Does leveling really work??

[Brian]

I am sure it is user error, but I need to find my problem (no smart comments
please).

I am attempting to level multiple (8 files) projects using a common resource
pool.
I use project priorities, task priorities (except 1000), only soft
contraints (no musts), and all my task types are fixed work (majority) or
fixed duration (for meetings).

The total number of tasks is about 5000 with 25 resources. Each task is
assigned multiple resources.

Leveling many times leaves
1) resources overallocated within a week (using day to day)
2) large gaps where resources aren't utilized at all.

It appears that 2) is caused by MSP requiring that all the resources start a
task on the same data.
-----that is not necessary for these software development tasks.
-----Can I change this behavior with some setting I can't find?

I also need help with 1).

Thanks for any and all help.
I hate manually leveling this many tasks. :-O

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Brian,

Sure, Levelig works, but as you discover, it has its rules...
The easy question is the one about simultaneous assignments. There is a
checkbox in the leveling form ruling that (Leveling can adjust individual
assignments on a task). Check that on and simultaneity is no longer
required.
But by all means, there may always be underallocations since leveling
doesn't even try to resolve these. It will give you a "decent" solution but
not necessarily the "best" one.

As for incomplete leveling, there may be several possibilities. Leveling
cannot handle a situation where an overallocation is caused by task with
assignment units over the Max Units of the resource (since it never ever
changes assignment units) - this is the most common cause. Also actual work
is never moved, and be cautious about contoured availability ...

Often I invite people to send me the file so that I can really "level day by
day" using the to-from setting and find out how a problem occurs but with
your volumes that is not realistic I'm afraid.

Hope this helps,

 

[Brian]

Thanks. I will make the necessary change on the leveling dialog box and
check my units.

As far as units, I always use hours and my resources have max utilizations
of between 50% and 90% with a standard calendar of 5, 8 hour days. I think
this should be fine.

Thanks again, I will post how this affected the leveling.

 

[Brian]

Jan,

This simple change corrected my problem. Thank you very much.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

You're very welcome Brian.
And to all other readers: Leveling DOES work, you see.

 

[Seann]

Is there a reason Project doesn't try to resolve Underallocations? Was this
purposely left out? Ive found scenarious where I've had to manually drag and
drop tasks around to resolve this.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

It is programmed to resolve overallocations, full stop :-(

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

For what it's worth I think they purposely left out resolving
underallocations because it seems like if a resource worked an 8 hour day
but you only assigned him to a task at 50% you must have had a good reason
to do it that way and the leveling engine shouldn't second guess you on it.
People often have other duties that aren't part of the project "universe"
and MS Project won't know anything about them. Just because he's currently
only assigned to Project tasks for 4 hours a day doesn't mean he's sitting
around twiddling his thumbs the other 4. He's probably doing other things
that aren't part of the project and don't appear anywhere in the project
schedule.

 

[Risa]

not resolving underallocation for specific assignments - it is clear.
What I miss is automatic "shrinking" of tasks. I run project - effort driven
tasks. Planned tasks durations are based on estimated work. As project runs
and resources report back actual hours and status, it happens often the
estimated work was overestimated. When i report task completed and actually
less effort than estimated was needed, then gap in assignment of the resource
is created. During the project I have many such a gaps created every day due
to the work overestimation but I do not know how to handle them.
Any idea?

For what it's worth I think they purposely left out resolving
underallocations because it seems like if a resource worked an 8 hour day
but you only assigned him to a task at 50% you must have had a good reason
to do it that way and the leveling engine shouldn't second guess you on it.
People often have other duties that aren't part of the project "universe"
and MS Project won't know anything about them. Just because he's currently
only assigned to Project tasks for 4 hours a day doesn't mean he's sitting
around twiddling his thumbs the other 4. He's probably doing other things
that aren't part of the project and don't appear anywhere in the project
schedule.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Is there a reason Project doesn't try to resolve Underallocations? Was
this
purposely left out? Ive found scenarious where I've had to manually drag
and
drop tasks around to resolve this.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Risa,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Yes it does, but you have to instigate it. When you get actual and
completed task data and enter them into your project, you then need to
reschedule uncompleted work to start from the status date. Then you
re-level to get what you want. A starter guide for this I've detailed in my
series on Microsoft Project in the TechTrax ezine, particularly #, at this
site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

