If you haven’t understood or considered using local resources in a Microsoft Project Server environment, this is a must read. A local resource in Project is a non-enterprise resource. In other words, a local resource doesn't reside in a Project Server Enterprise Resource Pool. How is a local resource used? In certain situations, a project manager may need to account for work in a project that isn't being provided by enterprise resources. A local resource can be a contract resource, a business resource, or even a unique generic resource that doesn't exist in a Project Server environment. Using local resources can help project managers enhance their project plans when more resource options are needed than what is available in an enterprise resource list.

Setting up Local Resources

Setting up local resources is slightly different in Project Server 2003 than in Project Server 2007. In both instances, you simply create a resource by entering the resource name in any valid Project resource view such as the Resource Sheet. In Project Server 2007, that’s all you need to do, but in 2003, you have one more step to prevent conflicts when publishing your project to the server. You need to change the Workgroup setting to None on the General tab of the Resource Information dialog box. Microsoft simplified this in Project Server 2007 by removing this option altogether. Local resources are identified on the Resource Sheet by showing a local resource indicator in the Indicator column (Figure 1).

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