resources overallocated print out

[jackie]

Hello

1) I have tried to report the Resource Usage view but it does not look right
and it is spans across many pages understandably. Is there a way to convert
this view to a printable report?

2) In the Overallocated Resources report are all the tasks listed the tasks
assigned to the resource in question or just the tasks that cause
overallocation?

3) Which is the best way to give a print out of the overallocation to
resources so that they can review how long their assignemnts take?

Much appreciated
J

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

1) I have tried to report the Resource Usage view but it does not look right
and it is spans across many pages understandably. Is there a way to convert
this view to a printable report?

Does this help you in terms of showing how to customize the view and export
it?
http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/ep...roject-pro-leveraging-the-resource-graph.aspx

2) In the Overallocated Resources report are all the tasks listed the tasks
assigned to the resource in question or just the tasks that cause
overallocation?

Don't have it in front of me, but I would assume it's all tasks. Will check
the next time I have my laptop open.

3) Which is the best way to give a print out of the overallocation to
resources so that they can review how long their assignemnts take?

I use the resoure graph typically to highlight overallocations. Split the
screen with the resource usage view on top and the graph at the bottom. That
should give them enough data to review.

 

[jackie]

Hello

1) Unfortunately not, I was keen to find out if there is a way of exporting
the resources usage view, not the graph

2) thansk, it makes sense

3) thanks, however I am looking for the best way to print overallocation to
give to resources so that they can review how long their assignemnts take,
not really an online view

Many thanks
J

 

[JulieS]

Hi Jackie,


your questions:
There is a Resource Usage view report. In Project 2003, View >
Reports, Workload. In Project 2007 Report > Reports. You may edit
the report to apply filters to show only a specific resource (you'd
need to create the filter first). You can also use the Print dialog
(File > Print) to only print a specific date range.

They are all tasks assigned to the resource.

I'm not sure that I would stress the "overallocation" issue directly
to resources. Remember, the definition of overallocation to Project
is purely mathematical -- peak units greater than max. units -- and
in many circumstances, based upon review of the overallocation, I
may choose to let the overallocation ride. For example, Project
will flag a resource as overallocated if they have two assignments
with one hour of work that overlap on a day -- even if those
assignments are the only assignments for the resource on that day.
You may find the "who does what" report to show good information for
the resource's review.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

<snip>

 

[jackie]

Hello again J

Thanks for your reply, always very helpful

I see what you mean about overallocations, we have a few technical ones that
I really can ignore as like you say they are not really overallocations. In
other cases however i have a resource allocated for 15 hours or more and i
need to give some of those tasks to someone else. I am trying to find out the
best way to do this.... any hints please?

many thanks
J

 

[JulieS]

Hi Jackie,

You're most welcome for the assistance and thanks for the feedback.

To the question of how to balance resource assignments:

Like Andrew, I am a fan of split screen view and when working with
overallocations, I like the Resource Allocation view. You can
easily display the view by turning on the Resource Management
toolbar. The Resource Allocation view shows the Resource Usage view
at top and the Leveling Gantt view in the lower pane. On the
Resource Management toolbar is the "Go to Next Overallocation"
button which will go through the project and stop on each
overallocation allowing you to review what is causing the
overallocation.

Once you've discovered the overallocations and determined that you
want to fix them, you have a couple of options on how to re-assign
tasks to other resources.

- If you double click on a task in the Leveling Gantt (lower pane
in Resource Allocation view) you show the Task Information form.
You can replace a resource with another resource in the Task
Information, Resource tab, by selecting the assigned resource and
using the drop-down, select another resource.

- You can select the task in the Leveling Gantt and use the Assign
Resources button. Select the currently assigned resource, click the
Replace button and select the new resource.

- In the top pane (Resource Usage) you can select an assignment by
the row, right click and cut Assignment. Click on the name of the
resource you'd like to re-assign the work to, and right click, paste
to re-assign.

You may also find that collapsing the assignments in the Resource
Usage pane and then selectively expanding a particular resource's
assignments is helpful. Consider adding the Start and Finish fields
to the table (left side) of the view to also see any possible
overlaps or gaps.

I hope these helps.

Julie

 

[Prasad]

Hi Jackie,

You're most welcome for the assistance and thanks for the feedback.

To the question of how to balance resource assignments:

Like Andrew, I am a fan of split screen view and when working with
overallocations, I like the Resource Allocation view.  You can
easily display the view by turning on the Resource Management
toolbar.  The Resource Allocation view shows the Resource Usage view
at top and the Leveling Gantt view in the lower pane.  On the
Resource Management toolbar is the "Go to Next Overallocation"
button which will go through the project and stop on each
overallocation allowing you to review what is causing the
overallocation.

Once you've discovered the overallocations and determined that you
want to fix them, you have a couple of options on how to re-assign
tasks to other resources.

 - If you double click on a task in the Leveling Gantt (lower pane
in Resource Allocation view) you show the Task Information form.
You can replace a resource with another resource in the Task
Information, Resource tab, by selecting the assigned resource and
using the drop-down, select another resource.

- You can select the task in the Leveling Gantt and use the Assign
Resources button.  Select the currently assigned resource, click the
Replace button and select the new resource.

- In the top pane (Resource Usage) you can select an assignment by
the row, right click and cut Assignment.  Click on the name of the
resource you'd like to re-assign the work to, and right click, paste
to re-assign.

You may also find that collapsing the assignments in the Resource
Usage pane and then selectively expanding a particular resource's
assignments is helpful.  Consider adding the Start and Finish fields
to the table (left side) of the view to also see any possible
overlaps or gaps.

I hope these helps.

Julie

..

