Resource/Task View

[Pooja]

Hello,
Does resource usage view and task entry view work independently. I have put
some info in Text 1 column and it does not appear on resource usage view. If
that's possible then I need someone to help me.
I am creating a project schedule by 4projects and each project has 4 phases.
I have 8 resources who working on these projects. Resources are not
assigned to a one particular project. All resources are working on all 4
projects.

I need to get budget distribution by month for each resource by each project.
Ex....
Resource 1 is working 20hrs in project1, and 10hrs in project2, 40hrs in
project3, and so on for month of feb.
can someone help me with this.
I even tried to download the whole project in excel but it didn't work.

Thanks
Pooja

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Pooja,

This problem is explained, and workarounds defined, in FAQ 37 and FAQ 51
(address of the FAQs in my signature)

 

[John]

Hello,
Does resource usage view and task entry view work independently. I have put
some info in Text 1 column and it does not appear on resource usage view. If
that's possible then I need someone to help me.
I am creating a project schedule by 4projects and each project has 4 phases.
I have 8 resources who working on these projects. Resources are not
assigned to a one particular project. All resources are working on all 4
projects.

I need to get budget distribution by month for each resource by each project.
Ex....
Resource 1 is working 20hrs in project1, and 10hrs in project2, 40hrs in
project3, and so on for month of feb.
can someone help me with this.
I even tried to download the whole project in excel but it didn't work.

Thanks
Pooja

Pooja,
You never let us know if we finally got through to you on your other
post about critical path.

With respect to this post, go to our MVP website at:
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm
and take a look at FAQ 51 - Data types: Task, Resource and Assignment
It will answer your first question.

With regard to seeing resource data by project, I have to ask if you are
using a master project with inserted subprojects or is everything in one
big file? If the latter, what identifies which "project" is which?



John
Project MVP

 

[Pooja]

Hi John,
Thanks for following up....But no the critical path issue didn't work out.
I guess the critical path is going to show me any task that may slip the
project finish date. But I still can't understand is that couple of my task
that are finishing way earlier than project finish date are still showing
critical under mulitple critical issue, which they shouldn't. and they are
on schedule.
honestly, I am still confused.

Thanks
Pooja

 

[Pooja]

Hello
Where can I find the FAQ. can you please send me the link.

Thanks

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

As I said in my first post, it is in my signature - just below here.

 

[Pooja]

hello
After reading the FAQ, I understand the difference between the usage of text
fields in Entry view and resource view, but I am still able to get what I am
looking for...

I have a project...which includes 4projects in it Project a, b,c,d and I
have typed them up in the project....
each of these projects have phases and these phases have tasks, that we work
on....I have assigned resources to these tasks for each tasks....
My problem is I am not able to assign any group to them because no resource
is working on particular project...they are working on multiple projects....
I need a resource graph or report that tells me how much time these
resources are spending on these projects.....by month....

I am trying to put them together in project and tht's not working so i tried
to download them to excel and it's to tedious...and at the end of the day
it's not do-able..
Can you please help me with this...I really need this report....

Thanks
Pooja

 

[John]

hello
After reading the FAQ, I understand the difference between the usage of text
fields in Entry view and resource view, but I am still able to get what I am
looking for...

I have a project...which includes 4projects in it Project a, b,c,d and I
have typed them up in the project....
each of these projects have phases and these phases have tasks, that we work
on....I have assigned resources to these tasks for each tasks....
My problem is I am not able to assign any group to them because no resource
is working on particular project...they are working on multiple projects....
I need a resource graph or report that tells me how much time these
resources are spending on these projects.....by month....

I am trying to put them together in project and tht's not working so i tried
to download them to excel and it's to tedious...and at the end of the day
it's not do-able..
Can you please help me with this...I really need this report....

Thanks
Pooja

Pooja,
Boy, do you have a bunch of extra ellipses that you need to use up
before they expire or what?

I am a pretty exacting type of guy and you are confusing the heck out of
me. Let me clarify a couple of things. First, Project with a capital "P"
is the application. The word "project" can have multiple meanings. In my
world a "project" is a file created in Project. A project has
performance tasks (tasks describing actual work to be accomplished to
meet an end goal. Performance tasks are often set in a hierarchy under
one or more summary levels. Projects (files) can also be inserted as
subprojects within a master project. So when you say you have a
"project" with 4 projects it could mean several things. It could mean
you have a master with 4 inserted subprojects. It could also mean you
have a project file with 4 separate summary lines that represent what in
your world is a "project". Or maybe it is some other structure.

