Project 2007 schedule dates blow out

[Suzanne]

Hi, I'm having issues with Miscrosoft Professional Project 2007 Service Pack
1 installed (Standalone version)

When we update a task with a resource /cost attached, the detail on another
random task within the schedule is blown out significantly ie. Finish date of
2008 becomes finish date of 2010 with work increasing by 2000+ hours. This
happens even when the tasks can not be traced back to each other.

We are rapidly loosing faith in MSP2007 and would love to hear if anyone
else has experienced the same and found a solution.

Thanks,
Suzy

 

[JulieS]

Hello Suzanne,

I'm not sure I follow your question exactly. It sounds as if when
you are assigning (?) resources that other tasks are being
changed -- I assume that is what you mean by "blown out
significantly". My first question is do you have your leveling set
to automatic? Please check Tools > Level Resources and ensure that
the leveling calculation is set to manual.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[Suzanne]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry for not explaining my problem clearly...to be honest I'm very confused!

I have checked and confirm levelling is set to manual calculation. I also
don't believe it has anything to do with levelling or predecessors /
successors as that does not explain why the work (effort) attached to a
resource increases dramatically on a task not being updated.

Unfortunately my issue does not seem to hold any logic, one example is:
When I Progress Schedule (Tools, update project) the remaining work on a
task increased from 94.57hours to 4726.67hours and in this case the Finish
date changed only slightly from 6Mar09 to 20Mar09.

This is not isolated to using the 'update project' feature as remaining work
and finish date also randomly change on tasks when updating other details on
another task.

Our IT installed some updates overnight but we are still having problems.
It seems to me like it's a bug but if that was the case I would have thought
other people would be experiencing the same issues.

Once again any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Suzy

 

[Hemmige S Prashanth]

Dear Suzanne,

I face this problem very frequently (infact even today) and I do not know
the solution. Infact my schedule is quite big (not very complicated though)
and when I level the resources, the end date shoots to 2027 or 2012 -
something like that and when I look at what the problem is - most likely the
hours or the duration would be bumped up by a huge amount (by 1000s of hours
/ days).

One observation I had - when a task has been allocated to a resource with
very small units (say 0% or 1%) the duration increases to something like what
you have indicated. You may want to check that.

However, my observation is not consistent.

If some one has a solution, I will be very thankful. Infact, I have to level
my resources manually now. 9 times out of 10, my MPP hangs and I need to kill
it.

Regards,
Prashanth

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Suzanne & Hemmige,

As a long shot, have you any resources assigned to summaries, or any logic
linking from or to summaries? Check by filtering for summaries and run you
eyes down the Resource Names column and the Predecessors column.

You might like to see FAQ Items 48 & 49 on summaries, and FAQ 43 on
corruption. FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information
can be seen at this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[prashanth.sharangapani]

Dear Mike,

Thanks for the response. I did what you said; I see no resources or
predecessors assigned to my Summary tasks.

However, I did one thing that seemed to work.

I went into the Resource Allocation view, played around for a while
with leveling individual resources (just to check if it worked -
without the MPP hanging); and later, did a level of the entire
resource pool. I did deselect one resource that I knew need not be
leveled. This worked - although I had two instances where the duration
shot up to some 2000+ days, but I was able to manually adjust it and
the schedule overall now looks a little practical.

My question is - is leveling the resource pool exactly same as level
resources on the Gantt Chart view?

My next question is - why does the duration shoot up to that high
number on few tasks and why does leveling not work on the Gantt Chart
view?

Thanks,
Prashanth

 

[JulieS]

Hi Suzy,

From the sounds of what you have going on, I'd be confused as
well -- so don't worry.

Let's start back at the beginning -- you say you're using Project
2007 without Project server and IT has installed some updates -- I
assume Service Pack 1 for Project 2007. That SP is a good start.

Your leveling calculation is set to manual so that should not be
changing any other resource assignments if you modify another
assignment so we can rule that out.

