Balancing Resource Workloads


Sometimes, the use of resources is the most important limitation on a project. In the resource-constrained project, you need to make sure that all the resources are used well, are doing the right tasks , and are neither underallocated nor overallocated. That is, you need to examine workloads and allocations and then fix any problems you find. You still need to keep your eye on the schedule and your costs, but schedule and costs are secondary to resource utilization in this type of project.

Balancing resource workloads isn't really part of the project triangle. However, you can adjust scope ”add or remove tasks ”to balance workload. You can also adjust the schedule ”split or delay tasks until resources have time to work on them. Finally, you can adjust costs ”add more money to pay for additional resources to help balance the workload.

Inside Out: Project's prime directive
start example

Although resource management is typically a large part of the project manager's job, it's important to keep in mind that the primary job of Microsoft Project is to schedule and track tasks. Traditionally, the resource management functions of Microsoft Project have been more rudimentary. However, starting with Microsoft Project 2002 and certainly with Microsoft Project 2003, there are more features devoted to resource management than in past versions. The new resource availability features attest to this, as do the continuing improvements in team collaboration and delegation capabilities through Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 and Microsoft Office Project Web Access 2003. The Resource Substitution Wizard, Enterprise Resource Pool, Team Builder, and other enterprise resource features available through Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 have taken resource management in projects to a higher level.

end example
 

Viewing Resource Workloads

When you analyze resource workloads, you're actually reviewing the way resources are assigned. The optimum situation is when all resources in your project are assigned at their full availability, no more and no less, throughout their time on the project.

However, there might be resources for whom you are not able to fill every hour . These resources are said to be underallocated . You might have to pay for these resources' time even when they're not directly carrying out project tasks, and therefore can adversely affect your project budget.

Other resources might consistently have more work than time. These resources are overallocated . Such a situation represents risk to the project. If there's more work than available time, it's highly probable that deadlines will be missed, quality will suffer, costs will increase, or scope will have to be cut.

At this point in the project, just before work actually begins, you can look at scheduled underallocations and overallocations, make the necessary changes to maximize your resource contributions, and reduce your risk from overallocation . The goal is to balance the workload as much as possible so that you're not wasting resource dollars and burning out a handful of key resources.

Troubleshooting: Tasks scheduled at the same time are causing overallocations
start example

You influence how tasks and assignments are scheduled by specifying resource availability through their working time calendars, resource units (maximum units), and assignment units. Within those limitations, however, Microsoft Project might still schedule multiple tasks for the same time frame, which can cause overallocations.

For example, suppose there's a resource with a working time calendar specifying that she works on this project only on Tuesdays. When you assign a task to her, that task is scheduled to accommodate the fact that work will be done only on Tuesdays. When you assign a 5-day task to her, by default, this assignment will take 40 hours, which will stretch across5weeks.

Likewise, suppose there's another resource who works half-time. His resource units are 50 percent. When you assign a task to him, by default, his assignment units are also 50 percent. So by default, a 5-day task does not translate to 40 hours in a week, but rather 20 hours.

However, if you have two 1-day tasks assigned to the same resource at the same time, both assignments will be scheduled for the resource at the same time, and therefore that resource will be overallocated.

You can resolve overallocations by following the strategies outlined in "Adjusting Assignments" and "Leveling Assignments".

end example
 

You can use one of several Microsoft Project views to review how much work is assigned to a resource in any selected time period, as follows :

Resource Graph.       Click View, Resource Graph (see Figure 9-15). In the default Peak Units format, the Resource Graph displays how much the resource is being utilized, in terms of maximum units, for the time period specified in the timescale .

click to expand
Figure 9-15: The Resource Graph displays resource utilization, one resource at a time.

To see resource allocation information by different measures, click Format, Details, and then pick a different format such as Overallocation or Percent Allocation.

To change the timescale, click the Zoom In or Zoom Out buttons .

To see information for a different resource, press the Page Down or Page Up buttons.

Resource Usage view.       Click View, Resource Usage. Each resource is listed with all assigned tasks (see Figure 9-16). The timesheet portion of the view shows how work is allocated over the selected time period. As in all resource views, overallocated resources are shown in red. In the timesheet portion, any work that exceeds the resource availability for the time period is also shown in red.

click to expand
Figure 9-16: The Resource Usage view can help you notice periods of overallocation.

