ms project as resource plannings tool?

[E. Deman]

Hi,

I'm currently setting up a resource planning within our
company. So far I've done some attempts to use MS Project
as a tool, however this has not been very succesfull.
The resources to plan have a mixture of support
activities (certain percentage of their time - also to
plan) and project activities. The main purpose of the
planning is to detect over and under allocations and to
reserve resources for projects. It should not serve as a
detailed task list for the individuals.
Is MS project the right tool to use for such an
environement, if so where can I find some information
about how to do it (task type to choose, etc...).

Kind regards,

Evelien

 

[Steve House]

Project is fundamentally a work scheduling program for time limited
projects. It can help with resource scheduling but the resource schedule is
concidental to and driven by the task schedule. Unless you give it a fully
detailed task list with estimated durations and logic relationships defined
it has nothing to work with. Also, tasks like the support activities are
really ongoing and do not fit the basic definition of as project task as
being a discrete package of physical activity that has a definite and
observable beginning and, most importantly, a definite ending after which it
ceases for all time. MSP is really not the most appropriate tool to use for
scheduling ongoing "line of business" activity.