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11 replies [Last post]
Fri, 2009-10-16 14:51
Jhorbam Baena Orozco
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Hi to everyone...

I have the followin question...i need a explanation about the resources in P3.

when i have made my activities and i have created the resources and assigned, i put my limits but example WELDER and i did assign 4 to normal and 4 to maximun...when i did the resource leveling P3 show me that the numbers of WELDERS are enough...take present that the calendar that i use is a calendar with shifts of 10 hours...So, the 4 welders that i put in my resources are 4 welders but all day or but each shift?....

Thanks...i hope that i has be clear in my question.
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Sun, 2009-10-18 11:15
#1
Rafael Davila
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Groups: Spider Project Team
Vladimir,

1. Task type means that activity will be scheduled by task calendar even if assigned resources have vacations at that time?

Non-driving resources on vacation will be assigned no matter vacation if assigned resources have vacations at that time.

Task activity (from SureTrak Help): An activity which is scheduled according to the calendar assigned to it in the Activity form, rather than according to the resource calendars of the resources assigned to it. Any resources assigned to a Task activity work according to the activity calendar, not according to their own calendars.
-If you assign no resources, or only non-driving resources, to a Task activity, you enter the duration for the activity.
-If you assign driving resources to a Task activity, the driving resource with the longest duration for this activity controls the duration of the activity. To define this kind of activity, choose Task as the activity type in the Activity form. - "Now I am confused."

I do not use named resources, and do not consider vacation days, I assume they will be available for the activity calendar. I assign the same calendar for the activity as for the resources I assign to the activity; I do my few resources leveling on a very simplified way. Now after learning how bad at this is SureTrak I will stop using it at all until I get proficient with Spider Project. This might mean a change in the way I think and organize my schedules.

2. Independent type means that resources may work by their own calendars. In this case what is task duration? Does it depend on resources?

Yes duration will be driven by resources.

Independent activity (from SureTrak Help): An activity scheduled when each resource assigned to it can work. Each resource is scheduled to work on the activity according to its own resource calendar, and the activity takes its scheduling information from those resource assignments. This type of activity is most commonly used when several people are involved in an activity, but they may work separately.

3. Meeting is usual but using activity calendar is not logical.

By assigning activities and resources the same calendar and using Task type I force my Task activities equal to Meeting. I have to live within the limits of my software. But I still doubt I would complicate things any further. Of course under my model I want good resource leveling, this is non-negotiable.

Meeting activity (from SureTrak Help): An activity scheduled for a time when all the resources assigned to it can work on it at once, for the entire duration of the activity. Meeting activities are most commonly used when a group of people must work together, simultaneously, on an activity.
-SureTrak checks the resource calendars of all resources assigned to a meeting activity and schedules the activity for workdays and work-hours common to all resources assigned to it. (If there is no common time when all assigned resources work, the activity will be scheduled according to its base calendar.)

Best regards,
Rafael
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Sun, 2009-10-18 10:35
#2
Rafael Davila
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Vladimir,

You have a lot of patience, P3 and SureTrak at this are insane. I will not waste time with such unpredictable software, I have no way to easily spot changes when I enter a value at the resource table as other values are automatically changed, at least the software should highlight these changes.

I will limit my use of Primavera resource leveling to the very basic as I have been doing it for years, using "Task" activity type and non driving resources. Unfortunately this do not allows me to model different shifts, as resources will be scheduled based on activity calendars. It is kind of dangerous how a change in a value at the resource assignment table changes others.

Suretrak and P3 should work in a similar way so you can try to apply whatever I say to P3.

Best regards,
Rafael
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Sun, 2009-10-18 08:36
#3
Vladimir Liberzon
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Rafael, I have no Suretrak.
Please confirm if I understood you properly.

Task type means that activity will be scheduled by task calendar even if assigned resources have vacations at that time?

Independent type means that resources may work by their own calendars. In this case what is task duration? Does it depend on resources? If two identical resources work together they will do the same work two times faster than if they work one after another. If activity is short it can be done by one of assigned resource, the second will not work at all. I think that in this case activity shall be set as effort driven and both (!) resources shall be defined as driving.

Meeting is usual but using activity calendar is not logical.

Thank you,
Vladimir

P.S. P3 produced something very strange. I will struggle with it later when will return from the meeting.
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Sun, 2009-10-18 07:56
#4
Rafael Davila
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Groups: Spider Project Team
Activity type in SureTrak

Describes the calendars by which an activity will be scheduled. An activity can be one of three main types:

task:
Activity and resources are scheduled by the calendar you assign to the activity.

independent:
Each resource works separately, according to its own calendar.

meeting:
All resources work simultaneously during common worktime.

