The "better" Resource Allocation Graph

[Yacine]

I've lately looked for a possibility to display at a glance the available resources, bottlenecks and hot potatoes of our projects. The tools that I know allow only for a tedious input of all your project tasks and their allocations and what more is: they lack any multi-project-management skills.

The idea here is that you have two pools: one with project tasks, that you quantify more or less roughly and one with available working time of your team.
Allocating a resource to a task would consist of switching the unit tickets of both pools.
If you can allocate all the project tasks to people, you have no problem - if you have capacities left, you may have too much people or you did not consider the invisible work. (may be something to think about and analyze).

I don't know if I made a brilliant invention or if it's just my ignorance. The name, I would have chosen is unfortunately already taken: resource allocation chart. Maybe I'll just add an adjective (the real, the practical, the better ... ) or an  index "2". Please tell me if you have already seen this solution and how it is named.

At my job, we are going to realize it with paper and boards for the more "sensual" experience
But as geek, I thought I ought to implement it in Visio and as specialized geek, only with shape sheet functions! (Excel also does the job, not so nice however and "boring" ).

Well, the most difficult was certainly to realize this "ticket switch". The trick reminds me of the tale of the hare and the hedgehog. You put a resource square (hedgehog1) in it's area, on the project side you set up a shape with the project shape (the hare) on the foreground and the resource shape (hedgehog2) on the background. When allocated the project shape moves to hedgehog1, covers it and reveals hedgehog2.

The central data have all been put in the custom properties of the page and whenever a shape needs info, that is the place to look for.

I implemented also a possibility to let up to 3 people work on  a project and 1 person can work on all the projects.

The solution is far from being finished, but you may want to enjoy already (the meat is always better out of the pan, than served on the plate).

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In a second version I removed the #1 hedgehogs and left the hare travel forth and back / meeting only one hedgehog instead of 2. It's lighter in matters of computation speed and visualy.

[Yacine]

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[Visio Guy]

Saugeil!

Note: at the bottom of the drawing, "Chris color perception formula" is referenced. See this article for details: Make Your Text Stand Out!.

[Paul Herber]

Smart!

[Yacine]

Comments from the practical world: The fact that both resources and projects use colours as identifiers is confusing. You can understand it at a 2nd glance, but you need to think about it. The better is to leave the resources monochrome and identify them by symbols - eg "windings" characters.

[knovell]

Very nice - clean and easy to read -- much 'better'.  But why chocolate makers -- now I want one

Thank you!