Resource Allocation view.         Click View, More Views and then click Resource Allocation. This is a combination view, with the Resource Usage view in the upper portion of the view and the Leveling Gantt in the lower portion (see Figure 9-17).

click to expand
Figure 9-17: The Leveling Gantt portion displays details about the tasks assigned to the resource selected in the Resource Usage view.
Tip  

Use the Resource Management toolbar to find overallocated resources       Click View, Toolbars, Resource Management. The Resource Management toolbar (see Figure 9-18) includes a variety of functions that help you work with your resources. As you're analyzing resource overallocations, click the Go To Next Overallocation button to find and review the assignments for each overallocated resource in turn .

click to expand
Figure 9-18: The Resource Management toolbar includes a variety of functions that help you work with your resources.
Note  

When you want to switch to another view from a combination view, remember to remove the split in the window. Click Window, Remove Split, or double-click the split bar. When you switch to the view you want, it'll appear in the full screen.

Resource Form.       With a resource sheet view displayed, such as the Resource Sheet or Resource Usage view, click Window, Split. The Resource Form appears in the lower portion of the view with the resource sheet in the upper portion (see Figure 9-19).

click to expand
Figure 9-19: The Resource Form displays details about the resource selected in the upper portion of the view.
Inside Out: No clue about overallocations in task views
start example

Task views do not indicate when resources are overallocated, which can be a problem because you're assigning tasks in a task view. Even the Assign Resources dialog box doesn't give an indication unless you apply the Available To Work filter.

To see which resources have too much work assigned, switch from a task view to a resource view. Overallocated resources are highlighted in red.

To see at a glance which tasks have overallocated resources assigned, add the Overallocated column to a task sheet. To do this, click the column heading to the left of where you want to insert the Overallocated column. Click Insert, Column. In the Field Name box, click Overallocated. This is a Yes/No field. Any tasks that have overallocated resources assigned display a Yes. You can sort by the Overallocated field so you can better focus on balancing the assignments for those tasks. Be aware that by default, even resources overallocated by a couple hours in just one week are marked as overallocated.

end example
 

Another means of seeing how your resources are allocated is to run assignment- related reports , as follows:

Who Does What When report. Click View, Reports. ƒ Double-click Assignments and then double-click Who Does What When. This report displays the amount of work for each resource by day and by assignment (see Figure 9-20).

click to expand
Figure 9-20: Run the Who Does What When report to see assignment details by day.

Overallocated Resources report.       Click View, Reports. Double-click Assignments and then double-click Overallocated Resources. This report displays only overallocated resource information (see Figure 9-21). If there are no overallocated resources, no report is generated.

click to expand
Figure 9-21: Run the Overallocated Resources report to see assignment information about units and work for each overallocated resource.

Resource Usage report.       Click View, Reports. Double-click Workload and then double-click Resource Usage. This report displays the amount of work each week by resource and assignment. Totals are included for the resource, assignment, and week (see Figure 9-22).

click to expand
Figure 9-22: Run the Resource Usage report to see assignment details by week.

Reports are particularly useful for resource management meetings or team status meetings. Remember that you can also print views for hardcopy distribution.

You can filter a view to examine task allocation, as follows:

  • In a resource sheet like the Resource Usage view, click Project, Filtered For, Overallocated Resources.

  • In a task sheet like the Gantt Chart, click Project, Filtered For, Using Resource.

Enter the name of the resource whose tasks you want to see.

  • When you want to see all resources or tasks again, click Project, Filtered, For, All Resources or All Tasks.

    Tip  

    Use the Project Guide to review resource allocation       On the Project Guide toolbar, click Report. Click the See How Resources' Time Is Allocated link. The view changes to a combination view, including the Resource Usage view and Gantt Chart. Additional information is provided in the Project Guide side pane.

start sidebar
What If You Have More Resources Than You Need for the Project?

If you have more resources than needed for the project, you need to determine whether this is a help or a hindrance. Depending on the type of project, the situation, and the number of extra resources, you can do one of the following:

  • If the underallocated resources have the same skills and availability as other resources that are overallocated, you can use them to balance the workload.

  • Even if you have no overallocations, consider assigning multiple resources to tasks to shorten the schedule.