An activity can also be a summary or milestone activity. Hammock, WBS, and topic activities are summaries, scheduled according to the calendars of the activities they summarize. Milestones are zero-duration activities often used to represent a point in time that starts or finishes a set of activities; they are scheduled according to the calendars you assign to them.

I believe for meeting activities if there is no common time then the software schedules using acttivity calendar.

Vladimir,

This is the first time I try to model shifts using SureTrak, when resource leveling under a single shift I never use driving resources and only task activities so my resources are always scheduled on the activity calendar without driving duration. This time I am getting all kind of weird results using SureTrak, I am close to dump this software, at least not going to do serious resource leveling with it.

Best regards,
Rafael
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Sat, 2009-10-17 18:56
#5
Vladimir Liberzon
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Hi Rafael,
P6 is no better than P3 at resource levelling.

And I have a question about simulating working in shifts in Suretrak/P3/P6, etc.:

If you will assign resources from both first and second shifts to the same activity these resources will not be able to work together because they don’t share work time. What will happen with activity duration? In any case it is not the same as assigning the same resources but with the same calendar. If assigned resources have incompatible calendars what time will be considered as working time for an activity?

In P6 I’ve got funny results. Maybe I have done something wrong.

Best Regards,
Vladimir
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Sat, 2009-10-17 14:26
#6
Rafael Davila
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In SureTrak/P3 you can model shifts by creating a calendar for each shift and assigning the particular work hours to each workweek hour details, available if you set hour as your planning unit.

Then you have to assign the specific calendar to each resource, if you want a resource to work two shifts then you have to define a separate calendar for this purposes.

Because different shift resources will not necessarily be available to work at the same time this might have an effect on how different type of activities will be scheduled under driving or non-driving resources.

I never let resources drive my activities duration, I always set my resources as non-driving, especially after learning how bad Primavera is at resource leveling. This simplifies things.

You can define the following resources:

WELDER SHIFT1, NON DRIVING, 4 AVAILABLE
WELDER SHIFT2, NON DRIVING, 4 AVAILABLE

Then resources load each activity depending on the shift you plan for each. Your histogram will show quantity assigned and shift after/before resource leveling.

No matter what, your resource leveling under P3 will be far from optimized as the algorithms used by P3 are substandard. Either do hand resource leveling or use software with better resource leveling algorithms such as Spider Project that yields optimal or near optimal results.

I understand P6 is a bit better than P3 at resource leveling but don’t count on it being close to near optimal.
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Sat, 2009-10-17 12:51
#7
Jhorbam Baena Orozco
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Hi...i used that info only like example...to get a ligth in the resource leveling...so i din’t have clear the theme about resources leveling...but i read the p330ref.pdf and i know now that if i put in min 4 welders and maximun 4 welders...that mean that 4 is the number of welder to each shift...not 2 for the first shift of the day and 2 for the second shift of the day.

thanks
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Sat, 2009-10-17 12:50
#8
Jhorbam Baena Orozco
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Hi...i used that info only like example...to get a ligth in the resource leveling...so i din’t have clear the theme about resources leveling...but i read the p330ref.pdf and i know now that if i put in min 4 welders and maximun 4 welders...that mean that 4 is the number of welder to each shift...

thanks
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Sat, 2009-10-17 11:33
#9
Shah. HB
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i guess choice is on your side to decide
..2 welder for each shift...or i need 4 welder for each shift


one could get more clear picture only after having a look at the histogram you are dealing with it
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Sat, 2009-10-17 09:07
#10
Jhorbam Baena Orozco
User offline. Last seen 2 years 37 weeks ago. Offline
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Shahul..

The resource are no overloaded...we only assing of that way, was the decision of my boss ...we are in turnaround project...but take easy...the men don´t work the 10 hours totally, they have the respective time stop to eat, but the shift was schedule to 10 hours each one.

My question is not for if the resource are overloading or not...is only to understand something...if P3 show that my 4 welder are enought to do the work...and i look the graph of resource and show that my resource welder are into the green or yellow limits...that mean: I only need 4 welders to cover all the day...2 welder for each shift...or i need 4 welder for each shift?....

Thanks
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Sat, 2009-10-17 08:30
#11
Shah. HB
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Does the resource are overloaded ? before you did resource leveling?.
Each welder works for 10 hours to the assigned activity based on calender fixed to it
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