- •Table of Contents
- •Preface
- •Primavera Products
- •Using Documentation and Help
- •Where to Get Support
- •Understanding Project Management
- •Why Use Project Portfolio Management?
- •Your Role in the Organization
- •Project Management Process Overview
- •Planning, Controlling, and Managing Projects
- •Quick Tour
- •Getting Started
- •Selecting a Language
- •The Workspace
- •What Is a Layout?
- •Customizing Displays
- •Sample Layouts
- •Using Wizards
- •Defining Administrative Preferences and Categories
- •Defining Default Settings
- •Allowing Users to Define the Default Hours per Time Period
- •Defining Standard Categories and Values
- •Defining Currencies
- •Setting User Preferences
- •Formatting Time Units
- •Formatting Dates
- •Setting View Currency and Symbols
- •Setting Mail Preferences
- •Implementing Wizards
- •Creating a Log of Tasks and Setting Startup, Group and Sort, and Column Options
- •Changing Your Password
- •Setting Profile and Spreadsheet Data Options
- •Setting Calculation Options for Resource and Role Assignments
- •Selecting Startup Filters
- •Structuring Projects
- •Setting Up the Enterprise Project Structure
- •Enterprise Project Structure Overview
- •Summarizing Projects
- •Setting Up the Enterprise Project Structure
- •Adding a New Project to the Enterprise Project Structure
- •Using Project Architect
- •Working with the Enterprise Project Structure
- •Using Root Nodes to Denote Project Status
- •Defining Enterprise Project Structure Details
- •Leveling Priority
- •Anticipated Dates
- •Auto-Numbering Activity IDs
- •Setting Up the Organizational Breakdown Structure
- •Viewing an OBS
- •Setting Up an OBS
- •Editing OBS Elements
- •Defining Resources and Roles
- •Resources Overview
- •Viewing and Adding Resources
- •Default Units/Time
- •Using Limits for Delayed Resource Start
- •Defining Resource Shifts
- •Defining and Assigning Resource Codes and Values
- •Setting Up Roles
- •Assigning Roles to Resources
- •Defining Custom Resource Curves
- •Reviewing Work Breakdown Structures
- •Viewing a WBS
- •Grouping by WBS Path
- •Adding WBS Elements and Assigning Properties
- •Using WBS Milestones
- •How Weights Affect Percent Complete
- •Assigning WBS Category Values
- •Defining Earned Value Settings for Specific WBS Elements
- •Assigning Estimation Weights to WBS Elements
- •Defining Budgets
- •Top-Down Budgeting
- •Establishing Budgets
- •Establishing a Monthly Spending Plan
- •Tracking Budget Changes
- •Establishing Funding
- •Tracking and Analyzing Budgets
- •Establishing Project Codes
- •Defining and Assigning Project Codes
- •Grouping, Summarizing, and Filtering by Codes
- •Working With User-Defined Fields
- •Creating User-Defined Fields
- •Working with User-Defined Fields
- •Working with Indicators
- •Creating Calendars
- •Adding Calendars
- •Modifying Calendars
- •Implementing the Schedule
- •Establishing Activity Codes
- •Creating Activity Codes and Values
- •Grouping and Summarizing by Codes
- •Working with Activities
- •Activities Overview
- •Adding Activities
- •Defining General Activity Information
- •Defining Schedule Information
- •Establishing Relationships
- •Dissolving Activities
- •Displaying Activity Details for Assignments
- •Assigning Resources and Roles
- •Recalculating Costs/Units for Assignments
- •Choosing the Rate Source and Rate Type for an Assignment
- •Assigning Resource Curves to Resource or Role Assignments
- •Manually Planning Future Period Assignments
- •Assigning Activity Codes and Adding Expenses
- •Viewing Activity Feedback and Posting Resource Notes
- •Assigning Work Products and Documents
- •Adding Steps
- •Setting Options for Using Weighted Steps
- •Creating and Assigning Activity Step Templates
- •Viewing Activity Summaries
- •Viewing Contract Manager Documents
- •Using Global Change
- •Working with Cost Accounts and Project Expenses
- •Cost Account and Expense Overview
- •Setting Up a Cost Account Structure
- •Adding Expenses and Entering Cost Information
- •Defining Expense Details
- •Analyzing Costs
- •Performing Top-down Estimation
- •Performing Top-down Estimation
- •Applying Saved Top-Down Estimates To a Project
- •Managing Baselines
- •Creating and Maintaining Baselines
- •Assigning Baselines to Projects
