Beware of project management software that claims to help you spot resource overloads and optimize resources. Independent testing shows that when using the identical data, the results from various project management software products vary by as much as 400%! If effective resource management is an important issue for you, make sure the project management software you are using or selecting allows for task splitting when analyzing resources. Without it, resource analysis generates nonsensical results. To understand the importance of task splitting in scheduling work to optimize resources, consider the following example....

A long task (A) has a duration of 12 days and 3 days of spare time or float (meaning the task can be delayed up to 3 days without delaying the project deadline). The task requires 1 resource (R). About half way through task A, task B (taking one day) must occur and it is on the critical path. Tasks C and D are dependent on B completing and are also on the critical path.

Tasks A and B cannot be scheduled at the same time because there is only one of resource R. How should resource R be scheduled in order to optimize the use of the resource and get the project done on the target date of day 15? Task A starts, but because most project management software cannot interrupt a task (task splitting), task B is delayed until the end of task A when the resource R is released from A to B. Consequently, the project is delayed 8 days! Microsoft Project© and AutoPLAN© as well as most other popular products do not provide task splitting and will produce similar results.

Micro Planner solves this problem by interrupting task A for the one day required for task B. In the process, one day of A's float or spare time is used up. This task splitting capability allows the critical path tasks B, C and D to be scheduled on time. The project deadline is met without overloading the resource.

Of course, this is only four tasks and one resource. Micro Planner provides the same sophisticated resource analysis for thousands of tasks and hundreds of resources across multiple simultaneous projects. It can show you how to juggle tasks and resources to take advantage of pockets of extra time (float) and under-utilization of resources to boost productivity dramatically.

In addition to sophisticated task splitting, Micro Planner also provides:

• Non-split tasks for tasks that should not be interrupted
• Minimum splits (allowing tasks to be interrupted, but only in specified time increments)
• Resource assignment flexibility within a task (two engineers for the first week, three for the second, and so on)
• Group Resources for when a number of different resources are capable of performing a task
• Resource driven durations so that a task may take twice as long if only half the required resources are available
• Efficiency ratings so that senior engineers may be specified as being twice as productive as junior engineers
• Four types of resource analysis
  • Deadline Critical: makes the project(s) complete on the target date, overloading resources when required.
  • Resource Critical: doesn't allow resources to be overloaded, and extends the project(s) deadline to eliminate resource overloads.
  • Schedule resources as soon as possible
  • Schedule resources as late as possible
• Resource definitions that include thresholds so that tasks are only delayed when a specified resource threshold is exceeded
• Individual Calendars for each resource
• Resource analysis as fine as 1 minute intervals
• Up to 4 archives for comparing different solutions side by side