From a "commercial" point of view and in terms of diffusion Microsoft Project "server" edition can be a very good choice. Probably Primavera has interesting additional features more but the evolution of this last Microsoft sw is very interesting.

Of course the resource levelling capabilities are limited in both cases since the level of sophistication usually required by these sw users is limited.

Depending on the application context scheduler can be used but loosing part of "management" capabilities and friendly interface.

I'm supervising now a sw development project for low volume high variety production context (like boat construction) and we developed a math-euristic algorithms to improve MS Project server edition.

Even if not the optimal solution it works.

Bests

Flavio

Thank you for answering Flavio. When resources are shared along different activities, Primavera and MS Project become hard to work. The leveling is done manually. This may be extremely demanding for managers in big projects.  Thus, based on your answer commercial packages containing this kind of solution for resources are not easily found and available. 

 I have taken my Phd and my research is highly related to what you are supervising too. What I have faced so far in terms of real-life applications (size and complexity), I believe that good solutions instead of optimal is the right direction. Also it is sort of coincidence, I have worked on developing a solution for large size project portfolio, and it will be demonstrated using data of Repair Shipyards. Which you may know , this sector follows what you said about low volume and high variety production (flexible services). The tool  (methods, and user interface) has been developed to be totally as web based. In the near future, if you get interested, I would be happy and I can share thoughts with you and also the web solution providing a password and user name and then you can go over and make your comments as you wish.

 I haven't published yet my accomplishment in a high level Journal. I have been working on it and soon I will get it done. Once again thanks for answering.

Load levelling is a often subjective, since it is based on the degree/level/type of expertise and availability of the individuals being sourced on multiple projects or on multiple levels.  

I agree, the process is difficult, time consuming and cumbersome.

I am glad you guys are working on projects to make it more simple, visual for large and web-based project portfolio. Thanks

You should use Microsoft Project because it allows "splitting of activities". Please refer to my thesis as attached. I had used MS Project for simulation. At the time I chose MS Project back in 2006, Primavera didn't allow splitting of activities.

Basically, "splitting of activities" means, a resource (in my case, a worker) can move between different activities. In other words, the worker can stop doing one activity, move to another activity, and go to other activity or come back to the original activity depending on resource needs. Therefore, an activity is not necessarily "continuous", in other words it is "split".

Thesis A Study on the Economic Feasibility of Precast Shell Pile Ca...

Prof. Prasad, thank you for being so nice and for encouraging me to tackle this problem.

Levelling shared resource along multi large scale projects and assess the risk involved are really demanding for decision makers. In addition to that, you know,the current status of projects can not be neglected. That´s where also web based contributes to make easier  gathering data from shop-floor,from constructions, from vessels , any where. A simple mobile device will gather the current status and people (different decisions makers) from different locations (even countries) can simulate new scenarios using the most update information almost in real time. Once again, thank you.

Thanks Denis for your reply.

You mentioned about risks and decision making. Lot of time, these metrics are assessed based on static information. Those, which are historically captured ahead of time -- meaning ahead of point of decision-making.

Real time risk assessment can provide better solutions, However, it is even more cumbersome and difficult to implement.

I agree and believe real-time load leveling (I mean dynamic load leveling) can lead to provide better results in terms of (decision making, load leveling and resource allocation/assignments). However, I am not sure any current tools (like MS/Project) is capable of providing such interfaces like direct live links to mobile or similar input devices.

Do you know of any? Thanks..

Denis,

I'd suggest you take a look at our project scheduling software. ProChain Project Scheduler is an add-in to MS Project and supports critical chain scheduling. If you are familiar with critical chain, you will understand that the first step in the scheduling process is to create a resource feasible schedule. Because MSP has such a poor resource leveling capability, we had to program our own. Resources within a project are leveled using a multipass heuristic. I think you'll find it very easy to use. 

We also have a product that levels resources across a portfolio of products. ProChain Pipeline allows you to select your pacing resource(s) and reschedules the portfolio in priority order so that you do not exceed the capacity of those selected pacing resources. Again, it is very simple to use.

Both products do real time load leveling in the sense that schedules are re-leveled after each update. ProChain Pipeline has an added feature of permitting linkages between project files (i.e. program management) and supports leveling across the program. 

My dissertation research was in optimal solution procedures, but as has been noted in this thread, those are not practical for anything but very small projects. We have found that heuristic algorithms proved very satisfactory schedules for real world projects. 

