Configuring Resource Leveling Options and Priorities

Level resources in your project schedules to ensure that resource demand does not exceed resource availability. To handle scheduling conflicts that might occur during leveling, you can add priorities that specify which project or activity is leveled first. Before leveling, configure the options and priorities specified in the steps below.

To configure resource leveling options and priorities:

  1. On the "" Navigation Menu, expand "" Projects and click EPS.
  2. On the EPS page, click "" Customize View and click Columns.
    1. On the Columns tab, expand the General section in the Available Columns list and double-click Project Leveling Priority to add it to the Selected Columns list and click Save and Apply.
  3. On the EPS page:
    1. Enter a value in the Project Leveling Priority field for each project.

      Note:

      Enter a value from 1, the highest priority, to 100, the lowest. The default is 10.

    2. Click Save when you are done.
  4. On the "" Navigation Menu, expand "" Projects and click Activities.
  5. On the Activities page, click "" Customize View and select Columns.
    1. On the Columns tab, expand the General section in the Available Columns list and double-click Activity Leveling Priority to add it to the Selected Columns list and click Save and Apply.
  6. On the Activities page:
    1. Enter a value in the Activity Leveling Priority field only for those activities that require a specific change to their leveling priority. For example, a Normal activity might become a Top priority.
    2. Click Actions "" and select Leveler.
    3. In the Level Resources dialog box:
      • Select the Consider assignments in other projects with priority equal or higher than option and select a value from the list to include in the leveling process projects that are not currently open, but that do fit the required priority level.
      • Select or clear the Preserve scheduled early and late dates option to determine if the leveling process can alter activity dates or not. If you select this option, configure the options it enables.
      • Select or clear the Recalculate assignment costs when leveling option to determine if the application should automatically recalculate assignment costs if they are affected by the leveling.
      • Select the Display leveling log upon completion option if you would like to see a summary of activities delayed by leveling and exceptions made for critical activities.
    4. On the Resources tab, choose whether to level All resources or Selected resources. If you choose to level Selected Resources, double click the resources you want to level in the Available list to add them to the Selected list.
    5. On the Prioritization tab, specify priorities that will be used to level the activities. Add priorities in the order in which you want the application to consider them. For each priority you add, repeat the following steps:
      • Click "" Context and select Add Above or Add Below.
      • In the Field Name list, select Project Leveling Priority, Activity Leveling Priority, or another field.
      • In the Sort Order list, select Ascending, Descending, or, for some fields, Hierarchy.
    6. Click Save.

Tip:

You cannot edit the Project Leveling Priority of a project if you do not have the appropriate security privileges or if the project is checked out or opened exclusively by another user.