Concurrent Tasks

[TJO]

Can someone please advise me on how to handle this situation?

I want to schedule concurrent "Fixed Duration" tasks often with the same
resource. These tasks are fluid in time requirments so the resource will
adjust their daily time allotted to each task at their discretion in order
to work within the time duration of the task. Once complete the task list I
want the resource leveler to adjust the units for the resource for me so
they do not appear overallocated.

Is this possible? Is there a better way to approach this scenario in MS
Project?

Thanks for the advise.

 

[Gérard Ducouret]

Hello,

As a first estimate, you can assign the resource on each task with the
number of Units which looks the most likely : may be 50/50 on 2 tasks, or
[0.6] on one task and [0.4] on the other one.
To enter the actual work on a day by day basis, you choose the Ressource
Usage View where you display, beside the (scheduled) work, the Actual Work :
Format / Detail Styles... / Show...

Hope this helps,

Gérard Ducouret

 

[TJO]

I have attempted to use that view however have noticed that if I reduce the
amount of time a resource works on a task in order to reduce the daily
allocation the total hours for that task is reduced!! What I hoped it would
to is simply extend the duration of the task but not reduce the hours.

Hello,

As a first estimate, you can assign the resource on each task with the
number of Units which looks the most likely : may be 50/50 on 2 tasks, or
[0.6] on one task and [0.4] on the other one.
To enter the actual work on a day by day basis, you choose the Ressource
Usage View where you display, beside the (scheduled) work, the Actual Work :
Format / Detail Styles... / Show...

Hope this helps,

Gérard Ducouret

Can someone please advise me on how to handle this situation?

I want to schedule concurrent "Fixed Duration" tasks often with the same
resource. These tasks are fluid in time requirments so the resource will
adjust their daily time allotted to each task at their discretion in order
to work within the time duration of the task. Once complete the task

list

I
want the resource leveler to adjust the units for the resource for me so
they do not appear overallocated.

Is this possible? Is there a better way to approach this scenario in MS
Project?

Thanks for the advise.

 

[Steve House]

It is not possible to have the resource leveler do it automatically.
Resource leveling does only one thing - it delays work. Resource is
assigned to two one-day tasks on Monday, each at 100%. Resource
leveling moves one of them to Tuesday, assuming it's free. That's all
it's designed to do and it never adjusts assignment units. Sorry...

Project will calculate a schedule but you have to make the management
decisions such as how much the resource needs to work on something and
when.

The better way is to proactively manage the tasks and resources. A
project plan is more than a list of tasks to do and dates they are due.
It is a detailed model of the processes required to accomplish a job of
work in the most efficient manner possible. So to that end, instead of
just saying "I need you to do X, Y, and Z by Friday" be a little more
directing it terms of what specifically you need done and when the
resource is required to do it.

Why fixed duration? IMHO, that is a terribly over-used option. If
someone needs to do a task that is expected to take 4 hours to complete,
the duration of that task is 4 hours if they devote full time to it, 8
hours if they only devote half time to it, etc. A project plan should
be based on an accurate estimate of how long each element will take and
when the actual activity will happen. If the earliest I can start a
task is on Monday that will take 4 hours of work, once started I'll
devote full attention to it until it is done, and it's due on Friday,
the duration is NOT 5 days, it's 4 hours. If relevant I can express the
Friday due date in the project plan as a deadline.

 

[Sarah]

If you want Project to extend the duration of a task instead of
lowering the hours, then you shouldn't set it as Fixed Duration. It
should be a Fixed Work task. This tells Project that it can move the
finish date, as long as the amount of work on the task remains
constant. Fixed Duration tells Project that it must keep the duration
the same length no matter what other changes you make to the task.

Sarah
sarah_kiko@(removethis)cinfin.com