A Small issue with Team Planner and Resource Leveling in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

This will be a short one. Again, my fellow MPV Eric Uyttewaal found a Bug in MS PROJECT 2013.

I will Crete two Tasks in MS PROJECT 2013:

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and one Resource:

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Finally I’ll assign this Resources to both Tasks:

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As you can see, John is over allocated. Now I’m switching to the Team Planner View:

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Everything is fine (see Over allocation with red lines). Now I’m going to Level Resources:

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and I’ll get:

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Still, everything is perfect. No I’m going to Undone last Action:

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and I’m getting:

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There are no red lines here.

Funny!

Regards,

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Multiple Resource Pools in Subprojects in MS PROJECT 2013!

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

I have a question from on of my Blog Readers: “Is it possible to use separate Resource to Projects, and then to see all Resources in one Master Project?”

The answer is: “YES” How? I’ll show you in MS PROJECT 2013!

First I’ll create Resource pool (the first one):

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and I’ll save it:

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and then:

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Now I will create two Projects with two Tasks and I will use same Resource Pool:

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and then:

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and:

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Now I will Assign Resources to Tasks:

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Now, the Second Project:

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Now I’ll create Second Resource Pool:

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And another two Projects with two Tasks, and with Usage of this Second Resource Pool:

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and:

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Now I’m going to cerate Master Project with Subprojects:

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and I’m going to import four Projects like that:

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and I’ll get:

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after I import all Projects I’ll have:

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As you can see, all Resources are there. And both Resource Pools are open!

Lets see Resource sheet in Master Project:

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OK! Now two Tips!

If you want to add Task to a Project4, for example, you can not use Resource from Resource Pool 1.

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If you want to use independent Task like this:

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You can not use any Resource from any Resource pool, either. And you can not assign independent Resource to that Task too! It is impossible!

 

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Bug with Inactive Tasks in MS PROJECT 2013!

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

My MVP Fellow, Dale Howard found this Bug in MS PROJECT 2013!

I will Create brand new Project with some Tasks:

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Now, suppose that I want to make First four Tasks inactive:

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I will get:

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So far so good. Now, let’s say that all Task (active Tasks) which are supposed to be Finished at Friday, 16.5.2014 are finished. Notice that 16.5.2014 is date which is AFTER all inactive Tasks. I’ll do this like this:

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and I’ll get:

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As you can see, Inactive Tasks are marked as Completed. The funniest thing is if you try to Select one or many of those Inactive Task and then try to make them 0% Complete, it is impossible!

This is a Bug!

Regards

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Bug in Tracking Gantt View in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

here is another small bug in MS PROJECT 2013.

I will Create few Tasks in MS PROJECT 2013:

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I want to see Critical Path, so I’m going to Use Tracking Gantt View:

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and I’ll get:

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On the Right side of the screen There is Critical Path (Red color). No I’m going to switch off Critical field from Bar Styles:

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and I’ll get:

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Funny, isn’t it?

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, Microsoft Project Server 2010, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

BUG Resource-related Cost field not recalculated in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

here is minor bug in MS PROJECT 2013, found by Eric Uyttewaal, my MVP friend.

First I am going to create New Project with Single Task (1 day duration):

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I will now Create two Resources: Ted and Fred:

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Yu can see that Standard Rate for Ted is $200, and for Fred is $200. In this View (Resource sheet) I will add two more columns: Cost, and Work:

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Now I’m going to assign Ted to the Task:

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and I’m going to look at the Resource sheet:

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Everything is perfect: Ted will work 8 hours, and Cost will be 8 * $200 = $1600. Now I’m going to Replace Ted with Fred on that Task:

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and I will get:

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As you can see, Ted has Cost = $0, but Fred’s Cost field is not refreshed (it should be 8 hours * $300 = $2400)

and This is a Bug!

Regards

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, Microsoft Project Server 2010, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

How to replace Resource for the partial completed Tasks in MS PROJECT 2013?

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

I’ve got a question from one of my Blog Readers: “Dear Nenad, I have the following scenario: I have A Task assigned with one Resource. He did 50% work, and then he left the Company. I must assign another Resource to the Task, but the Duration must remain the same. What should I do?”

This is easy. I’ll show you how to do that in MS PROJECT 2013. First, I’m going to create one Task with 10 days Duration:

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and two Resources:

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I’m going to assign John to the Task:

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Now, let’s say that John has started with this Task on time, and he is 50% finished:

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Now, suppose that John has Left the Company at Friday, 05/16/2014. Mary has to jump in. I will Replace John with Mary:

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and I will get:

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Let’s look at the Cost Table:

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John has $100 standard Rate , and he has worked 5 days * 8 hours per day, which is 40 hour. 40 hours * $100 = $4000. This is Actual Cost. Mary has $200 standard  and she has to work another 5 days * 8 hours per day, which is 40 hour. 40 hours * $200 = $8000. This is Remaining Cost. Total Cost is $4000 + $8000 = $12.000

Let’s see Task Usage View:

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Everything is perfect. John has work assigned only at first week, and has actual work, and Mary has assigned work for Second week.

The question is: “If John left the Company, can I simple delete him from my Resource Sheet!?”. The answer is: “Yes, you can, but DON’T DO IT!”

Here is what is going to happen if you do:

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IF you choose YES, you will get:

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And this is WRONG! It seems like John has ever work on any Task! So, do not delete John! But, I know what are you going to ask: “If John is still in Resource sheet, I’ll be able to assign him on another Task, even he has left the Company!?”

