Resource leveling schedules task in Dec 2049!

[JW]

Hi,

I'm working on a schedule which includes 12 resource, each
with about 6 months worth of tasks. When I do leveling,
Projects pushes a few days worth of task assigned for a
particular resource all the way to right around
12/31/2049. The end result is that the resoure has some
tasks schedule up front, then 40 years worth of 0-hour
working weeks, then with a days worth of the remainder of
a task in December of 2049. This behavior happens randomly
from each leveling. But two particular resources among all
seem to attract this treatment.

Can anyone give me a clue as to what MSProject is trying
to do here?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi JW,

The behavior does not happen randomly at all.
There are two problems I know that make leveling push a task to 2049, and
both originate from teh fact taht there is no solution to the leveling
problem:

1. You entered a limited availability for the resource (in Resource
Information, General, Resource availability). For instance, the resource has
a contract end. When leveling is forced to push any task beyond contract
end, it will patiently look for a moment the resource is available, and stop
looking only at the end of its calendar (December 2049).
A frequent caus eto this problem may be a misinterpretation of how the
availability table works. Once you have any entry in it , its default is 0%
and not teh percentage shown in Max. Units. So when you enter "50% from May
through August" and no other entry, that implies "unavailable from September
onward".

2. You entered an assignment for the resource both on a task and on its
summary task, and the combination of the two yields an overallocation.

In this case Project will postpone the "child" task, but by doing so, it
also streches the duration of the summary task... no solution, and again,
simulation goes on and on till the end of time (Dec 2049).

So find the problem you posed to Project, solve it, and it will provide you
with decent leveling results!

HTH

 

[Gérard Ducouret]

Hello JW,
Haven't you a resource the availability of which is 0 after a specific date
?
Check in the Resource Information dialog box, General tab...
Tell us if it works

Gérard Ducouret [Project MVP]
Pragmasoft ® - Paris