10 Fine-tuning Project Plan

Soe Naing Win
Email: snw1975@gmail.com

• Look at how resources are scheduled to work
over the duration of a project.
• Edit a resource assignment to resolve a
resource overallocation.
• Resolve resource overallocation automatically.
• See the project’s overall cost and finish date.

 Under-allocated The resource’s assignments do not fill the
resource’s maximum capacity to do work. For example, a
full-time resource who has only 25 hours of work assigned in
a 40-hour workweek is underallocated.
 Fully allocated The resource’s assignments fill the
resource’s maximum capacity. For example, a full-time
resource who has 40 hours of work assigned in a 40-hour
workweek is fully allocated.
 Overallocated The resource’s assignments exceed the
resource’s maximum capacity for any period of time. For
example, a full-time resource who has 65 hours of work
assigned in a 40-hour workweek is overallocated.

Exe: look at resource allocations and focus on a
resource who is overallocated
• View tab, in the Resource Views group, click
Resource Usage.
• On the Task tab, in the Editing group, click Scroll to
Task.

assignments grouped per resource,
the total work assigned to each
resource, and each assignment’s work
assignment details (work, by default)
arranged on a timescale

Next : you will collapse the outline in the table to see total work per
resource over time.
• Click the Resource Name column heading.
• View tab > Data group > Outline >Hide Subtasks.

• Project collapses the outline (assignments per resource) in the
Resource Usage view.

• Resource Name > Carole Poland
• Next, you will look at two work resources and their allocations.
• Point to the M column heading (for Monday) for the week of April 1
at the top of the timescaled grid.

Currently, the timescale is set to display weeks and days. You will now
change the timescale to see the work data summarized more broadly
• View > Zoom > Timescale > Months.
Project changes the timescaled grid to show scheduled work values per
month

As you can see in the timescaled grid, Carole Poland is overallocated
in April and June.

You will focus on Carole Poland first by changing the timescale
settings.
• View > Zoom > Timescale > Days.
 Project adjusts the timescale to its previous setting

Click the plus sign next to Carole’s name in the Resource Name
column.
 Project expands the Resource Usage view to show Carole’s individual
assignments
 Scroll the Resource Usage view horizontally to the right to see Carole’s
assignments the week of April 15.
 Carole’s total work that Monday, April 16, is 9 hours. This is formatted red,
indicating the overallocation

• Carole has two assignments on April 16: eight hours on the Content
edit task and the one hour task Editorial staff meeting 2 (one
instance of a recurring task).
• Click the minus sign next to Carole’s name in the Resource Name
column.

Editing an assignment manually is just one way to resolve a
resource overallocation. Other solutions include the following:
• Replace the overallocated resource with another resource
using the Replace button in the Assign Resources dialog box.
• Reduce the value in the Units field in the Assignment
Information or Assign Resources dialog box.
• Assign an additional resource to the task so that both
resources share the work.
• Add leveling delay to an assignment manually

In this exercise, you will use the Resource Usage view to
examine one overallocated resource’s assignments and edit the
assignment to eliminate the overallocation.
• View > Zoom > Timescale > Weeks.

Horizontally scroll the usage view to the right to examine the more
severe overallocations per week.

Click the plus sign next to Hany’s name in the Resource Name column.
• View > Zoom > Timescale > Days.
• Horizontally scroll the usage view to display the August 19 timeframe.

You decide to reduce Hany’s work on both the Proof and review and
the Create mockup tasks.

• In the timephased grid of the Resource Usage view, select Hany’s
assignment of 8 hours on Monday, August 20, on the task Proof and
review.
• Type 4h, and then press the Tab key.
• With Hany’s 8-hour assignment on the same task for Tuesday, August 21,
selected, type 4h, and then press Tab.

• Select Hany’s assignment of 8 hours on Monday, August 20, on the task
Create mockup.
• Type 4h, and then press Tab.
• With Hany’s 8-hour assignment on the same task for Tuesday, August 21,
selected, type 4h, and then press Tab.

Resource leveling is the process of delaying or splitting a
resource’s work on a task to resolve an overallocation.
• The options in the Level Resources dialog box enable
you to set parameters concerning how you want Project
to resolve resource overallocations.
• Project will attempt to resolve such overallocations
when you choose to level resources. Depending on the
options you choose, this might involve delaying the start
date of an assignment or task or splitting the work on
the task.

Exercise : you level resources and view the effects on
assignments and the project finish date.
• View > Resource Views > Resource Sheet.
• Resource > Level > Leveling Options.

