Allocating resources at different times to a task | MS-Project forum

Resolved · Urgent Priority · Version 2013

Fri 25 Oct 2013, 12:01 Delegate Nick said...

Nick has attended:
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Project Intermediate course

Allocating resources at different times to a task

Hi Doug

As discussed in class, here is the scenario I am faced with and what I have tried. There are 3 parts to this problem.

I have a Development Task that takes 45 man days to complete. The task starts on 1 October and I have the following resources to work on it:

Mohamed at 33%
David at 80%
Rahul at 80%
Lijie at 80% (works 3 days a week)
Dipali at 80% (works 3 days a week)

1. What is the correct way to allocate these resources? Each time I try different ways to allocate them Project comes up with a different calculated time. For example if you add them all in in 'Information' with %ges you get one result, if you add them one by one and then add %ges you gets a different result, sometime 6 days, then 15, then 60 then 100's, very hard to et a definitive result.

2. In November, 2 contractors will take over from the above team. What is the correct way to show this in project?

3. If Lijie goes on maternity leave from 14/10/13 to 14/10/14 and you enter this as an exception in her calendar, Project extends the end of the Development task to October 2014 till she gets back which is crazy. How do you make this work correctly?

Thanks

Fri 25 Oct 2013, 16:37 Trainer Doug said...

RE: Allocating resources at different times to a task

Hi Nick

I just tried out your example. Here is my suggerstion:

1. Change the the calendars for Lijie and Dipali to 3 day weeks (Thurs and Fri non working time for example).

2. For Lijie' maternity leave add an exception period 14/10/13 to 14/10/14 as you did.

3. Next make all the assignments with Task Information, Resource tab including Contractors 200%

4. Now use the Resource Usage View. This lists all the tasks by resource. As you discovered for Lijie she gets assigned in 2014 ! Simply type 0 for the hours in 2014. These get added to the Contractors.

5. To assign the work for the Contractors double click the task in Resource Usage and enter the Start Date as 1/11/13. Then enter the number of days work for the Contractor.

Note
It helps in your examle to change the setting for work to be in days rather than hours - File Options, Schedule tab, Work is entered in ...
Also to view the Gantt Chart with View Details ticked and to insert the Work field to the Gantt chart.

To summaries - Use the Resource Usage view to adjust the work period for the contractors and remove the extra work assigned after maternity leave by typing 0 hours.

Please let me know if any part didn't make sence.
Regards
Doug Dunn
Best STL

Fri 1 Nov 2013: Automatically marked as resolved.

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