The answer is:” Yes, be careful with John!” Or Use custom field with status, whatever, but do not erase him!

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fixed Duration, actual work, remaining work – how are they linked in MS PROJECT 2013?

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

Today I’ll show you something that looks like a bug but it is not. Suppose that you have a Task with 5 days duration, and the Task Type is Fixed duration. I’ll do that Scenario in MS PROJECT 2013!

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I will now Create John as Resource:

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and I will assign John to the Task:

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I will switch to the Task Usage View:

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The Magic Formula is Work = Duration * Units, so Work is 5 days (8 hours per day in my Case) * 100% (John is assigned 100% to the Task) = 40 hours!

Now suppose that John has worked 16 hours on that Task, and he is done! The Task is Finished! So Remaining work is zero hours:

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I’ll get:

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As you can see, duration is unchanged, because it is Fixed. It is not a Bug! Let’s see Gantt Chart:

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And what about % Completed:

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As you can see Task is only 40% Completed, because it has Fixe Duration. It seems odd? I know what are you going to tell! If there is no work Remaining, it should be 100% Completed. So, mark it as 100% completed:

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and you will get:

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and in the Task Usage View:

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You don’t like this? You want Duration to be 2 days? Change The Task type to, for example, Fixed Units here:

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And everything looks fine now:

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If you want Finish date to be Tue, 12.05.2014, than change  Task Type before you put actual and remaining work, and the Task will be 100% Finished when you enter Actual work = 16 hours, and remaining work = 0 hours.

 

Regards

Posted in Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010 | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Resume fields in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

Imagine this situation: you have a Task with one Resource, and duration is 5 days. The task is on Track, and it is 50% completed. Suddenly, Resource get sick, and will be able to continue with work after few days. what do you have to do? You can Split Task (I wrote about that), or you can use the Resume Field. I’ll show how to do it in MS PROJECT 2013.

First I’m going to Create new Project with 1 Task:

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and I’m going to create one Resource:

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Finally I’m going to Assign the Resource to the Task:

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I will now add %Completed, and Resume fields in the Gantt Chart View:

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As you can see, the Resume Field is NA, and that is because there are no Progress on that Task yet.

I will now Mark a Task as 40% Completed:

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The Resume Field is now Wed 07.05.2014. Task is 40% completed, and that means that it was work on him from Monday till Tuesday (8 hours at Monday, and Tuesday, which is 16 hours, and 16 hours is 40% of 40 total 40 hours).

Now Suppose that Resource get sick, and he or she will be back at Monday, 12.05.2014. I will put this date in Resume Field, and I’ll get:

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As you can see the Finish Date is Wednesday, 14.05.2014, and Task has a Split!

It is very easy, and very, very visible!

Regards 🙂

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

% Complete vs. Finish Date in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi, here is another problem from one of my Blog readers:

“Hi Nenad – allow me to give you an example of my problem. A task with a finish date of May 5/14 has a % complete of 25%. When the finish date is changed to May 30/14 the % complete automatically adjusts to 20%. I would like the finish date modification to be independent of the % complete. So when I change the finish date, the % complete does not change. Is there a way to change the relationship logic between finish date and % complete?”

I will show this relationship in MS PROJECT 2013! First I will Create brand new Project with only one Task:

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and I will add % Complete field in the Gantt View:

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Now I will mark Task as 25% Completed:

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Finally, I will change Finish Date to May 30:

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As you can see, Duration is now 23 days, and % Complete  is 4%. Why?

Before changing Finish date, 25% of % Complete was actually 1 day because duration was 4 days and 25% is 4 * 25% = 1 day. SO actual duration was 1 day. Now the Finish Date is 30.04.2014, and Duration is 23 days. % Complete is calculated by formula: %Complete = Actual Duration / Duration = 1 day / 23 days = 0.0043478 = (rounded) 4%. You can see this here:

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and:

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So, to conclude, When you enter %Complete for any Task, and you change Finish date, or Duration, %Complete is recalculated, and will not remain same as you entered. It is always calculated by formula mentioned above. This is the way how MS PROJECT works. If you want to keep %Complete same as before changing End Date, or duration you should simply enter this Value again in %Complete field.

 

Regards.

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Resources and Durations – how are they linked in MS PROJECT 2013!

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

very good friend of mine has a problem:

“Nenad, please help me. I want to have some Resources with different working hours (for Example, John 1 hour per day, Mary 2 hours per day), and when I assign Single Resource (for now) to the Task, I want duration to be changed. But, when I add John to the Task which should have 3 hours of Duration, the Task has the same duration, and nothing changed. What do I do wrong”

Friend of mine sent me an mpp file, and I will show you what was wrong in MS PROJECT 2013!

Here is the Task, with 3 hours Duration:

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Here it John, as Resource:

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and modified Standard Calendar for him:

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When I assign John to the Task I get:

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As you can see, nothing has changed. Let’s look at Resource Usage View:

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The main, and only reason for that kind of behavior is because the Task is in Manually Scheduled mode.

I’ll now delete the old Task and I’ll create a new one in Auto Schedule Mode:

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and again I’ll assign John  to the Task:

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Voila, duration is changed. Again, let’s look at Resource Usage View:

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As you can seem John will work three days, one hour per day, and that is exactly what my friend wants.

To conclude, to have all benefits from MS PROJECT 2013, use Auto Schedule Mode whenever you can.

 

Regards.

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments