Overview The assigning resources module introduces how to assign one or more resources to tasks . It also looks at how costs are assigned to resources and how to amend resource calendars. Objectives The participant will: -
Be able to assign resources to tasks. -
Be able to identify overallocations. -
Know how to amend the work units of a resource. -
Be able to assign costs to a resource. -
Be able to amend a resource calendar. Preparation Review the contents of this module and do each of the exercises at least once to familiarize yourself with the logic and outcome. | Resource | Resources are the people, equipment and supplies used to complete tasks in a project. A resource is considered by MS Project 2000 to be a resource type and there can be one or many units of each type. | | Assignment | This is the allocation of a resource type to work on a particular task. MS Project 2000 assigns one unit (or 100 percent) of a resource to work full time for the duration of a task. | | Creating | You can create resources as a separate exercise or you can create them as you are assigning them to a task. You can create a single resource (with max units =1 or 100 percent) or a group of resources (with max. units > 1 or greater than 100 percent). | Presentation The activities in this module cite the aims of each exercise and whether the level is suitable for basic or advanced users. ACTIVITY 13.1 How to assign a resource using the menu bar. 13.2 How to assign a resource using the task information box. 13.3 How to assign a resource using assign resources icon on the standard toolbar. 13.4 How to assign a resource using the task form view. 13.5 How to assign more than one resource using the assign resources icon. EXERCISE 13.1 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ ASSIGN A SINGLE RESOURCE, METHOD 1 -
Open Golf1E. -
Select Task 4, "Clear land." -
Pick Tools menu. -
Choose Resources command, Assign Resources. -
An Assign Resources box will appear. -
In the first cell , type "Bulldozer." Click CR. -
Select "Bulldozer." Click Assign. -
Click Close. -
The "Bulldozer" is now assigned to Task 4. EXERCISE 13.2 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ ASSIGN A SINGLE RESOURCE, METHOD 2 -
Select Task 5, "Rough grading". -
Double click on Task 5 to produce the task information box. -
Choose the Resources tab. -
Select the first cell and type in "Bulldozer driver." -
Click OK. -
The Bulldozer driver is now assigned to Task 5. EXERCISE 13.3 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ ASSIGN A SINGLE RESOURCE, METHOD 3 -
Select Task 6, "Dig lakes and water hazards." -
Choose the assign resources icon from the standard toolbar. -
Add "JCB." -
Click Assign. -
Click Close. -
The JCB is now assigned to Task 6. EXERCISE 13.4 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ ASSIGN A SINGLE RESOURCE, METHOD 4 -
Select Task 7, "Dig bunkers." -
Pick Window menu. -
Choose Split command. -
Select the space directly under resource name . -
A drop-down arrow appears. -
Click on the drop-down arrow and choose "JCB." -
Click OK. -
The JCB is now assigned to Task 7. EXERCISE 13.5 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ ASSIGN MULTIPLE RESOURCES -
Select Task 9, "Dig trenches." -
Choose the assign resources icon from the standard toolbar. -
Add "JCB driver" into the next blank cell. -
Select "JCB" and "JCB driver." -
Click Assign. -
Click Close. -
Both the JCB and the JCB driver are now assigned to Task 9. Dialog Explain that there are a variety of ways to assign a resource to a task. A resource could be a piece of equipment as well as being a person. Note that MS Project 2000 automatically assigns the resource full-time . | Overallocation | Tasks that are scheduled at the same time for the same resource means that the resource is scheduled for more hours in the day than we have specified in the workhours section of the calendar. MS Project 2000 has many ways to display overallocation. An overallocated resource will be highlighted in red in any one of the resource views. | | ACTIVITY 13.6 How to identify an overallocated resource. EXERCISE 13.6 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ VIEW RESOURCE USAGE -
Open Golf1G. -
Pick View menu. -
Choose Resource Sheet command. -
Note that certain resources appear in red. -
Pick View menu. -
Choose Resource Graph. -
Use the horizontal scroll bar on the left to scroll through the resources until you reach the JCB which will be in red. -
Use the horizontal scroll bar on the right to scroll through to the week of June 26. -
Note the amount of the overallocation. -
Pick the Format menu. -
Choose Details, Work. -
The vertical axis should change to the days that the resource has been allocated, showing the overallocation in red. Dialog Explain that when a resource is overallocated it appears in red on the resource sheet, the resource graph and the resource usage views. The resource graph shows the number of units the resource is overallocated by, but the user can change this to a variety of other views using the Details command. | ACTIVITY 13.7 How to amend the work units of a resource. EXERCISE 13.7 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ AMENDING WORK UNITS -
Pick File menu. Choose New. -
Create Tasks 1, 2 and 3, each with a duration of 2 weeks. Click CR. -
Select Task 1. -
Click the assign resources icon. -
Enter "Joe" in the first cell and click Assign. -
Select Task 2. -
Note that the assign resources box remains open. -
Select "Joe" and enter "5 units" beside his name. -
Click Assign or click CR. -
Close assign resources box. -
