Microsoft Project Assigning Resources to Tasks Adapted from the Microsoft Step by Step Series by Aaron Schroeder

Assigning Resources to Tasks In this presentation, you will learn how to –Assign work resources to tasks –Control how Project schedules additional resource assignments –Assign material and cost resources to tasks

Assigning Resources to Tasks You have already created tasks and resources You are now ready to assign resources to tasks An assignment is the matching of a resource to a task to do work You do not have to assign resources to tasks in Microsoft Office Project 2007; you could work with only tasks Several good reasons for assigning resources in your project plan –Who should be working on what tasks and when? –Do you have the correct number of resources to accomplish the scope of work your project requires? –Have you assigned a resource to so many tasks that you have exceeded the capacity of the resource to workin other words, have you over allocated the resource?

Assigning Work Resources to Tasks Assigning a work resource to a task enables you to track the progress of the resources work on the task If you enter resource pay rates, Project also calculates resource and task costs for you Open Wingtip Commercial 4a On the Tools menu, click Assign Resources

Assigning Work Resources to Tasks In the Task Name column, click task 2, Develop script In the Resource Name column in the Assign Resources dialog box, click Scott Cooper and then click the Assign button A cost value and check mark appears next to Scotts name, indicating that you have assigned him to the task of developing the script Because Scott has a cost standard rate recorded, Project calculates the cost of the assignment (Scotts standard pay rate times his scheduled amount of work on the task) and displays that value $775, in the Cost field of the Assign Resources dialog box

Assigning Work Resources to Tasks On the Window menu, click Split Project splits the window into two panes. In the upper pane is the Gantt Chart view, and below it is the Task Form

Assigning Resources to Tasks In the Task Name column, click task 3, Develop production boards In the Assign Resources dialog box, click Garrett R. Vargas, hold down the Ctrl key to make a nonadjacent selection, click Patti Mintz, and then click Assign Check marks appear next to Garretts and Pattis names and their assignment costs are calculated, indicating that you have assigned both to task 3 You can also see the resulting assignment information (units and work per resource) and the tasks duration in the Task Form

Assigning Resources to Tasks you will make initial resource assignments for the remaining pre- production tasks In the Task Name column, click the name of task 4, Pick locations In the Assign Resources dialog box, click Scott Cooper, and then click Assign

Assigning Resources to Tasks In the Task Name column, click the name of task 5, Hold auditions In the Assign Resources dialog box, click Peter Kelly, hold down the Ctrl key, click Scott Cooper, and then click Assign

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task Now you will assign additional resources to some of the pre-production tasks to observe the effect on the overall duration of the tasks By default, Project uses a scheduling method called effort-driven scheduling This means that the tasks initial work value, or amount of effort, remains constant regardless of the number of resources you assign The most visible effect of effort-driven scheduling is that, as you assign additional resources to a task, that tasks duration decreases

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task In the Gantt Chart view, click the name of task 2, Develop script Currently, Scott Cooper is assigned to this task - A quick check of the scheduling formula looks like this: 40 hours (the same as five days) task duration x 100% of Scotts assignment units = 40 hours work You can see these values in the Task Form.

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task In the Resource Name column in the Assign Resources dialog box click Patti Mintz and click Assign - Patti Mintzis is assigned to task 2 As you can see, Project reduced the duration of task 2 from 5 days to 2.5 days Why?

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task The other important effect of reducing the duration of task 2 is that the start dates of all successor tasks have changed as well The change highlighting that is now visible throughout the project illustrates the changes to successor tasks In our current example you see the benefit of creating task relationships rather than entering fixed start and finish dates

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task Next, you use a feature called a Smart Tag to control how Project schedules the work on a task when assigning multiple resources In the Gantt Chart view, click the name of task 4, Pick locations Currently, only Scott Cooper is assigned to this two-day task Youd like to assign an additional resource and reduce the tasks duration to one day In the Resource Name column of the Assign Resources dialog box click Patti Mintz and then click Assign

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task Note the small triangle in the upper left corner of the name of task 4 This is a graphical indicator that a Smart Tag is now available Click the name of task 4, and then click the Smart Tag Actions button that appears just to the left of the task name Look over the options on the list that appears These options allow you to choose the scheduling result you want if it should differ from the effort-driven scheduling result

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task Now you will assign additional resources to a task and change how Project schedules the work on the task In the Gantt Chart view, click the name of task 5, Hold auditions In the Resource Name column of the Assign Resources dialog box click Jonathan Mollerup, hold down the Ctrl key, click Patti Mintz, and then click Assign Because effort-driven scheduling is turned on for this task, Project reduces the duration of the task and adjusts the start dates of all successor tasks

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task However, this time you do not want the additional resource assignments to change the tasks duration Jonathan and Patti will perform additional work on the task beyond the scope of the tasks original work, which was assigned to Peter and Scott Click the name at task 5, and then click the Smart Tag Actions button when it appears On the Smart Tag Actions list, select the option Increase total work because the task requires more person-hours. Keep duration constant.

Assigning Additional Resources to a Task Project changes the tasks duration back to two days and adjusts the start dates of all successor tasks The additional resources receive the same work values (16 hours per resource) that the initially assigned resources had received, so total work on the task increases On the Windows menu, click Remove Split

Assigning Material Resources to Tasks Next, youll assign the material resource Video Tape to a task and enter a fixed-unit quantity of consumption In the Task Name column, click the name at task 4, Pick locations You plan to use up to your tapes while picking locations In the Assign Resources dialog box, select the Units field for the Video Tape resource Type or select 4, and then press Enter Project assigns the video tape to the task and calculates the $20 cost of the assignment ($5 per video tape times four tapes)

Assigning Resources to Tasks For the TV commercial project, youd like to enter planned travel and catering costs for certain tasks Click task 4, Pick locations, in the Task Name column In the Assign resources dialog box, select the Cost field for the Travel cost resource Type 500 and then press Enter Task 4 now includes costs resulting from all three types of resource assignments: work, material, and cost

Assigning Resources to Tasks In the Assign Resources dialog box, select the Cost field for the Catering cost resource Type 250, and then click Assign Project assigns the cost resource to the task