Quick Resource leveling using the Team Planner view in Microsoft Project 2010/2013

Microsoft Project 2010/2013’s Team Planner view provides a simple and easy aesthetic approach to resource leveling. As most project managers know, using manually-controlled resource leveling is usually the best approach to correcting a resource overallocation issue with minimal impact to the project schedule.

The new Team Planner view is useful tool for recognizing resource overallocations, modifying durations, and reassigning tasks. Tasks can be reassigned by simply dragging them to an available resource, and tasks may be shifted inside a resource’s work schedule in the same manner. The resource leveling procedure is a simple drag and drop in the user interface.

To access to the Team Planner view, click the View tab, and then click the Team Planner icon.

Any resource name that appears in red indicates that it is overallocated. Simply by dragging a task and dropping it to an available slot in the timeline, the resource will be leveled. The resource name will return to the default color, indicating that the resource is no longer overallocated.

You can also quickly schedule an unscheduled task. Unscheduled tasks are assigned to a specific person, but don’t have enough scheduling information to become a scheduled task. You can schedule them by dropping them into the resources work timeline.

You can assign an unassigned task. Unassigned tasks have not been assigned to anyone. You can assign and schedule a task by dragging it to a person’s schedule in the right section. To keep the task unscheduled but assigned to a resource, drag it vertically to a resource name in the upper, left section.

Tip: The color of the task gives you useful information about its scheduling state. For example, portions of the task bar that are dark blue indicate actual work. Green tasks are manually scheduled.

You may also select numerous tasks simply by holding down CTRL and then clicking on several tasks just like in other Office applications. The selected group of tasks can be dragged together. The entire process of dragging, dropping, and shifting tasks between resources means that most manual resource leveling can be performed inside Team Planner view.

From EPM Solutions Microsoft Project Server for Project Managers On-Demand Learning

[EPM Solutions OnDemand Courseware provides in-depth instruction and hands-on practice on Resource Leveling methods for complex and real-world scenarios. Local resource leveling is covered in the Microsoft Project Professional 2010/2013 course. Resource leveling in an enterprise environment with Microsoft Project Server 2010/2013 is covered in Microsoft Project Server 2010/2013 for Project Managers.]

For those who don’t know, Apria Healthcare is the largest provider of home healthcare products and services in America. It serves millions of patients throughout many locations across all 50 states.

Like many of our customers, Apria needs tools and processes to improve organizational efficiency. It had many projects going on, but lacked an effective tool that enabled its project team to collaborate, manage, and report on a variety of projects. Executives were left in the dark with risks that could not be spotted and corrected early on, resource utilization was not optimal, and there were no standardized processes, best practices or consistency.

I still remember that day at the Lake Forest, California headquarters of Apria Healthcare. Together with our technical lead, we were to meet with Apria’s stakeholders—including the CIO, PMO director, IT director, and Project Management team—to present our solution design and implementation approach. It was a beautiful day—the sun was shining and birds were chirping. Team Apria was excited to hear what we could do in the 3 to 6 months following, in order to help the fast-growing company.

When Apria reached out to us, we knew we had the answer. This is our specialty. Having been dedicated to project management, collaboration software tools (Project Server and SharePoint) and processes, as well as having a deep understanding of a customer’s needs, we were well equipped to tackle their challenges, giving team Apria the tool and processes needed to deliver more projects successfully.

Although I have always been a very healthy person and don’t see myself needing medical care anytime soon, I’d like to think that if one day I needed oxygen delivered to my home, like many of Apria’s patients do, I can trust their equipment and their services. Just as important, if not more, their smile, genuine caring, and compassion that shine through might just be the highlight of my day. For that, I say to team Apria, you are not in the business just to deliver medical equipment; you are in the business to deliver compassion and caring to people in difficult times.

In the end, being able to help a customer gain real benefits from working with EPM Solutions makes me proud. Every time I see an Apria truck, or see a company we’ve worked with in the news, or on the road, I proudly say, “That is our customer.”

Why I am talking about this? Because this is related to many companies’ experiences implementing the Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint-based project portfolio and collaboration solution. When working internally without the specialized skills in these technologies, or working with a new partner who has not done this many times, falling off the bike is no surprise.

Project Server and SharePoint together make the world’s number one project portfolio management and collaboration tool. We are proud to be one of the first companies working with Microsoft to bring these technologies to customers both in the U.S. and overseas.  Getting great experiences, happy customers, credentials, Microsoft verifications and certifications are among the things we have focused on in the last 10 years—ever since Microsoft launched these tools in 2002.

