Identifying Tentative, Generic, or Budget Resources
by Teresa S. Stover
Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out
- Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out
- SPECIAL OFFER: Upgrade this ebook with O’Reilly
- A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
- Your All-in-One Resource
- Acknowledgments
- About the CD
- Conventions and Features Used in This Book
- I. Project Fundamentals
- 1. Introducing Microsoft Office Project 2007
- 2. Understanding Projects and Project Management
- II. Developing the Project Plan
- 3. Starting a New Project
- Focusing the Project Vision
- Creating a New Project Plan
- Entering Tasks
- Sequencing and Organizing Tasks
- Organizing Tasks into an Outline
- Setting Up Your Work Breakdown Structure
- Adding Supplementary Information to Tasks
- 4. Viewing Project Information
- 5. Scheduling Tasks
- 6. Setting Up Resources in the Project
- Understanding the Impact of Resources in the Project Plan
- Adding Resources to the Project
- Removing a Resource from the Project
- Identifying Tentative, Generic, or Budget Resources
- Setting When Resources Are Available for Work
- Adding Detailed Resource Information
- 7. Assigning Resources to Tasks
- 8. Planning Resource and Task Costs
- 9. Checking and Adjusting the Project Plan
- Working with the Critical Path and Critical Tasks
- Bringing in the Project Finish Date
- Reducing Project Costs
- Balancing Resource Workloads
- Changing Project Scope
- Reviewing the Impact of Changes
- Obtaining Buyoff on the Project Plan
- 3. Starting a New Project
- III. Tracking Progress
- 10. Setting a Baseline and Updating Progress
- 11. Responding to Changes in Your Project
- IV. Reporting and Analyzing Project Information
- 12. Reporting Project Information
- Establishing Your Communications Plan
- Using Views to Report Project Information
- Generating Text and Visual Reports
- Running Reports for Your Requirements
- Summarizing with Overview Reports
- Focusing on Tasks with Schedule Progress Reports
- Using the Unstarted Tasks Report
- Using the Tasks Starting Soon Report
- Using the Tasks In Progress Report
- Using the Completed Tasks Report
- Using the Should Have Started Tasks Report
- Using the Slipping Tasks Report
- Using the Baseline Report in Visio
- Using the Baseline Work Report in Excel
- Using the Task Status Report in Visio
- Using the Budget Work Report in Excel
- Analyzing Budget Status with Cost Reports
- Using the Cash Flow Report
- Using the Cash Flow Report in Excel
- Using the Cash Flow Report in Visio
- Using the Baseline Cost Report in Excel
- Using the Budget Report
- Using the Budget Cost Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Cost Summary Report in Excel
- Using the Overbudget Tasks Report
- Using the Overbudget Resources Report
- Using the Earned Value Report
- Using the Earned Value Over Time Report in Excel
- Evaluating Resource Allocation with Assignment Reports
- Using the Who Does What Report
- Using the Who Does What When Report
- Using the To-Do List
- Using the Overallocated Resources Report
- Using the Resource Availability Report in Visio
- Using the Resource Work Availability Report in Excel
- Using the Task Usage Report
- Using the Resource Usage Report
- Using the Resource Work Summary Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Remaining Work Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Status Report in Visio
- Revising a Built-In Report
- Building a Custom Report
- Saving Project Data Fields
- 13. Analyzing Progress Using Earned Value
- 12. Reporting Project Information
- V. Managing Multiple Projects
- 14. Managing Master Projects and Resource Pools
- 15. Exchanging Information Between Project Plans
- VI. Integrating Microsoft Project with Other Programs
- 16. Exchanging Information with Other Applications
- 17. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Excel
- Copying Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Embedding Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Linking Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Importing and Exporting with Excel
- Producing a Visual Report of Project Data in Excel
- 18. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Outlook
- 19. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Visio
- VII. Managing Projects Across Your Enterprise
- 20. Understanding Enterprise Project Management
- 21. Administering Your Enterprise Project Management Solution
- Logging On and Off
- Managing Users and Permissions
- Administering the Enterprise Resource Pool
- Establishing the Enterprise Portfolio
- Standardizing Enterprise Project Elements
- Setting Up Team Member Work Pages
- Managing Pages, Views, and Reports
- Managing and Maintaining the Server
- 22. Managing Enterprise Projects and Resources
- Connecting to Your Project Server
- Working with Enterprise Projects
- Building Your Enterprise Project Team
- Finding Resources to Meet Your Needs
- Adding Enterprise Resources by Name
- Identifying Resource Attributes Using Custom Enterprise Fields
- Using Generic Resources as Placeholders
- Adding a Team Assignment Pool to Your Project Resource List
- Finding Enterprise Resources That Meet Specific Criteria
- Replacing an Existing Project Resource with an Enterprise Resource
- Matching an Existing Project Resource
- Matching and Replacing Generic Resources
- Proposing Tentative Resources
- Assigning Tasks to Enterprise Resources
- Finding Resources to Meet Your Needs
- Collaborating with Your Project Team
- Creating Proposals and Activity Plans
- 23. Participating on a Team Using Project Web Access
- Getting Started with Project Web Access
- Working on Your Assignments and Updates
- Submitting Text-Based Status Reports
- Logging Time Using Timesheets
- Setting Up E-Mail, Reminders, and Calendars
- Managing Resources in Project Web Access
- 24. Making Executive Decisions Using Project Web Access
- Getting Started with Project Web Access
- Viewing Project Portfolio Information
- Working with the Project Portfolio
- Working with Resource Information
- Analyzing and Reporting on Project Information
- Setting Your Alerts and Reminders
- VIII. Customizing and Managing Project Files
- 25. Customizing Your View of Project Information
- Customizing Views
- Customizing Tables
- Customizing Fields
- Working with Outline Codes
- Customizing Groups
- Customizing Filters
- Sharing Customized Elements Among Projects
- 26. Customizing the Microsoft Project Interface
- 27. Automating Your Work with Macros
- 28. Standardizing Projects Using Templates
- 29. Managing Project Files
- 25. Customizing Your View of Project Information
- A. Installing Microsoft Office Project 2007
- B. Online Resources for Microsoft Project
- C. Keyboard Shortcuts
- D. Index to Troubleshooting Topics
- E. About the Authors
- Index
- About the Author
- SPECIAL OFFER: Upgrade this ebook with O’Reilly
As you add your work, material, or cost resources to the Resource Sheet, you can set these resources up with further characteristics that provide you with more flexibility in your resource management. You can identify any resource as a proposed rather than committed resource. You can specify that a resource is generic. You can set up a resource as a budget resource to help you compare your project costs against your established budget.
