Aug 16 2021 08:45 AM
Hello,
I am currently changing how I manage our production schedule within MS Project.....
Background - I work at an industrial repair facility, durations are roughly estimated, i use "Work" as an estimate, and our resources work two shifts.
Each department has a different amount of employees per shift I.E machine shop has 5 People on Days 1 on Nights.
Each schedule has different known requirements for working days and times, and some Tasks may hold their own Task Calendar.
I use a resource pool, and a master schedule file
My standard scheduling options are
Fixed Units / 7am- 11pm 24hrs per day 168 hrs per week 30 days per month Tasks are NOT effort driven
I have a few project calendars (Base Calendar 5 Days 8 Hours = M-F 8 hours first shift 8 hours second Shift)
All Resource calendars are listed as a variation of the 24hr schedule, variation includes Lunches and turn over before and after each shift for a total 22 hrs per day of available work.
Issue 1 I add Task 1, with each task having Work 10 hrs, I assign 1 Day shift and 1 Night shift, There seems to be unwanted level loading between the two resources
For example Day shift resource 1 starts at 7am on a 10 hour task which should leave 2.75 hrs left on the task, so the night shift resource will have 2.75 hrs to preform on their shift.
Now, sometimes it is doing the calculation correctly. But, most of the time it will split the 10 hrs of work evenly between the 2 resources. So instead of finishing at 6:30 PM it would instead finish at 9am (Lunch break included)
My work around so far is going into task usage to manually adjust working times. I have hundreds of tasks to schedule so i would really like to avoid the manual adjustments.
Any help with a better way to show shift work would be greatly appreciated!
Aug 16 2021 10:14 AM - edited Aug 16 2021 10:15 AM
Chris,
You have a very complex structure (i.e. multiple files, resource pool and master file). I assume you understand that structure is prone to corruption if not managed with extreme discipline.
With regard to your basic question, Project does not optimize resource assignments. By default Project linearly and equally spreads work among multiple resources assigned to a given task. The fact that it is "doing the calculation correctly" is most likely the result of a unique assignment that just happens to produce the result you want. You may want to take a closer look at that assignment and see if you can apply it to others.
A quick look at the custom resource calendars you show, the 2nd shift appears to have an error. It shows 12:00 AM to 3:30 AM and then a rather long "lunch" from 3:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Maybe that's intended, I don't know.
John
Aug 16 2021 10:24 AM
Aug 16 2021 11:40 AM
Aug 17 2021 09:30 AM
Aug 17 2021 07:21 PM
Aug 18 2021 09:37 AM
Aug 18 2021 11:58 AM
I'm not sure what you mean by "scaled to the appropriate initial base schedule" but this is what the options mean: The "day", "week" and "month" options describe working time. They define the value in the Duration field. For example, if you use a normal Standard calendar and you enter 5 days in the Duration field, that represents 5 working days of 8 hours each. If however, you elect the 24 Hour Calendar as the project calendar and leave the definition of a "day" at the default 8 hours, then it will take 3 "days" to cover a full 24 hour time period. So if a plan has a mix of project, task and resource calendars, the definition of a "day" (or "week" or "month") can create real headaches. I recommend Excedrin.
Using hours in the Duration field is always a good bet since an hour is an hour (universal).
Attempting to use months for duration is even worse since Project does not provide for more than one definition. The default 20 days is working days and is a compromise that attempts to cover the actual Gregorian calendar. That's why entering months in the Duration field is fraught with frustration. It is sometimes useful to enter duration in "elapsed time". For example, an entry of "7ed" covers a calendar week, Monday through Sunday, whereas an entry of "7d" will cover Monday through Friday, skip the non-working weekend, and continue with Monday and Tuesday of the next week.
When faced with dates that seem "slightly off" it is often useful to set the general option for date format to include the time.
Hope this helps.
John