Hours of Work Within Task Duration

Hello,

I am attempting to solve an issue we are experiencing with using Smartsheet for project management. Here is an example of the situation we find ourselves in...

Let's say there is a task with a start date of 08/29/18 and an end date of 09/05/18. The task will be worked on within the allotted time but it only worked on 2 hours per day. How can we use Smartsheet to give us an accurate idea of resource utilization? What if, for example, the task will be worked on within the allotted time but only for 2 hours per day and only for three days during the total allotted time?

We are running into an issue where our resource management shows resources over-allocated because the system sees the resource as working 8 hours a day for the allotted number of days - when in reality some of the days might not contain work or may only contain a partial day's work.

Can someone please help?

Thanks,

Jonny

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Comments

rquay58766

Jonny,

I'm pretty sure what you are trying to do is allocate 1/6 of a persons time (per day) to work on the specific task. I have done similar by creating a column that I titled '% Allocated' and then selecting Project Settings (the little gear on the upper right screen) and select Resource Management. In there you select the '% Allocated' column under 'Allocation %' drop down. And make sure that the Assigned Resource Column has 'Assigned To' selected.

I struggled with this for a little but them found help within the existing forums to help me out.

Good luck

J. Craig Williams

First, if you follow rquay's suggestion and set the Project Settings first, Smartsheet will ask for if it should create the [Allocation %] column for you.

Second, Smartsheet's default working hours per day is 8, not 12. So 2 = 25% not 16.7%.

If you have dependencies enabled, 2 hours per day can get tricky. In this area, Smartsheet is not a scalpel. It is a hammer. If you have a second task during the day, it will need to be 6hr (75%), not a full day either.

If the 2hr task is during a single day, you can also use Duration = 2h and Allocation % = 100% instead of 1d and 25%.

There's lots of possibilities, not all of them good. Smartsheet announced improvements to Resource Management at last year's ENGAGE conference, but I have seen no evidence that it will be released before this year's conference (and I have no evidence it will be then either)

Craig

Paul Newcome

In this area, Smartsheet is not a scalpel. It is a hammer.

Truer words have never been spoken. Haha. My managers are pushing Smartsheet for Project Management, but this is one area where I keep telling them that Smartsheet not the absolute solution. Fighting with dependencies and automation is trying to use your head to break through a brick wall.

Mike Wilday

Well said. Not a completely all-in-one solution.

J. Craig Williams

re: trying to use your head to break through a brick wall.

"Why are you beating your head against the wall?"

"Because it feels SOOOO good when I stop."

Craig

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