Julie,

You clearly explained how to do resource leveling manually. But, Jan
De Messemaeker told me a few times on this forum that MS Project does
automatic resource leveling in a reliable fashion when resource
allocations are 100%. Why do we have to follow your correct but
laborious method for resource leveling for 100% resource allocations?

Regards,
Prasad

 

[jackie]

Brilliant thanks very much!
j

Hi Jackie,

You're most welcome for the assistance and thanks for the feedback.

To the question of how to balance resource assignments:

Like Andrew, I am a fan of split screen view and when working with
overallocations, I like the Resource Allocation view. You can
easily display the view by turning on the Resource Management
toolbar. The Resource Allocation view shows the Resource Usage view
at top and the Leveling Gantt view in the lower pane. On the
Resource Management toolbar is the "Go to Next Overallocation"
button which will go through the project and stop on each
overallocation allowing you to review what is causing the
overallocation.

Once you've discovered the overallocations and determined that you
want to fix them, you have a couple of options on how to re-assign
tasks to other resources.

- If you double click on a task in the Leveling Gantt (lower pane
in Resource Allocation view) you show the Task Information form.
You can replace a resource with another resource in the Task
Information, Resource tab, by selecting the assigned resource and
using the drop-down, select another resource.

- You can select the task in the Leveling Gantt and use the Assign
Resources button. Select the currently assigned resource, click the
Replace button and select the new resource.

- In the top pane (Resource Usage) you can select an assignment by
the row, right click and cut Assignment. Click on the name of the
resource you'd like to re-assign the work to, and right click, paste
to re-assign.

You may also find that collapsing the assignments in the Resource
Usage pane and then selectively expanding a particular resource's
assignments is helpful. Consider adding the Start and Finish fields
to the table (left side) of the view to also see any possible
overlaps or gaps.

I hope these helps.

Julie




.

 

[JulieS]

"Prasad" wrote in message
<snip>
Julie,

You clearly explained how to do resource leveling manually. But, Jan
De Messemaeker told me a few times on this forum that MS Project
does
automatic resource leveling in a reliable fashion when resource
allocations are 100%. Why do we have to follow your correct but
laborious method for resource leveling for 100% resource
allocations?

Regards,
Prasad
-------------------------------------
Hello Prasad,

Yes, I agree with Jan, that resource leveling does work well.

However, I was responding to Jackie's different question -- namely
tips on how to re-assign work from overallocated resources to other
resources.

While the resource leveling command works well to delay tasks to
resolve individual resource overallocations, it does not re-assign
tasks to other resources -- a different question, needing a
different answer.

I hope this helps.

Julie

 

[JulieS]

You're welcome Jackie and thanks for the feedback.

Julie

 

[Prasad]

Julie,

You have said:

While the resource leveling command works well to delay tasks to
resolve individual resource overallocations, it does not re-assign
tasks to other resources -- a different question, needing a
different answer.

Thanks for the clarification. Until now, I have been wrongly thinking
that the automatic resource leveling (for eliminating resource
overloading) in MSP also involves the possible reassignment of tasks
to other similar resources. I guess that the manual effort needed for
such reassignment could be laborious and time-consuming in large
projects when alternative resources are available for tasks involved
in resource overloading and those resources cannot be grouped.

Regards,
Prasad

 

[JulieS]

"Prasad" wrote in message

Julie,

You have said:

While the resource leveling command works well to delay tasks to
resolve individual resource overallocations, it does not re-assign
tasks to other resources -- a different question, needing a
different answer.

Thanks for the clarification. Until now, I have been wrongly
thinking
that the automatic resource leveling (for eliminating resource
overloading) in MSP also involves the possible reassignment of
tasks
to other similar resources. I guess that the manual effort needed
for
such reassignment could be laborious and time-consuming in large
projects when alternative resources are available for tasks
involved
in resource overloading and those resources cannot be grouped.

Regards,
Prasad

Hi Prasad,

No the Resource Leveling command does not do anything except delay
tasks to resolve resource overallocations. It will not redistribute
assignments to other resources, nor will it alter assignment levels.

I'm not sure I understand your comment about "resources cannot be
grouped." You can certainly use the group field in the Resource
Sheet to assign a common group name to resources and then use the
Group field to filter the list of resources. You can also create
resources with max. units above 100% which essentially indicates you
have several of that resource available.

Julie

 

[Prasad]

Hi Prasad,

No the Resource Leveling command does not do anything except delay
tasks to resolve resource overallocations.  It will not redistribute
assignments to other resources, nor will it alter assignment levels.

I'm not sure I understand your comment about "resources cannot be
grouped."  You can certainly use the group field in the Resource
Sheet to assign a common group name to resources and then use the
Group field to filter the list of resources.  You can also create
resources with max. units above 100% which essentially indicates you
have several of that resource available.

Julie

Julie,

I referred to a situation where resources cannot be grouped. This can
happen when workers have multiple skills or machines / equipment are
multi-functional.

Regards,
Prasad

 

[JulieS]

in message

Hi Prasad,

No the Resource Leveling command does not do anything except delay
tasks to resolve resource overallocations. It will not
redistribute
assignments to other resources, nor will it alter assignment
levels.

I'm not sure I understand your comment about "resources cannot be
grouped." You can certainly use the group field in the Resource
Sheet to assign a common group name to resources and then use the
Group field to filter the list of resources. You can also create
resources with max. units above 100% which essentially indicates
you
have several of that resource available.

Julie

Julie,

I referred to a situation where resources cannot be grouped. This
can
happen when workers have multiple skills or machines / equipment are
multi-functional.

Regards,
Prasad

Thanks Prasad, I see what you mean by "grouped" now. I don't know
if the ability to replace resources by user defined measures is
available in Project Server, but I think it may be partially there
through the Substitute resources command. I don't use server, so I
can't go much further down that path.

Julie