thing
certain is that it can't take LESS than one day for one person. Imagine Joe
is sanding widgets and when he's clicking along really into the sanding he
can do 10 widgets an hour. He's got to do exactly 100 widgets, no more and
no less, to complete the task (not an unreasonable postulate since tasks
always produce a finite deliverable). At that rate, the task requires 10
man-hours of work. But he's not paying full attention to the sanding - he's
also got to wax some fids at the same time. So he sands a widget then waxes
a fid, sands a widget and waxes a fid, and so forth. He still has to sand
100 widgets and those 100 widgets represent 10 man0hours of work effort but
because of the energy taken up by his other duties with the fids, it now
takes him 20 hours to do all 100 widgets. Widget work is still 10 man-hours
but duration has become 20 hours as his assignment to the widgets portion of
his workload has dropped from 100% to 50%.

You've fixed your durations for each of the tasks at 1 day. A man-hour is
the amount of energy expended by a resource working at full-speed on a
single task for 1 hour. But you've assigned your resource to work at LESS
than full speed. When you assign Joe to a 1 day task requiring 2 hours of
work, you've said it will take him 8 hours of time but will consume only 25%
of his available energy over that time period - he's only sanding 2.5
widgets an hour when he could be sanding 10. Task 2 is 1 day long requiring
5 man-hours of energy, 63% resource assignment. Task 3 is 1 day long
requiring 3 man-hours of energy, 38% of the resource's available energy.

The max units is NOT what the resource is working at. It's the maximum he
CAN work at, the level over which he'll be considered overallocated. He
might work at a lower rate on certain tasks for whatever reason - happens
all the time. It serves as the default assignment level when you estimate
duration, assign the resource without specifying a percentage, and let
Project calculate the work but that's not what you did. You first estimated
the duration and then said the work would also be a certain value, so
Project ended up calculating the percentage that would result in the work
you specified being spread out over the time you specified.

Work man-hours is an energy measure, duration hours is a time measure,
resource percentage (man-hours per hour) is a rate measure.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hi Steve- I think I'm getting myself even more confused. I'm obviously
missing something in the way I have things setup so what I've done is
create a new 'test' project in an attempt to understand what is happening
in regards to my resouce availability. Here's what I've done.

Test project with three tasks: Task 1, Task 2, Task 3.
Task 2 has a SF link to Task 1, and Task 3 has a SF link to Task 2
(basically each task needs to end before the next can begin)

I've set the 'work' for each task to be #1 = 2 hrs, #2 = 5 hrs, and #3 =
3hrs

I have one resource set up and is assigned to the standard project
calendar. I set the Max Units for this resource to be 100% in the Resource
Sheet view.

I've assigned the resource to all three tasks...the result are as follows

Task 1 - start 10/15, finish 10/15 (resource 25%)
Task 2 - start 10/16, finish 10/16 (resource 63%)
Task 3 - start 10/17. finish 10/17 (resource 38 %)

So my question is, why won't the resouce Units remain at 100% (what is
defined in the Resource Sheet)? And why is 10 hours of work taking three
days to complete? Why is my assumption wrong in that 10 hrs of work for
one person should only take a little more than a day to complete?

Thanks

What time of day does the first task begin? If the first task begins 3
hours or less before the end of the workday, the successor task won't be
able before the resource assigned to it goes home for the day and so will
have to move to the second day.

Project doesn't assign resource availability - you do by creating their
calendar (when they're available) and designating their maximum units
(how much of that time can be devoted to task specific activity).

I like to think of the assignment percentage as indicating the rate at
which time is converted into work. If you put this guy on a task
starting at 8am that requires 7 man-hours of full-time work and watch him
doing it, should you see that task finish at 4pm or 5pm? If it's the
former, it's a 7-hour duration task with him working 100%. If it's the
latter, it's an 8-hour duration task with him working 88%.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

What's causing Project to assign resource availablity? I have two
tasks, each requiring 3 hours and one being the successor of the other.
I have one and the same resource assigned to both tasks; the resource's
max units is set to 90% in the 'Resource Sheet'. Projct is takeing the
tasks and splitting them over two days? Any idea why this is?

Thanks in advance

 

[Wade]

I know this is an older post but I thought I would chime in that I also
exprienced this same issue. It is a MS project bug. If you re-assign the
exact same resource to those exact same tasks a second time, the percentage
will change back to 100% and your issue is resolved. Assuming the resource
is set to work 8 hours a day at 100%, you will bump into this issue anytime
you attempt to assign a resource to a task that has less than 8 hours of
work. You just have to select the resource a second time.

