Resource Leveling across Multiple Projects Jon Smith, PMP Keane, Inc.

What is Overallocation? When you give a resource more effort in a time frame than they have time to accomplish (ex.-more than 40 assigned hours in a week) Set by Tools, Level Resources setting – Default is Day by Day, Default should be Week by Week for most industries (and Manual) Red on resource assignments means confusion – not overallocation – IGNORE IT

How do you see Overallocations? In a single file, on the Resource Usage view In a workgroup environment, on the Resource Usage view of the Shared Resource Pool file In a Project Server environment, on the Resource Usage view of a consolidated file (tip – select projects in Project Center with the Ctrl key, then click on the Project icon) (tip – give PM’s read privileges to projects they don’t manage, but have shared resources, except the Cost fields)

Tips for the Resource Usage View On the left-hand side, add: – Project Field – gives you the name of the project on each task – ID Field – gives you the Task ID on each task – Priority (optional) – (high is 999, low is 1) On the right-hand side: – Change the Timescale to Months & Weeks, from Weeks & Days (tip – create a macro since you have to do this all the time) – Use the Overallocation Setting on the right-mouse Overall – Create a custom combo view with Resource Usage on the top and Task Details Form on the bottom (and use the right mouse button on the bottom to modify the form)

Leveling Tips DO NOT USE THE AUTOMATIC LEVELING TOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – (It extends Duration as its primary method and that should be your VERY LAST CHOICE) Level left to right, top to bottom, week by week Once a person works overtime, unless you raise their Availability, the Overallocation Symbol does not go away

Some Leveling Methods Fake Predecessor Re-assign Resources Assign Additional Resources Change the order of tasks Split Tasks Adding Lag/Lead Hill and Valley Work Contours Lower Productivity / Extend Duration on non-Critical Path tasks Lower Productivity / Extend Duration on Critical Path Tasks (always your last choice)