The following types of resources can be assigned to your tasks:
People or equipment, referred to as work resources
Consumable materials, referred to as material resources
Cost items incurred in the performance of a task, referred to as cost resources
To add resources to your project by simple data entry, follow these steps:
On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, click Resource Sheet to switch to the Resource Sheet view, shown in Figure 7-1.
Make sure the Entry table is applied. If necessary, on the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables, and then click Entry.
In the first Resource Name field in the top row, type the name of a resource, and then press Enter.
Enter the names of other resources in the same way.
If a piece of equipment will be integral to the successful completion of a task, enter its name as a work resource, just as you would a human resource.
Sort Your Resource Names
When you have all the resources entered, you might want to sort them in a particular order and keep them in that order. To do this, follow these steps:
With the Resource Sheet showing, on the View tab, in the Data group, click Sort, and then click Sort By.
In the Sort By field, click the field you want the resources sorted by; for example, Name or Group.
Select the Permanently Renumber Resources check box, and then click Sort.
The resources are sorted, and this order is made permanent because Project 2010 renumbers the unique identifier (Unique ID) for each resource.
By permanently renumbering the resource order, your resources will always appear in this order by default.
Whenever you select the Permanently Renumber Resources check box and click Sort, you should always open the Sort dialog box again, click Reset, and then click Cancel. This process clears the Permanently Renumber Resources check box, so the next time you sort your resources for some temporary need, you won’t inadvertently renumber the resources again.
Work resources consist of people and equipment that use time as a measure of effort on a task. Add resources to your project simply by entering their names into your project plan as described in the previous section. To automate the process, you can select resource names from your company’s e-mail address book. If you have a resource list in a Microsoft Excel workbook, you can import it into your project plan. After your resources are in place, you can add information regarding their availability, costs, notes, and more.
Note
If you’re entering a significant number of work resources, or if you don’t expect to enter any material resources, apply the Entry–Work Resources table. This table has only those resource fields applicable to work resources.
With the Resource Sheet showing, on the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables, and then click More Tables. Click Entry–Work Resources, and then click Apply.
If Project 2010 is installed on the same computer as your organization’s MAPI e-mail connection (for example, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 or Microsoft Outlook 2010), you can add resources to your project plan from the e-mail address book. To do this:
Be sure that the Resource Sheet is displayed.
On the Resource tab, in the Insert group, click Add Resources, and then click Address Book.
If the Choose Profile dialog box appears, click the profile name for your e-mail system. (This dialog box appears only if you have more than one profile set up in your e-mail system.)
The Select Resources dialog box appears.
Click the resources you want, and then click the Add button to add the selected resources to your project plan.
You can add all resources contained in a group or distribution list. Add the name of the group to your list, just as you would add an individual resource. When you click OK, Project 2010 asks whether you want to expand the group to list the individual resources in the project plan.
Note
If you’re connected to Project Server 2010 to use the enterprise features, you have access to all existing resources identified on the server. On the Resource tab, in the Insert group, click Add Resources, and then click Build Team From Enterprise. The Build Team dialog box appears. In the Build Team section, in the Enterprise Resource table on the left, select the team members you want to add to your project. Use the Ctrl or Shift key as needed to select multiple resources. Click Add. The names you selected are added to the Project Resource table on the right. When you are finished, click OK.
Suppose you have a list of resources in an Excel workbook. You can easily use it to populate your project’s Resource Sheet. You can copy information or you can import the file.
To copy a resource list from an Excel workbook, follow these steps:
Open the Excel workbook that contains the resource list you want to copy to Project 2010.
Select the cells containing the resource list.
On the Home tab in Excel, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.
Open the project plan. If necessary, on the View tab, in the Resource Views group, click Resource Sheet.
In the Resource Name column, click the cell where you want to begin inserting the copied resources.
On the Task tab in Project 2010, in the Clipboard group, click Paste.