- •Comparing Current and Baseline Schedules
- •Updating Baselines
- •Ensuring Baseline Data Is Updated
- •Updating, Scheduling, and Leveling
- •The Update Process
- •Choosing a Method of Updating
- •Highlighting Activities for Updating
- •Updating Progress for Spotlighted Activities
- •Estimating Progress Automatically
- •Setting Auto Compute Actuals
- •Updating Using Timesheets
- •Updating Activities Manually
- •Removing Progress from Activities
- •Interrupting Activity Progress
- •Applying Actuals
- •Storing Period Performance (Past Period Actuals)
- •Scheduling Projects
- •Types of Activity Dates
- •Leveling Resources
- •Recalculating Resource and Role Assignment Costs
- •Managing Resource Assignments
- •Summarizing Projects
- •Setting Summarization Options
- •Summarizing Project Data
- •How Data Is Summarized
- •Managing Risks
- •Adding Risks
- •Calculating Exposure Values
- •Calculating a Risk’s Impact
- •Creating and Deleting Risk Types
- •Customizing Risk Layouts
- •Project Issues and Thresholds
- •Adding Issues
- •Assigning Tracking Layouts to Issues
- •Using the Issue Navigator
- •Adding Thresholds
- •Threshold Parameter Definitions
- •Monitoring Thresholds
- •Assigning Tracking Layouts to Thresholds
- •Maintaining a Project’s Document Library
- •Specifying Document Location References
- •Assigning Work Products and Documents
- •Tracking Projects
- •Creating Tracking Layouts
- •Working with Tracking Layouts
- •Customizing Tracking Layouts
- •Comparing Projects with Claim Digger
- •Claim Digger Overview
- •Comparing Projects/Baselines
- •Comparison Data
- •Creating and Using Reflections
- •Reflection Overview
- •Creating and Using Reflections
- •Reflection Guidelines
- •Checking Projects In and Out
- •Managing Remote Projects
- •Checking Out Projects
- •Checking In Projects
- •Customizing Projects
- •Working with Layouts
- •Layout Types
- •Creating, Opening, and Saving Layouts
- •Exporting and Importing Layouts
- •Copying and Pasting Resource Spreadsheet Data to Microsoft Excel
- •Grouping, Sorting, and Filtering Data
- •Grouping Data
- •Sorting Data
- •Reorganizing Data
- •Filtering Data
- •Combining Filters
- •Customizing Layouts
- •Modifying Columns
- •Adjusting the Timescale
- •Formatting Gantt Charts
- •Formatting Activity Network Layouts
- •Modifying Resource and Activity Usage Profile Settings
- •Customizing Reports
- •Reports Overview
- •Opening Reports
- •Creating and Modifying Reports
- •Using the Report Editor
- •Adding Data Sources and Rows to Reports
- •Adding Text Cells to Reports
- •Sorting Report Data Sources
- •Customizing a Report with the Report Editor: an Example
- •Using Report Groups
- •Setting Up Batch Reports
- •Printing Layouts and Reports
- •Defining Page Settings
- •Previewing Layouts and Reports
- •Printing Layouts and Reports
- •Selecting a Printer
- •Publishing Layouts and Reports in HTML Format
- •Publishing a Project on the World Wide Web
- •Project Web Site Overview
- •Publishing a Project Web Site
- •Customizing the Appearance of a Project Web Site
- •Publishing Activity and Tracking Layouts
- •Linking the Project Management and Contract Manager Modules
- •Linking the Project Management Module to Contract Manager
- •Linking a Project Management Project to a Contract Manager Project
- •Importing Contract Manager Data to a Project Management Module Project
- •Index
Updating, Scheduling, and Leveling 317
Leveling Resources
Expenses are not included when leveling resources.
Level resources in your projects to ensure that resource demand does not exceed resource availability. Resource leveling is an automated process that changes the start of certain activities. During leveling, the resource requirements of all scheduled activities are compared to the maximum quantity available at the time of leveling. An activity is delayed if too few resources are available at any time during the activity’s duration.
You can select the resources to be leveled, and you can add leveling priorities that specify which project or activity is leveled first when a conflict occurs.
The maximum amount of work that a resource is capable of performing for a given timeperiod is defined by the resource’s Max Units/Time in the Units & Prices tab in the Resources window.