  • If you can't use the resources, find another project for them. Having extra people without work can get in the way of progress on the project. It can also place an unnecessary burden on your budget.

end sidebar
 

Adjusting Resource Availability

If you find that resources are overallocated or underallocated, check with the resources to see whether their availability can be modified to reflect how they're needed on the project. For example, if a full-time resource is consistently 50 percent underallocated throughout the life of the project, you might consider changing his units to 50 percent and making him available as a 50 percent resource on another project. Or if a part-time resource is consistently 20 percent overallocated, ask her if she can add more time to her availability on the project.

To change resource units, in a resource sheet, double-click the resource name to open the Resource Information dialog box. Click the General tab. In the Resource Availability table, specify the units in the Units field. If necessary, enter the starting and ending dates of the new levels of availability.

To change a resource's working time calendar, click the Working Time tab in the Resource Information dialog box. Make the necessary changes to increase or decrease the resource's working time on the project.

Adjusting Assignments

You can shift assignments around to fix overallocations and underallocations. This shifting assumes, however, that you have resources with similar skills and availability who can fulfill the necessary tasks.

If you can't add or replace resources to take the burden off overallocated resources, you might be able to delay tasks or assignments until the resources have time to work on them. Or you can simply add overtime work to account for the overallocation.

Adding More Resources to Tasks

You can add underallocated resources to tasks to assist overallocated resources. Depending on the task type, you can distribute the work or the assignment units among the assigned resources, thereby balancing the workload better.

Cross-References  

For more information about adding resources to tasks, including the impact of effort-driven scheduling and the different task types, see "Adjusting Resource Settings to Bring in the Finish Date" earlier in this chapter.

Replacing Overallocated Resources

You can replace an overallocated resource on an assignment with an underallocated one as long as they have the same skills and availability. To replace a resource on a task, do the following:

  1. In a task sheet such as the Gantt Chart, select the task for which you want to replace resources.

  2. On the Standard toolbar, click Assign Resources.

  3. In the Assign Resources dialog box, click the resource you want to replace.

    The currently assigned resources have check marks next to their names .

  4. Click the Replace button.

    The Replace Resource dialog box appears (see Figure 9-23).


    Figure 9-23: Use the Replace Resource dialog box to remove one resource and add a different one in a single operation.

  5. Click the resource you want to add to the task and then click OK.

    The old resource is replaced with the new one.

Delaying a Task or Assignment

You can delay a task or assignment until the assigned resource has time to work on it, as follows:

Leveling delay.       This is a task delay ”the amount of time that should pass from the task's scheduled start date until work on the task should actually begin. It delays all assignments for the task. Leveling delay can also be automatically calculated and added by the Microsoft Project leveling feature.

Cross-References  

For more information about leveling, see "Leveling Assignments" later in this chapter.

Note  

Don't confuse lag time with task delay. Lag time is the amount of time to wait after the predecessor is finished (or has started, depending on the link type) before a successor task should start.

Cross-References  

For more information about lag time, see "Delaying Linked Tasks by Adding Lag Time".

Assignment delay.       This is the amount of time that should pass from the task's scheduled start date until the assignment's scheduled start date.

Because it's best to delay within available slack time, review the tasks or assignments in context of their slack time and then add delay as time is available. Otherwise , you could push out the finish date of the task (or even of the project) if it's a critical task. To check available slack , do the following:

  1. Click View, More Views. In the More Views dialog box, click Resource Allocation and then click Apply.

  2. Click the Resource Usage portion of the view and then click the resource or assignment for which you want to examine slack and possibly delay.

  3. Click the Leveling Gantt portion of the view.

  4. Click View, Table, Schedule.

  5. Review the Free Slack and Total Slack fields to find tasks that have slack (see Figure 9-24).

    click to expand
    Figure 9-24: Use the Schedule table in the Resource Allocation view to find available slack in which to add task delay.

    You need to drag the vertical split bar to the right to see these fields.

  6. Also review the chart portion of the Leveling Gantt. The thin bars to the right of the regular Gantt bars show any available slack (see Figure 9-25).

    click to expand
    Figure 9-25: Use the Leveling Gantt portion of the Resource Allocation view to find available slack in which to add task delay.

After you find tasks with slack that you can use, add leveling delay as follows:

  1. With the Resource Allocation view displayed, click the Leveling Gantt portion of the view.

  2. Click View, Table, More Tables. In the More Tables dialog box, click Delay, and then click Apply.

  3. In the Resource Usage portion of the view, click the assignment whose task you want to delay.

  4. In the Leveling Gantt portion of the view, enter the amount of time you want to delay the task in the Leveling Delay field.