You can also use the Microsoft Project Plan Import Export Template to import resources from Excel to Project 2010. The standard Excel import process involves mapping the Excel columns to the corresponding Project 2010 columns to ensure that the right information ends up in the right location in your Resource Sheet. The Microsoft Project Plan Import Export Template is set up so that you can enter detailed resource information in the format needed by Project 2010. To do this, make sure that Excel and the Microsoft Project Plan Import Export Template are installed on the same computer as Project 2010 and then follow these steps:
Start Excel.
On the File tab, click New.
Under Available Templates, click Sample Templates. (See Figure 7-2.)
Double-click the Microsoft Project Plan Import Export Template.
A new workbook opens showing a sheet that explains the use of this template.
At the bottom of the workbook window, click the Resource_Table tab.
The Resource_Table tab includes columns that correspond to the fields in the Project 2010 Resource Sheet.
Enter resource names and any other resource information in the columns provided. (See Figure 7-3.)
On the File tab, click Save. Browse to the location on your computer where you want to save the file, change the name from the default Microsoft Project Plan Import Export Template.xlsx if you want to, and then click Save.
Note
If you save your file as an .xls file—for example, if you’re working with Microsoft Excel 2003—be aware that you must first change your security settings for the import process to be successful. See the Troubleshooting note Troubleshooting: Project 2010 will not let you import the older .xls file format.
When you’re ready to import the resource list into your project plan, follow these steps:
In Project 2010, on the File tab, click Open.
In the Open dialog box, go to the location on your computer or network where the Excel workbook is saved.
Next to the File Name box, click the Microsoft Project Files (*.mp*) button.
In the list that appears, click Excel Workbook (*.xlsx).
The workbook appears in the list of folders and files.
Click the name of the workbook, and then click the Open button.
The Import Wizard appears, as shown in Figure 7-4.
In the first wizard page, click Next.
Ensure the New Map option is selected, and then click Next.
Specify whether you want to import the file as a new project, append the resources to the currently active project, or merge the data into the active project. Click Next.
Select the Resources check box, and then click Next.
The Import Wizard Resource Mapping dialog box appears, showing the fields and contents of the resource information from the Resource_Table sheet. (See Figure 7-5.)
Figure 7-5. The Import Wizard Resource Mapping dialog box shows the field mapping and a preview of the content being imported from the Excel template into your project plan.
Unless you’ve made any changes, the Excel fields and Project 2010 fields should show an exact relationship to one another, because the Project Plan Import Export Template is set up to contain the same fields in the same order as the default Entry table on the Resource Sheet.
Click Finish.
The resource information is imported, as shown in Figure 7-6. If necessary, display the Resource Sheet to see the results.
Figure 7-6. The resource information is imported into the Resource Sheet of Project 2010 as you specified.
Troubleshooting: Project 2010 will not let you import the older .xls file format
If you try to import a template that was saved in the older .xls format from Microsoft Excel 2003, you might see the following error message after finishing with the Import Wizard:
If you see this message, click OK. On the File tab, click Options, and then click Trust Center in the left pane. Under Microsoft Project Trust Center, click Trust Center Settings. In the left pane, click Legacy Formats, and then select either the Prompt When Loading Files With Legacy Or Non-Default File Format or the Allow Loading Files With Legacy Or Non-Default File Formats option. Click OK, and then OK again.
Run through the Import Wizard process again. If you selected the Prompt When Loading Files With Legacy Or Non-Default File Format option, you’ll see the following prompt:
Click Yes. The information from the Excel Project template appears in your project file.
Note
For more information about using Project 2010 with other applications, see Importing and Exporting Information and Chapter 18.
Note
For more information about adding resources to your project plan from a shared resource pool file, see Sharing Resources by Using a Resource Pool.
Note
For more information about adding resources from the enterprise resource pool, see Building Your Enterprise Project Team.
Material resources are consumable supplies that use quantity as a measure of effort on a task. Any supplies that are integral to completing tasks can be added to your project plan as material resources. Examples of such material resources might be steel for a building structure, roofing material for a home, or bricks for a landscaping project. You might have a task “Lay brick sidewalk,” to which a bricklayer is assigned for a certain amount of time. You can also assign a quantity of bricks to the task. The bricklayer and the bricks are both essential resources to the completion of the task.
