I'm embarassed to even ask.....

[D_M_Finn]

I've had Project 98 on this computer for a long time, and have used it so
infrequently that I haven't spent the money to upgrade it (please don't tell
me that an upgrade is the first step to fixing my problem!)

I've scheduled a bunch of tasks without predecessors or successors, assigned
them all to one resource (me!), I then clicked on resource leveling. I
expected to see the tasks dealt out over the coming days, but instead all
tasks show one hour worked today, then the balance of the time spread out
over the coming weeks (with dots "......" between today and the ultimate
work day).

Is there any way to have Project 98 just schedule out the tasks
sequentially? I'd rather not set depencendies, and just let the resource
calendar limitations (one person, normal work day) feed the resource
leveling result.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Dave

 

[Dave W]

I think you need to take the tutorials and read the Help section. That's not
really the function of resource leveling.

Did you assign a duration to each task? How is Project supposed to know how
long each task will take? You also need to tell it which tasks are dependent
on other tasks so it knows which ones can be done in parallel and which ones
have to be done in sequence.

 

[D_M_Finn]

When I added the tasks (about 30 of them) I set them up with 1-day duration
each. Also, there are no dependencies.

Since I'm the resource assigned to each task, and I defined myself as being
only one unit, I expected each task to be scheduled on a different day
through the end of the project.

Instead, it's telling me to put in one hour on all tasks from 8:00 to 9:00am
on the first day, then to finish task one on that day, put seven hours into
task two on the second day, etc...

It then tells me that it can't resolve the overallocation on day 1!

Dave

(I'm sure that RTFM is a very good answer, I just though I'd check here in
case I'm missing something simple.)

 

[Steve House]

Need a little more info -- What are you settings for the project
calendar and your resource calendar? Your maximum availability? The
duration of the tasks? The assignment percentage on the tasks? And did
you try to set start and end dates or did you just enter the tasks
accepting the default start date?

 

[Steve House]

I just tried to duplicate your problem and wasn't able to. Project
start date set in the Project, Project Information dialog to Monday, the
15th. Project calendar is Standard (8-5, 1 hour lunch, Mon-Fri).
Entered task names A thru Z all one day duration, no constraints
entered, start and finish calculated by Project (NOT typed in). Project
initially shows tham all occuring simultaneously the full day on Monday.
One resource Wally, max availability 100%, Standard calendar. Assigned
Wally to each task 100% (Open assign resources tool, select all tasks,
click "Assign"). In the menu choose Tools, Level Resources, set to
manual, level day-by-day, all tasks, leveling order to "standard," check
boxes for "leveling can create splits" and "leveling can adjust
assignments" turned on, others off. Hit "level now" and Project
distributes each task one day at a time - A on Monday, B on Tuesday, etc
etc. What's different between what I did and what you did?

 

[D_M_Finn]

Thank you Steve, for both of your answers.

What you described was exactly what I was trying to do, so I created a new
project and followed your steps.

It worked just fine!

Rather than continue to pursue this particular problem, I went ahead and
created a brand new project, typed in my tasks, assignments, calendar
changes, etc. and the problem did NOT come up in this new file.

While a "technically curious" side of me wants to figure it out, I'm
perfectly happy to just go forward with the new, problem free, project.

Thanks again!

 

[D_M_Finn]

I couldn't walk away from it!

Looking through the differences, it appears that the problem arose when I
extensively modified the resource calendar.

The project calendar was left as standard first-shift work times. I
modified the resource calendar to reflect my availability (evenings and
weekends) for this effort.

If I set the resource calendar to use "default" for all days, and then
change the project "standard" calendar to show nights and weekends (my
availability) everything works out fine.

Thanks for all your effort - I appreciate it.

Dave