Simultaneous tasks allocated to a resource

[matthewg156]

I have a very simple scenarion:

Summary Task (duration 1 day)
- Task 1 (duration 1 day)
- Task 2 (duration 1 day)
- Task 3 (duration 1 day)

If I assign resource Bob to each of these tasks, the summary task reflects a
duration of 1 day. But Bob can't do all of these tasks at the same time! I.e.
the problem here seems to be that project doesn't take into account
scheduling on a resource basis.

I don't want to have to assign dependencies, because in reality there aren't
any, i.e., task 2 does not depend on task 1, etc - they can be done in any
order.

Is there any way to get project to add the summary task duration taking into
account resource allocation?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

That is what Resouirce <leveling is all about: Tools, Resource Leveling...
Level Now

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[matthewg156]

Hi Jan

Would levelling be the best practice solution? The problem with levelling is
that it then sets the time of the tasks to stagger them. This limits
flexibility. I.e. if I then move the task to another resource, we now have an
artifical time limitation created. I thought the whole philosophy behind
project was to avoid setting start and finish times / dates to maintain
schedule flexibility?

The other problem with levelling is that it does more than just stagger
tasks timings. I know you can disable some of the levelling options, but I'm
a bit nervous to level all my resources (300+ task project).

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Leveling does not set any date: it sets a delay which is added to the normal
date.
That is why Clear Leveling is complete and very very rapid: I saw leveling
oif an 18000 tasks project take 20 minutes, clear leveling less than a
second.

When you change the allocation of a resource just level again with the
option "Clear leveling before..."

The anly alternative is to do theh same manually!
--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[Dave]

Levelling does nothing more than delay tasks. It can do interesting
things to large projects but they can always be undone by removing the
delay.

The point of dynamic scheduling is that you yourself should not be
setting start and stop times, but rather letting the application do it
for you.

The plan is meant to be a plan. That is, it is meant to describe who
does what and when. If you do change the resource on an activity, then
you can simply level again and let the application calculate the schedule.

If your plan is that your resource can work on any of the 3 tasks, then
you need to increase their duration to three days so that the
level-of-effort on each of them is reduced to 33%. Then your resource
will be able to swap between them (although my view would normally be
that it is better to concentrate on one of them until it is finished).

 

[matthewg156]

Thanks Dave.

Where is this 'delay' entered? Is it viewable in the task information
somewhere?

 

[Dave]

Normally you don't edit it manually although I do for some of my plans.
The delay is the lag that Project introduces when you press the "Level
Now" button.

If you want to see the effects of levelling or even tinker with the
delay yourself, you can insert the "Levelling Delay" column.