If you want to delay an individual assignment for a task that has multiple resources assigned, add assignment delay instead of leveling delay, as follows:

  1. With the Resource Allocation view displayed, click the Resource Usage portion of the view.

  2. Click the column heading to the right of where you want to insert the Assignment Delay column.

  3. Click Insert, Column.

  4. In the Field Name box, click Assignment Delay and then click OK.

  5. In the Assignment Delay field of the assignment you want to delay, enter the length of the delay.

    This entry indicates how much time after the task's start date the resource is to wait before starting work on this assignment.

Specifying Overtime Work to Account for Overallocations

Often, you can't reassign overallocated work to other resources or delay a task until later. In this case, overtime might be the answer.

Microsoft Project does not automatically assign overtime or the associated overtime pay rate when a resource's work exceeds your definition of a normal workday (for example, 8 hours) or a normal workweek (for example, 40 hours). You need to specify overtime work, in addition to total work, for the resource.

For example, suppose a resource is assigned to 10 hours of work in a day. You can specify2of those hours as overtime work. The work still totals 10 hours, but 8 hours are regular work and2hours are overtime.

start sidebar
Regular work, overtime work, and total work

When working with overtime, it's important to keep your work terminology straight; otherwise, it can get confusing. The Work field is actually total work , that is, the total amount of time that this resource is assigned to this task.

When you add overtime on an assignment, that amount is stored in the Overtime Work field, and the (total) Work amount stays the same.

Another field, Regular Work, contains the amount of regular (non-overtime) work, based on your amount of total work and overtime work, according to the following calculation:

Regular Work + Overtime Work = (total) Work.

You can add the Regular Work field to a sheet view if you want to see the amount of regular work schedules for a resource, in relation to overtime work and (total) work.

end sidebar
 

To specify overtime work for overallocated resources, first set up a view containing overtime work fields, as follows:

  1. Click View, Resource Usage.

  2. Click the column heading for the Work field.

  3. Click Insert, Column.

  4. In the Field Name box, click Overtime Work. Click OK.

    The Overtime Work field is added to the Resource Usage view.

  5. Click Format, Detail Styles.

    The Detail Styles dialog box appears (see Figure 9-26).

    click to expand
    Figure 9-26: Use the Detail Styles dialog box to add another row of timephased information to the timesheet portion of the Resource Usage or Task Usage view.

  6. In the Available Fields box, click Overtime Work and then click Show.

    The Overtime Work field appears in the Show These Fields box.

  7. Click OK.

    The Overtime Work field is added to the timesheet portion of the view (see Figure 9-27).

    click to expand
    Figure 9-27: Add the Overtime Work field to the sheet and timesheet portion of the Resource Usage view.

    Tip  

    Adding the Regular Work field       You might also find it helpful to add the Regular Work field to the sheet portion of the Resource Usage view. Click the Work field and then click Insert, Column. In the Field Name box, click Regular Work and then click OK.

To specify overtime work for overallocated resources, follow these steps:

  1. In the Resource Usage view containing the Overtime Work field, find the first overallocated resource (highlighted in red) for whom you want to add overtime work.

  2. Under the overallocated resource, review the assignments and the hours in the timesheet portion of the view. Find the assignments that are contributing to the overallocated work amounts.

  3. In the sheet portion of the view, in the Overtime Work field for the assignment, enter the amount of overtime you want to designate .

    You do not change the work amount because the overtime work amount is a portion of the total work. The amount you enter in the Overtime Work field is distributed across the time span of the assignment, which you can see in the timesheet portion of the view. For example, if an assignment spans3days, and you enter6hours of overtime, an amount of overtime is added to each day for the assignment.

    In the timesheet portion of the view, you can view how the overtime work you enter is distributed across the assignment's time span. However, you cannot edit the amount of overtime in the individual time periods.

  4. Repeat this process for any other assignments causing the resource to be overallocated.

When you enter overtime work, the duration of the task is shortened . Overtime work is charged at an overtime rate you enter for the resource, either in the Resource Sheet or in the Resource Information dialog box. The resource name is still shown in red as overallocated, but now you've accounted for the overallocation using overtime.

