Martin has attended:
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Project Intermediate course
Leveling with multiple resources
I am having some issues with leveling in MS Project. I am getting a few resouces that are over allocated even after resource levelling the whole project. I've detailed the gerenal setup of my schedule below.
1. There are 50 projects, with each project having numerous tasks, and approximately 30 resources (people) allocated to complete these tasks/projects.
2. The maximum number of units allocated for resource has been individually limited in the “Resource Sheet”, as resources do other roles in parallel.
3. Numerous tasks have numerous resources allocated in the “Resource Names” column. There are numerous combinations of resources allocated to tasks – and in multiple resources to individual tasks.
4. The availability of the resource has been limited within each task in the “Resource Names” column. This is not the same as the “Max Units”.
5. The principle is to allow a resource to work on numerous tasks at the same time and then the total number of tasks worked on at any given time is limited by the “Max Units” of the resource. the 'buttons'
Can Microsoft Project physically do what I am trying to achieve?
Am I approaching this the correct way?
Are there any 'buttons' that need to be turned on or off?
Thank you for your reply in advance.
RE: Leveling with multiple resources
Hi Martin
A good place to start would be the Resource Usage view either for a project where over allocation is taking place or for the combine plans.
This view will organise the plan by resource first, showing the work assigned by task by day.
Overallocated resources will be highlighted in red. It is possible them to see the collected tasks for a resource to see which ones are currently overallocated, where and why.
It may be that with multiple assignments to tasks MS Project is struggling to level without causing new problems elsewhere.
Check your levelling settings - if you are levelling within available slack for example Project has only a limited amount of flexibility to resolve the problem.
Remember that the only solution MS Project can offer to automatically deal with overallocation is to delay tasks until resources are no longer over allocated.
Extending the project may be acceptable but often it is not which means scope and resource variables might have to be adjusted and deadlines moved.
Although we can create a resource at 100% Max MS Project allows us to assign at more than this threshold. It doesn't limit our ability. Instead is just shows we won't have enough resource at a point (or points) of the schedule.
Last observation for now would be make sure Auto Leveling is turned off as it makes working with the software unwieldy.
It sounds like your goal is to say we have x% of a resource and ask Project to level or delay tasks until resources are working at their max capacity and no more.
This can get tricky if you have multiple assignments, and conflicting linking. Honouring the links and assignments may limit how much ms project can delay work.
A good rule of thumb would be to test assginments with a small set of tasks - to make sure you are happy with how Project is addressing the overallocation.
Does Resource Usage show where the problems might be?
Let me know what you find.
Kind regards,
Andrew
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