Resource Overallocation

[Kristen]

Why does project sometime flag a resource as overallocated when they are not?
For example, sometime when I look at my resource usage view to see if there
are overallocations a resource is highlighted in red so i look to that
particular day and it only shows the resource working 6 hrs (should be a 9
hour day) and it is in red and no matter what I do it won't show that they
are not overallocated.

 

[Gérard Ducouret]

Kristen,
Project will flag a resource as overallocated even if this resource works
only 2h on one specific days, but these 2 hr are spread on 2 one-hour tasks
which are runing exactly at the same time.
A leveling could solve this overallocation : Tools / Level Resources...

Gérard Ducouret

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Kristen,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

You might like to see FAQ Item: 34 on Overallocation. FAQs, companion
products and other useful Project information can be seen at this web
address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

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

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[MFM]

What is probably happening is that you are assigning 100% of a resource's
time to at least 1 task of any length (doesn't matter if it is less than 8
hours). Then the resource is considered used up, and if you add additional
tasks, the resource will appear overallocated. I know, it's kind of weird,
but that's how MS Project calculates it. Here is the method I use to fix this
problem:

1) For each task your resource is assigned to, open the Task Information box
(double-click on the task).
2) Click the Advanced tab and make sure the Task type box is set to Fixed
units. I would recommend unchecking the "Effort driven" box too if you
routinely need to schedule resources more than 8 hours a day.
3) Now go to the Resources tab. Think about the percent of their day the
resource will actually spend on this task, and enter that in the Units column
(defaults to 100% which is why you are having the overallocation problem).
Click OK.
4) Go to your Duration column. Set the duration for the task.
Now you should be good to go. With this method, what you are essentially
doing is fixing the amount of time per day that your resource will work on
the task, then estimating the amount of time it will take them if they spend
that much time on it every day. Work is set automatically.

This is just one method, I'm sure there are others which are just as good.
The one you use depends on your preferences on scheduling, and on the way
your resources/business work.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Assuming you haven't assigned someone to a single task at more than there
maximum allocation entry, overallocation essentially means two tasks overlap
and the total assignment for both added to gether goes over the max allowed.
This is true even if the overlap lasts as little as 1 minute. Think of it
as indicating that at some point in time you've expected the resource to be
in two different places at once.