Resourcing

The UK's most regular instructor-led training courses.
Training information: project server consultant · Project training · Microsoft Project Training uk
See also · microsoft project training courses · microsoft.project.course · microsoft+project+courses

Resolved · Medium Priority · Version 2003

6 posts

ReplyMon 1 Jun 2009, 08:56Delegate Bradley said...

Bradley has attended:
No courses

Resourcing

I manage a programme of road maintenance schemes. I have set up a separate project for each scheme (some 40+ schemes in total). Each scheme is relatively small in size and as such, for the purpose of this programme, only one engineer will be working on each scheme. I have created a master project which will read all the separate individual schemes and put them into one main programme.

I have also created a 'resource pool' which is also fed into the master programme. Typically each engineer will have about 3-4 schemes active at any one time. Any more will be excessive and any less will probably leave them under-resourced. The problem is that when I am in the master project and click on 'View > Resouce Graph' the engineer's time is often at 200, 500, 600% or more. I have tried to level the resources but this only moves the dates out considerably. The engineer might only be spending a hour or two a day at the most on a particular scheme. How can I make the resource alocation more realistic?

Version	Date	Location	Places available	Book	Next place rate (£)
Project Advanced 1 day course
Version	Date	Location	Places available	Book	Pay by Card	Pay by Invoice
2003	Mon 19 Apr 2010	Southwark	9		£295	£300
2003	Wed 4 Aug 2010	Southwark	10		£295	£300
2003	Tue 30 Nov 2010	Southwark	10		£295	£300

1,055 posts

ReplyMon 1 Jun 2009, 09:44Trainer Andrew said...

RE: Resourcing

Hi Bradley

Thank you for your question. Here's one thing you might like to try.

When you have assigned your resource to a task switch to Resource Usage view. This will show you the planned work that will take place during a task. By default MS Project assumes your resource is working full on the tasks. If this is not the case then adjust the planned work to represent the correct amount. For example a resource following the default calendar assigned to a one day task would have 8 hours work calculated for that day. Use the Usage view to drop this down to 1 hour.

You will see all the tasks assigned to your resource in Resource Usage view, even if they are in other projects so you can balanced the planned work across all their tasks resulting in a more realistic peak units percentage.

Assignment of resources is one of the topics we look at on our 2 day MS Project course. You can find more information online at http://www.microsofttraining.net/ms-project-training-london-2003-intro-inter.php

I hope this helps - do let us know if you have any further questions.

Kind regards,
Andrew

6 posts

ReplyWed 3 Jun 2009, 09:28Delegate Bradley said...

RE: Resourcing

Hi Andrew

Thanks for your guidance. I was just wondering how in 'Resource Usage' I can change all entires which read 8h with 2h. There are quite a few so I would prefer to find a shortcut rather than go through and change each 8h to 2h individually. I've tried doing it via the 'Edit > Replace' route but it seems a bit complicated!

Please help.

Regards,
Bradley

1,055 posts

ReplyWed 3 Jun 2009, 09:45Trainer Andrew said...

RE: Resourcing

Hi Bradley

Rather than change all the tasks after the event you could create the tasks with the correct duration and work first. One way to do this is to add the Work column to the Entry table, set the work hours per task and then set Duration. Once you have done that assign your resource to the task. Using this method you can set up a resource working on a one day task which consists of two hours of work.

Be careful about editing the Work value in the Entry table (i.e. in Gantt Chart view) after a resource has been assigned to a task. Depending on your MS Project settings you may find the software changes your task durations.

Making the changes in Resource usage allows you to modify the assigned hours but leaves the duration unchanged.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Andrew

· Tackle Underperformance With MS Project Formatting
· Calendars In Microsoft Project
· Using Microsoft Project As Part Of Your Project Planning Strategy
· Resource Management using Microsoft Project
· So What Printouts Can You Produce From Microsoft Project?

Please browse our web site to find out more about
project server consultant and other Microsoft training courses.

Ms project tip:

Formatting Bar Text

To display notes or resource initials on the Gantt chart bars, choose Format, Bar Styles and the Text tab. Select the position you want to show the text i.e. Top or Inside etc, then choose the field name you are looking for from the drop down arrow. Type the first letter of the name to get quickly to the top of the letter range. Click OK.

View all MS Project hints and tips