Schedule "dead space"

[James McCloskey]

I have a small project (~100 tasks) which I am trying to schedule based on a
few main constraints: a completion deadline (1/01/2008), periodic go/no-go
checkpoints (at pre-existing monthly review meetings), and some resource
limitations.

For some reason, the levelled (by week) project has a 3-week "dead space" in
it: there are NO tasks assigned to any resources for this 3-week period. But
there are subsequent resource over-allocations, on tasks that ought to be
able to be done during that "dead space". I've pored over the tasks looking
for any odd predecessor relationships, but I've found nothing.

Any idea what might be causing this?
And advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Joe]

It's probably unlikely, but check to make sure the calendar has those days
as working days.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi James,

Beyond the obvious (Calendar, resource availability..) this is guesswork.
If you send me the file at
jandemesATprom-ade.be
I'll have a look (generally I find something )
Greetings,

 

[James McCloskey]

Checked - and just rechecked - but the standard calendar is in use.
(Which means I've got people scheduled to work Canadian Thanksgiving!)

Thanks, though.

 

[DavidC]

Hi,
Check for constraint dates against tasks. Also check that summary tasks
don't have plogic attached or constraint dates as these will set underlying
tasks to the summary date irrespective of their own individual logic
requirements.

Hope this helps

regards

DavidC

 

[Steve House]

Have you attempted to enter task start or end dates? If you do, that sets
Start No Earlier Than constraints and so even if there is dead time before
the constraint date, the task won't move up to fill it, the constraint says
that under no circumstances is that task to be scheduled to start any
earlier than the designated date.

 

[Dave]

I have a small project (~100 tasks) which I am trying to schedule based on a
few main constraints: a completion deadline (1/01/2008), periodic go/no-go
checkpoints (at pre-existing monthly review meetings), and some resource
limitations.

For some reason, the levelled (by week) project has a 3-week "dead space" in
it: there are NO tasks assigned to any resources for this 3-week period. But
there are subsequent resource over-allocations, on tasks that ought to be
able to be done during that "dead space". I've pored over the tasks looking
for any odd predecessor relationships, but I've found nothing.

Any idea what might be causing this?
And advice is greatly appreciated!

If you clear levelling, is that period then populated? That will clear
up anything fundamental like calendar issues.

You haven't got any filters on have you so that there are actual tasks
there that you can't see (sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs).

What is the resource profile like on each task? Could it be the case
that the distribution of work on the tasks is such that levelling could
never succeed (more than one week of work scheduled to be completed in
less than a week for example). Do you get any error messages when
levelling?

 

[James McCloskey]

Jan educated me on an aspect of Project resource management which I had
(mistakenly) assumed worked one way.

Basically, I was assigning resources to tasks with higher assignment units
than the max units for the same resource (e.g., resource James McCloskey has
50% max units on this project, and task X has James assigned 100%). I had
assumed that leveling would fix this mismatch, and double the duration based
on the max units.

Jan explained that this assumed behaviour is not correct, and that leveling
would continue to choke (and therefore contribute to the dual problem of
"dead spaces" and resource overallocations) until I reduced assignments below
the max units.

I did that, and presto - all fixed.

Thanks to Jan, and to all other posters, for your time, efforts, and advice.
Much appreciated!