Guild of Project Controls: Compendium | Roles | Assessment | Certifications | Membership

Tips on using this forum..

(1) Explain your problem, don't simply post "This isn't working". What were you doing when you faced the problem? What have you tried to resolve - did you look for a solution using "Search" ? Has it happened just once or several times?

(2) It's also good to get feedback when a solution is found, return to the original post to explain how it was resolved so that more people can also use the results.

Multiple productivities in one activity

5 replies [Last post]
Pablo Campos
User offline. Last seen 6 years 34 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 16 Aug 2017
Posts: 3
Groups: None

Hi,

    I'm trying to set up a Primavera Project for a future sensitivity/Monte Carlo analysis, therefore, I need to automatize the current schedule.

     I have two activities running in paralell. Activity 1 is shorter than activity two and once it finishes, its resource can go support Activity 2. Therefore, only when Activity 1 finishes, the progress rate of Acitivity two changes from R2 to R1+R2. Also, the works performed by R1 in Activity 2 require a third activity afterwards. This means that the units where R1 worked (R1*(T2-T1)) will have to be used in a new activity, 3, with a new resource (R3).

   Is it possible to do in Primavera automatically, so when the progress rate of the resource change, so do the duration of all activities?

 

Thanks!

Replies

Rafael Davila
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 23 min ago. Offline
Joined: 1 Mar 2004
Posts: 5229

This we call variable resource assignment.  In construction jobs this is done on an everyday basis.  This must go side to side with good reporting as you will need the daily details you must communicate to the field. The following example is so simple that the details can be shown as part of the Gantt, in real life scenarios you will usually need a tabular report.

Multiple productivity assignments is done at the resource level, this requires considering volume of work an essential element of production rates, the volume of work per unit time.

This can be modeled in Spider Project and you can also run sensitivity/Monte Carlo there.

Let me know if you will need the details.

David Kelly
User offline. Last seen 1 year 37 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 19 Oct 2004
Posts: 630

Pablo,

This cannot be done. P6 cannot dynamically change the "unts per time period" of an activity.  P3 could perform what it called "Stretching and crunching"  when it resource levellled a plan, but it could only choose a new units per time period at the start of an activity not as a response to another one finishing.

There is also no way to dynamically re-assign units between activities.

All I can suggest is to granulate the work more finely, so that you have many more activities. Then use levelling.

Pablo Campos
User offline. Last seen 6 years 34 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 16 Aug 2017
Posts: 3
Groups: None

I keep hearing that it is not possible, could you elaborate a little more on how it could be done?

The other way I was thinking on how to solve is:

  • Activity 1 (short one) at a progress rate of R1 -> An end date is calculated
  • Activity 2a (long one) at a progress rate of R2. Constrain end date to the end date of Activity 1. This would mean that there are reamining units to finish
  • Activity 2b (long one) at a progress rate of R1+R2. Starts after 2a is finished. The number of units that have to be made are the remaining of 2a.

To do this however, I'd have to dynamically assign the total units to be completed to 2b, from the one that couldn't be completed in the time frame of 2a. Is this possible? If so, how do you do it?

Thanks!

Zoltan Palffy
User offline. Last seen 3 weeks 3 days ago. Offline
Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 3089
Groups: None

if you make the activity type resource dependent yes