Customizing Groups

In Microsoft Project, groups can collate tasks, resources, or assignments that meet a set of conditions. For example, you might group tasks by their schedule variance so that you can concentrate on the ones furthest behind schedule. You might group resources by their level of availability so that you can assign the resources who have the most free time. You can also choose to group assignments instead of tasks or resources, for example, to see which assignments are running over on the targeted hours.

Group headings show subtotals for the values in the numeric fields for the group. For example, assignments grouped by salaried employees, hourly employees, and contractors can show the total hours of work performed by each group. When you group these elements, subtotals for the groups appear in the Task and Resource Sheet as well as in the timephased portion in usage views.

Note

For information about applying built-in groups, see the section titled Grouping Project Information in Chapter 4.

Modifying a Group

If one of the existing groups doesn’t meet your needs, you can modify a built-in group. If you want to keep the original group definition intact, simply copy an existing group and then modify the copy with the criteria you want. Do the following to customize a group:

  1. Click Project, Group by, More Groups.

  2. In the More Groups dialog box, click either the Task or Resource option to display the existing task or resource groups.

  3. Click the group you want to modify in the list and then click Edit or Copy.

    The Group Definition dialog box appears.

  4. If you have copied an existing group, in the Name box, change the name of the group.

  5. Click the first empty cell in the Field Name column, click the down arrow, and then click the name of the field by which you want to group.

    The category for the field (Task, Resource, or Assignment) appears in the Field Type cell (see Figure 25-21).

    Group tasks, resources, or assignments by one or more fields.

    Figure 25-21. Group tasks, resources, or assignments by one or more fields.

  6. If necessary, change the grouping order.

    Choose Ascending to show the smallest numbers first, for example, to see the tasks that have the least amout of completed work as shown in the % Complete field. Descending order shows the largest values first, which is ideal for locating the resources with the most availability.

    Note

    For task usage views, you can group by tasks or assignments. Select the Group Assignments, Not Tasks check box for a task group, if you want to see groupings by individual assignments. For resource usage, you can group by resources or assignments by selecting the Group Assignments, Not Resources check box for a resource group.

  7. To change the font for group rows, click Font. In the Font dialog box, choose a font, font style, font size, and color.

  8. To change the background color for cells in group rows, click a color in the Cell Background box.

  9. To change the pattern for the group headings, click a pattern in the Pattern box.

Troubleshooting

You can’t change the calculation for the value that appears in the group heading row

The group heading rows for standard fields display the sum of the values for the entries in the group. However, you might want to use a different calculation for the group heading row, such as the largest value or the average.

Although you can’t change the calculation for a standard field group summary, you can create a custom field equal to the standard field. Then you can calculate the group summary for the custom field by using the other summary calculations. To do this, first create a calculated custom field. Then set the custom field equal to the standard field. Select the Rollup option and choose the calculation you want to use for the rolled-up value.

Groups often display elements in small sets, one set for each discrete value that exists for the field that you grouped. This process works well for fields such as Milestones that have only two values. For groups based on cost or work, the number of discrete values can seem endless. The solution to this dilemma is to define intervals for groups, for example, to group tasks by % Complete equal to 0%, from 1% to 50%, from 51% to 99%, and finally 100%. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. In the Group Definition dialog box, click the field for which you want to define intervals.

  2. Click Define Group Intervals. The Define Group Interval dialog box appears (see Figure 25-22).

    The default selection for Group On is Each Value, which creates a separate group for each discrete value in the field.

    Set the starting value and size for group intervals.

    Figure 25-22. Set the starting value and size for group intervals.

  3. Click the down arrow in the Group On box and then click the interval you want to use in the list.

    The intervals listed depend on the type of field. For example, the intervals for a field that represents work include units in which work is measured, such as hours, days, weeks, and months. For % Complete, the list includes several common sets of intervals.

  4. To start the interval at a specific number, type the number in the Start At box.

  5. To define the interval size, type the number in the Group Interval box. To group assignments in intervals of 2 weeks worth of work, type 2.

Creating a New Group

When no groups exist that are similar to what you want, you can create a new group. To create a new group, do the following:

  1. Click Project, Group By, More Groups.

  2. In the More Groups dialog box, select the Task or Resource option to specify whether you’re creating a task or resource group and then click New.

  3. In the Name box, type a descriptive name for the new group.

  4. To define the group, follow the steps described in the section titled Modifying a Group earlier in this chapter.

Group Tasks with Overallocated Resources

You can create and apply a custom group that shows which tasks have overallocated resources assigned to them. This can help you determine which tasks are more at risk of missing their dates or generating overtime costs. To do this, complete these steps:

  1. Click Project, Group By, More Groups.

  2. In the More Groups dialog box, select the Task option and then click New.

  3. In the Name box, type Overallocated.

  4. Select the Show In Menu check box.

  5. Click in the Group By row in the Field Name column, click the down arrow, and then type ov to scroll directly to the Overallocated field.

  6. Click OK to save the group.

    Your new group appears in the More Groups dialog box. Because the Overallocated field is a Yes/No field, the view is divided into two groups: those tasks that have overallocated resources assigned and those that do not.

  7. Click Apply to initiate the Overallocated grouping to the current view. Click Close to close the dialog box without grouping.

Any time you want to apply the Overallocated grouping to a task view, click Group By on the Standard toolbar and then click Overallocated.

Inside Out: Different "groups" in Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project uses the term group to represent several different features. Each feature serves a different purpose, so it’s important to choose the correct one. A group resource represents several interchangeable resources. For example, you might define a resource called Carpenters, which represents five carpenters who can do basic carpentry. The Maximum Units for this resource would be the sum of the maximum units for each individual in the group resource, 500 percent in this example.

A resource group represents a category of individual resources. You might define a resource group for employees and another for contractors so that you can sort, filter, and view assignments that are performed in-house versus those that are outsourced.

Finally, a group that you apply using the Group By command on the Project menu categorizes and sorts tasks, resources, or assignments based on the values in any field in Microsoft Project.

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