Adjusting the hour distribution

Adjusting the hour distribution

Goal: for one assignment, decide yourself how much the resource works on each work day of the task, instead of using a standard curve.

When you need this

A curve such as Bell shaped is a fixed shape. Sometimes you know better. The bricklayer starts on the outer cavity leaf at half strength, because the scaffolding is still being put up, and then works full time. Or you want to keep a peak just under the capacity. Then you adjust the hour distribution.

You work with phases: consecutive work days on which the resource works with the same units. The distribution only changes the hours per day of this one assignment. The task's dates do not change.

Steps

The example is the outer cavity leaf: 6 work days, one bricklayer, 48 hours.

1. Select the task. The Properties panel is on the right; if you do not see it, turn it on with View › Panels › Properties.
2. In the Assignments block, click the name of the bricklayer. Curve and the button Hour distribution… appear below it. Click Hour distribution…. The window Hour distribution in phases opens. You start from what the app currently books: for this outer cavity leaf, one phase of 6 days with units of 1.
3. If needed, pick a starting point at Apply shape:. With Bell shaped the app makes five phases: 0.18 units on the first and the last day, 0.84 on the second and the fifth day and 1.98 on the two middle days. The total stays 48 hours.

Adjusting the phases

You can work in the table or in the strip above it.

• Type other Effort (units/day) in a phase. The columns Hours/day and Hours calculate along.
• Change the number of Days of a phase. The last phase always runs to the end of the task and gets the days that remain.
• Choose Split to divide a phase in two, for 6 days into 3 and 3. Choose Merge to merge a phase with the next one.
• In the strip you drag a boundary to lengthen or shorten a phase, you drag the top edge to set the effort and you double-click a day to split a phase.

Applying

Choose Apply. With Cancel the window closes without a change.

An example. You choose Split, set the Days of the first phase to 2 and the effort of that phase to 0.5. The second phase then runs 4 days with effort 1. The total is 2 × 0.5 × 8 + 4 × 1 × 8 = 40 hours.

After Apply the assignment's curve is set to Contour, disabled. The Units stay as they were. A bar icon now shows next to the name, also when the assignment is collapsed. The histogram and the overallocation follow the new distribution at once. Recalculating is not needed, because no date moves.

Releasing the distribution

If the assignment has a distribution of its own, the window also has Release distribution. That removes your own distribution and the app goes back to the Units and the curve. Also choose this if you want to change the curve, because the Curve drop-down is disabled as long as there is a distribution of its own.

Pitfalls and what the app does then

The total changes with it. You do not divide the hours, you decide them. If you set a phase to 0.5 instead of 0.18, the total gets bigger. The total in hours is at the bottom of the window, so check it before you click Apply.

What the units do afterwards depends on the task type. With Fixed duration and units, other Units change nothing about the distribution. With Fixed duration and work the app scales the hours per day along with the new units: at units of 2 instead of 1 every day doubles and so does the total (from 32 to 64 hours), and the duration stays the same. With Fixed work the units change the task's duration: the distribution is then squeezed or stretched over the new duration, with the same total. With Fixed units the units change the duration as well; check the total at the bottom of the window afterwards.

If you change the task's duration, the distribution stretches with it. The shape stays the same. With Fixed duration and units and with Fixed units the total grows in proportion to the duration: if the duration of a task with a distribution of its own doubles from 4 to 8 work days, the total doubles as well, from 32 to 64 hours. With Fixed duration and work and with Fixed work the total stays the same (32 hours stays 32 hours) and the units drop.

The work follows the distribution. Work (h) becomes the sum of your phases, also under Fixed work. The task's duration does not change because of it.

Invalid units. An empty or negative effort gets a red border and Apply is then disabled. A phase with effort 0 is allowed. Such a phase stays within the task's duration.

Everything applies to this one assignment. The app says so itself: The distribution only changes the hours per day of this assignment; task dates and splits stay as they are. Other resources on the same task keep their own distribution.

Leveling follows the distribution. The leveler counts the same hours per day as the histogram.

Undoing. Apply and Release distribution are each one step for Undo (Ctrl+Z).

See also

• Assigning resources with a curve: putting a resource on a task and choosing a curve.
• Resolving overallocation: what to do when a resource has too much to do on a day.