Splitting Tasks

Sometimes a resource needs to stop working on one task, start work on a second task, and then return to the first task. This can happen, for example, when an overallocated resource needs to work on a task with a date constraint. In this situation, you can split a task. With a split task , you can schedule when the task is to start, stop, and then resume again. As with delay, splitting a task can ensure that resources are working on tasks when they actually have time for them.

Note  

In a split task, the task duration is calculated as the value of both portions of the task, not counting the time when the resource is working on something else. However, if you split a task with an elapsed duration, the duration is recalculated to include the start of the first part of the task through the finish of the last part of the task.

To split a task, follow these steps:

  1. Display the Gantt Chart by clicking View, Gantt Chart.

  2. On the Standard toolbar, click Split Task. Your mouse pointer changes to the split task pointer, and a small pop-up window appears.

  3. In the chart portion of the view, position your mouse pointer on the Gantt bar of the task you want to split, on the date when you want the split to occur.

  4. Drag the Gantt bar to the date when you want the task to resume (see Figure 9-28).


    Figure 9-28: Drag the Gantt bar to represent when the task stops and when it resumes again.

    While you drag, the pop-up shows the start and finish dates.

You can split the task multiple times. Click Split Task on the Standard toolbar to activate each new split.

To remove the split in a split task, drag the right portion of the split Gantt bar toward the left portion until both sides of the bar touch and join.

Tip  

Split a task after work has started       After you begin the execution and tracking phase of the project, you can also split a task on which a resource has started working.

Cross-References  

For more information on rescheduling, see "Rescheduling the Project".

Note  

You can also adjust scope to balance the workload.

Cross-References  

For more information about cutting scope, see "Changing Project Scope" later in this chapter.

Leveling Assignments

The previous sections described how you can delay and split tasks to balance or level resource assignments. Microsoft Project can balance the workload for you with the leveling feature, which adds delay and splits in your project plan according to specifications that you set.

You can have Microsoft Project level assignments whenever you give the command. You also have the option to keep the leveling feature on all the time. If you leave leveling on all the time, whenever you change the schedule in some way, Microsoft Project levels assignments at that time.

Note that leveling does not reassign tasks or units. It does not change work amounts. It causes the start date to move later by delays, or it splits a task so that it finishes later when the assigned resources have available time. Also, leveling works only on actual work resources ”that is, material resources and generic resources are not leveled.

When you level resources, you carry out some or all of these major process steps, which are detailed in the following sections.

Inside Out: Resource leveling on demand
start example

Through automatic resource leveling, Microsoft Project has the capability to automatically schedule assignments only when the resources actually have time available. However, if you set up automatic leveling, your schedule will be recalculated every time you make a single change that affects scheduling or assignments. If you have a large or complex project file, you are likely to find that this constant recalculation significantly slows down work in your project file. Because of this performance problem, automatic resource leveling is not recommended.

Instead, have Microsoft Project level resources only when you explicitly give the command. Click Tools, Level Resources. Make sure that the leveling options are what you want, and click the Level Now button.

An advantage to directing when Microsoft Project levels is that you can immediately review the results of leveling in the Leveling Gantt and undo the operation if you don't like the results. Having Microsoft Project level only when you say also ensures that you have control over when task splits and delays are being made.

Another alternative, which is not recommended, is to turn on automatic leveling and turn off automatic recalculation. If you want to do this, click Tools, Options and then click the Calculation tab. For Calculation Mode, select the Manual option. Any time you want Microsoft Project to recalculate values in your project based on scheduling changes you've made, press the F9 key, which calculates all open projects. (If you want to calculate just the active project, press Shift+F9.) Whenever you've made changes that require calculation, the status bar says Calculate.

Whether or not you use automatic resource leveling, be aware that Manual calculation brings with it its own slough of problems. You have to remember that the data you're looking at might not be accurate at any given time, and that can cause you or others to make decisions based on faulty data.

For the best performance, most accurate data, and the most control over task splits and delays, make sure that resource leveling is set to Manual, and calculation is set to Automatic.

end example
 

Setting Leveling Priorities

You can set a priority for each task if you like. The priority levels range from 0 (the lowest priority) to 1000 (the highest). All tasks start with a default priority of 500; that is, they are all equal in priority. Microsoft Project uses the task priority setting as a leveling criterion. If you have certain tasks that are so important that you never want the leveling feature to split or delay them, you should set them for a priority of 1000, which ensures that Microsoft Project will never level resources using that task. You might have other tasks that, although important, enjoy more potential flexibility as to when they can be completed. Those tasks can be set with a lower priority, such as 100. Having tasks set with lower priorities gives Microsoft Project the flexibility it needs to effectively level resource assignments.

