prioritising resource

[andy]

hi hope someone can help as i am new to this approach of resourcing,

If I have 3 tasks and 3 resources each one is a expert in 1 task but have
the ability to assist in the other how do I assign the experts and allow the
others to assist in the task.
i.e
task 1 = resource A + b&c to assist
task 2 = resource B + a&c to assist
task 3 = resource C + a&b to assist

thanks

andy

 

[Rob Schneider]

Andy,

Frankly, it's simple. You decide. Project does not assign for you. You
tell Project which expert and which assistant you want to work on the
task. Project will let you know if your assignments has resulted in
over-committments; but it will not change the assignments.


--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[andy]

Thanks rob, maybe im not asking the question in the right way, if there are
several projects running how do i schedule the key individual so they work on
there key field first and any remaining time left acts as a support role in
the remaining projects - do i need to play with the task information - like
increase/reduce the priority No of the task ( whatever that does ? - why does
it start at 500) or change the units from 100% to something else.

sorry but this type of scheduling is easy for me to understand but i have no
idea how it works in project

 

[Rob Schneider]

Andy,

You need to change how you are thinking of this. You are making it too
complicated. You are assuming Project does the planning and scheduling.
Project does not "schedule" for you. Think of Project as a big bespoke
calculator to do the project computations for you.

You develop the schedule and you assign the resources. You estimate and
plan on how much time it takes to work on the task and how much to plan
on being available to be in the support role. The decision about when
to change role is not left to Project; it is left to the people and/or
the project manager based on how well they get on with completing the work.


--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[andy]

thanks Rob, - im not sure i understand how i can use project to schedule
then? I have read a lot of threads on prioitisng but didnt understand the
answers - I understand that everyone can work 100% on every task at that
time but how can i prioritise a plan so that when the resouce has spare time
they can assit another to complete a task

this is the last one promise!!

 

[Rob Schneider]

As Mike elaborated, the field "Priority" has to do with how Project does
resource leveling. When you use resource leveling (which I don't think
you are nor do I think you should), Project will delay tasks with lower
priority, e.g. putting priority on tasks with higher priority. That's all.

Project does not schedule. Project can be immensely helpful to you in
developing a schedule. It is you who does the schedule. I think it
best that you not try to learn how to use Project from reading the
threads here. Best if you read the Project Guide (in Project), Project
Help, buy a good book on Project, or best--take a class. Also Mike has
his project tutorials available free. See the link he provided in his
reply to you: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc.

The resource will only have spare time, I think, if a) they have
finished early on a task that has been scheduled, or b) you have not
fully scheduled their time.

There may be fancy ways to model the situation that you are trying to
model; but I think that is over-kill. The best (and I think only) way
to plan for this ability for the resource to assist with another is to
simply get them to decide to do it. If they have time, and if there is
nothing else in the plan that they are schedule to do *now*, then use
the time *now* to help with another task. You can still record that the
person spent time on that task they help on, if you like.

My point, though, is that Project will not detect when someone has
"spare" time and then because of that spare time reschedule their work.
You do that. Or the person does it and then tells you they have done
it. Project is pretty sophisticated in this calculations; but it is not
"intelligent". It does not decide.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com