Question MS Project 2000

[a]

Hi

We are trying to use MS project to determine the manloading in a PM
department where PMs work on different projects.

I have the following questions:

- The projects are assigned as "Duration Fixed" tasks with a specific number
of hours to be spent. However, when you include vacation time to a certain
ressource, a message box is telling me that duration will change. Is there a
way to force MS Project to re-calculate the % units for this ressource based
on this constraint-without changing duration?

- Is there a way to show the Work Load Bars, on the Ressoruces Graph sheet,
colored differently for each task assigned to a specific ressource over a
peiord of time (other than the blue allocated and the red overallocated ones
?) - Meaning, I would like to see the bars colored with fours different
colors , one for each project the ressoruce is assigned to work on ?


Thanks a lot for your very much appreciated help.


Fayez

 

[John]

Hi

We are trying to use MS project to determine the manloading in a PM
department where PMs work on different projects.

I have the following questions:

- The projects are assigned as "Duration Fixed" tasks with a specific number
of hours to be spent. However, when you include vacation time to a certain
ressource, a message box is telling me that duration will change. Is there a
way to force MS Project to re-calculate the % units for this ressource based
on this constraint-without changing duration?

- Is there a way to show the Work Load Bars, on the Ressoruces Graph sheet,
colored differently for each task assigned to a specific ressource over a
peiord of time (other than the blue allocated and the red overallocated ones
?) - Meaning, I would like to see the bars colored with fours different
colors , one for each project the ressoruce is assigned to work on ?


Thanks a lot for your very much appreciated help.


Fayez

Fayez,
Well fixed duration isn't really fixed. Once you swallow that little
tidbit, it becomes "easier" to understand how Project approaches the
work equation (Duration = work hours / resource units assigned).

Let's say you have a 10 day fixed duration task with 30 hours of work.
You assign a resource and Project calculates his unit level at 38%. Now,
let's say you give that resource 2 days off during that 10 day period.
Project recalculates the task duration to be 12 days because the
resource is only working 10 days during that normal 12 day working
period. In effect, the duration has remained fixed based on when the
work is able to be accomplished. The task duration shows as 12 days but
the resource duration is in fact still 10 days.

You could give the task its own calendar - the same as the project
calendar and then set the task to ignore resource calendars, but that
will give a false schedule since the Duration field will indeed stay at
10 days, but if you look at the Resource Usage view, you will see that
Project has merrily shown the resource working on his 2 off-days - not
very realistic.

OK, so what can you do. First, it is recommenced that users set up
resource calendars to show non-wroking time before assigning them to
tasks. However if that isn't always possible and you need to modify a
resource's calendar after assigning him to a task, you can still make
Project re-calculate the units level by manually re-setting the duration
and then the work for the task after the resource's calendar has been
modified.

On your second question, the simple answer is "no". Project's resource
graphing capability is pretty limited. You could get what you want, but
you would have to export Project's data to another application (e.g.
Excel) and plot it there. This can be done with VBA or you might try
using the "Analyze timescale data in Excel" utility.

John
Project MVP

 

[a]

Thanks very much John for taking the time to write this detailed reply.
Very much appreciated.
Fayez

 

[John]

Thanks very much John for taking the time to write this detailed reply.
Very much appreciated.
Fayez

Fayez,
You're welcome and thanks for the feedback.
John