not resolving underallocation for specific assignments - it is clear.
What I miss is automatic "shrinking" of tasks. I run project - effort
driven tasks. Planned tasks durations are based on estimated work. As
project runs and resources report back actual hours and status, it
happens often the estimated work was overestimated. When i report
task completed and actually less effort than estimated was needed,
then gap in assignment of the resource is created. During the project
I have many such a gaps created every day due to the work
overestimation but I do not know how to handle them.
Any idea?

For what it's worth I think they purposely left out resolving
underallocations because it seems like if a resource worked an 8
hour day but you only assigned him to a task at 50% you must have
had a good reason to do it that way and the leveling engine
shouldn't second guess you on it. People often have other duties
that aren't part of the project "universe" and MS Project won't know
anything about them. Just because he's currently only assigned to
Project tasks for 4 hours a day doesn't mean he's sitting around
twiddling his thumbs the other 4. He's probably doing other things
that aren't part of the project and don't appear anywhere in the
project schedule. --
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Is there a reason Project doesn't try to resolve Underallocations?
Was this
purposely left out? Ive found scenarious where I've had to manually
drag and
drop tasks around to resolve this.

:

But by all means, there may always be underallocations since
leveling doesn't even try to resolve these. It will give you a
"decent" solution but
not necessarily the "best" one.

 

[Risa]

Hi Glen, i see your point but I do not use clear leveling option. That is why
re-leveling will not solve these gaps. I cannot use clear leveling option
since it always completely reshufles all the planned tasks. I'd like to keep
my plan stable especially from current date to nearest future (two or three
weeks). Unfortunately this is the interval where actual work is being
reported and where most of the gaps is created.

Thanks a lot for your comment.

Mike Glen píše:

Hi Risa,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Yes it does, but you have to instigate it. When you get actual and
completed task data and enter them into your project, you then need to
reschedule uncompleted work to start from the status date. Then you
re-level to get what you want. A starter guide for this I've detailed in my
series on Microsoft Project in the TechTrax ezine, particularly #, at this
site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

not resolving underallocation for specific assignments - it is clear.
What I miss is automatic "shrinking" of tasks. I run project - effort
driven tasks. Planned tasks durations are based on estimated work. As
project runs and resources report back actual hours and status, it
happens often the estimated work was overestimated. When i report
task completed and actually less effort than estimated was needed,
then gap in assignment of the resource is created. During the project
I have many such a gaps created every day due to the work
overestimation but I do not know how to handle them.
Any idea?

For what it's worth I think they purposely left out resolving
underallocations because it seems like if a resource worked an 8
hour day but you only assigned him to a task at 50% you must have
had a good reason to do it that way and the leveling engine
shouldn't second guess you on it. People often have other duties
that aren't part of the project "universe" and MS Project won't know
anything about them. Just because he's currently only assigned to
Project tasks for 4 hours a day doesn't mean he's sitting around
twiddling his thumbs the other 4. He's probably doing other things
that aren't part of the project and don't appear anywhere in the
project schedule. --
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs



Is there a reason Project doesn't try to resolve Underallocations?
Was this
purposely left out? Ive found scenarious where I've had to manually
drag and
drop tasks around to resolve this.

:

But by all means, there may always be underallocations since
leveling doesn't even try to resolve these. It will give you a
"decent" solution but
not necessarily the "best" one.

 

[Mike Glen]

Well Risa, if you don't use the facilities provided within Project, I don't
see how we can help! You could always set the Status Date to 2 -3 weeks
hence and then reschedule and then relevel.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

Hi Glen, i see your point but I do not use clear leveling option.
That is why re-leveling will not solve these gaps. I cannot use clear
leveling option since it always completely reshufles all the planned
tasks. I'd like to keep my plan stable especially from current date
to nearest future (two or three weeks). Unfortunately this is the
interval where actual work is being reported and where most of the
gaps is created.

