How To — What is the best way to replace a resource?

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    • #382644

      Hi to ALL –

      I’m not so power user of MS Project here, and would like to hear on recommended ways to “replace a named resource in MS Project such that the Actuals from the previous named resource are kept…”…? The condition ALSO being that both resources (say, Adam and Eve) are recorded in the Resource Sheet for completeness.

      I see many ways to doing this, but it seems so cumbersome, etc.

      1. Should I add a non-working time to the prior Resource…?
      2. Or, should I set a non-availability, ie., From: 12/21 To: NA — MAX % = 0%…?
      3. Or, should I set the resource allocation to 0% in the Task (this should NOT be correct as it will ZERO out all prior Actuals)…?
      4. Or, should I set the Remaining Work to ZERO on the resource’s last day?
      5. Or, should I do ALL the above?

      Would like to know how you guys do it…

      Thanks in advanced!

    • #382649
      Larry Christofaro
      Participant

      Alfred, I thought I understood your question but then your suggested solutions confused me. As you can tell Microsoft is all about protecting actual hours, so making changes that affect actuals goes against Microsoft built-in functionality. I don’t really have an easy answer out of the box, but maybe someone has a tip they can share. Good luck and I hope you find an answer.

    • #384627
      Sai Prasad
      Participant

      Alfred, I am able to replace the resource with another resource for both incomplete and completed tasks using the Assign Resources command in Resource tab. Even if the new resource is non working or doesn’t follow the same working time of the replaced resource, Project 2013 moves the actual hours and remaining hours to the new resource. Hope this helps

    • #384648
      Larry Christofaro
      Participant

      Sai, I am intrigued with your answer to this question as I’ve stressed over it before. The only solution I’ve been able to use that will replace actual work is to remove the current name and select a new name in the Resource Name column. My scenario from above:
      1. Create one task, 3 days duration
      2. Create two resources A and B
      3. Assign A to the task
      4. Mark the task 40% complete
      5. Now select the task and Assign Resources, select that resource, replace, and select the second resource.

      There is no scenario in either Project 2010 or Project 2016 (I don’t have Project 2013) that replaces actual work. I’ve used auto scheduled, manually scheduled, fixed units, fixed work. I’ve also tried replacing the resource in the task form (split screen) and it adds resource B for the remaining work. When I use the Resource Name column, remove A and select B, Project prompts to validate deletion of actual values. Selecting yes will then replace both actual and remaining work.

      Can you provide some additional details on the behavior you experience? I’m not saying you’re wrong because I’ve seen other situations of different experiences. BTW: I’m using Project Pro for Office 365 so it is always current (and this behavior has always been the case.

      Thanks…Larry

    • #384653
      Sai Prasad
      Participant

      Hi Larry, Happy New Year 2016. I tried the steps in Project 2013 Pro. Please take a look at this picture https://i.imgur.com/ysZO6Ss.png. I have two tasks – one is 100% and other is 50% complete. When replacing the 100% tasks with another resource, the actual work is moved to the new resource. When replacing a inprogress task with another resource, the actual work is not affected but the remaining work alone is moved to the new resource – see this picture https://i.imgur.com/kEJ2qAq.png. I can understand that Alfred is looking for an option to replace resource such that the actual work and remaining work is moved to the new resource, which can’t be done.

    • #384654
      Larry Christofaro
      Participant

      Thank you Sai for going through an example, and nice addition on completed task. In process tasks have always been a challenge, especially when importing in-flight projects to Project Server/Online (another item I’m getting different responses from the forum). Glad to know I’m not going completely mad.

    • #384659
      Sai Prasad
      Participant

      🙂

    • #409797
      William McGuire
      Guest

      Hi,

      Actual Work and Remaining Work can be moved for resources in a plan. I performed the following in Project Pro 2016 for several projects where I was migrating from one server to a new environment. In my particular case, resources were named ‘lastname; firstname’ and the new environment had them as ‘firstname lastname’.

      1. Add-> the new resource(s) to the plan. Do not use the ‘Replace->’ option.
      2. View ‘Resource Usage’ in Project Professional
      3. Highlight the rows of tasks which you want to move from the current resource(s) and cut. Click ok to the dialog which says “This item has progress reported on it. Do you still want to delete it?”
      4. Select the row which contains the resource you want this work and actual work to be reflected under and paste.
      5. Perform QA. (e.g. One check – Click on the Project->Project Information->Statistics. They should match what they were in the original project file; etc.)
      6. Done.

      If you just need to ensure that the Actual Hours remain for the current resource assigned, then just use the Add Resources->(e.g. Build Team From Enterprise)->Replace option. This will keep the Actual for the currently assigned resource and put all remaining work under the new resource you chose during the ‘Replace->’ action.

      Cheers,
      Will

    • #412590
      Nick Pallotta
      Guest

      William, I tried your advice and was unable to duplicate your outcome for 2013. Nice to know this can be done in 2016. We underwent an active directory migration and it appears we are having an issue with a few usernames on the SharePoint task list side. Resources have been updated with their new login in the resource pool and showing correctly in MS project, but the syncing to task list job fails on a publish. If I could do a replace on actuals, I could easily swap out the resource to test if that’s the issue.

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