Creating a Resource Library

Transcription

1 IT Session 3: Resourcing Creating a Resource Library It is possible within the software to include resources as you go on, but it is better to set up a separate resource library and link this to your developing project plan. The reasons for this will be discussed during the session. Assuming that you have started the software, ensure that you have employed your template file as you should now do automatically at the start of any session with this planning software! You ought to have a blank project on the screen if not, click File, New. Now, using File, Save as, save the blank project as Resources.mpp as this is going to become our Resource Library or Resource Pool. The table below represents the team of resources for our project along with their rates and working week: Resource Library Name Number Hourly Working week Rate Resource A 1 14 Normal 5 day Resource B 1 20 Normal 5 day Resource C 2 12 Normal 5 day Resource D 1 8 M, T, W, Th only Click on View, Resource Sheet to give you the following screen: From the table above enter each of the resources in the Resource Name column on a new line in the Resource Sheet. Just enter the names to start with; the numbers and hourly rates will be dealt with next. As you enter each resource, you will notice that a lot of additional default information is inserted as well. We will discuss this. After entering all of the resources, it should look like the illustration on the next page: 28

2 Now enter the number of resources in the Max Units column and the hourly rates into the Std Rate column so that it looks like: numbers of resources and hourly rates entered In order to sort out the different working week for Resource D, select Tools, Change Working Time to give the following dialog box: Now from the drop down list at the top of the dialog box, select Resource D as shown: 29

3 Now click on the F (for Friday) on the calendar so that the column is highlighted and change their status to Nonworking time as shown: Click on the F here to highlight the column Change this setting from Use default to Nonworking time Note the times disappear from these cells here Select OK. Save the file as a precaution. Please note there should be NO TASKS in this project it should only contain resources. This will be discussed further in the session. In order to undertake the next part of the process you must have the Simple.mpp file saved from the last session. Borrowing this file from someone else is likely to cause you problems! Select File, Open and open the Simple.mpp project. We are now going to link the two files, so be particularly careful at this point. Ensure you are in the Simple project and not the Resources one ( but don t close it ). Select Tools, Resource Sharing, Share Resources as shown on the next page: 30

4 This will give the following: Change the settings to those shown below and select OK. This has now converted the Resoures file into a resource pool. The merits of this will be discussed. 31

5 The resource assignments for the Simple project are as follows: Simple Project Task Resource Number G1 Resource A 1 G2 Resource B&D 1 for both G3 Resource C 2 G4 Resource A 1 G5 Resource C 2 G6 Resource D 1 F1 Resource D 1 F2 Resource D 1 F3 Resource C 2 F4 Resource D 1 E1 Resource C 1 E2 Resource B 1 E3 Resource D 1 E4 Resource A 1 E5 Resource C 2 To assign the resources in the software, firstly, click on the task G1 and then click on the button with 2 people on as shown below: Click on task G1 to start with and then click on the button showing 2 people If you have linked the two files correctly, the dialog box that appears should look like the one shown on the following page. If it doesn t look like this, ask! 32

6 Click in the Units column next to Resource A. Either using the small scroller that appears, or by simply typing, put 1 in this column. Click on the Assign button. You will notice that a tick appears on the left hand side of Resource A and the dialog box remains present. This is to make the process of assigning resources to tasks a little easier. Now click on task G2 and assign both Resource B and D to this task so that when you have completed it, the Assign Resources dialog box looks like this: Continue assigning the resources as laid out in the table on page 32. Click the Close on this dialog box once you have finished doing the assignments. The screen of your Simple project now ought to look something like that on the next page. 33

7 You should see that the resources have been assigned and their names have appeared to the right hand side of the tasks on the gantt chart. Press F9 to calculate. If you have developed the project correctly, you might expect that the fact that one of the resources only worked a 4-day week might have an impact on the duration of the project. This does depend on what we mean when we stipulate the duration of the task; do we mean 5 day s duration or do we mean 5 day s worth of work? This concept will be explored further in the session along with some ways of viewing just how busy the resources are at this point and the developing costs. 34