Select Task 3. -
Pick Window menu. Choose Split. -
In the Task Form View on the bottom part of the screen, add "Fred, .5 units" under Resource Name. -
Click OK. -
Note the hours of work associated with Tasks 1, 2 and 3. -
Select Task 1. -
Change the units to 50 percent. Note the change in the duration of the task. -
Select Task 2. -
Change the units to 100 percent. Note the change in the duration of the task. Dialog Explain that MS Project uses a formula to calculate the amount of time it will take to complete a task. This amount of time is called work, and can only be determined when the units per resource is multiplied by the duration of that task. units * duration = work Units indicate the availability of a resource. When a user builds a plan, each task is assigned a duration which estimates how much time it will take to complete the task. If a resource is available only 50 percent of the time, however, the task will take twice as long to complete. Amend the units per resource when you know the availability of that resource to see what effect it has on the project plan. | Costs | The main source of expense in projects tends to be the cost of the resources. MS Project 2000 automatically calculates this cost when calculating work. | | ACTIVITY 13.8 How to assign costs to a resource. EXERCISE 13.8 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ ASSIGN COSTS TO RESOURCES -
Open Golf1F. -
Pick View menu. -
Choose Resource Sheet. -
In Standard Rate column, enter hourly or daily rates for these resources: | Bulldozer | 300/d | | Bulldozer driver | 30/h | | JCB | 250/d | | JCB driver | 25/h | | Crew | 6/h | -
Pick Project menu. Choose Project Information command. -
Click Statistics button. -
Note information in cost column. -
Click on Close button. -
Pick View menu. -
Choose Table command. -
Select Cost. Dialog Explain that costs can be assigned per resource, so that this information can be used to estimate the total costs of a project and to track the costs of a project as it progresses. | ACTIVITY 13.9 How to amend the calendar to show time off for one resource. EXERCISE 13.9 ¢ LEVEL: BASIC ¢ AMENDING RESOURCE CALENDARS -
Open Golf1F. -
Select "Clear land" and "Rough grading" tasks. -
Note end dates of tasks. -
Pick Tools menu. Choose Change Working Time. -
For:= Pick bulldozer. -
Set 3 days non-working in May for maintenance and click OK. -
Note change in end dates for the two tasks. Dialog Explain that once resources are assigned to a project, a calendar for each is automatically created by MS Project. This is used for specifying annual leave and for defining work hours for each resource. | Resource calendar | This is specific to a particular resource type. It can be used for maintaining holiday information and also for defining working hours. For each resource type we can specify a different set of working days and/or hours. MS Project 2000 will then take these into account when scheduling tasks. | | ACTIVITY 13.10 How to manipulate multiple resources “ Method 1. 13.11 How to manipulate multiple resources “ Method 2. EXERCISE 13.10 ¢ LEVEL: ADVANCED ¢ MULTIPLE RESOURCES NO. 1 -
Pick File menu. -
Choose New command. -
Pick View menu. -
Choose Resource Sheet. -
Add entries for "JCB, Bulldozer, Operator," each with max units = "5 units" (500 percent). -
Pick View menu. Choose Gantt chart. -
Pick Window menu. Choose Split. -
Go to Format menu. Pick Timescale. Display timescale in days. -
Create Task 1, 2 weeks. Click CR. -
Select Task 1. Click on resource assignment icon to display dialog box. -
Choose "JCB" from name column and click on assign button. Close box. Note that the JCB has 80 hours of work to accomplish in 2 weeks duration. -
We decide this is too long, we need it completed sooner, so we will use two JCBs. -
In Task Form, change JCB availability to 2 units (200 percent). Click OK. -
The new duration is 1 week. Note that JCB work hours of 80 are driving this duration. -
Create Task 2, 2 weeks. -
Select Task 2. Pick Tools menu, Resources and select Assign Resources. -
Add "Bulldozer, 1 unit" (100 percent) and "Operator, 1 unit" (100 percent). -
Close Box. Note that Operator and Bulldozer are driving the duration of 2 weeks. -
In Task Form (bottom view), change Bulldozer to 2 units (200 percent). -
Note that Operator is now the driving resource. -
To see this clearly, apply the resource usage view to the bottom view. To get back to default view, pick Views, More Views, and Task Form. Click Apply. -
Change Operator to 2 units (200 percent). Click OK. -
Duration is 1 week as Operator and Bulldozer are both driving resources. -
Still on Task 2, add "Foreman, 0.5 units" (50 percent), to Task Form (bottom view). -
Click OK button. Note hours. Note that Operator and Bulldozer are still driving the duration. EXERCISE 13.11 ¢ LEVEL: ADVANCED ¢ MULTIPLE RESOURCES NO. 2 -
Pick File menu. -
Choose New command. -
Split the screen. -
Create 2w task, "Paint wall." -
Using the task form, assign "Painter." Click OK. -
We need to complete this task sooner so assign a second painter. -
Amend units = "2" (200 percent). Click OK. What happens to duration and why? -
Create 2w task, "Paint next wall." -
On bottom screen in the task form, uncheck Effort driven box. -
Assign "Joe the Painter." Click OK. -
Again, we need to complete this sooner. -
Assign "Fred the Painter." Click OK. The work has doubled rather than the duration halved. We need to halve the work amount on the task. -
Select top view, Pick View menu, pick table, pick work. -
Halve the work on the task. Click CR. All is as we would want it; the work has decreased. | |
