Say you have Activity 1 occurring on week 1 and a successor FS Activity 2 occurring on week 2 and resource A is assigned to Activity 1 for 4 hours per day the first week while for Activity 2 you paint assignment for resource A to occur 4th and 5th day of week one on Activity 2 for 4 hours per day. If the software in any way allows for scheduling conflicts then it is not following the rules of CPM as it will allow for faulty logic, the correct application should not allow for scheduling conflicts and require the user to fix it. The real problem comes with users who make use of this faulty functionality allowing for scheduling conflicts making it impossible to himself and others to follow the schedule logic as it relates to resource assignment.
How does resource leveling is affected by resource curves? Does it works correctly and prevents over allocations or the irregular resource assignments are averaged allowing for wrong results.
Although I use software resource leveling I am not against manual leveling, an option that shall always be by the end user. My disagreement is with functionality that breaks the rules of logic. A schedule that breaks the rules of logic and/or that is resource over allocated cannot be realized. The software shall not allow for scheduling conflicts and the user shall correct all over allocations either using software resource leveling or manually otherwise the schedule shall be rejected.
It is not difficult to figure out that by splitting an activity that after bucket planning breaks the logic the issue can easily be fixed by splitting the activity, each split with appropriate links that reflect valid CPM logic.
Best regard,
Rafael
Member for
14 years 7 months
Member for14 years7 months
Submitted by Project Manager 67 on Sat, 2011-12-17 13:23
"Keep in mind that when you paint resource assignments at the resource usage table the assignment will be fixed with time and if the task moves the assignments will stay fixed to happen not aligned with the task"
That statement is not in fact correct for MS Project.
Member for
21 years 7 months
Member for21 years8 months
Submitted by Rafael Davila on Mon, 2011-12-12 04:03
Bucket planning applied with questionable functionality available in some software will even allow you to assign resources out of activity occurrence.
Keep in mind that when you paint resource assignments at the resource usage table the assignment will be fixed with time and if the task moves the assignments will stay fixed to happen not aligned with the task.
Bucket planning is working on a fixed bar chart, it is not true CPM, if you mix both you are calling for trouble. If you think must start/finish constraints are bad [worst than not earlier/latter constraints], bucket planning is even worst, it applies the fixed date constraint to resources, is not transparent and has no place in valid CPM schedules, like it or not.
You can check it by simply creating a five days duration activity occurring on week one and then assigning resources to the same activity on week two using the resource usage table. You will get two weeks resource assignment on a one week activity, this does not makes any sense. Then apply a constraint to move the activity to start on week five and go back to the assignments table. Did the resource assignment moved with the activity? If not then this also does not makes any sense, but some software allows nonsense.
Best regards,
Rafael
Member for
14 years 7 months
Member for14 years7 months
Submitted by Project Manager 67 on Sat, 2011-12-10 15:53
You don't have to create two activities. If you create the activity and then assign resources to it you can then contour the effort (mahours) by opening the Task Usage view. In Task Usage you can enter the required effort from each resource on each day.
D
Member for
21 years 7 months
Member for21 years8 months
Submitted by Rafael Davila on Fri, 2011-12-02 11:34
I never ventured to use resource leveling within MSP but some people know how to get the most out of it, a group I never belonged to as I use other software. The following link can provide you an introduction to a reference of a procedure for improving MSP resource leveling tool in case you are at some time in need of using the tool.
Your solution is exactly what I did. I divided the task into two activities and it works the way I want and it is a simple way of solving the problem . I will not use the leveling tool in MSP, this tool have give me trouble before!
/Dan
Member for
21 years 7 months
Member for21 years8 months
Submitted by Rafael Davila on Thu, 2011-12-01 13:14
I suggest dividing the activity in two activities in tandem. Avoid the use of resource curves, if available, as these curves are not considered on the resource leveling algorithm, in any case would distort the results if some rough adjustment is made by the software.
If you do not perform software resource leveling then you can use resource distribution curves as well as resource lag [if available] and resource duration [if available].
I recall in Primavera Suretrak resource lag and resource duration was available but because it was poor at resource leveling we had no option than to recur to manual resource leveling using soft links, when using P3 instead of SureTrak we never investigated how those fancy resource loading curves would interfere with automatic resource leveling routine.
Remember always to double check on your activities types and settings as these can drive some parameters of resource loading as well as activity duration.
