Pr # 03 Creating Resources & Assigning Tasks

Resources
As a project manager your primary task is to lead and manage resources to predefine goal and objective. To be able
to assign resources to tasks in Microsoft project you need to define the resources first. You do this in the Resource
Sheet and you will notice that you have three different types of resources to choose from; Work, Material and Cost.

1. Work

You should use this type when you would like to define a human resource or equipment that’s consuming time when
working on a task. For an example this could be used when you have a carpenter remodeling your house, etc.

2. Material

This type is used for recourses that are consumed over time, like petrol, nails, water or wood.

3. Cost

If you need to rent a house for a specific activity you should use this type or resource. You are able to connect a
specific cost to an activity.

It is beneficial for you to define the resources in a good way because;

Microsoft Project will provide accurate information about the cost of each task and the project as a whole.

You are able to filter out which tasks that are performed by which resource.

You are able to identify over and under-utilized resources and in that way gain a higher efficiency in the

project.
Pr # 03 Creating Resources & Assigning Tasks
1. Open the Gantt Chart-view by clicking View -> Gantt Chart or by clicking the Gantt Chart on the View Bar.

2. Select the task that you would like to assign resources to and click the assign resource-button under tools menu
or press Alt+F10.

3. Select the resource that you would like to assign to the task and enter the percentage that you would like to
assign the resource to the task. 100% is fulltime assigned to the task.

4. Repeat step 2 and 3 if you would like to assign more resources to the task.(If you forgot to add the appropriate
resource(s) in the Resource sheet you can just add the name of the resource in the first available row.)
 Resource Graph
You are also able to see the planned workload for the different resources by clicking the Graphs button. You will then
see the following dialog-box.
 Individual Working Hours
Microsoft Project 2007 uses, by default, the Standard Base Calendar when you create a new project but it can
sometimes be handy to set specific calendars for individual resources. If Resource 1 is for example unavailable every
Tuesday after lunch and it is much easier and secure to define this information in MS Project 2007 than to calculate this
manually.
You do this by:

1. Bring up the resource-sheet.

2. Double-click on the resource of your choice, in this

case Resource 1, and the Resource Information
Dialogue box appears.

3. Click Change Working Time…-button and you will

see the Change Working Time dialogue box.
 Individual Working Hours

4. Click the Work Week-tab.

5. Click the [Default] and then the Details-button.

6. Select the days that you would like to change working

time for. Press and hold CTRL-button and choose more
than one day. In this example Resource 1 is only off on
Tuesday afternoon. Choose the Set day(s) to specific
working times-option.

7. Click on the second row which by defaults says 13:00 -

17:00.

8. Delete that row.

9. Change the time from 08:00 to 07:00 and click OK.

*Please note that this change is not considered as an exception but a

change to the Standard Calendar for the specific resource.
 Non Working Days in MS Project
To get correct accuracy in planning and follow up in Microsoft Project
2007 you need to define the holidays or other non working days in
the Project Calendar. This can be done by following the steps
described below.

1. Open Tools -> Change Working Time.

2. Choose the date that you would like to set to No Working Time. In
this case 6th of April 2007. Enter the name of the Non Working
Day in the table below and choose start and end-date. Click on
Details.
 Non Working Days in MS Project

It might be the case that you

want the Non Working Day to
recur daily, weekly, monthly or
yearly and then you use the
Recurrence Pattern.

But in this case we want it to

happen only once.

Mark the End After button and

set it to 1 occurrence. Verify by
clicking Ok twice.
 Resource Sheet view
Identify the main columns in the sheet and use it with any
suitable data
 Resource Sheet View Columns
As you see in the resource-sheet you have 13 different columns with information;

1. Indicators. You are not able to enter information in this field but you will see icons here that for example indicate that you have over allocated the resource or if you
have entered a note about the resource.

2. Resource Name. The name of the resource. In the example above Its entered Resource 1, Resource 2 etc.

3. Type. Choose the type of resource as mentioned above; Work, Material or Cost.

4. Material Label. If you have entered a Material-resource you can specify a Unit for the material. You can for example enter Kilometers or Miles if you have a Fuel as a
Material resource.

5. Initials. Microsoft Project automatically chooses the first letter in the name of the resource but you are free modify in any way you would like to. It can although be
wise to make sure that you have individual and specific initials for you resources when the initials will be displayed in any view that displays the Initials.

6. Group. A resource can be often belong to a line-organization and you can for example choose to enter the home-organization or Company name if the resource is a
consultant.

7. Max. Units. Here you enter the maximum amount of work the resource is able to perform in terms of percentage. 100% = One Unit or a Full Time Resource. 50 % = half
a Unit or a Half Time Resource.

8. Std. Rate. This is the standard rate for the Resource. In my case Carpenter John charges me $80/hour.

9. Ovt. Rate. If Resource 1 is to work overtime then he will charge $110/hour.

10. Cost/Use. Some resources will require a one time cost which you enter here. You might for example want to rent some king of hardware which cost $20 to rent and
$10/hour. Microsoft Project will calculate the total cost for renting this hardware to $20+($10*number of hours).

11. Accrue At. This field specifies how and when Microsoft project will calculate and charge the cost of a resource to a task. You are able to choose between Start, End and
Prorated. If you choose Start will Microsoft Project calculate the cost as soon as the task begins. End will make Microsoft project to calculated the cost when the task is
completed. Prorated will make Microsoft Project to accrue the cost of task when the task is completed.

12. Base calendar. Defines which calendar to use for the resource. Is useful to specify different calendars for example if you have resources in different countries that have
different holidays.

13. Code. In this field you can enter more or less what you would like to, for example a cost center code or some other information that is valid to filter on.
 Resource Allocation View
Which view of the 28 views are best you use? That is
up to you to decide. You need to find the Views that
suits your way of working as a Project Manager.

Spend time on familiarizing your self with the views

to best choose a couple of the to work with.

In the picture beside, you see the Resource Allocation

view. This is a combined view between Resource
Usage (on top) and Leveling Gantt (in the bottom).
The upper part (Resource Usage) informs you of how
many hours you have allocated a specific resource to
certain tasks per day. This view also provides you with
information about over-allocation, which in that case
are displayed as red time-units

The bottom part gives you information about

relationships between tasks and if there are delays in
tasks. Choose the tasks in the top part by holding
down CTRL and click the tasks of your choice. You will
then see them in the bottom part.

This view is useful for analysis of which resources that

are over or under allocated and how their different
tasks are related to other tasks.
Exercise