My intent is for every customer we work with to not only save money, but also to get the best results for the system and to truly address their challenges effectively in project management, resource management, portfolio selection, and collaboration at a higher productivity rate.

In terms of helping customers save time and money, doing it from scratch is very different from having done it many times. For example, a consulting firm new to these technologies may spend months developing documentations, but for us it will be much less time because we are not developing them from scratch. We customize what we already have developed for many other customers, working on templates so to speak.

It is the same for our Project Server FasTrack, a set of best practice-based configurations that we tailor to each customer. When helping our customers get Project Server and SharePoint implemented, we never start with a blank state.  FasTrack has now been on the market for more than 4 years and, on average, we are saving our customers at least 30%. As we continue to make it more intuitive and easily tailor-able for our customers, we expect this product to be even more easy to use. In fact, I want our customers to be able to use this tool “effortlessly”. That is a worthy goal.

Stitch marks are not pretty, but it would have been much more worse if I hit that big guy.:-)

Question: Which of today’s popular management ideas strike you as particularly dangerous?

Jim:  The idea that results are primarily determined by chance events or forces outside of our control. Those we studied were paranoid about chance events and complex forces out of their control, but they focused on what they could do, seeing themselves as ultimately responsible for their choices and accountable for their performance.

I admit it. When things are not going well, regardless of whether it is my business life or personal life, it is often so much easier to just say it’s out of my control—there is nothing I can do, it’s somebody else fault, it is the economy’s fault, it is the President’s fault—it gives us a bit of peace of mind, a bit of dignity, in the short term at least. I don’t think that occasionally doing this is bad because we all need a way to vent and release. However, if we never take responsibility for the challenges in our lives, then we stay in the victim mentality which can brew hatred, disappointment, and, ultimately create powerlessness and despair in ourselves.

And that is pretty dangerous. It diminishes our spirit of living.

2012 may well continue to be a year of chaos. No matter how much we want to hold on to the idea that someone or some “outside forces” can “fix” things for us, we may just be better off realizing that maybe nobody out there can set things right; we must take personal responsibility if we want our lives to turn for the better.

Despite starting the business in 2002, it was a “bad” year in Silicon Valley; 2011 was a “bad” year in America. However, our business is growing quickly. Everywhere I look, regardless of whether it is a good or bad time, some thrive and some don’t. This does not mean that we are not going to experience ups and downs or that I will never blame and complain, but I am learning to always focus on doing what I can (not what I can’t). Like Mr. Collins said, be someone who is “ultimately responsible for their choices and accountable for their performance.”

It’s time to lead ourselves. Take charge.

Recently, I watched a TV program called, “A Very Gaga Thanksgiving Special”. I really don’t know much at all about Lady Gaga except her courage to wear outrageous clothes. Through this Thanksgiving program, I saw how strong and gentle she is. She reminded me of a flamboyant tree with amazing strength and grace.

Beauty is all around us if our eyes are open to see it.

EPM Solutions is growing. In 2011, we made it to the Inc. 500|5000 list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies. We are proud of how far we have come. We continue to expand by serving our existing and new customers and hiring additional team members who specialize in Project and Portfolio management tools such as Project Server 2010/2013, Microsoft SharePoint Solutions, business intelligence solutions using SQL Reporting and PerformancePoint Server, among other Microsoft enterprise technologies.

With this post, I would like to elaborate on what kind of people we want to be a part of our team:

Technical competence
We hire people who have demonstrated skills in certain technology domains by looking at their experience: projects they have worked on, problems solved, solutions they have created, and results they have achieved.

Qualities & Personality

• People who are self-motivated, self-disciplined team players
• People who are self-sufficient, resourceful problem solvers
• People who are trustworthy and accountable for their work quality
• People who are willing to listen, adapt, and improve themselves

We intend to continue to attract and retain people who share these qualities. We welcome people with good skills and personal integrity to join us.

Every customer has a story. Just like every person has his or her own story. If we are brought in to help you, we want to know your stories-what is driving your needs and what is the desired outcome, what has changed in your marketplace, and how EPM Solutions can help you stay ahead of your competition. Helping a customer is so much more than putting a technology solution in place, it’s how we take technology and apply it in a cost-effective way that helps our customer move their business forward.

As we are getting ready for 2012-another very meaningful year with big goals ahead-we look forward to continuously learning, serving your needs, and making every day count.