Resource Cutoff Date

The Resource Cutoff Date field can be used to specify a cutoff date for resource leveling. When this date is specified, the scheduled start and finish for activities that would occur after the cutoff date are set to missing (empty). This value can be entered with either a DATEw. (that is, 01MAY2004) or a DATETIMEw. (that is, 01MAY2004:17:00:00) format. Alternately, by clicking the Date: button, you can access an Edit Date window to specify the desired value.

Default Maximum Activity Delay

The Default Maximum Activity Delay field can be used to specify the maximum amount of time by which any activity in the project can be delayed due to lack of resources. This value acts as a default for all project activities, while individual values can be specified for each separate activity. The default value for this option is +INFINITY.

Resource Usage Observations

The maximum number of resource observations sets an upper limit on the number of observations that the resource usage output data set can contain. The default value is 1000. Use the horizontal slider to increase this limit. The frequency indicates the time interval at which observations are added to the data set. Use the Frequency box to select the desired time interval.

Limit activity resource delays.

When this check box is selected, the maximum activity delay and each activity’s delay values (if specified) are used to control activity schedule slippage when performing resource leveling; otherwise, the values are ignored and activity schedules are allowed to slip indefinitely.

Use resource calendars.

When this check box is selected, resource calendars (if specified) are used to determine on/off work periods for resources; otherwise, all resource calendars are ignored.

Allow activity splitting.

When this check box is selected, activities are allowed to be split into segments during resource allocation. The maximum number of segments and the minimum segment duration can be specified for each activity to control the extent of the splitting.

Use alternate resources.

When this check box is selected, alternate resources (if specified) are used; otherwise, they are ignored.

Allow designated resources to drive activity durations.

This check box is used to activate resource-driven durations, provided that resources have been defined as driving resources and work rates have been specified for the activities.

Allow multiple resources to be allocated independently.

When this check box is selected, each resource can be scheduled separately for each activity during resource allocation; otherwise, all resources (required by an activity) must be available before work on the activity can be scheduled. If this check box is selected, each resource is scheduled independently of the others. This may cause an activity’s schedule to be extended if its resources cannot all start at the same time.

Continue scheduling even when resources are insufficient.

When this check box is selected, the scheduling algorithm continues to schedule activities even when resources are insufficient. By default, the algorithm stops (with a partial schedule) when it cannot find sufficient resources for an activity before the activity’s latest possible start time (accounting for the activity’s delay value or the maximum activity delay and using supplementary or alternate resources if necessary and if allowed). This option is equivalent to specifying infinite supplementary levels for all resources under consideration.

Require intersection of resource calendars for each activity.

When this check box is selected, an activity can be scheduled only during periods that are common working times for all resource calendars (corresponding to the resources used by that activity) and the activity’s calendar. Use this option with caution; if an activity uses resources that have mutually disjoint calendars, that activity can never be scheduled.

If this check box is cleared and resources have independent calendars, then each resource is scheduled using its own calendar. Thus, an activity can have one resource working on a five-day calendar, while another resource is working on a seven-day calendar.

Allocate alternate resources before using supplementary levels.

This check box indicates that the scheduling algorithm is to check for alternate resources before using supplementary resources. When this check box is cleared, the algorithm uses supplementary levels first (if available) and alternate resources are used only if the supplementary levels are not sufficient.

Allow activities to be delayed before using supplementary levels.

When this check box is selected, the scheduling algorithm waits until an activity’s late start plus delay before it is scheduled using a supplementary level of resources. Otherwise, even if an activity has a nonzero value specified for delay, it can be scheduled using supplementary resources before late start plus delay.