If you’re using Office Project Professional 2007, you can specify that a resource be either proposed or committed to your project. Adding proposed resources and assigning them to tasks can help you decide whether a particular resource is needed without locking up their availability on other projects. You and other project managers and resource managers can search for resources and include or exclude proposed resources.
All resources you add are booked as committed to your project by default. To specify that a resource be proposed rather than committed, follow these steps:
Display the Resource Sheet.
Click the resource you want to specify as proposed.
On the Standard toolbar, click Resource Information (see Figure 6-7).
In the Resource Information dialog box, be sure that the General tab is showing.
In the Booking Type box, click Proposed.
Click OK.
Update Several Resources at Once
If you have several resources that you want to switch to the Proposed status, you can do this more quickly by selecting all the resources before opening the Resource Information dialog box.
Click the first resource you want to change, and then use Shift or Ctrl to select the other resources you want to change. On the Standard toolbar, click the Resource Information dialog box. The Multiple Resource Information dialog box appears. Only those fields that can be changed for multiple resources at once are available (see Figure 6-8).
Figure 6-8. Use the Multiple Resource Information dialog box to make a global change to all selected resources.
In the Booking Type box, click Proposed and then click OK. All the selected resources are changed to the proposed booking status.
You can enter actual names of resources or you can enter generic resources. A generic resource is a title or other similar description of the resource instead of an actual name, for example, Accountant, Marketing Specialist, Sales Representative (see Figure 6-9).
As you bring resources into the project, you can either leave the generic names or you can replace the generic names with the actual names. Whenever you change resource names in the Resource Sheet, the names are changed on any assigned tasks automatically.
If you’re using Project Professional, you can mark generic resources as such. Double-click the resource name to open the Resource Information dialog box. Make sure that the General tab is displayed and then select the Generic check box.
If you have a long list of resources to switch to or from a generic status, you can do this more quickly by adding the Generic column to the Resource Sheet. To do this, follow these steps:
Click the column head next to which you want the Generic column to be inserted.
Click Insert, Column.
In the Field Name box, type g to quickly go to Generic in the list.
Click Generic and then click OK.
You can then go down the list in the Resource Sheet and select Yes or No in the Generic field.
Whether the Generic column is showing or not, you can use the Generic field to sort, group, or filter your resources to quickly find all your generic resources. This can help you determine any outstanding resource requirements.
Note
For more information about sorting, grouping, or filtering resources by a particular field, see the section titled Rearranging Your Project Information in Chapter 4.
Estimating with Generic Resources
Entering generic resources can help you estimate which resources and how many of a type of resource you need to meet your project finish date within a targeted budget. Enter your generic resources in the Resource Sheet and then assign them to tasks.
Note
For more information about associating resources with specific tasks, see Chapter 7.
Check the calculated project finish date to see if you need additional resources to meet the targeted project finish date. Check the total project costs to see if you need to change your resource mix to meet your budget.
When you finish tweaking your project plan to meet your requirements, you’ll know which resources you need.
A budget resource is one that you will use specifically to capture a budget amount for a particular category related to the project as a whole. You create a resource that represents that project budget category, for example, Travel Budget, Equipment Cost Plan, or Project Materials. You can identify any work, material, or cost resource as a budget resource.
When you designate a resource as a budget resource, it can then only be assigned to the project summary task. This is because the purpose of a budget resource is to reflect the planned budget for that category for the overall project.
Note
For more information about the project summary task, see the section titled Showing the Project Summary Task in Chapter 3.
You can then use this information to compare your planned budget amounts for both costs and amounts of work against what is being scheduled or carried out in your project.
Note
For more information about your project budget, see the section titled Setting Up and Reviewing a Project Budget in Chapter 8.
-
No Comment