Hi Giles

Vladimir and I had a robust discussion on resource levelling and came out about even.

I never trust the software to level resources because you just don’t know what it is doing to your project.

I set up the chart view to show:

1. Trade filter to be levelled
2. Resource histogramm
3. Float Column
4. Gang size - allocation column

In the time period where there is an over allocation - adjust the gang size until the resouce is at the correct level and there is still float.

Keep rescheduling.

I referred to this technique as "piano playing" Vladimir said that on his programmes it would be more like an organ.

Spider may well do the job better - damn clever chaps those Russians.

Best regards

Mike Testro

If you have to reduce the gang size on critical activities then you will over run.

Hi Giles

You do not need any guidance from me - in fact you have taught me a thing or two already.

The only advice I can give you is ditch Microsoft Project and invest in PowerProject.

Best regards

Mike Testro

Giles,

Step 1 is good. There is no need to explain why you start with the Duration estimate, because this is the correct starting point regardless. Get a duration first so the Task is almost completely defined schedule-wise and you have a starting point to work from and then the Resources, Assignments, Work and Cost are the icing on the cake. Contrary to some advice you might receive, don’t start with Work.

Step 2 is good, although you could skip it and go straight to assigning the real people at Step 4.
Step 3 is good.
Step 4 is a must.
Step 5a is good.
Step 5 b and c and 6 are where it all looks unnecessarily very messy and handraulic.

You don’t need any alternative software to make leveling reliable, just some practice. You can tweak leveling by using Priority and the Leveling options.
Start by turning off all the options in the check boxes.
Leave them all off until you need them, and try to avoid needing them.
Test them one at a time to make sure you know what they do.
Set Priority on every Task and force leveling to delay Tasks in an order exactly to your taste.

Use the Leveling Gantt to see the Leveling Delay etc.
Make a new Table which shows the delay and leveling related fields.
2) There is separate “project” with people’s vacations and holidays. In this project individual vacation is just an activity, to which person is assigned 100%

Stages of planning

1) I 1st make project schedule without resources (only with durations). This is because in our business the duration of activity pretty much doesn’t depend on amount of people involved.
2) Then I assign resources using general names (e.g. Systems Engineer, Field Engineer etc)
3) Once it is done, I check the total budget needed (in man hours).
4) After that I start looking at all tasks and start replacing a generic resources with specific ones on task by task basis (e.g replace Systems Engineer on task “Design system” with Richard Smith )
5) Then I start manual work of resource balancing. I look at the shared resource file and check for resource over allocation / under allocation. I use the following techniques to fix resource over allocation:
a. Assign a task to somebody else
b. Manually delay task (start not earlier then), if the task has a slack.
c. Manually split task
6) I never let MS Project to do resource leveling, because you never know what he has done (or may be I just didn’t master the technique yet).