Thanks a lot for your comment.

Mike Glen píše:

Hi Risa,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Yes it does, but you have to instigate it. When you get actual and
completed task data and enter them into your project, you then need
to reschedule uncompleted work to start from the status date. Then
you re-level to get what you want. A starter guide for this I've
detailed in my series on Microsoft Project in the TechTrax ezine,
particularly #, at this site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be
seen at this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

not resolving underallocation for specific assignments - it is
clear. What I miss is automatic "shrinking" of tasks. I run project
- effort driven tasks. Planned tasks durations are based on
estimated work. As project runs and resources report back actual
hours and status, it happens often the estimated work was
overestimated. When i report task completed and actually less
effort than estimated was needed, then gap in assignment of the
resource is created. During the project I have many such a gaps
created every day due to the work overestimation but I do not know
how to handle them.
Any idea?


:

For what it's worth I think they purposely left out resolving
underallocations because it seems like if a resource worked an 8
hour day but you only assigned him to a task at 50% you must have
had a good reason to do it that way and the leveling engine
shouldn't second guess you on it. People often have other duties
that aren't part of the project "universe" and MS Project won't
know anything about them. Just because he's currently only
assigned to Project tasks for 4 hours a day doesn't mean he's
sitting around twiddling his thumbs the other 4. He's probably
doing other things that aren't part of the project and don't
appear anywhere in the project schedule. --
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs



Is there a reason Project doesn't try to resolve Underallocations?
Was this
purposely left out? Ive found scenarious where I've had to
manually drag and
drop tasks around to resolve this.

:

But by all means, there may always be underallocations since
leveling doesn't even try to resolve these. It will give you a
"decent" solution but
not necessarily the "best" one.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Risa:

You might feel differently about this if you level one resource at a time.
Try it.

Hi Glen, i see your point but I do not use clear leveling option. That is
why
re-leveling will not solve these gaps. I cannot use clear leveling option
since it always completely reshufles all the planned tasks. I'd like to
keep
my plan stable especially from current date to nearest future (two or
three
weeks). Unfortunately this is the interval where actual work is being
reported and where most of the gaps is created.

Thanks a lot for your comment.

Mike Glen píse:

Hi Risa,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Yes it does, but you have to instigate it. When you get actual and
completed task data and enter them into your project, you then need to
reschedule uncompleted work to start from the status date. Then you
re-level to get what you want. A starter guide for this I've detailed in
my
series on Microsoft Project in the TechTrax ezine, particularly #, at
this
site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen
at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

not resolving underallocation for specific assignments - it is clear.
What I miss is automatic "shrinking" of tasks. I run project - effort
driven tasks. Planned tasks durations are based on estimated work. As
project runs and resources report back actual hours and status, it
happens often the estimated work was overestimated. When i report
task completed and actually less effort than estimated was needed,
then gap in assignment of the resource is created. During the project
I have many such a gaps created every day due to the work
overestimation but I do not know how to handle them.
Any idea?


:

For what it's worth I think they purposely left out resolving
underallocations because it seems like if a resource worked an 8
hour day but you only assigned him to a task at 50% you must have
had a good reason to do it that way and the leveling engine
shouldn't second guess you on it. People often have other duties
that aren't part of the project "universe" and MS Project won't know
anything about them. Just because he's currently only assigned to
Project tasks for 4 hours a day doesn't mean he's sitting around
twiddling his thumbs the other 4. He's probably doing other things
that aren't part of the project and don't appear anywhere in the
project schedule. --
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs



Is there a reason Project doesn't try to resolve Underallocations?
Was this
purposely left out? Ive found scenarious where I've had to manually
drag and
drop tasks around to resolve this.

:

But by all means, there may always be underallocations since
leveling doesn't even try to resolve these. It will give you a
"decent" solution but
not necessarily the "best" one.