Ways to fill in available gap for a resource

[Kendra]

Hi,

I have a resource named, say Sam who has a management task A & a non-mgmt
task B:

Task A, at 20%, 8 work hour, Start=10/1/Thu, Finish=10/7/Wed, no predecessor

Task B, at 100%, 32 work hours, (no predecessor, therefore it can be started
anytime, preferably to utilize the remaining 80% available time, so that it
too can start on 10/1.)

When I level Sam the schedule puts Task A from 10/1 - 10/7 then pushes Task
B starts from 10/8 - 10/14. I need task A to start 10/1 as well. In the
resource sheet, Sam has 100% unit allocation for the entire duration of the
project - 2 years.

I know that if I put 80% for task B,it will fill in some of those available
time slot but then I have to create another task to fill at 100% after 10/7.
I am basically doing the manual leveling for MS Project - very crude and
cruel I must say if I have to do this for 10+ management tasks & 300
non-management tasks among 10+ resource at wide range of time frames.

I'm sure this is a common situation for many other projects as well. Could
someone PLEASE let me know if you have suggestions/solutions?

Thanks!
Kendra

 

[Rod Gill]

Firstly I only level to hours per week. Leveling daily will send you crazy!
In your scenario I would either ignore management tasks and set max units to
80% (unless you need to account for their cost top your project) or reserve
20% for management tasks and only ever assign "real work" at 80%. Yes you
will get some gaps this way, but week by week it shouldn't be too bad. I
would never use automatic Leveling.

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

Hi,

I have a resource named, say Sam who has a management task A & a non-mgmt
task B:

Task A, at 20%, 8 work hour, Start=10/1/Thu, Finish=10/7/Wed, no
predecessor

Task B, at 100%, 32 work hours, (no predecessor, therefore it can be
started
anytime, preferably to utilize the remaining 80% available time, so that
it
too can start on 10/1.)

When I level Sam the schedule puts Task A from 10/1 - 10/7 then pushes
Task
B starts from 10/8 - 10/14. I need task A to start 10/1 as well. In the
resource sheet, Sam has 100% unit allocation for the entire duration of
the
project - 2 years.

I know that if I put 80% for task B,it will fill in some of those
available
time slot but then I have to create another task to fill at 100% after
10/7.
I am basically doing the manual leveling for MS Project - very crude and
cruel I must say if I have to do this for 10+ management tasks & 300
non-management tasks among 10+ resource at wide range of time frames.

I'm sure this is a common situation for many other projects as well.
Could
someone PLEASE let me know if you have suggestions/solutions?

Thanks!
Kendra

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[Kendra]

Hi Rod,

Thanks for your reply!!! I was on my wits end with this problem.
I was actually leveling hour by hour, not even day by day.

I tried leveling day by day or week by week (this one actually pushed the
schedule out even further which defeats my purpose, I am trying to
bridge/fill in the gaps to bring in the phase finish date to sooner rather
than later).

Thank you very much for your reply and your time!

Best,
Kendra

 

[Steve House]

Just to be clear, once again. Leveling DOES NOT fill in gaps. Leveling
only delays work to resolve overallocations, it only moves work later, never
earlier. It ONLY looks at overallocations, NEVER underallocations.
Resource leveling and resource optimization are two entirely different
things and Project is only aware of the former.

 

[Kendra]

Steve,

Thanks for that clarification!!!

You probably saw this coming... Do you have any tricks/tips on how to fill
in those available time slots for those under-allocated resources without
manual intervention - manipulate the start/finish dates for all tasks
assigned under per resource to bring in the finish date closer to the left
side of calendar.

This forum is AWSOME!!! I APPRECIATE everyone's feedback, with such a quick
turn around.

Thanks,
Candra

 

[Steve House]

Sorry, but there are no tips and tricks because it is impossible to do it
without manual intervention. Period. The software is not programmed to do
what you want it to. The ONLY way to do it is manually,

 

[Kendra]

THANKS STEVE!!!
Guess no "Easy Button" for this one.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,
Candra