I rarely use MSP but hope the above suggestion can be of use.
Member for
21 years 7 monthsDonald,Say you have Activity
Donald,
Say you have Activity 1 occurring on week 1 and a successor FS Activity 2 occurring on week 2 and resource A is assigned to Activity 1 for 4 hours per day the first week while for Activity 2 you paint assignment for resource A to occur 4th and 5th day of week one on Activity 2 for 4 hours per day. If the software in any way allows for scheduling conflicts then it is not following the rules of CPM as it will allow for faulty logic, the correct application should not allow for scheduling conflicts and require the user to fix it. The real problem comes with users who make use of this faulty functionality allowing for scheduling conflicts making it impossible to himself and others to follow the schedule logic as it relates to resource assignment.
How does resource leveling is affected by resource curves? Does it works correctly and prevents over allocations or the irregular resource assignments are averaged allowing for wrong results.
Although I use software resource leveling I am not against manual leveling, an option that shall always be by the end user. My disagreement is with functionality that breaks the rules of logic. A schedule that breaks the rules of logic and/or that is resource over allocated cannot be realized. The software shall not allow for scheduling conflicts and the user shall correct all over allocations either using software resource leveling or manually otherwise the schedule shall be rejected.
It is not difficult to figure out that by splitting an activity that after bucket planning breaks the logic the issue can easily be fixed by splitting the activity, each split with appropriate links that reflect valid CPM logic.
Best regard,
Rafael
Member for
14 years 7 monthsRafael, "Keep in mind that
Rafael,
"Keep in mind that when you paint resource assignments at the resource usage table the assignment will be fixed with time and if the task moves the assignments will stay fixed to happen not aligned with the task"
That statement is not in fact correct for MS Project.
Member for
21 years 7 monthsDan,Bucket planning applied
Dan,
Bucket planning applied with questionable functionality available in some software will even allow you to assign resources out of activity occurrence.
Keep in mind that when you paint resource assignments at the resource usage table the assignment will be fixed with time and if the task moves the assignments will stay fixed to happen not aligned with the task.
Bucket planning is working on a fixed bar chart, it is not true CPM, if you mix both you are calling for trouble. If you think must start/finish constraints are bad [worst than not earlier/latter constraints], bucket planning is even worst, it applies the fixed date constraint to resources, is not transparent and has no place in valid CPM schedules, like it or not.
You can check it by simply creating a five days duration activity occurring on week one and then assigning resources to the same activity on week two using the resource usage table. You will get two weeks resource assignment on a one week activity, this does not makes any sense. Then apply a constraint to move the activity to start on week five and go back to the assignments table. Did the resource assignment moved with the activity? If not then this also does not makes any sense, but some software allows nonsense.
Best regards,
Rafael
Member for
14 years 7 monthsYou don't have to create two
You don't have to create two activities. If you create the activity and then assign resources to it you can then contour the effort (mahours) by opening the Task Usage view. In Task Usage you can enter the required effort from each resource on each day.
D
Member for
21 years 7 monthsDan,I never ventured to use
Dan,
I never ventured to use resource leveling within MSP but some people know how to get the most out of it, a group I never belonged to as I use other software. The following link can provide you an introduction to a reference of a procedure for improving MSP resource leveling tool in case you are at some time in need of using the tool.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=5668392
Best regards,
Rafael
Member for
15 years 8 monthsThank you for your answer
Thank you for your answer Rafael.
Your solution is exactly what I did. I divided the task into two activities and it works the way I want and it is a simple way of solving the problem . I will not use the leveling tool in MSP, this tool have give me trouble before!
/Dan
Member for
21 years 7 monthsI suggest dividing the
I suggest dividing the activity in two activities in tandem. Avoid the use of resource curves, if available, as these curves are not considered on the resource leveling algorithm, in any case would distort the results if some rough adjustment is made by the software.
If you do not perform software resource leveling then you can use resource distribution curves as well as resource lag [if available] and resource duration [if available].
I recall in Primavera Suretrak resource lag and resource duration was available but because it was poor at resource leveling we had no option than to recur to manual resource leveling using soft links, when using P3 instead of SureTrak we never investigated how those fancy resource loading curves would interfere with automatic resource leveling routine.
Remember always to double check on your activities types and settings as these can drive some parameters of resource loading as well as activity duration.
I rarely use MSP but hope the above suggestion can be of use.
Regards,
Rafael