2007 capacity planning

[Kerry]

we've finally got our management team looking a at resrouce capacity But,
we use generic resrouces when we're not sure who is going to perform a task.
Then prior to the task becoming active, we force a real beating heart on the
task.

Here's the question. Using Resource Center, they are selecting all their
resources, to see what they have on their plate. To see everything, they
include the generic resources. For instance, if they're our DBA team, they
select all the DBA's, and the generic DBA's. In some cases we have identified
multiple generics for one team, due to the different skill sets. So there
could be a number of generics.

Here's the problem. The generics are set 80% available units, just like the
real resources, so assiging a generic won't impact schedules. What that does
increase the teams capacity in resource center (which really isn't true). Is
there any way around the capacity being overstated, with generics, without a
negative impact on the schedules? I'm guessiing we can't have our cake and
eat it too.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Kerry --

You are describing one of the limitations of using Generic resources in
Project Server 2007. You have clearly stated that you cannot have your cake
and eat it, too. I know of no way to work around the limitation when you
select both human resources and Generic resources at the same time in the
Resource Center page, and then view availability. A better approach might
be to select ONLY human resources, analyze availability, deselect the humans
and select ONLY Generic resources, and view availability again. This way
you won't compare "apples to organges" so to speak. Hope this helps.

 

[Kerry]

Dale,
Thanks for confirming for me. I appreciate it.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

Kerry:

You should also look at the Portfolio Analyzer as you can segment your
resources by filtering out Generics, or creating a view for Generic only.

--
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Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com
Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
Project Server Help Blog: http://www.projectserverhelp.com

 

[Darrell]

All,

I have a question about generic availablity that kind of fits this post. I
set my generic resource "Max Units" to 0% and their "Booking Type" to
Proposed. Now I can assign work and it will show in my reports as demand but
the generics have no availability so they do not add to my capacity. Is there
a down side to this set up that I am going to regret later?

Darrell

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

Darrell:

I don't think there is a right or wrong to this, only consequences of each
decision. If you want to use generic resources to calculate capacity then
this obviously doesn't work. By using only active actual resources, you
can't account for any Open-to-hires, (alleged capacity, if you will) but
this may not be an issue for you.

--
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Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com
Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
Project Server Help Blog: http://www.projectserverhelp.com

 

[Darrell]

Gary,

Thx for the reply. I just wanted to be sure I was not setting myself up for
an issue down the road when I might need to know generic capacity. Right now
I only use generics to show demand and enterprise resources to calculate
capacity.

Thx again,
Darrell