Setup question for planning/tracking

[Roald]

I am trying to setup MS Project 2003 for planning and scheduling, but am
running into problems getting it to do what I want it to.

I have 3 specific questions:

- I need to plan 2 projects for a single resource, with each project having
different working hours (one standard office hours, the other 2 hours a day
in the evening and 4 hours over the weekend). How do I set this up with the
available hours and the amount of work determining the end-date of the
project?

- I have 2 different types of projects/tasks, one operational and one
development. Operational tasks are recurring on specific days of the
week/month and take precedence over development tasks. I have set up both
operational and development tasks, but the assigned resource shows up as
overallocated. I have tried leveling the resource but somehow this does not
work. How do I set up Project so that resource availabiltiy is fixed (i.e. 8
hours a day), operational tasks are prioritised over other tasks and all
other (e.g. dev tasks) are used to fill up the remainder of available hours
on a per-day basis?

- For our operational tasks, some run over several days but only take a few
hours actual/human resource time per day. I have set up a "server" resource
which takes about 90% of the actual hours for the tasks, but need to split
the remaining hours over the duration of the task in a configurable manner.
E.g. for one three day task an operator would have to spend 4/1/3 hours, for
another 2 day task it could be 2/1 hours. Is there a way to set this up?

Thanks in advance.

 

[JulieS]

Hello Roald,

My comments are in-line.

Julie
Project MVP

I am trying to setup MS Project 2003 for planning and scheduling,
but am
running into problems getting it to do what I want it to.

I have 3 specific questions:

- I need to plan 2 projects for a single resource, with each project
having
different working hours (one standard office hours, the other 2
hours a day
in the evening and 4 hours over the weekend). How do I set this up
with the
available hours and the amount of work determining the end-date of
the
project?

[Julie] I would be inclined to use task calendars on the evening and
weekend work and set the task calendar to ignore the resource's
calendar. Create the additional base calendar with only the 2 hours
per evening and 4 hours over the weekend as working time.

- I have 2 different types of projects/tasks, one operational and
one
development. Operational tasks are recurring on specific days of the
week/month and take precedence over development tasks. I have set up
both
operational and development tasks, but the assigned resource shows
up as
overallocated. I have tried leveling the resource but somehow this
does not
work. How do I set up Project so that resource availabiltiy is fixed
(i.e. 8
hours a day), operational tasks are prioritised over other tasks and
all
other (e.g. dev tasks) are used to fill up the remainder of
available hours
on a per-day basis?

[Julie] Have you tried leveling using the order "Priority, Standard"
and the option to allow splits? If the operational tasks are set up as
recurring tasks, they should already have a priority of 1000 ( equal
to Do Not Level) so they should not be moved by leveling. To have the
development tasks start, stop to allow the operational tasks, and then
restart, you'll have to allow splits in the development tasks.
However, this may not still be a 100% fix. Project will *never*
change resource allocations on a task, so if you have assigned a
resource to multiple tasks which overlap in time at less than the
resource's max. units, project will not raise or lower the assignment
unit to "fill up the remainder" of available hours. For example: if
you have assigned a resource to two tasks, both at 75% assignment unit
and the tasks overlap, Project will not change the assignment to 25%
on one task during the overlap and then increase it to 100% after the
overlap. That kind of contour can only be set by you manually.

- For our operational tasks, some run over several days but only
take a few
hours actual/human resource time per day. I have set up a "server"
resource
which takes about 90% of the actual hours for the tasks, but need to
split
the remaining hours over the duration of the task in a configurable
manner.
E.g. for one three day task an operator would have to spend 4/1/3
hours, for
another 2 day task it could be 2/1 hours. Is there a way to set this
up?

[Julie] I would set the tasks as non-effort driven and then use the
task usage view to manually contour the operators work. You can enter
in specific amounts of work on specific days in the view.

Thanks in advance.

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

Julie
Project MVP

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