Identifying Tasks with Overallocated Resources

[Salty]

I'd like to show a gantt chart view of tasks and have a way to identify which
tasks are assigned to overallocated resources. Is there a way to do that?

 

[John]

I'd like to show a gantt chart view of tasks and have a way to identify which
tasks are assigned to overallocated resources. Is there a way to do that?

Salty,
Here's one way to do it. There may be others.

Go to the Task Usage view. Use a spare flag field on task rows to
identify those tasks that have overallocated resources (resource
assignment lines show red). Then in the Gantt Chart view use that flag
field to either make a filter or set up custom formatting to color the
task name of tasks that have the flag set.

Hope this helps.

John
Project MVP

 

[Salty]

John,

Thanks for the response! Am I understanding you correctly that you are
proposing that I need to manually set a flag to identify those tasks? If so,
I was hoping to somehow use the fact that Project knows when a resource is
overallocated across all tasks that are overlapping and setting that flag
automatically. Is there a way to do that?

Thanks again.

 

[John]

John,

Thanks for the response! Am I understanding you correctly that you are
proposing that I need to manually set a flag to identify those tasks? If so,
I was hoping to somehow use the fact that Project knows when a resource is
overallocated across all tasks that are overlapping and setting that flag
automatically. Is there a way to do that?

Thanks again.

Salty,
You're welcome but first I need to correct something. When I answered
your post I didn't have Project open and was going from memory. Bad
idea, since my memory is faulty. The Task Usage view does NOT show
overallocated resources, the Resource Usage view does, so it is not as
simple as setting a task flag on the Task Usage view.

Let's try this again, now that I have Project running. The Resource
Usage view shows overallocated resources in red and it also shows the
assignments (i.e. tasks) for each overallocated resource. However, just
because a assignment task is shown under an overallocated resource, it
does not mean that all of those tasks have an overallocated resource
assigned. It may be that only a single hour, (or even a minute), of two
overlapping tasks are in fact causing the overallocation.

Let's remember that it is the resource that is overallocated, not the
task. So what if you do have a scheme to show on the Gantt Chart which
tasks have overallocated resources assigned? What exactly are you going
to do with that information? It's the wrong view to take any meaningful
action to resolve the overallocation. You could use the leveling
function to let Project resolve overallocations but sometimes the
results are not acceptable for various reasons. The best way to resolve
resource overallocations is to take a look at the Resource Usage view
and find out where the conflicts are and then making the necessary
adjustments to resolve the overalloation.

OK, that's the lecture, now let me answer your question. Is it possible
to automatically identify tasks with overallocated resources on the
Gantt Chart? Yes, but it will take some VBA to do so. You can't get
there with a filter or a formula. You could do it manually but by the
time you finish the analysis to identify which tasks to mark, you've
already essentially solved the overallocation problem.

John
Project MVP

 

[Salty]

John,

Thanks for the clarifications. They were very helpful. Regarding what I'm
trying to do with the information, this view is not meant for me to use to
take meaningful action, but rather as a presentation mechanism to senior
management to show where unrelated tasks are competing for the same
resource(s) and help with making decisions regarding which tasks to move
around. I've found that executives can relate better to a gantt-type
presentation because they can more easily understand the scheduling change
impacts of their decisions.

That's what my executives are looking for, but if you have other
suggestions, I'd certainly be willing to listen.

Thanks again.

 

[John]

John,

Thanks for the clarifications. They were very helpful. Regarding what I'm
trying to do with the information, this view is not meant for me to use to
take meaningful action, but rather as a presentation mechanism to senior
management to show where unrelated tasks are competing for the same
resource(s) and help with making decisions regarding which tasks to move
around. I've found that executives can relate better to a gantt-type
presentation because they can more easily understand the scheduling change
impacts of their decisions.

That's what my executives are looking for, but if you have other
suggestions, I'd certainly be willing to listen.

Thanks again.

Salty,
I understand. Executives always seem to want complex things simplified
but unfortunately that is not always realistically possible.

Without knowing a whole lot more about the complexity of your schedule,
doing exactly what you want might be fairly straightforward with VBA or
it could be a very complex analysis exercise. Try this, assuming your
schedule isn't overly complex, use a split view (Window/Split). Display
the normal Gantt Chart in the upper pane and the Resource Usage view in
the lower pane. As you select each task in the Gantt Chart you will see
the resource assignments for that task in the lower pane. If a resource
is overallocated, that resource will be flagged in red along with the
exact timeframe during which the overallocation occurs.

To somewhat simplify things a bit before you show the executives, go
through the schedule yourself and set a flag on all tasks where you find
an overallocated resource. Then filter on the flag in the Gantt Chart.
What you will have for executive review is a simplified Gantt Chart
showing only those tasks with overallocated resources and if you use the
split view, you will also see when the overallocation occurs.

See if that helps.

John
Project MVP