To change the priority of an individual task, do the following:

  1. In the Gantt Chart or other task sheet, double-click the task whose priority you want to change from the default of 500.

  2. In the Task Information dialog box, click the General tab.

  3. In the Priority box, enter the number representing the priority you want for this task.

Inside Out: Priorities apply only to resource leveling and substitution
start example

Although it seems that priorities can help influence Microsoft Project's scheduling decisions throughout your project, priorities are actually used only in the context of leveling. If you're working with Project Professional 2003, priorities also play a part in the Resource Substitution Wizard. When Microsoft Project is determining whether to split or delay one task versus another in order to level resources, it can use priority as one of its criteria, in addition to the other criteria you have set in the Resource Leveling dialog box.

You can still set up your own uses of priorities. You can sort and group tasks by priority. You can also create a filter to see only tasks above a certain priority.

end example
 
Cross-References  

For more information about how priorities work with the Resource Substitution Wizard, see "Assigning Tasks to Enterprise Resources".

Suppose there are ten tasks throughout your project that you want to set with a higher priority than the average. You can select those tasks and then change their priority in one operation, as follows:

  1. In the Gantt Chart or other task sheet, select all the tasks whose priority you want to change to the same number. To select adjacent tasks, click the first task, hold down the Shift key, and then click the last task. To select nonadjacent tasks, click the first task, hold down the Ctrl key, and then click each task you want to include.

  2. On the Standard toolbar, click Task Information.

  3. In the Multiple Task Information dialog box, click the General tab.

  4. In the Priority box, enter the number representing the priority you want for all selected tasks.

You can add the Priority field to a task sheet and change the priority for tasks individually throughout the sheet. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. In the Gantt Chart or other task sheet, click the column to the right of where you want the new Priority column to be inserted.

  2. Click Insert, Column.

  3. In the Field Name box, click Priority, and then click OK. The Priority column appears in your sheet (see Figure 9-29).

    click to expand
    Figure 9-29: Type or select the priority you want in the Priority field.

  4. For any task whose priority should be other than the default, enter the number in the Priority field.

    Tip  

    How many levels of priority do you need?       Having 1000 levels of priority might seem like overkill, but the number of levels you use depends on what you're trying to do with your project, and how much control you want to wield over the leveling process.

    If you feel you only need 10 levels of priority, use 0, 100, 200, 300, and so on as your priorities. Or use 495 through 505.

    If you need only three priorities ”low, medium, and high, for example ”use 0, 500, and 1000. Or use 499, 500, and 501.

    However, remember that tasks with a priority of 1000 are never leveled.

Leveling Resources with Standard Defaults

You use the Resource Leveling dialog box to set your leveling preferences and give the command to level. The default settings of the dialog box work for the majority of resource-leveling needs. It's a good idea to try leveling with those settings first and see how they work for you. Then you'll have a better idea of the kinds of controls you want to impose on the leveling operation. Follow these steps to level resources using the default settings:

  1. If you want to level only selected resources rather than all resources, switch to a resource sheet and select the resource(s) you want to level.

    To select multiple adjacent resources, drag from the first to the last resource.

    To select multiple nonadjacent resources, click the first resource, hold down the Ctrl key, and then click each of the others.

  2. Click Tools, Level Resources.

    The Resource Leveling dialog box appears (see Figure 9-30).

    click to expand
    Figure 9-30: You can do a standard leveling operation using the defaults or you can set your own options.

  3. Click the Level Now button.

  4. If you selected resources, the Level Now dialog box appears (see Figure 9-31). Select the Entire Pool or Selected Resources option and then click OK.


    Figure 9-31: Specify whether you want to level all or selected resources.

    This dialog box does not appear if you had a task selected. In that case, all resources are leveled for the entire project.

    Your resources are leveled according to the default dialog box settings.

    Cross-References  

    To see the changes that leveling has made, see "Checking the Results of Leveling" later in this chapter.

