Re: Leveling by ID vs. "Standard"

Well, one of the issues seems to be that you have several requirements that directly conflict with one another. On the one hand you need to have judges and rooms always scheduled together, the room can't 'work' separately from the judge. OTOH, you need to be able to have the judge work two rooms simultaneously if need be. But that says the judge and room CAN work separately since when the judge ducks over to Room 2, Room 1 continues 'working' without him. Resolving that conflict requires a judgement decision on the part of the scheduler, something no software at the present development of AI is capable of doing. Software can follow a rule but here you need it to decide which rule takes priority when several rules are in conflict.

Your example says you must get the auditions done by a given deadline without hiring more judges or renting more rooms but it appears that your model doesn't take into account the possibility that it simply might not be possible to do that. Resources are always finite at is is entirely possible for a larger deliverable to be required than it is possible for the available resources to produce within the given timeframe - in that case, the only options are one or a mix of 1: settle for less deliverable; 2: buy more resources; or 3: settle for longer delivery times. Them's the options and no amount of managment desire or objective setting will create other alternatives. I'm a big believer that one of the key fallacies in modern management attitudes is that 'management' is an act of will-power and all things are possible if you just want it bad enough <grin>.

If I may be so bold to point out, remember the MS Project (like all scheduling software) is only a glorified calculator and serves merely extend the talents of a human scheduler. It WON'T take over and supply that human's decision making however. Only you can optimize the resource assignments, insuring the right operator is mated to the right machine at the right time, etc. Software cannot do it and I'm enough of a Luddite to believe that that we ought not even try to make it so. All Project can really do is tell you what the likely outcome will be if you decide to try strategy X. Project WILL help you organize the project as you ask in your last paragraph but it won't do it for you.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs




"Jim Rodgers" <JimRodgers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:B95D4943-F3D9-4646-A9F8-A53ADFEA0A2B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yes. I got it.

I can use this to some benefit, but it is not exactly
what I need. I need to make resource assignments
that MUST be satisfied (i.e., expended). Only if the
man and the machine (or two specific people, etc.)
are assigned TO THE SAME task... only then is there
even a possibility of synchrony among assigned
resources. And I say "even a possibility" because
Work Contours also are possible.

For example, what if I were scheduling judges to
attend talent auditions. Let's say there are some
number of audition rooms, some number of judges,
and a whole bunch of talent auditioning this week.

The one thing I can say at the start is that I need to
get the judge, the talent, and the room all in one place
at the same time in certain particular combinations.
One room has a piano and another an organ, etc. One
of the talent needs more than one audition in more
than one room. Some judges may need to work in
more than one room also.

Now my project involves getting these tasks done by
Friday afternoon, and not having to hire any additional
judges or rent any additional rooms if it can be avoided.

Supposing I have enough judges and rooms to hold
all the required auditions, how would I use MS Project
show this scenario and print out a schedule?

I cannot, however, have the schedule say it plans to
have the room work twice as long or twice as hard
because the judge has a schedule conflict and can't
be there at that time. The work is fixed per resource,
not per task. And the ALL the resources must start
and stop the task ALL AT ONCE.

You know what I am trying to get at?

I'm finding it really hard to believe MS Project can't help
organize a project with such parameters!

Even if MSP really only is for bulk (slave) labor, how
do you assign a supervisor to watch over the ditch
diggers?

There's gotta be a way.

-- Jim


"Steve House" wrote:

Remember links in Project are illustrative of the physical process logic and
are should not be used solely to create a desired temporal logic. The time
relationships between tasks are a consequence, not a cause, of the links.
If you flowchart the workflow of your project, the arrow connectors between
the various process and decision boxes, etc, become your task linkages. So
a start-to-start link does NOT mean the tasks ought to start together or
will run in parallel, etc. A SS link means that there is some reason that
the successor task can't start until the predecessor has started. The
successor may or may not start then, the link merely describes the earliest
that it can possibly start, not WHEN it will start.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


"Jim Rodgers" <JimRodgers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:A04A8C14-016B-49AF-A5CF-04328014EF90@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Wait a minute...
> I said...
>
> "Next I tried using parallel tasks [with a Start/Start Link]."
>
> Then I said...
>
> "As I recall, when I tried that....."
>
> Whenever I say "As I recall..." I know it's BS.
> ;-{
> That should've worked according to the Help.
> I'll try that again and let you know.
>
> -- Jim



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Leveling by ID vs. "Standard"
    ... There are two judges who will conduct the auditions. ... Each task lists the resources ... ackward schedule. ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Leveling by ID vs. "Standard"
    ... Well we are agreed that it would be nice if MS Project DID allow you to 'lock' resources together so that the company plane and its pilot would always be scheduled as a unit. ... It doesn't really build the schedule for you at all - you build the schedule, it just does the math for you. ... And they're certainly Non-Effort driven as well (two judges in the room does not make a shorter audition). ... I would disagree with using links to make auditions back to back where they audition on more than one instrument. ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Leveling by ID vs. "Standard"
    ... Project Server some, as it's approaching the type of architecture that you ... inability to tie the resources together. ... what if I were scheduling judges to ... all the required auditions, how would I use MS Project ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Leveling by ID vs. "Standard"
    ... inability to tie the resources together. ... I think you're simply expecting too much from the leveling tool. ... what if I were scheduling judges to ... all the required auditions, how would I use MS Project ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: "Elochim"
    ... The people in the other newsgroup (which I presume is SCJ ... There is no conflict with monotheism. ... God stands in the council of judges; ... Depends what translation you use. ...
    (soc.culture.jewish.moderated)
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