Key Points

• In Project, a task normally has work associated with it after a work resource (people or equipment) has been assigned to the task.

• When resources are assigned more work than they can complete in a specific period of time, they are said to be overallocated during that time period.

• You must assign resources to tasks before you can track their progress or cost.

• Project follows the scheduling formula: duration times units equals work.

• Effort-driven scheduling determines whether work remains constant when you assign additional resources to a task.

• The easiest way to understand effort-driven scheduling is to ask yourself, “If one person can do this task in 10 days, could two people do it in five days?” If so, then effort-driven scheduling should apply to the task.

• Smart Tags appear after you perform certain actions in Project. They allow you to quickly change the effect of your action to something other than the default effect.

• Assigning material resources to tasks allows you to track consumables.

• Assigning cost resources allows you to associate financial costs with a task other than those derived from work or material resources.