Newbie PM Question with Project

Home Forums Discussion Forum Newbie PM Question with Project

Viewing 1 reply thread
  • Author
    Posts
    • #374867
      Dan
      Guest

      So we only use Project very lightly in my current position but now I’m trying to learn the more nitty gritty stuff and I’m stuck at something early. If I have subsequent tasks that require the same resource that occurs in the same day, how do I get them to be after each other and not giving me a resource over allocation error? What is happening currently is that if I don’t have a pre-req linkage it will assume both tasks start at the same time but if I put in the pre-req link it auto-shifts it to the next day even if there are enough hours in the working day to accommodate both tasks. This problem is made even worse if the preceding task is a daily recurring task because it pushes out the subsequent task beyond the anticipated end of the recurring task. I know this is most likely humorously simple to fix but so far I’m stumped. Thanks for any help.

    • #374916
      Larry Christofaro
      Participant

      Dan, it’s true that it might be simple but is a very difficult concept to understand and incorporate easily into a schedule. The concept (assuming I understand) has to do with work and allocation. First phase of managing a project is about managing duration. For that you simply assign resources to tasks and “assess” the project schedule manually for over-allocation. Second phase is to manage both time and resources, and for that you need to manage how much work is being assigned to each task. If you have a one day task and assign a resource, Project will assign 8 hours (fully allocate). If the resource can do two tasks then you can only assign the resource 50% allocated on each task.

      Assuming that starts to ring a bell it is a huge topic that can make managing a project very frustrating for a beginner in Microsoft Project. Find a good book that can help or stick with managing duration and don’t worry about over-allocation. Good luck…

Viewing 1 reply thread
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.