MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING

COMP4543

Microsoft Project Lab 4

Setting up Resources

Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to set up resources for use with the project and
included in the project plan.

Method
To complete the project, we need to define and assign the resources that the project will
use. Resources include people, equipment, facilities, and materials necessary for the
completion of the project. MS Project will concentrate on the resource availability and cost.

We will continue with the project you worked with in the last lab exercise. In the
attachment is the list of resources and the details for each resource (Table below the
Activities Table). Note, it is recommended that you save your work often.

1. Launch MS Project if necessary and open the project that you worked with in Lab 3 and
save as “SA Project – Lab 4”.

2. Click the View tab. In the Resource Views group, click Resource Sheet.

3. On the attached project details, the resources have been identified. To enter the
resource, click on the first cell under Resource Name, and enter “Arnold Jones”. Notice
that default values are entered on the other columns, which you should accept for now.
Enter likewise the rate of the resource under Standard Rate. This will allow you to keep
track of the budget for the project. You may also change the Initials.

4. On the next three rows, enter the other members of the team.

5. Notice that for the next resource, there is no name assigned but only a function. MS
Project allows you to enter job titles or functions as resource. It also allows you to enter
a group of people with related skills such as “Programmers”. On the next empty row,
enter “Project Consultant” in the Resource Name column and in the Group column,
enter “Project Consultant” and below this, enter “Documentation Specialists” in both
the Resource Name column and in the Group column. Enter their respective standard
rates. You may adjust the width of this column to see what you entered.
 MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
COMP4543

6. Under the column “Max Units” you will notice that this column defaulted to 100%. Max
Units identifies the percentage of time that the resource is available to the project. MS
Project will alert you if you happen to assign a resource more tasks than he can
accomplish. From the attached document, enter the max units for each resource. Note
that the resource “Documentation Specialists” has max units of over 100%. This should
not be a concern because this is a group of people and not an individual.

7. Next, you need to enter the equipment and facilities. These can be entered as before
but let us enter this another way. Double click on the next empty cell and this brings up
the Resource Information dialog box. Enter “Recording Equipment” in the Resource
Name box and ensure that Type is “Work”. Change also the resource availability to
“25%”.

8. Enter the other equipment and facilities information as shown in the attached. (Up to
and including Meeting Room.) Choose whatever method you prefer.

9. The project uses consumables, called Material Resources, such as paper, etc. These also
have to be included. On the next cell, enter “Recording Supplies” under Name, change
the Type to “Material” and enter “Recordable DVD” under Material column. Enter the
cost per DVD. Note that Max Units does not apply here. Enter the other material
resource and it per unit cost.

10. The third and final type of resource is the cost resource. The sole purpose of a cost
resource is to associate a type of cost with one of more tasks. An example would be
travel. Enter the last resource in the attached details. Make sure to change type to
“Cost”. The cost for this resource will be determined when it is assigned to a task.

11. Finally, each resource will use the standard working days and times. However,
sometimes, there is a need to change from the standard. Suppose that Brenda will go to
a training course on March 9 and 10 and therefore will not be available for work. To
reflect this, double click on the cell containing Brenda to bring up the Resource
Information dialog box. Click on Change Working Times. Under Exceptions, on the first
empty cell, type in Brenda on Training, start date Mar 9, end date Mar 10 and click “OK”
until the dialogue box disappears. What happens here is if you assign Brenda a task on
these dates, you will get an error.
 MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
COMP4543

12. You can also change the work hours from the standard. Suppose that Christine White
works Monday to Thursday only from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm
for a 4 day 10 hours a day work week. To reflect this, double click on Christine to bring
up the Resource Information dialog box, then click on Change Working Times. Click on
the Work Weeks tab in the dialog box, then click on [Default] then on the Details
button. Select Monday to Thursday, click on Set day(s) to these specific times, then
change the times in the proper places. Choose Friday and click on Set days to non-
working time. Click “OK” until the dialog boxes disappear.

13. If you prefer, you may also add notes to the resources. Right click on Resource Name
then click on the Notes tab. In the ensuing box, enter your notes.

14. Save your work and submit your MS Project file in D2L. You will need this again for the
next lab.

An important Note:

Suppose that a person resource, say Web Designer, is available to the project for only
half the time since he is also assigned to another project for the other half of his time.
Based on the above, there are two ways to incorporate this into the project plan:

a) Change his calendar so that he works only from, for example, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
b) Change his availability (“Max Units”) to 50%

Both of these actions will give the same results. However, which one is the better
approach? Experienced project managers recommend the second approach since this
provides more flexibility. It also focuses on the capacity of the resource to work on the
project rather than on the specific time that the work can occur.