Same Project produces different levelling results on 2 PCs

[DrM]

PM has created plan and when manualling levelling resources on his PC works
fine; project date is not extended. Another person on another PC opens the
file and seems to have the exact same options setup in project, yet when
levelling, the project finish date gets extended by another month or two.

Have read the various suggestions regarding levelling and so far nothing has
fixed this. I encountered the issues once and through trial and error and
luck, managed to fix the issue. I've checked about every possible setting and
they match what's on the other PC.

I recall briefly when fixing the issues first time that it had something to
do with clearing. Depending on the order of steps taken, can this effect the
level result?

Very Confused

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Well yes, it is always better in case of doubt to explicitly call clear
leveling before levelling.
Still, I have never seen this.
You say you "fix the issue" - does that mean levelling produces the same
results on both computers now?
I hope so because there are so many parameters that may influence leveling
results that it is about impossible to check them from a distance.
I could give a few diagnostic advices but they imply a lot of work, and if
the problem's solved, the better.
HTH

 

[Jonathan Sofer]

Is this on an MSPS 2003 version? If so, verify that both have the same
service pack as this can cause different scheduling behaviors.

 

[DrM]

Hi Jonathan,

As soon as i read your response i thought brilliant! that's most likely how
i fixed the issue last time on another PC! i remember downloading patches,
updates and so forth as i was having issues with project server also but it
could be that whatever i downloaded ended up fixing project 2003. thank you
so much i will try this out asap and advise of results. yes i am using ms
project 2003 on xp.

 

[Jonathan Sofer]

I hope that is the solution for you. Let us know what you find out.

Jonathan

 

[DrM]

no joy :-(

i've downloaded all the latest updates from microsoft and still levelling on
this particular PC produces a different result to another PC.

i'll try anything right now! help!

 

[Dave]

PM has created plan and when manualling levelling resources on his PC works
fine; project date is not extended. Another person on another PC opens the
file and seems to have the exact same options setup in project, yet when
levelling, the project finish date gets extended by another month or two.

Have read the various suggestions regarding levelling and so far nothing has
fixed this. I encountered the issues once and through trial and error and
luck, managed to fix the issue. I've checked about every possible setting and
they match what's on the other PC.

I recall briefly when fixing the issues first time that it had something to
do with clearing. Depending on the order of steps taken, can this effect the
level result?

Very Confused

What are the settings you think are relevant? Presumably you have the
same "week-by-week" etc settings and the calendars are the same. Is
this with a resource pool?

When carrying out the operation, are any other projects open at the same
time?

What differences do you actually see (and are there any identical
areas). If some tasks are pushed out be a couple of months, then there
will be resources underloaded at some earlier point. What happens if
you pull those late tasks in manually - does the second PC start to see
those resources as overloaded?

Was this exercise carried out on both PCs on the same day? Was all work
showing in the past brought forward to the status date in both cases
(and the status date the same in both cases).

Sorry no answers at this stage.

 

[DrM]

please view my responses below...
--
DrM

What are the settings you think are relevant? Presumably you have the
same "week-by-week" etc settings and the calendars are the same. Is
this with a resource pool?

response: have checked all of these settings and they are the same. not
using resource pool, project is offline

When carrying out the operation, are any other projects open at the same
time?

response: no

What differences do you actually see (and are there any identical
areas). If some tasks are pushed out be a couple of months, then there
will be resources underloaded at some earlier point. What happens if
you pull those late tasks in manually - does the second PC start to see
those resources as overloaded?

response: my project knowledge is limited... differences obvious to me are
that only one resource should be showing as overallocated... on one pc
levelling does not change this, however on the other pc i'm having issues
with levelling results in several resources being overallocated.

Was this exercise carried out on both PCs on the same day? Was all work
showing in the past brought forward to the status date in both cases
(and the status date the same in both cases).

responses: the project was levelled and saved on the pc working correctly.
opened the project on the dodgy pc and levelled without adding any further
data or anything.

 

[Dave]

please view my responses below...

One easy thing to try would be to save the plan from the problematic PC
with a different name, copy it back to the original PC and level again
to see if there is any consistency.

Another thing to try is to copy the global.mpt from one machine to
another to be absolutely sure that all the settings are the same. You
need to be very careful with this.

Close Project on the target machine. Locate the file global.mpt (there
may be more than one present) and rename it/them. Copy the global.mpt
file from the source machine to the location of the file on the target
machine.

Start Project and see if you get the same levelling results. This crude
approach will tell you whether there is some setting buried away causing
this effect or whether it is something to do with the installation
itself (I am guessing it is the former at this stage).

Going back to your responses, there are a couple of things I would
investigate. Firstly, as I understand it, following levelling, there
are resources overallocated on both machines. I would want to
understand why. Is it because the resources are doing more work in the
time allocated than their availability allows for a given task or is it
because they are simultaneously allocated to more than one task (in
which case I would be examining why those tasks are not moved by the
levelling process).

Hope this gives you something to go on.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Pardon me for jumping in here.
What do you mean by "Project is offline"?
Does it mean that one PC is connected to project Server (and the other maybe
not)?
What else can "offline" mean?

By all means if you would like me to look at potential (more or less
unsolvable) overallocations, and look at the settings within the file, you
may send the file to
jandemesATprom-ade.be
I'll have a look

 

[DrM]

offline = NOT using server

the file is kept on the network and not saved locally on any pc

i've replaced the global.mpt file but i doubt this will fix the issue. will
test as soon as i get a chance.

thanks for your help all... i think if this doesn't work that i'll be moving
on