Allocation percentage changing

[Wade]

I have what I consider to be a basic project. The resources (they are
people) are set-up permanently at either 75% or 88%. The project is set-up
to use automatic leveling and everything is fixed units and effort driven. I
think everything else is set to default values. Evrything works fine except
one thing. When I assign a resource to a task that has less than 7 hours on
it the allocation for the resource is automatically lowered to match the
percentage of time it would take to complete the task. For example, when I
assign a resource to a task that has work of 2 hours, it changes the resource
to 25%. If I then reselect that same resource, the 75% or 88% shows back up
again. Any ideas why this happens? I have tried messing with various
options including the effort driven option and it always does the same thing
(changes my resource allocation the first time it is assigned). I am using
Project 2003.

 

[Steve House]

I think you're mixing Work and Duration here. An hour of work is not
necessarily an hour of duration, so that 2 hour WORK task has what DURATION?
If it takes 2 hours to do and requires 2 man-hours of work, the resource is
100%. If it takes 8 working hours by the clock to do and requires 2
man-hours of full-time equivalent work effort (ie, could have been done in 2
hours by one man working at full capacity without distractions from other
duties) the resource is assigned 25%.

Effort driven settings doen't come into play with this sort of thing. The
distinction between effort driven and non-effort driven affects what happens
when you already have resources on a task and are adding or removing
additional resources to it - adding a second painter means you get the wall
done sooner (effort driven); adding an additional attendeee to a meeting
does NOT mean it will it take less time (non-effort driven).

 

[Wade]

Thanks for the response. This helped point me in the right direction. I was
completely ignoring the duration column which was set to 1 day for
everything. If I enter all of my hours in the duration as hours and not in
the work, this solves most of my issue. Unfortunately, it does not sum the
duration hours on the summary tasks so to get the summed hours, and resolve
my previous issue, I will just enter the hours in both the duration and the
work columns.

Thanks for your help.

Wade

I think you're mixing Work and Duration here. An hour of work is not
necessarily an hour of duration, so that 2 hour WORK task has what DURATION?
If it takes 2 hours to do and requires 2 man-hours of work, the resource is
100%. If it takes 8 working hours by the clock to do and requires 2
man-hours of full-time equivalent work effort (ie, could have been done in 2
hours by one man working at full capacity without distractions from other
duties) the resource is assigned 25%.

Effort driven settings doen't come into play with this sort of thing. The
distinction between effort driven and non-effort driven affects what happens
when you already have resources on a task and are adding or removing
additional resources to it - adding a second painter means you get the wall
done sooner (effort driven); adding an additional attendeee to a meeting
does NOT mean it will it take less time (non-effort driven).
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I have what I consider to be a basic project. The resources (they are
people) are set-up permanently at either 75% or 88%. The project is
set-up
to use automatic leveling and everything is fixed units and effort driven.
I
think everything else is set to default values. Evrything works fine
except
one thing. When I assign a resource to a task that has less than 7 hours
on
it the allocation for the resource is automatically lowered to match the
percentage of time it would take to complete the task. For example, when
I
assign a resource to a task that has work of 2 hours, it changes the
resource
to 25%. If I then reselect that same resource, the 75% or 88% shows back
up
again. Any ideas why this happens? I have tried messing with various
options including the effort driven option and it always does the same
thing
(changes my resource allocation the first time it is assigned). I am
using
Project 2003.

 

[Steve House]

Actually the common practice is to enter the duration estimates and assign
the resource. Project will calculate the man-hours of work for you and sum
them into the summary tasks as you desire. You need to get very very clear
just exactly what you're thinking about when you are estimating "my hours" -
is it work man-hours (a measure of sweat) or clock hours (a measure of
time)?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Thanks for the response. This helped point me in the right direction. I
was
completely ignoring the duration column which was set to 1 day for
everything. If I enter all of my hours in the duration as hours and not
in
the work, this solves most of my issue. Unfortunately, it does not sum
the
duration hours on the summary tasks so to get the summed hours, and
resolve
my previous issue, I will just enter the hours in both the duration and
the
work columns.

Thanks for your help.

Wade

I think you're mixing Work and Duration here. An hour of work is not
necessarily an hour of duration, so that 2 hour WORK task has what
DURATION?
If it takes 2 hours to do and requires 2 man-hours of work, the resource
is
100%. If it takes 8 working hours by the clock to do and requires 2
man-hours of full-time equivalent work effort (ie, could have been done
in 2
hours by one man working at full capacity without distractions from other
duties) the resource is assigned 25%.

Effort driven settings doen't come into play with this sort of thing.
The
distinction between effort driven and non-effort driven affects what
happens
when you already have resources on a task and are adding or removing
additional resources to it - adding a second painter means you get the
wall
done sooner (effort driven); adding an additional attendeee to a meeting
does NOT mean it will it take less time (non-effort driven).
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

I have what I consider to be a basic project. The resources (they are
people) are set-up permanently at either 75% or 88%. The project is
set-up
to use automatic leveling and everything is fixed units and effort
driven.
I
think everything else is set to default values. Evrything works fine
except
one thing. When I assign a resource to a task that has less than 7
hours
on
it the allocation for the resource is automatically lowered to match
the
percentage of time it would take to complete the task. For example,
when
I
assign a resource to a task that has work of 2 hours, it changes the
resource
to 25%. If I then reselect that same resource, the 75% or 88% shows
back
up
again. Any ideas why this happens? I have tried messing with various
options including the effort driven option and it always does the same
thing
(changes my resource allocation the first time it is assigned). I am
using
Project 2003.