I have a unique problem I was hoping someone could help. I manage a photography studio that has 20-30 ongoing projects at a given time. Most of these projects are basic product photography - watches, handbags and apparel to go on the web. Many of these projects may have 100-200 products each. There are 3 steps in the Photography process 1) product prep (cleaning product), 2) Photography and 3) Color Correction - these are handled by 3 different groups and individuals. I would like to use MS project to manage the timelines for these projects but I cannot seem to figure out the best way.
Let's use "Project A" as an example. This project has 60 watches - I know how many hours each step (Product Prep, Photography, Color Correction) in the process takes for this many watches. I apply these hours to the individual tasks - which by the way can overlap. I am given a date when the products will start arriving and a date when "Project A" must be completed, we'll say 20 work days for this example.
For this example, this is what I need:
1) All 3 tasks would have a 20 work day timeline
2) I assign the number of hours that each task will take to complete to the timeline. (Example: Product Prep: 20 hours, Photography 40 Hours, Color Correction 60 Hours) all timelines would still displays 20 work days.
3) Assign a different resource to each Task. Once a resource is assigned, the resource view would show: For Product Prep assigned resource - 1 hour per day, Photography assigned resource - 2 hours per day and Color Correction assigned resource - 3 hours per day.
4) As work is done for each task the percent complete is changed on the timeline. If you were to check the resource view at this point the number of hours per resource would now be reduced.
5) If the product is late (normally the case) then I would move the start dates for all tasks, reducing the number of days to the deadline. If you were to check the resource view at this point the number of hours per resource would now be increased.
If I could do this, then when a resource is assigned to multiple projects I would have a better picture of their actual workload.
The biggest challenges I have is Product trickles in through out the project so putting a hard start on a given project is impossible.
This may not even be possible in MS project if not any suggestions of alternative applications?
Thanks-
Let's use "Project A" as an example. This project has 60 watches - I know how many hours each step (Product Prep, Photography, Color Correction) in the process takes for this many watches. I apply these hours to the individual tasks - which by the way can overlap. I am given a date when the products will start arriving and a date when "Project A" must be completed, we'll say 20 work days for this example.
For this example, this is what I need:
1) All 3 tasks would have a 20 work day timeline
2) I assign the number of hours that each task will take to complete to the timeline. (Example: Product Prep: 20 hours, Photography 40 Hours, Color Correction 60 Hours) all timelines would still displays 20 work days.
3) Assign a different resource to each Task. Once a resource is assigned, the resource view would show: For Product Prep assigned resource - 1 hour per day, Photography assigned resource - 2 hours per day and Color Correction assigned resource - 3 hours per day.
4) As work is done for each task the percent complete is changed on the timeline. If you were to check the resource view at this point the number of hours per resource would now be reduced.
5) If the product is late (normally the case) then I would move the start dates for all tasks, reducing the number of days to the deadline. If you were to check the resource view at this point the number of hours per resource would now be increased.
If I could do this, then when a resource is assigned to multiple projects I would have a better picture of their actual workload.
The biggest challenges I have is Product trickles in through out the project so putting a hard start on a given project is impossible.
This may not even be possible in MS project if not any suggestions of alternative applications?
Thanks-