• Leveling calculations > Manual.
• This setting determines whether Project levels resources constantly
(Automatic) or only when you tell it to (Manual). Automatic leveling
occurs as soon as a resource becomes overallocated.
• Look for overallocations on a . . . basis box, make
sure that Day by Day is selected.
This setting determines the time
frame in which Project will look for
overallocations.
If a resource is overallocated, its
name will be formatted in red. If it’s
overallocated at the level you choose
here,
Project will also show the
Overallocated indicator next to its
name

• Make sure that the Clear leveling values before
leveling check box is selected.
Sometimes you will need to level resources repeatedly to
obtain the results that you want. For example, you might
initially attempt to level week by week and then switch to
day by day. If the “Clear leveling values before leveling”
check box is selected, Project removes any existing leveling
delays from all tasks and assignments before leveling.
• For example, if you previously leveled the project plan and then
added more assignments, you might clear this check box before
leveling again so that you wouldn’t lose the previous leveling
results

• Under ‘Leveling range for ‘Advanced Plan’, make
sure that Level entire project is selected.
 Here you choose to level either the entire project or only
those assignments that fall within a date range you
specify. Leveling within a date range is most useful after
you have started tracking actual work and you want to
level only the remaining assignments in a project.

• In the Leveling order box, make sure that Standard is
selected.
You control the priority that Project uses to determine which tasks it
should delay to resolve a resource conflict.
 The ID Only option delays tasks only according to their ID numbers:
numerically higher ID numbers (for example, 10) will be delayed before
numerically lower ID numbers (for example, 5). You might want to use this
option when your project plan has no task relationships or constraints. The
 Standard option delays tasks according to predecessor relationships, start
dates, task constraints, slack, priority, and IDs
 The Priority, Standard option looks at the task priority value before the
other standard criteria. (Task priority is a numeric ranking between 0 and
1000 that indicates the task’s appropriateness for leveling. Tasks with the
lowest priority are delayed or split first.)

Make sure that the Level only within available slack
check box is cleared.
• Clearing this check box allows Project to extend the project’s
finish date, if necessary, to resolve resource allocations.
• Selecting this check box would prevent Project from
extending the project’s finish date to resolve resource
overallocations. Instead, Project would use only the free
slack within the existing schedule. Depending on the project,
this might not be adequate to fully resolve resource
overallocations

Make sure that the Leveling can adjust individual
assignments on a task check box is selected.
 This allows Project to add leveling delay (or split work
on assignments if “Leveling can create splits in
remaining work” is also selected) independently of any
other resources assigned to the same task. This might
cause resources to start and finish work on a task at
different times

Make sure that the Leveling can create splits in
remaining work check box is selected.
 This allows Project to split work on a task (or on an
assignment if “Leveling can adjust individual
assignments on a task” is also selected) as a way of
resolving an overallocation.

Make sure that the Leveling can create splits in
remaining work check box is selected.
This allows Project to
split work on a task (or
on an assignment if
“Leveling can adjust
individual assignments
on a task” is also
selected) as a way of
resolving an
overallocation.

Make sure that the Level manually scheduled tasks
check box is selected.
 This allows Project to level a manually scheduled task
just as it would an automatically scheduled task.

• Click Level All.
• Project levels the overallocated resources.

Exe: look at the project plan before and after leveling
by using the Leveling Gantt view.
 View > Task Views > Other Views > More Views > Leveling
Gantt > Apply.
 View > Zoom > Entire Project.

The types of costs that you might encounter over the life of a project include
the following:
• Baseline costs The original planned task, resource, or assignment costs
saved as part of a baseline plan.
• Current (or scheduled) costs The calculated costs of tasks, resources,
and assignments in a project plan. As you make adjustments in a project
plan, such as assigning or removing resources, Project recalculates
current costs just as it recalculates task start and finish dates. After you
start to incur actual costs (typically by tracking actual work), the current
cost equals the actual cost plus the remaining cost per task, resource, or
assignment. Current costs are the values you see in the fields labeled Cost
or Total Cost.
• Actual costs The costs that have been incurred for tasks, resources, or
assignments.
• Remaining costs The difference between the current or scheduled costs
and the actual costs for tasks, resources, or assignments

You might need to compare these costs (for example, baseline vs. actual) or
examine them individually per task, resource, or assignment. Or you might
need to examine cost values for summary tasks or for an entire project plan.
Some common ways to view these types of costs include the following:
• You can see the project’s cost values in the Project Statistics dialog box
(you’ll do so later).
• You can see or print formatted reports that include cash flow, budget,
overbudgeted tasks or resources, and earned value (to do this, on the
Project tab, in the Reports group, click Reports or Visual Reports).
• You can see task-, resource-, or assignment-level cost information in usage
views by displaying the Cost table (to do this, on the View tab, in the Data
group, click Tables and then click Cost).

Exercise : look at the overall project costs, individual
task costs, and the project’s finish date.
Switch to cost table
• View >Task Views > Views > Task Sheet.
• View > Data > Tables > Cost.

Next, check the project’s finish date.
• Project > Properties > Project Information.

Next : look at the duration values for this project
• Project Information > Statistics
•

10 Fine-tuning Project Plan

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Editor's Notes