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Dear all,
I still sort of feel that for my applications it would be difficult to work with Spider without a feature to make certain tasks so high priority, that resource leveling cannot move them at all. So, something like “do not resource level” flag or may be even Must Start On constraint.
In case several of such activities create a resource conflict, which Spider cannot resolve, I would want it to give an error message.
I would use this feature to put in the schedule activities, which are determined/scheduled outside of Spider and therefore Spider just has to respect those (and take them into account). e.g.
At the moment the only way to achieve this, would be to create activity with very high priority, imposed by “Unachievable NLT constraint”, however this is still not exactly the same as “do not resource level” flag.
What do you think?
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As initially proposed by Vladimir it is starting to look like it is easier and safer to:
Best Regards,
Rafael
Evgeny,
there are many ways to achieve the same in Spider Project.
Using high priority activities for exceptions will require to use variable resource assignments on all other activities or set other activities as splitable. It will make calculations slower and may take more time than entering time exceptions for several resources, creating dummy resources and resource centers.
Exceptions activities with manually entered dates shall be created in both cases.
I don’t understand what do you mean by succeeding exception. I understoof that exception is an activity that does not depend on anything in the project (like visit, vacation, etc.).
If it is project activity then other competing activities shall become splitable with lower priority.
The problem with interruptible activities may be created if other activities (not exception activities) have higher priority. It may lead to unwanted interruptions.
I think that an approach that I suggested is more safe but other described above may work also.
Below is an example of the same project when calendar exceptions are not used but activities are set as splittable.
Vladimir,
I just made a comparison table to show 2 different approach to handle exception:
Assumption: there is a need to show the exception in the report using the method suggetsed by you.
Is the table correct in your view?
| Using calendar exception | Using high priority activity | |
| Need for activity to show exception | Yes | Yes |
| Need for one extra dummy resource per real resource | Yes | No |
| Need for one extra resource center per real resource to combine every real resource with dummy resource for reporting purposes | Yes | No |
| Need for Calendar exception | Yes | No |
| Need for Separate calendar for every resource | Yes | No |
| Need to manually synch duration and start time of exception and activity, which shows exception | Yes | No |
| Need to Manually update dates of the succeeding exception, if preceding activities have changed | Yes | No |
Regards.
Evgeny
I would suggest this
When resource assignments are variable it is better to use activity of Productivity type.
Vladimir,
I have made an example of what I think you mean.
Is it correct?
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1FBt_G3gCVqajhLdlZaa2J4OU0/edit
Thanks Vladimir,
Very easy indeed.
Rafael
Evgeny and Rafael,
it is not necessary to apply special calendars to dummy resources in the model I described. I would assign 24/7 calendar with no exceptions. In any case they shall be assigned to activities that have special calendars and dates and will be used only on these activities.
So it is much easier than Evgeny described: Show certain exceptions as activities, create dummy resources with large quantity (Rafael is right), assign these resources to exception activities, create resource centers combining real and dummy resources.
Now any report may be created including those that Evgeny described. If necessary, dummy activities may be hidden.
When Vladimir said: By the way you can create additional dummy resource and assign this resource to "must" activities, then create resource center adding dummy resource to the real one, and then get reports on resource center. You will get full information on total resource workload.
Say you fix Rafael meeting in Cuba this Monday 7am GMT, Rafael meeting in Sochy this Monday 7am GMT, by brute force it is possible but it is wrong.
Say you need three activities to happen on Monday.
For Vacations the calendars exceptions is enough for resources to be assigned on vacations and the dummy resource is enough to show vacation activities.
Whenever you adjust any calendar the above activities would be automatically adjusted. The idea on RCP - Resource Critical Path scheduling is on making sure there are no resource overload if you fix by brute force activities it will not work.
Best Regards,
Zulu Time
Vladimir,
using calendar exceptions is one of the possibilities, but in my eyes it has several disadvantages:
From the other side, the “do not resource level” or “very high priority” activity functionality seems to be already present in the algorithm. As the “unachievable NLT constraint” or “Consider Portfolio Schedule” features must be using it pretty much. So, may be it is not that difficult to add it formally to Spider?
Regards.
Evgeny
Hi Evgeny
I would put this type of "interuptions" on a calendar and apply them to the resource. That would over ride the task calendar.
Best regards
Mike Testro
In such cases we just made an exception in the resource calendar at the president visit time period and do not assign resources to activities that are must. This way overallocations are avoided and resources may interrupt jobs they are doing for attending seminar, conference of president. In any case these activities usually do not represent real work.
By the way you can create additional dummy resource and assign this resource to "must" activities, then create resource center adding dummy resource to the real one, and then get reports on resource center. You will get full information on total resource workload.
Email: PPadmin@planningplanet.com
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