Inside Out: Rein in the extent of resource leveling
start example

By default, Microsoft Project levels on a day-by-day basis. That means even if resources are assigned just one hour over their availability as determined by their resource calendar or maximum units, their assignments will be leveled.

You might think this is somewhat nit-picky, and maybe you'd rather not split tasks or add delays unless there are larger overallocations. In this case, click Tools, Level Resources; and then under Leveling Calculations, change the Day By Day setting to Week By Week or Month By Month.

If you set leveling to Week By Week, for example, this means that a resource set up with a 40-hour work week is only leveled if she is assigned more than 40 hours in a week. However, her assignments are not leveled if she is assigned 14 hours in a single day.

end example
 

Setting Leveling Options

If you've leveled your project a few times and want to take more control over how Microsoft Project levels, click Tools, Level Resources and then change the options you want in the Resource Leveling dialog box. The following list describes the available options:

Calculate automatically or manually.       Under Leveling Calculations, select the Automatic option if you want Microsoft Project to level resources whenever you make a change that affects scheduling. Select the Manual option if you want resources leveled only when you give the Level Now command. If you select the Automatic option, clear the Clear Leveling Values Before Leveling check box to improve performance.

Specify the overallocation leveling time period.       Resources are considered overallocated if they have even one minute of work scheduled beyond their availability, as determined by their resource calendars and maximum units. You can set the time period at which leveling is triggered with the Look For Overallocations On A Basis box. By default, the time period basis is a day, so if resources are overallocated by a minute or hour within a day, they'll be leveled. If you set the overallocation leveling time period basis to the week, resources that are scheduled for more work than can be accomplished by their weekly availability will be leveled. The choices are Minute By Minute, Day By Day (the default), Week By Week, and Month By Month.

Clear leveling.       The Clear Leveling Values Before Leveling check box is selected by default. This setting specifies that any delays previously entered as a result of leveling or as a result of manually entering leveling delay are to be cleared before the next leveling operation is performed. The Clear Leveling button does the same thing. Use the check box if you're about to level again and you want to start fresh. Use the button if you're not planning to level right now, but want to remove any leveling delay from your project plan.

Level certain tasks or the entire project.       Under Leveling Range, you can specify that only those tasks falling within a date range you enter should be leveled. This can be particularly useful in projects that take place over a long period of time or that are subject to many changes. The default is for all tasks in the project to be leveled.

Set the order of leveling operations.       The first part of the leveling process is to determine which tasks are causing overallocations. Then Microsoft Project works through the project, splitting tasks and adding delays to remove the overallocation. You can control the order in which Microsoft Project levels through the project by setting the leveling order. By default, Microsoft Project uses the Standard leveling order, which looks at task relationships, slack, start dates, priorities, and constraints to determine whether and how tasks should be leveled (see Table 9-1). If you choose the ID Only leveling order, Microsoft Project delays tasks with the higher ID numbers before considering any other criteria. If you choose the Priority, Standard leveling order, Microsoft Project first looks at any priorities you've set and then all the factors of the Standard leveling order.

Level within available slack.       By default, the Level Only Within Available Slack check box is cleared. Select this check box if you need to ensure that leveling will not push out the finish date. However, unless your project has a fair amount of built-in slack, if this check box is selected, you might not see many changes to your project.

Adjust individual assignments on a task.       By default, the Leveling Can Adjust Individual Assignments On A Task check box is selected. This setting controls adjustments to when a resource works on a task, independent of other resources working on the same task.

Create splits in remaining work.       By default, the Leveling Can Create Splits In Remaining Work check box is selected. This means that not only can leveling split tasks that haven't started yet, it can also split tasks that are currently in progress.

 New  Feature     Level proposed resources.       If you're working with Project Professional, you can add resources tentatively to your project and assign them to tasks. Such resources have a proposed booking type. By default, proposed resources are not included in a leveling operation; only committed resources are. If you want to include proposed resources in the leveling operation, select the Level Resources With The Proposed Booking Type.

Cross-References  

For more information about working with proposed and committed resources, see "Proposing Tentative Resources".

Cross-References  

If you're working with proposed enterprise resources, see "Building Your Enterprise Project Team".

After you change the leveling options to your satisfaction, level the resources in your project plan by clicking the Level Now button.