The oddities appear only when you are updating progress on tasks?
If you look at a task which has been changed by updating another
task what does it show in the Task Usage view? For remaining work
to have been increased so wildly I assume you have multiple
resources assigned? In the Task Usage view add the Assignment Units
field to the left side -- I assume assignment units for the
resources are incredibly high?

A couple of other things to check:
No resources assigned to summary tasks
No links between summary tasks

It's possible the project file has become corrupt for whatever
reason. On a copy of the file, try saving as an XML file. Exit
Project and import the XML file to see if that fixes it.

If you'd like you're welcome to send me the file. I'll take a look
and see if there is anything that jumps out at me. Send to
prjngATmaine.rr.com replace the AT with @.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry for not explaining my problem clearly...to be honest I'm
very confused!

I have checked and confirm levelling is set to manual calculation.
I also
don't believe it has anything to do with levelling or predecessors
/
successors as that does not explain why the work (effort) attached
to a
resource increases dramatically on a task not being updated.

Unfortunately my issue does not seem to hold any logic, one
example is:
When I Progress Schedule (Tools, update project) the remaining
work on a
task increased from 94.57hours to 4726.67hours and in this case
the Finish
date changed only slightly from 6Mar09 to 20Mar09.

This is not isolated to using the 'update project' feature as
remaining work
and finish date also randomly change on tasks when updating other
details on
another task.

Our IT installed some updates overnight but we are still having
problems.
It seems to me like it's a bug but if that was the case I would
have thought
other people would be experiencing the same issues.

Once again any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Suzy

<snip>

 

[Suzanne]

Hi Julie,

I have checked and and unsuccessfully tested recommendations

Status:
Confirm Microsoft Project SP1 is installed.
Confirm no resources assigned to summary tasks.
Confirm no links between summary tasks.
Confirm when hours increase so does the resource ultilisation.
Confirm hours increase randomly when using the 'progress schedule' feature
and also when updating other individual tasks.

I saved as xml file and imported xml file with same results ....hours /
ultilisation still increase however...
I notice that when I try to simulate problem in Microsoft Project
Professional 2003 SP3 I do not get the same results ie. 2003 is working
correctly with hours remaining constant when progressing schedule.

The schedules were initially created in Microsoft Project Professional 2003
SP3 (Enterprise) and then saved offline in 2003 and recently saved to
Microsoft Project 2007 SP1.

I have not taken you up on your kind offer to look at the schedule yet as I
am now wondering if the error is either caused by the installation of
Microsoft Project 2007 or the way we have saved / transferred the schedule
from 2003 to 2007. Based on my recent findings I am considering getting a
consultant in to fix, however am keen to hear your thoughts on above.

Thanks again for your help.
Suzy

 

[Mike Glen]

Yes to the first question and I've no idea on the second. You might like to
try the suggestions in FAQ Item: 43. Handling project file corruption and/or
bloat.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address:http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[JulieS]

Hi Suzy,

Thanks for the detailed list. Are you using Project 2007 Server or
just Project Pro or Standard without server involved? I am not at
all versed in Project Server (either 2003 or 2007) but I think your
idea that something has gone awry with the transfer from Project
2003 Server to Project 2007 is very possible.

What you detail is not a normal habit of project. Depending upon
how tracking is being update, it possible to see work increase but
usually only if actual work and remaining work are manually changed.
Usually if you record actual work, the remaining work decreases.
And certainly changing one task's tracking data should not randomly
change other tasks. The calculation options that affect how work is
updated when tracking are at a project file level so moving the
project from one installation (2003) to another (2007) should not be
changing those options. Just for fun, open the faulty project in
2003 and check the options on the Calculation tab (Tools > Options,
Calculation). Close the file and open in Project 2007 -- the same
options should be set.

I hope this helps. My offer to look at your project still stands if
you think it may help.

Regards,
Julie