For organizations using Primavera ProjectLink, you cannot level resources for Microsoft Project (MSP)-managed projects in the Project Management module. For more information on Primavera ProjectLink, refer to the Primavera ProjectLink Help in Microsoft Project (available only if Primavera ProjectLink is installed). You can access the help by clicking the Help button on any ProjectLink screen.
Level resources Open the projects that contain the resources you want to level. Choose Tools, Level Resources. You can set several resource leveling options to meet your requirements. Click Level after you make your selections.
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318 Part 4: Updating and Managing the Schedule
Mark to recalculate all resource and role assignment costs after you level resources.
Mark to level all resources, 
or clear and click Select Resources to specify the resources to be leveled.
Mark to delay activities with resource conflicts only up to their late finish dates, then type the minimum amount of total float and specify the maximum percentage by which the resource availability can be increased.
Mark to automatically level resources each time you schedule a project.
For example, if resources are assigned across multiple projects, you can determine whether to consider the resource assignments in other projects when leveling. A leveling priority number is assigned to each project when you add the project (in the Projects Details General tab.) In the Level Resources dialog box, mark the checkbox to consider assignments in other projects and specify the priority value you want to consider.
For more information on leveling options, refer to the Help.
If you mark the Preserve Scheduled Early and Late Dates checkbox, the project’s current early dates are retained before leveling. To review the leveled early dates, choose to show the Remaining Start/Finish dates or the Start and Finish dates. In addition, when you preserve these dates, the module only forward-levels the schedule, which means that the early dates of activities from the start to the finish of the project are scheduled.
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Updating, Scheduling, and Leveling 319 |
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When preserving early and late dates, shows |
Shows leveled dates |
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early dates before leveling |
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Shows leveled dates
If you clear the Preserve Scheduled Early and Late Dates checkbox, the module also performs backward leveling. Backward leveling schedules activities to occur as late as possible without delaying the project finish. The module reverses the leveling process, beginning at the project’s late finish and working towards the beginning of the project. If insufficient resources are available to schedule an activity on its late dates, the activity is advanced to an earlier date. When the schedule is leveled forward and backward (by clearing the checkbox to preserve scheduled early and late dates), the project’s early and late start/finish dates are updated.
Prioritize activities during leveling To handle scheduling conflicts that may occur during leveling, you can add priorities that specify which project or activity is leveled first. In the Leveling Priorities section of the Level Resources dialog box, click Add to add a blank leveling priority to the list of leveling priorities. Select the type of priority, then select the order in which the item specified in the priority will be leveled. Add priorities in the order in which you want the module to consider them.
To remove a priority, select it, then click Remove. To change the information specified for a priority, double-click the Field Name column, then select a new field name and/or double-click the Sort Order column, then select Ascending or Descending.
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320 Part 4: Updating and Managing the Schedule
Leveling priority definitions The following table defines several of the priority and order options you can specify for leveling resources.
Priority |
Ascending (Lower) |
Descending (Higher) |
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Activity Leveling |
Levels higher priority |
Levels lower priority |
Priority |
activities first |
activities first |
Project Leveling |
Levels higher priority |
Levels lower priority |
Priority |
projects first |
projects first |
Planned Start |
Levels activities with earlier |
Levels activities with later |
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planned start dates first |
planned start dates first |
Planned Finish |
Levels activities with earlier |
Levels activities with later |
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planned finish dates first |
planned finish dates first |
Original Duration Levels activities with shorter original durations first
Remaining Duration Levels activities with shorter remaining durations first
Total Float * |
Levels activities with less |
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total float or more critical |
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activities first |
Levels activities with longer original durations first
Levels activities with longer remaining durations first
Levels activities with more total float or less critical activities first
Early Start |
Levels activities with earlier, |
Levels activities with later, |
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early start dates first |
early start dates first |
Early Finish |
Levels activities with earlier, |
Levels activities with later, |
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early finish dates first |
early finish dates first |
Late Start |
Levels activities with earlier, |
Levels activities with later, |
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late start dates first |
late start dates first |
Late Finish |
Levels activities with earlier, |
Levels activities with later, |
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late finish dates first |
late finish dates first |
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*Indicates that the priority is available only if you mark the Level Resources Only Within Activity Total Float checkbox in the Level Resources dialog box.
Primavera - Project Management