Table 9-1: Order of Operations for Resource Leveling

With this leveling order

These fields are examined

Standard

Task relationships

Slack

Start date

Priority

Constraint

ID Only

Task ID

Priority, Standard

Priority

Task relationships

Slack

Start date

Constraint

Inside Out: Delay in projects scheduled from the finish date
start example

If you level tasks in a project scheduled from the finish date, negative delay values are applied from the end of the task or assignment, which causes the task or assignment's finish date to happen earlier.

Also, if you switch a project to be scheduled from the finish date from one to be scheduled from the start date, any leveling delays and splits are removed.

end example
 
Troubleshooting: Leveling delay you entered manually has disappeared
start example

Suppose you entered leveling delay to manually delay tasks. When you use the Microsoft Project leveling feature, by default, any previously entered leveling delay is removed. This is true whether the delay was entered automatically or manually.

To prevent manual leveling delay from being removed in the future, always clear the Clear Leveling Values Before Leveling check box in the Resource Leveling dialog box. And don't click the Clear Leveling button.

You might also consider entering assignment delay rather than leveling delay when manually entering delay values. Whereas leveling delay values delay all assignments on a task, assignment delay values delay individual assignments. Therefore, it might be a little more cumbersome and repetitious to enter initially, but you never have to worry about losing the values to a new leveling operation.

To get your leveling back, click Edit, Undo, which will reverse the leveling operation only if it's the very last operation you've done in your project. Otherwise, you might need to enter the leveling delay again or use a backup project file.

Cross-References  

For more information about manually entering delay, see "Delaying a Task or Assignment" earlier in this chapter.

end example
 

Checking the Results of Leveling

To see the changes made to your project plan as a result of leveling, use the Leveling Gantt. Display the Leveling Gantt as follows:

  1. Click View, More Views.

  2. In the More Views dialog box, click Leveling Gantt.

    The Gantt bars in this view display the task schedule as it looked before the leveling operation in addition to the task schedule as it looks after leveling, so you can compare the changes made (see Figure 9-32). It also shows any new task delays and splits.

    click to expand
    Figure 9-32: The green Gantt bars show the preleveled task schedule; whereas the blue bars, delays, and splits show the results of the leveling operation.

  3. If you don't like the results of leveling, click Tools, Level Resources, and then click Clear Leveling.

Troubleshooting: Microsoft Project performance has slowed since you last leveled
start example

You probably set resource leveling to Automatic. Every time you make a scheduling change that affect assignments, Microsoft Project automatically levels resources. Although this is a nice feature and is often what we expect Microsoft Project to do for us, it can significantly slow down performance in larger or more complex projects.

There are three ways to resolve the slowdown . In the Resource Leveling dialog box, select the Manual option under Leveling Calculations. Then click Level Now whenever you want resources to be leveled. This is the most effective solution, providing the most reliable results throughout your project.

Another solution is to maintain automatic leveling but turn off automatic calculation. Click Tools, Options, and then click the Calculation tab. Under Calculation Options, select the Manual option. Now, whenever you make schedule changes, your schedule won't be recalculated until you come back to this tab and click the Calculate Now button, or press F9 to calculate all open projects or Shift+F9 to calculate only the active project.

Here's the third method for improving performance. If you want to keep automatic leveling as well as automatic calculation, clear the Clear Leveling Values Before Leveling check box in the Resource Leveling dialog box. This procedure can help improve performance because previous leveling values are not cleared before the new leveling is done.

end example
 
Tip  

Switch to the Leveling Gantt before leveling       If you go to the Leveling Gantt first and then level your project, you can see the results immediately in the Leveling Gantt. If you don't like the results, you can click Edit, Undo to reverse the changes made by leveling.

Troubleshooting: You told Microsoft Project to level your resources, but nothing changed
start example

You set up all your options in the Resource Leveling dialog box and then click OK. But if leveling is set to Manual, nothing happens in your project plan. In the Manual leveling mode, your resources are not leveled until you click the Level Now button. Therefore, instead of clicking OK, click the Level Now button, and your resources will be leveled.

Another alternative is to select the Automatic leveling option. In this case, as soon as you click OK, Microsoft Project levels your project plan. In addition, every time you make a scheduling change that affects assignments, Microsoft Project levels resources again.

end example
 

Active Server Pages

error 'ASP 0113'

Script timed out

/viewer_r.asp

The ma



Microsoft Office Project 2003 Inside Out
Microsoft Office Project 2003 Inside Out
ISBN: 0735619581
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 268

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net