Amal Nagm

Assign a work resource to a task full time or part time

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
2. In the Task Name field, select the task to which you want to assign a resource.
3. Click Assign Resources .
4. In the Resource Name field, click the name of the work resource or generic resource that you want to assign.
5. If the resource is working part-time on the task, enter a percentage in the Units column.
6. If you are using Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007, in the R/D column, click either Request or Demand to specify whether you require that this resource be assigned to the task in order to complete the task. This resource setting is used by the Resource Substitution Wizard. If you click Request, the wizard assigns the resource only if the resource is not overallocated. If you click Demand, the wizard assigns the resource even if the resource is overallocated, which can cause potential overallocation problems.
   
7. Click Close.

• If you want to assign resources after you complete other work on your schedule, you can continue to display the Assign Resources dialog box while you work with the Gantt Chart and in other Microsoft Office Project views.
• You can assign a resource to a summary task (summary task: A task that is made up of subtasks and summarizes those subtasks. Use outlining to create summary tasks. Project automatically determines summary task information [such as duration and cost] by using information from the subtasks.). This is useful, for example, if the resource is responsible for a group of tasks.
• If the resource's time on the group of tasks stays the same regardless of how the total duration of the subtasks (subtask: A task that is part of a summary task. The subtask information is consolidated into the summary task. You can designate subtasks by using the Project outlining feature.) changes, then the resource should be assigned to the individual subtasks, and not to the summary task. If you assign a resource full time to a summary task, don't also assign the same resource full time to subtasks under that summary task, or you may cause unnecessary overallocations (overallocation: The result of assigning more tasks to a resource than the resource can accomplish in the working time available.).
  

Filter a list of resources

1. In the Assign Resources dialog box, click to expand Resource list options, and then, under Filter by, select the filter options that you want:
   
   • Select the Filter by check box, and then select the filter that you want.
   • To filter those resources whose availability (availability: Indicates when and how much of a resource's time can be scheduled for assigned work. Availability is determined by project and resource calendars, resource start and finish dates, or the level at which the resource is available for work.) enables them to work throughout the duration of the selected task, select the Available to work check box, and then select the number of hours that the resource must be available for.
   • If you don't see the filter that you want, click More filters.
   
   
2. To see a graph of resource availability, select the resources that you want to see on the graph, and then click Graphs.

Assign a group of multiple resources

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
2. In the Task Name field, select the task to which you want to assign a resource.
3. Click Assign Resources .
4. In the Resource Name field, click the name of the group of resources that you want to assign.
5. In the Units field, type a percentage value greater than 100%. This percentage represents the amount of effort that this group of resources will be working. For example, if the resource is Operators, and there are three operators in the group, and you want to assign all three of them full time, you type 300%.
   
6. Click Assign.

Assign a material resource to a task

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
2. In the Task Name field, select the task to which you want to assign a resource.
3. Click Assign Resources .
4. In the Resource Name field, click the name of the material resource that you want to assign.
5. In the Units field, do one of the following:
   • Type a number that indicates the amount of material that will be used for this assignment (assignment: A specific resource that is assigned to a particular task.), and then enter the material label (material label: The unit of measure for a material resource, such as tons, cubic yards, or board feet.). For example, if you are using 20 yards of lumber, type 20 yards.
     
   • If the amount of material used depends on the task duration (duration: The total span of active working time that is required to complete a task. This is generally the amount of working time from the start to finish of a task, as defined by the project and resource calendar.), enter the rate of use by typing a slash (/) and then a duration code or abbreviation. For example, if 20 yards of lumber is used per week, enter 20/week or 20/w.
     
6. Click Assign.

Assign a cost resource to a task

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
2. In the Task Name field, select the task to which you want to assign a resource.
3. Click Assign Resources .
4. In the Resource Name field, click the name of the cost resource that you want to assign.
5. In the Cost field, enter a value that represents the amount of the cost resource. A single cost resource that is assigned to different tasks can have different cost values. For example, a single cost resource named Airfare that is assigned to two different work resources can have different cost values for the different cities that are traveled to.
   

• Avoid assigning cost resources to tasks that already have work resources or material resources assigned to them; these resources might be updated in Microsoft Office Project Server 2007.
• It is all right to initially plan costs at a monthly or lower level, but you should not make complex updates to cost resource assignment actual cost contours at a low level of granularity.
• Avoid using cost resources when the task or project has a 24-hour elapsed calendar. Costs spreading from one day to another can have unexpected results in this configuration.
• Always pay attention to your cost values when editing in the Usage views. Because you are able to control both cost and actual cost contours, you are in the best position to make sure that the right costs are on the right days.
• Minimize the number of times you undo changes to remaining duration on cost resource assignments. Undoing changes can lead to data inaccuracies for the timephased (right) side of Usage views, making it inconsistent with the scalar (left) side.
• If you need to disable the ability for Project 2007 to automatically calculate costs, your cost resource assignments will have their costs replaced with zeroes, like all other costs within the project.
• Tasks with cost resource assignments should not have any assignments updated using Project Web Access, or programmatically through the Project Server Interface (PSI).