Hope this helps,

Wendell

Besides the MS Project & Primavera, here in Brazil there is this software that may assist on this kind of task.

http://www.jexperts.com.br/en/category/pse/pse-pch/

Also, WBS Schedule Pro deals with this issue making project better... or can be used alone ;)

http://www.criticaltools.com/WBS%20Schedule%20Pro%20Overview.html

Thank you for all the answers Wendell, Helio, Konstantinos and Eng. I really appreciate that. I will look at links and tools you have suggested.

Have a good day.

Hello Wendell , thank you for answering. I have looked the website online and I have some questions.

Suppose that a given company is responsible for running 8 project simultaneously and each one has about 300 different activities. Also each activity can have multiple ways to be performed, such as different set of resources. For instance: suppose an activity that requires cutting of a vessel and welding new steel plates in a ship.

Set 1:

Crane, 2 good welders and one work to support the activity

or Set 2:

Crane and 1 excellent welder

or Set…N

My question 1: Is Prochain Pipeline able to go over all the pool of resources and verify which resources are available and then pick the right set of resources to execute that given activity?

My question 2: If so, how ProChain is capable to solve conflicts along different activities requiring the same resources at same time?

My question 3: Does it also consider different skilled resources?

My question 4: How does Prochain collect the status of each activity for different projects (remaining time for each activity)? Somebody has to input this information manually?

My question 5: Does ProChain run online? As far as I understand there are some technical requirements to install ProChain Pipeline?

Thank you so much , I really appreciate that

Hi Denis,

Good questions. I'll try to keep my responses brief:

1. ProChain algorithms do not automatically evaluate alternative resource assignments, but you can do so manually. We recommend our clients create a baseline schedule which reflects the preferred resource assignments. Once the project is scheduled using ProChain, the schedule identifies which resource/task combinations are constraining and causing the critical chain to be longer than you want. At that point you pick the tasks that can realistically be offloaded (e.g. replace the excellent welder with 2 good welders on cutting task) and rerun the schedule. You will see very quickly if this change gives a shorter schedule. Running these what-if scenarios are very powerful. In addition to resource changes, project teams can explore changes to dependencies, durations, scope, or risk mitigation strategies.

2. Resource leveling is accomplished after you assign resources to tasks. When you change resource assignments and reschedule the project, resources are re-leveled. 

3. Yes. You can create different resources for different skill levels. ProChain also supports hierarchical resource modeling. For example, you can specify the skilled engineer as a subset of general engineer. If you assign a skilled engineer to work a task, then only the skilled engineer can do the task, but if you assign a general engineer to do a task and no general engineers are available at the time, it will assign a skilled engineer. 

4. ProChain Project Scheduler is client software and is an add-in to MS Project. If you are using this version, you enter the updates directly into the computer where the software has been installed (typically the PM does this). We also have a web-based enterprise version (ProChain Enterprise) that allows project team members to log into their accounts and enter their task updates directly. 

5. ProChain Project Scheduler (single project) and ProChain Pipeline (multiproject) are client software and are add-ins to MSP. ProChain Enterprise is web-based and can either be installed on your company's server or accessed through the cloud. 

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you further questions. We have an academic program at ProChain that provides free software to professors in order to stimulate classroom use and support scholarly research. Please let me know if you are interested in this. 

Warm regards,

Wendell

Hello Wendell, thank you so much for such detailed answers. You clarified so well all my questions. I really appreciate that. About ProChain being used for academic purposes, how it is possible to get a license key? Let's be in touch, I appreciate that again.

Hi Denis,

Our University Program is outlined on our webpage. I've included the link below. If you are interested, just click the 'contact us' hyperlink. 

I appreciate your interest, but I've no doubt crossed the line separating academic inquiry from business promotions, and that is probably not in the best interest of ResearchGate. If you have further interest in our company or would like to know more about our products, feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Warm regards,

Wendell

http://www.prochain.com/about/university-program.html

Look at OpenWorkbench. It is a good schedule tool and its is open source too. For complex people and resource management you need a good program and portfolio management too to help you manage workload and allocations. CA PPM (ca.com) is a very good option for pan-organisation and functional unit management

Philip, thank you for answering the question. I appreciate it. I will check that.

Hello there, just in case someone is interested in Microsoft Project , it is now available in cloud with 30-day free trial and great price after. take a look at https://www.apponfly.com/en/microsoft-project-standard-2016?KAI