To enter a material resource:
Display the Resource Sheet with the Entry table applied.
In the next available Resource Name field, type the name of the material resource (for example, Bricks).
In the Type field, click Material.
In the Material Label field, enter the unit of measurement for the material.
This measurement differs depending on the nature of the material. It might be tons, yards, feet, cartons, and so on.
Note
The field might just show a heading of “Material,” but if you drag to increase the column width or row depth, or if you rest your mouse pointer over the Material heading, you’ll see that the label is indeed “Material Label.”
When you specify that a resource is a material rather than a work resource, be aware of the following points:
Maximum units (or resource units) and the associated variable availability are not applicable to material resources. You specify units (for example, 50 yards or 100 feet per day) when you assign the material resource to a task. With these assignment units, you can track the usage of materials and possibly the depletion rate of materials.
Note that if you enter units with a per-time period specification, for example, yards/day, that calculation is not made when the material resource is assigned. To ensure that proper calculations are made for a variable consumption rate, always specify the rate in the Units field in the Assign Resources dialog box.
Note
For more information about material resource assignments, see Assigning Material Resources to Tasks.
Resource calendars are not available for material resources.
Workgroup fields such as Workgroup and Windows Account are not available for material resources. The Overtime field is also disabled.
If you’re entering a significant number of material resources, apply the Entry–Material Resources table. This table has only those resource fields applicable to material resources. With the Resource Sheet showing, on the View tab, click Tables, and then click Entry–Material Resources.
Another way to apply the table is to right-click the All Cells box that sits between the first column and first row. In the shortcut menu that appears, click Entry–Material Resources.
If you rely on Project 2010 for tracking costs and adhering to your project budget throughout the life of the project, you’ll find cost resources a most convenient tool.
A cost resource is a cost item that contributes to the completion of a task but does not affect the duration or work of a task. When you include a cost resource with a task or a set of tasks, you can be assured that not only are you tracking the cost of human resources or equipment resources with their cost per hour or per use, but you are also tracking any cost items incurred as a result of carrying out the task.
Suppose you have several tasks, such as “Hold user meetings,” “Staff conference booth,” or “Train trainers at client site.” These might be at different locations and handled by different team members. However, they all involve cost items such as airfare and lodging. They might also involve room rentals or equipment fees. You can create cost resources named Airfare, Lodging, Booth Rental, Conference Fees, Printing, and so on.
Unlike work or material resources, you do not enter a cost amount in the Resource Sheet or Resource Information dialog box. You only create the resource and identify it as a cost resource.
Only when you have assigned a cost resource to a task do you deal with the cost. At that point, you can enter the cost for the airfare, for example, associated with the task to which the airfare cost resource is assigned.
For example, you might have the Airfare cost resource assigned to the “Hold user meetings” and the “Staff conference booth” tasks. The “Hold user meetings” task needs one person to travel from Portland to Chicago in the spring and costs $330. The “Staff conference booth” task needs three persons to travel from Raleigh to Las Vegas in the fall and costs $720 total. You’re using the same cost resource but entering different cost amounts on the different task assignments.
To set up a cost resource, do the following:
Display the Resource Sheet.
In the next available Resource Name field, type the name of the cost resource. Good examples include Car Rental, Client Entertainment, Software Purchase, Airfare, Lodging, and so on.
Make the cost resource name specific enough that you know what the resource is for when you assign it to a particular task, but make it general enough that you can use it for multiple tasks. You might find it helpful to use your organization’s budget category names. Later you can view information about how much you’re spending throughout the project on all car rentals, for example.
In the Type field, click Cost.
Because cost resources do not rely on working time to accomplish their tasks, they are not associated with max units, base calendars, or availability dates. Also, because specific costs are entered for the task to which the cost resource is assigned, costs are not entered on the cost resource itself. Therefore, these fields in the Resource Sheet and Resource Information dialog box are not available for cost resources.