MS Project 2007 Running Slow

[koolkat]

I'm running MSP 2007. I have about 2000 tasks and spanned over 1 year in my
Gantt with over 250 resources. Any move I make takes a few seconds. It's
running very slow. Even at less than half these tasks, it runs a little
faster but still takes time. I have Auto-Level on which I know will take
some thinking but still; have I reached MSP's limits? I even tried it
locally, no difference. I know it isn't a hardware issue. Is there some
setting I can change or anything?

 

[Jim Aksel]

Your numbers are nowhere near the limits of the software.
You allude to "locally" which tells me you are perhaps accessing Mr. File
from a network location?

I ran into this recently, it was network latency that was killing me.
Remember, every time you hit enter or move to a different cell, the entire
project file recalculates. This can slow you down.

You can change the settings for Resource Leveling to manual (Tools/Level
Resources...). You can also set the calcuation mode to Manual
(Tools/Options/Calculations (tab), select Manual).

There is an outside chance the file has been corrupted. In that case, you
may want to read about file corruption here (FAQ#43):
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[Jack Dahlgren MVP]

I'm running MSP 2007. I have about 2000 tasks and spanned over 1 year in
my
Gantt with over 250 resources. Any move I make takes a few seconds. It's
running very slow. Even at less than half these tasks, it runs a little
faster but still takes time. I have Auto-Level on which I know will take
some thinking but still; have I reached MSP's limits? I even tried it
locally, no difference. I know it isn't a hardware issue. Is there some
setting I can change or anything?

Project performance is almost always limited by hardware. If you car working
locally then increase the RAM available, increase processor speed, avoid
having other applications open ... these are all ways to improve
performance.

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[koolkat]

Jack,

My machine is 3GHz with over 3GB RAM. nothing else is running. Other
software I run is screaming along. I'll check with our IT guys.

Thanks
Raj

 

[koolkat]

Jim,

very helpful. Yeah I got into the Manual part and it helps, I'm still
surprised in Auto mode how slow it is. I'll check that link on corrupt
files. I notice the speed is directly related to the number of tasks I have.
The more I delete out of the project, the faster it gets.

Thanks
Raj

 

[Prasad]

Jim,

very helpful.  Yeah I got into the Manual part and it helps, I'm still
surprised in Auto mode how slow it is.  I'll check that link on corrupt
files.  I notice the speed is directly related to the number of tasks Ihave.
 The more I delete out of the project, the faster it gets.

Thanks
Raj

Raj,

I understand the reason for slowness. Scheduling of 2,000 tasks on 250
resources with automated resource leveling can take a second or two
even for powerful scheduling tools. But, I am curious about the
benefit that you are getting by running Project in Auto mode. I guess
many people have no faith in that mode.

Regards,
Prasad

 

[koolkat]

Prasad,

I'm super happy with Auto mode so I can instantly see when there are any
conflicts before moving ahead too far. As you can probably guess with this
big of a Gantt its not easy to pan around and find mistakes later.

Thanks,
Raj

 

[Prasad]

Prasad,

I'm super happy with Auto mode so I can instantly see when there are any
conflicts before moving ahead too far.  As you can probably guess with this
big of a Gantt its not easy to pan around and find mistakes later.

Thanks,
Raj

Raj,

I understand your faith in auto-level mode of Project. How can you see
conflicts when you run Project in auto-level mode? I thought resource
conflicts and resource overloading are expected to be resolved
automatically when Project is run in auto-level mode. I would
appreciate any clarification.

Regards,
Prasad

 

[koolkat]

Well I guess I mean I see those changes. I'm calling those changes as
conflicts. so when I assign a resource to a date and they dont land on that
date I know it's a conflict and make the necessary changes. It's just a way
to see it immediately.

 

[Prasad]

Well I guess I mean I see those changes.  I'm calling those changes as
conflicts.  so when I assign a resource to a date and they dont land onthat
date I know it's a conflict and make the necessary changes.  It's just a way
to see it immediately.

Raj,

If resources are to be assigned 100% always, scheduling 2000 tasks on
250 resources (with any individual calendars) subject to dependency
relations with automatic resource leveling is a trivial task for any
good scheduling tool. It should not take more than 20Mb RAM and two
seconds of execution time (on a PC with 2.8 Ghz) to generate a
conflict-free schedule.

Prasad