Resource Projects leveling
jb
being created. Already lots of resources are
overallocated. What is the best way to level all of these
projects? Also, how should I prioritize projects?
thx
jb
Dale Howard
I personally believe that the best way to level resource overallocations is
to try and avoid the overallocation in the first place. I know this sounds
ridiculous, but the time and frustration saved in avoiding resource
overallocations is more than worth the time spend doing it.
There are a number of tools built into Microsoft Project 2002 and Project
Web Access to determine levels of resource allocation BEFORE assigning a
resource to a task. These include:
1. In P2K2, the Availability to Work option and the Graphs option in the
Team Builder Wizard
2. In P2K2, the Availability to Work option in the Assign Resources dialog
box
3. In P2K2, the Resource Usage view with both the Work and Remaining
Availability fields displayed in the timephased grid
4. In PWA, the View Availability option in the Resource Center
5. In PWA, the View Resource Assignments section of the Resource Center
I often find that project managers are in a rush to make resource
assignments with Microsoft Project 2002, which is often a source of
overallocations. I believe it is worth the time to "slow down" and
determine if the desired resource is actually available, and how much they
are available, if at all. For example, if I need a certain resource to work
full-time next week, but I learn from studying the tool that they are
already booked for 4 hours of work each day in another project, then I
should not assign that resource more than 50% Units on the desired task.
This will probably increase the Duration if the Work estimate is known, but
at least now I have a realistic schedule, and no overallocation on that
assignment.
Another problem I see "out in the field" is that some project managers
totally ignore their company's methodologies for assigning resources, or
worse yet, their company has NO methodology for this process. The net
result is that many project managers routinely assign resources to 100%
Units on every task, even when the resource will not actually be working
full-time on the task. This is the source of many false overallocations,
and worse yet, corrupts the entire process for those who try to follow a
useful methodology.
I realize that this won't solve your immediate overallocation problems, but
it will give you some ideas on how to prevent the problems in the future.
On the other hand, for resolving resource overallocations, I recommend the
following method:
1. Open any project and apply the Resource Usage view
2. Select the most important resource and determine to which projects that
resource is assigned
3. Open each of the resource's assigned projects
4. Make sure the Resource Usage view is still applied
5. Select that resource, then click Tools - Level Resources
6. Deselect the "Clear leveling values before leveling" option
7. Set the Leveling Order to Priority, Standard (if you use Priority
numbers for projects or tasks)
8. In the Resolving Overallocations section, select only the "Leveling can
adjust individual assignments on a task" option and the "Leveling can create
splits in remaining work" option
9. Click the Level Now button
10. In the Level Now dialog box, select the "Selected resources" option and
then click OK
This resource's overallocations will be leveled in each open project. To
determine the effect of the leveling on this resource's assignments, apply
the Leveling Gantt view in each project. If the resource is inappropriately
leveled on any task assignment, do the following:
1. Select the task and click Tools - Level Resources
2. Click the Clear Leveling button
3. Select the "Selected tasks" button and click OK
4. Level the resource using any other manual method at your disposal
Once you have done these steps, go back to the Resource Usage view and
continue the process. There...that's my sermon on resource leveling for
tonight! Good luck!
--
Dale A. Howard
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
"jb" <anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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jb
created an admin project with all resources projected out
every day working on that task for 1 hr, because their
real availability is 7 hrs. Now they don't have to work on
it but I have told managers to use 87% as a full day, and
also we should never say 100% on a task. I guess I should
make the admin project priority 1000 so it does not get
changed. Is this a good method to always make sure the
units is less than 100% and prioritizing projects?
thx
jb
>.
>
Dale Howard
Unless you have a Project Management Office which enforces company
methodologies, your best bet for enforcing resource assignment methodologies
is the honor system. As far as prioritizing projects, your company might
form a group called the Project Management Council, which would be
responsible for prioritizing the entire portfolio of projects. The group
should include executives, people who are project stakeholders, senior
project managers, and others who should have input into this process. The
group should include people who have a clear vision of your company's
overall business goals and objectives, and who have the authority to apply
these to the prioritizing of projects. The group should probably have the
power to cancel projects that are not cost-beneficial to your company's
goals and objectives. Just a thought. As you can see, none of what I said
relates directly to Microsoft Project 2002 or Project Server. This is
entirely a project management methodology issue. Perhaps the others will
have an opinion, too. Hope this helps.
--
Dale A. Howard
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"
"jb" <anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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