Here is where it really gets confusing. You say you are "...not able to
assign any group to them..." What is "them"? Are you aware that
resources do not have to be specific individuals. They can be generic
(e.g. carpenters, bricklayers, accountants, etc.). That means for
example that if Joe, Tom & Bill are the "carpenter" resource group they
will have a max unit level of 300% and the carpenter resource can be
assigned at whatever level to work on each of 4 houses.

I'm sure we can help you create the type of report you want, but at
least for me, more clarification is needed. I'm sure it is clear in your
mind, but that information just isn't coming across to be clear in my
mind. Bear with me, sometimes I'm just a little slow.

John
Project MVP

 

[John]

Hi John,
Thanks for following up....But no the critical path issue didn't work out.
I guess the critical path is going to show me any task that may slip the
project finish date. But I still can't understand is that couple of my task
that are finishing way earlier than project finish date are still showing
critical under mulitple critical issue, which they shouldn't. and they are
on schedule.
honestly, I am still confused.

Thanks
Pooja

Pooja,
I'm not sure what more we can say on the critical path issue, but let me
try one more time. Most of the tasks on a critical path will "finish
before the project finish date", however, that does not mean the last
task in the path, which may not finish on the desired finish date, is
the only critical task. For example, let's say you are painting an
apartment for a new tenant. Today is Wednesday and the tenant will be
here tomorrow. It takes a full day to strip the old wallpaper, clean the
walls, patch holes, and prime the walls. The paint scheme will be a
cross hatched pattern which will take a full day to lay out and paint.
That is two days worth of work and only one day to do it. Now the first
day's work (strip, clean, patch, etc.) will finish today so does that
mean that those tasks are not critical? Of course not, they are all
critical. Individually they will all finish before the tenant arrives
but in aggregate they will not finish in time to complete the whole job
in time. They are all part of the critical path and something must be
done to shorten the duration of all tasks on the path in order to meet
the need date.

Hopefully this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Pooja]

hello John,
Sorry for getting back to you earlier..I was in training yesterday..
Okay to answer your question regarding project...I have a master PROJECT
file which has 4projects.....
PROJECT
project 1
phase1
task1
task2
task3
phase2
task1
task2
task3
phase3
task1
task2
task3
project 2
phase1
task1
task2
task3
phase2
task1
task2
task3
phase3
task1
task2
task3
project 3
phase1
task1
task2
task3
phase2
task1
task2
task3
phase3
task1
task2
task3
project 4
phase1
task1
task2
task3
phase2
task1
task2
task3
phase3
task1
task2
task3

Now these projects could represent (ex house1, house2 house3, house4)

Within these projects I have "phases" these phases are planning, launching
etc ...
and within these phases I have tasks,,which is actual work taks....like
paiting, wallpaper....
I have laid out the sample of I am working above....
These tasks have budget assigned to them and start and finish date.......
I have assisgned resources to these tasks.....Now these resources are not
specially working on one project.......They are working on multiple projects
at a given time.....for ex:in feb....John is working in house1 and
house2....Pooja is working on house3 and house4......so on...

After I assign resources to these taks,,I get a resource graph which gives
me allocation and overallocation by month for each resource...
What I am looking for is a graph that gives me resource allocation plus also
gives me breakdown of the graph ...

Ex...
In feb John is working 60% in house1 and 40% house 2
and Pooja is working 30% in house3 and 50% in house4...
When I get a bar graph I need to see this by month for John....the
distribution....or breakdown of the work he is doing not just the total
amount of work he is doing in feb...
I hope I have designed a clear picture infront of u......

The resource graph doesnt do ( not that I know of) so I want to download the
data to excel...but even in excel when I download data it's lots of
manipulation with copy and paste.....which every one in my department is not
going do....it's tedious...

The reason I started using resource usage view,,,so that I can copy the info
and past it in excel...tht's why I need to Entry tables in resource usage
view...and with the help of you and the macros..it finally worked....so I
have the entry table in the resource usage view.....but the only issue is the
right side of the resoure usage view.....the budget distribution I need them
in %.......not in hours.......since my graph is about % of contribution in
each project by month..Hope it make sense...

If you could help me out with this....I'll appreciate it..

Thanks
Pooja

 

[John]

hello John,
Sorry for getting back to you earlier..I was in training yesterday..
Okay to answer your question regarding project...I have a master PROJECT
file which has 4projects.....
PROJECT
project 1
phase1
task1
task2
task3
phase2
task1
task2
task3
phase3
task1
task2
task3
project 2
phase1
task1
task2
task3
phase2
task1
task2
task3
phase3
task1
task2
task3
project 3
phase1
task1
task2
task3
phase2
task1
task2
task3
phase3
task1
task2
task3
project 4
phase1
task1
task2
task3
phase2
task1
task2
task3
phase3
task1
task2
task3

Now these projects could represent (ex house1, house2 house3, house4)

Within these projects I have "phases" these phases are planning, launching
etc ...
and within these phases I have tasks,,which is actual work taks....like
paiting, wallpaper....
I have laid out the sample of I am working above....
These tasks have budget assigned to them and start and finish date.......
I have assisgned resources to these tasks.....Now these resources are not
specially working on one project.......They are working on multiple projects
at a given time.....for ex:in feb....John is working in house1 and
house2....Pooja is working on house3 and house4......so on...