10 hours of work MIGHT take a little more than one day for one person to do
or it might take a LOT more than one day to do ... about the only thing
certain is that it can't take LESS than one day for one person. Imagine Joe
is sanding widgets and when he's clicking along really into the sanding he
can do 10 widgets an hour. He's got to do exactly 100 widgets, no more and
no less, to complete the task (not an unreasonable postulate since tasks
always produce a finite deliverable). At that rate, the task requires 10
man-hours of work. But he's not paying full attention to the sanding - he's
also got to wax some fids at the same time. So he sands a widget then waxes
a fid, sands a widget and waxes a fid, and so forth. He still has to sand
100 widgets and those 100 widgets represent 10 man0hours of work effort but
because of the energy taken up by his other duties with the fids, it now
takes him 20 hours to do all 100 widgets. Widget work is still 10 man-hours
but duration has become 20 hours as his assignment to the widgets portion of
his workload has dropped from 100% to 50%.

You've fixed your durations for each of the tasks at 1 day. A man-hour is
the amount of energy expended by a resource working at full-speed on a
single task for 1 hour. But you've assigned your resource to work at LESS
than full speed. When you assign Joe to a 1 day task requiring 2 hours of
work, you've said it will take him 8 hours of time but will consume only 25%
of his available energy over that time period - he's only sanding 2.5
widgets an hour when he could be sanding 10. Task 2 is 1 day long requiring
5 man-hours of energy, 63% resource assignment. Task 3 is 1 day long
requiring 3 man-hours of energy, 38% of the resource's available energy.

The max units is NOT what the resource is working at. It's the maximum he
CAN work at, the level over which he'll be considered overallocated. He
might work at a lower rate on certain tasks for whatever reason - happens
all the time. It serves as the default assignment level when you estimate
duration, assign the resource without specifying a percentage, and let
Project calculate the work but that's not what you did. You first estimated
the duration and then said the work would also be a certain value, so
Project ended up calculating the percentage that would result in the work
you specified being spread out over the time you specified.

Work man-hours is an energy measure, duration hours is a time measure,
resource percentage (man-hours per hour) is a rate measure.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hi Steve- I think I'm getting myself even more confused. I'm obviously
missing something in the way I have things setup so what I've done is
create a new 'test' project in an attempt to understand what is happening
in regards to my resouce availability. Here's what I've done.

Test project with three tasks: Task 1, Task 2, Task 3.
Task 2 has a SF link to Task 1, and Task 3 has a SF link to Task 2
(basically each task needs to end before the next can begin)

I've set the 'work' for each task to be #1 = 2 hrs, #2 = 5 hrs, and #3 =
3hrs

I have one resource set up and is assigned to the standard project
calendar. I set the Max Units for this resource to be 100% in the Resource
Sheet view.

I've assigned the resource to all three tasks...the result are as follows

Task 1 - start 10/15, finish 10/15 (resource 25%)
Task 2 - start 10/16, finish 10/16 (resource 63%)
Task 3 - start 10/17. finish 10/17 (resource 38 %)

So my question is, why won't the resouce Units remain at 100% (what is
defined in the Resource Sheet)? And why is 10 hours of work taking three
days to complete? Why is my assumption wrong in that 10 hrs of work for
one person should only take a little more than a day to complete?

Thanks

What time of day does the first task begin? If the first task begins 3
hours or less before the end of the workday, the successor task won't be
able before the resource assigned to it goes home for the day and so will
have to move to the second day.

Project doesn't assign resource availability - you do by creating their
calendar (when they're available) and designating their maximum units
(how much of that time can be devoted to task specific activity).

I like to think of the assignment percentage as indicating the rate at
which time is converted into work. If you put this guy on a task
starting at 8am that requires 7 man-hours of full-time work and watch him
doing it, should you see that task finish at 4pm or 5pm? If it's the
former, it's a 7-hour duration task with him working 100%. If it's the
latter, it's an 8-hour duration task with him working 88%.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


What's causing Project to assign resource availablity? I have two
tasks, each requiring 3 hours and one being the successor of the other.
I have one and the same resource assigned to both tasks; the resource's
max units is set to 90% in the 'Resource Sheet'. Projct is takeing the
tasks and splitting them over two days? Any idea why this is?

Thanks in advance