Resource/Target Leveling: Tuning Parameters

To access this screen:

Tools ribbon >> Levelling >> Level and select the Tuning Parameters tab.
Press <F10> and press the Tuning Parameters tab.

Alter the leveling algorithm if it is not producing the expected results using fine tuning settings.

Activity steps:

Display the Tuning Parameters screen.
Choose the Factors affecting sort order:

The initial sort order significantly affects the results of the resource leveling. To adjust how tasks without resource assignments are handled, you have three options for schedules where the scheduling of unassigned tasks affects the outcome of a leveling run:
- Ignore tasks with no resource assignments – Unassigned tasks are added to the sort list in whatever order they occur based on sorting by the fields assigned in Order for resolving over-allocations on the Details tab. By default, this option is selected.
- Tasks with no resource assignments have HIGHER priority – Unassigned tasks are given the highest priority and are added to the top of the sort list. This forces the schedule to occur as fast as possible, and is generally the best option.
- Tasks with no resource assignments have LOWER priority – Unassigned tasks are given the lowest priority and are added to the bottom of the sort list. This can force assigned tasks to be delayed significantly, as they have to wait for unassigned predecessor tasks to complete.
Choose the behaviour for the Handling of tasks with fixed constraints. These options determine if tasks assigned as Must Start On are considered in resource leveling.
- Assign highest priority and level normally (default) – If this option is selected, the resource leveling algorithm may not level tasks around the Must Start On tasks, which results in over-allocation of the resources. By default, this option is selected.
- Reduce resource availability before leveling – If this option is selected, the availability of the resources assigned when working on Must Start On tasks is reduced, so that they are considered correctly in the resource leveling algorithm.
Choose the behaviour for the Handling of tasks that are not to be levelled.
- Do not remove leveling delays (if they exist) – If a task was previously delayed due to levelling, but you have excluded such a task from the next levelling run (by switching off its Level Task flag), you can optionally prevent such level delays from being removed prior to the next levelling run.
  
  You also need to choose whether to Level using the normal priority or to Assign highest priority and level normally.
Choose the behaviour for the Handling of tasks with ALAP constraints. For tasks scheduled to start as late as possible, you can optionally check Assign lowest priority.

Note: Typically, you would not use this option as it does not give the best results. It can be useful when debugging the leveling output to see the effect of skipping the additional backwards pass.
Check Trace Leveling to display the Resource Leveling Tracing screen when leveling is processed. This shows detailed information about the leveling process, including the sort order, resource profiles and changes in delay rates for selected tasks at various stages of the process.
Click Level Now to run the resource leveling and insert leveling constraints where required.

Warning: All previous resource leveling constraints are automatically cleared before the resource leveling is run.
- Click Clear Leveling to clear all currently applied leveling constraints from the tasks.
Close the Resource/Target Leveling screen and save your project.