Tasks Priority

J

John Burrell

All,

Is there a way to weigh tasks? I have a situation where a
resource might be scheduled for a few tasks, then all of
sudden he/she is assigned to a higher priority task in
another project. I guess another questionis how does the
project priority field deal with say 300 current projects.
Thx
JB
 
D

Dale Howard

John --

Priority numbers can be set at both the project level and the task level.
To set a Priority for the project, click Project - Project Information, and
set the Priority number to a value between 0 (lowest) and 1000 (highest - do
not level). To set a priority number for a task, double-click the task, and
on the General page of the Task Information dialog box, set a Priority value
between 0 (lowest) and 1000 (highest - do not level).

IMPORTANT NOTE: When you level, if you want the Priority number to be the
first factor in the leveling process, you will need to set the Leveling
Order to "Priority, Standard" in the Resource Leveling dialog box.

If you attempt to level resource overallocations across multiple projects
using the software's built-in leveling tool, Microsoft Project 2002 will
first compare the Priority number of the project, with the highest priority
project getting the scarce resource first. If two projects have the same
Priority number, then the software will compare the Priority number of the
impacted tasks, again with the highest priority task getting the scarce
resource first. If the overallocation is occuring in a single project only,
then the software will compare the Priority number of the impacted tasks,
again with the highest priority task getting the scarce resource first. If
the Priority numbers are identical for all impacted tasks, then the software
will use other factors, such as Predecessors or Constraints, to determine
which task gets the scarce resource first.

Hope this helps.
 
J

John Burrell

Thanks Dale! Is part of the Admins job looking at the
priority list with all projects? Also, in PWA how do you
view projects by priority and list them in ascending or
descending order? Appreciate your expertise.
Thx
JB
 
D

Dale Howard

John --

Yes, I would say that part of the Admin's job COULD be to monitor the
priority list for your company's portfolio of projects, however, it should
probably NOT be the Admin's job to set those priorities. I believe that the
setting of priorities should be handled by someone like a project executive,
or program manager, or even a "leadership council" composed of key project
managers and executives. The setting of priorities for each project would
need to take into account the "big picture" of your company's business, and
consider factors like its goals and objectives for the fiscal year, the
potential ROI from the project, etc. Theoretically, the discussion of a
project's priority number might even lead to the project being cancelled
immediately because the ROI is too low or because it does not fit the
company's business mode, etc.

To assist your company's leaders with seeing the Priority number in the
Project Center views of PWA, you could do one of the following: (1) add the
Priority number field to each Project Center view, or (2) create one or more
new Views containing both the Priority number field and any other custom
Project fields that your company is using. Once the appropriate Views have
been edited or created, anyone displaying a Project Center view would be
able to apply grouping on the Priority field, or to sort the projects by
Priority number by clicking on the black header at the top of the column.
Clicking the header repeatedly will change the sorting from Ascending to
Descending, and vice versa. Hope this helps.
 
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