Multi-project management//coordination

[Kassem78]

Hi All,
I am new at this forum and I like to ask an advise about tools/techniques used in the management/coordination of a portfolio of projects.
the following information describe the real situation:
a company involved in both the manufacturing and construction sectors. They design, manufacture and install components for the facade industry. they work on a number of projects sumultaneously across the UK.
you can immagine that some resources (e.g design, production)are shared between all projects and need to plan their activities to serve all projects. in addition, there are many unexpected issues (material non ready for production, design change by contractor, etc.).
What would the best tool/technique be for managing project in such an environment.
thank you in advance for your time.

 

[KENAT]

Well, depending on level of complexity something like MS project and/or Excel may be of assistance.

Fundamentally getting some idea of what resource you need when helps a lot.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[ShopPlanner]

I understand that you are simultaneously managing multiple projects that compete for shared resources. The resource allocation across multiple projects has a major impact on progress rates and completion times of projects as well as resource utilization levels. Most of the project management software force you to manually perform resource leveling (for resolving resource overloading) in a laborious and time-consuming manner. Many unexpected issues like material delays, absence of workers, breakdowns of equipment, changes made by contractors, project priority changes, etc necessitate rescheduling of all projects subject to resource availability. It requires repetition of laborious resource leveling in project management software. Quite often, you may also need to perform what-if analysis in response to changes.

Since you are searching for tools, I would suggest you to have a glance at a scheduling software at

http://www.optisol.biz.

It does automatic resource leveling in multi-project scheduling within a few seconds, saving a lot of time for schedulers. It is designed for project-based production scheduling in manufacturing environment.

 

[babynus]

Hello,

The best choice will be MS-Project Server, with Project Web Access.
It's not free, but I think that in your context it's worth it !
Have a llok at it.

Babynus
Administrator of

http://www.toolware.fr

 

[brianleblanc]

I have been looking for a MS Project replacement. Finding a SaaS based solution would be preferable to me. My research has turned up some interesting implementations, but so far nothing that has Projects's gantt view or the ability to create task dependencies. I find both of these features critical to successful management, especially when scheduling multiple resources across multiple projects. Until I find it I will stick with MS Project.

 

[ShopPlanner]

Brian,

If you closely see live demos of certain tools involving realistic data, you might find some features (including charts) that are superior to Project features in many respects. From resource-leveled scheduling point of view, I never compare Project to those tools.