Assigning resource names to generic resource types

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    • #5129
      brian smith
      Keymaster

      I am new to both this forum and to MS Project 2010 and would like some assistance please.

      During the initial construction of a new schedule from which I will determine the estimated cost & duration of addressing a new business opportunity, I use generic resource types, eg; Electrical Eng, Mechanical Eng, Software Eng etc.  The resourcing demand that I present to the business will be in terms of say 3 Electrical engineers for x months, 6 software Engs for y months etc. What I dont know at this point is who will be assigned to these generic resource types.

      If the business accepts this schedule, actual people will be assigned to the generic resource types.  I would like to include their personal names as additional information in my schedule rather than having them replace the generic ones.  Therefore, if I needed 2 Electrial Engs these would now be assigned with say John & Bob.

      My question is this;

      How can I show the task assignment of John & Bob as Electrical Engs in my schedule specifically for me to be able to show the under/over allocation of either the generic resource type of Electrical Eng or indeed of John or Bob?

      I hope this is clear.

      Thanks in advance

    • #6807
      brian smith
      Keymaster

      Hi Karl,

      Welcome to this Microsoft Project forum:)

      I’m afraid that Project in this area is an either/or” process.  You either have named resources or you have generic resources.

      FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at this web address:  https://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

      Hope this helps – please let us know how you get on 🙂

      Mike Glen
      MS Project MVP (97-11)
      See https://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

       

    • #10575
      brian smith
      Keymaster

      I’m also new to Project 2010. I do see that resources can be typed (if that is the correct term) as “Budget” and then assigned to summary tasks. Maybe you track the real folks on real tasks and the generic resource on summary lines?

       

      Norm Goldsmith

    • #6814
      brian smith
      Keymaster

      Norman:

      Summary Lines are not exactly as most people think.  They do not always summarize duration (actually rarely do they) and they should not be used for linking (predecessors/successors), assigning resources or for assigning work.  A summary line is assigned its start date with the earliest start date of any task in its grouping.  Then Project assigns the latest finish date in its grouping as the finish date for the summary line.  The duration shown for the summary line is the working days between these start and finish dates, not the summation of the durations of the tasks in the grouping.  But that’s not the issue you are addressing – notice that you can create a summary line (call it Pets).   Now create a task (call it task Cats) to start today and run for 20 days.  Then create another task (Call it Dogs) starting 2 months after the finish of Cats, also running for 20 days.  Assign the resource Cat to the Cats tasks and Dog to the Dogs task.  Now assign Pets to the Pets summary line.  Go to the Resource Usage view.  You will notice that Pets has resources assigned during the void time frame between the two tasks.  That is only one of the reasons you should not assign resources to summary lines.

      Notice that I do not use the term Summary Task (even though Project does).  They are not Tasks” – they summarize and group.  Summary lines group tasks, show the total time span of the group and sum up work effort of the tasks in the group.  That’s all you should use summary lines for.  Often if you assign dependencies to summary lines, you create false critical paths and restrict Project from keeping an accurate dynamic view of your project.

      Roy

    • #10576
      brian smith
      Keymaster

      You could assign both generic and named resources to a Resource Group to show managment the enitre spectrum of resources needed from a particular area for a project.     Project can then provide either a spreadsheet-type view of all resources for the Group, sorted by reesoruce and then either START or FINISH date order – or – provide a Gantt chart view of the Resource Group over a timeline (quarters, months, week, etc. – whatever hihg-level or detail view your management is most interested in seeing).

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