Thoughts on improving Capacity Planning in Server 2007

[mike]

Need: Customer would like to improve capacity planning for resources
using P.Server 2007.

Issue:Customer is unable to accurately identify the planned work hours
for tasks since most project are first time/first use

Result:Task Types are set to fixed duration, and resources are
assigned. The resource may only be needed for 2 hours, but are
assigned to tasks at 100% max units. Resources are assigned to
several tasks each day. All resources are over allocated.

Looking for any ideas as to how they could improve resourcing so that
the benefits of project server with regard to capacity planning can be
realized.

Thanks

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mike --

Although your customer's intention to do capacity planning is a very good
thing, it is being subverted by how your PMs assign resources to tasks. If
a resource is only going to work part-time on a task, the PM must ALWAYS
assign the resource at Units less than 100%, reflecting the percentage of
their work day they will actually commit to the task. For example, if I
have a Fixed Duration task with a Duration of 5 days, and I need a resource
to work 10 hours over those 5 days, I need to assign the resource at 25%
Units. When I do so, other PMs will be able to see a "pocket" of Remaining
Availability of 6 hours per day over those 5 days. So, your client's
current practice is simply unacceptable in a Project Server 2007
environment, as they are purposely and willfully overallocating resources.
Hope this helps.

 

[mike]

Mike --

Although your customer's intention to do capacity planning is a very good
thing, it is being subverted by how your PMs assign resources to tasks.  If
a resource is only going to work part-time on a task, the PM must ALWAYS
assign the resource at Units less than 100%, reflecting the percentage of
their work day they will actually commit to the task.  For example, if I
have a Fixed Duration task with a Duration of 5 days, and I need a resource
to work 10 hours over those 5 days, I need to assign the resource at 25%
Units.  When I do so, other PMs will be able to see a "pocket" of Remaining
Availability of 6 hours per day over those 5 days.  So, your client's
current practice is simply unacceptable in a Project Server 2007
environment, as they are purposely and willfully overallocating resources..
Hope this helps.

Thanks Dale. I discussed with them if a resources max units would
remain the same across all projects, then at the enterprise level
adjust, but they were unable to.

My fear is that they will not even be able to accurately set the max
unit on a task by tak level due to
1. Feeling as it is too much work
2.that they will be tied to any work hr projections.

If they are unable to do what you are proposing, they are butchering
the app.

 

[Marc Soester [MVP]]

Hi Mike,

additionally to Gary and Dales post you may want to consider the Resource
Plan functionality in Project Server 2007. I know some of my customers use
this to have a "High level" view of the availabillity of resources. It
certainly is not as accurate as planning the resources on a task level, but
afterall it is capacity planning and I would assume that a high level
overview is better than nothing.
The Resource plan lets the PM decide how many FTE's (or hours, days) he/she
needs to implement a project. At the same time you can tell Project Server to
use the Resource plan to calculate the availabillity of your resources.
May be a good first step. After a while you will see that your PM's will
want to be more precise and thats when you can introduce the task based
assignment / or a combination of both Resource Plan and task assignements
Hope this helps
Marc

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mike --

Users cannot permanently set the Max. Units value for an enterprise resource
in an enterprise project, but they can set the Max. Units value temporarily.
If they go to the Resource Sheet view, you will see that you can temporarily
edit the Max. Units value for resources. However, the next time you open
the project, the values revert back to those in the Enterprise Resource
Pool.

When a user assigns a resource on a task, they are setting the Units value,
not the Max. Units value. Given your dilemma, however, using the incorrect
term is the least of your problems. It sounds like the customer's
organization does not have the discipline to use Project Server 2007
properly, which does not bode well for your implementation. Hope this
helps.

Mike --

Although your customer's intention to do capacity planning is a very good
thing, it is being subverted by how your PMs assign resources to tasks. If
a resource is only going to work part-time on a task, the PM must ALWAYS
assign the resource at Units less than 100%, reflecting the percentage of
their work day they will actually commit to the task. For example, if I
have a Fixed Duration task with a Duration of 5 days, and I need a
resource
to work 10 hours over those 5 days, I need to assign the resource at 25%
Units. When I do so, other PMs will be able to see a "pocket" of Remaining
Availability of 6 hours per day over those 5 days. So, your client's
current practice is simply unacceptable in a Project Server 2007
environment, as they are purposely and willfully overallocating resources.
Hope this helps.

Thanks Dale. I discussed with them if a resources max units would
remain the same across all projects, then at the enterprise level
adjust, but they were unable to.

My fear is that they will not even be able to accurately set the max
unit on a task by tak level due to
1. Feeling as it is too much work
2.that they will be tied to any work hr projections.

If they are unable to do what you are proposing, they are butchering
the app.