After I assign resources to these taks,,I get a resource graph which gives
me allocation and overallocation by month for each resource...
What I am looking for is a graph that gives me resource allocation plus also
gives me breakdown of the graph ...

Ex...
In feb John is working 60% in house1 and 40% house 2
and Pooja is working 30% in house3 and 50% in house4...
When I get a bar graph I need to see this by month for John....the
distribution....or breakdown of the work he is doing not just the total
amount of work he is doing in feb...
I hope I have designed a clear picture infront of u......

The resource graph doesnt do ( not that I know of) so I want to download the
data to excel...but even in excel when I download data it's lots of
manipulation with copy and paste.....which every one in my department is not
going do....it's tedious...

The reason I started using resource usage view,,,so that I can copy the info
and past it in excel...tht's why I need to Entry tables in resource usage
view...and with the help of you and the macros..it finally worked....so I
have the entry table in the resource usage view.....but the only issue is the
right side of the resoure usage view.....the budget distribution I need them
in %.......not in hours.......since my graph is about % of contribution in
each project by month..Hope it make sense...

If you could help me out with this....I'll appreciate it..

Thanks
Pooja

Pooja,
I'll be honest with you here, I find the excessive use of ellipsis in
your post to be rather aggravating. It's like reading a telegram with a
bunch of extraneous "stops" in the text. Ok, enough on that.

I don't understand what you mean by "...having the entry table in the
resource usage view...". Regardless of what view is being used to
display data in Project, the view table simply identifies which Project
fields will be shown as columns in that view. The Entry table is a
built-in definition but it can be customized by the suer to shown fewer
or more fields.

It still isn't clear whether you have a true master file (with inserted
subprojects) or a single file simply arranged to have each project as a
summary line. Depending on which structure you have, the grouping
function (Project/Group By/Customize Group By) can be used to set up the
Resource Usage view to break down the data as I understand you want it,
that is, resource work by month by project.

You are correct in that Project's built-in Resource Graph will NOT give
the breakdown of data as you want. Therefore, you will need to export
the timescaled data. The best way to do that is with a custom macro,
however, Project also has a built-in utility called "analyze timescaled
data in Excel" which can export the data. Unfortunately it will NOT
export it in a grouped format so the user would need to manipulate the
data once it is in Excel. A custom macro of course could do that
automatically. On the other hand, if you are happy with a copy and paste
approach, then grouping first will save some manipulation in Excel, but
copying and pasting is a very slow, tedious approach.

Nonetheless, your bottom line question seems to be on how to get
timescaled data in percent rather than in hours. I'm afraid this is
something the user will need to do once the data is in Excel.

John
Project MVP

 

[Pooja]

Hello John,

First of all, sorry about all the ellipisis...I was trying to make it very
clear, since the project I am working on is little complicated.

Anyhow, seems like the report or the graph I want, MS project can't
generate. You said something about the macro, can you help me with that. I
have no VBA Knowledge.
I have used analyze data from project to excel, but that didn't work. It
gives me the resource name with their budget by month but no project
breakdown.

Well I do have the chart in excel, and I got that from copy and paste into
excel then pivot table....but the problem is it's only in hours, not in
Percent (%).
I have to show the percent allocation for each resource.
I wanted to know when project says Percent allocation, what does that mean.
How is MS project calcualating that.

Thanks for your time and help
Pooja

 

[John]

Hello John,

First of all, sorry about all the ellipisis...I was trying to make it very
clear, since the project I am working on is little complicated.

Anyhow, seems like the report or the graph I want, MS project can't
generate. You said something about the macro, can you help me with that. I
have no VBA Knowledge.
I have used analyze data from project to excel, but that didn't work. It
gives me the resource name with their budget by month but no project
breakdown.

Well I do have the chart in excel, and I got that from copy and paste into
excel then pivot table....but the problem is it's only in hours, not in
Percent (%).
I have to show the percent allocation for each resource.
I wanted to know when project says Percent allocation, what does that mean.
How is MS project calcualating that.

Thanks for your time and help
Pooja

Pooja,
If you have no VBA knowledge but would like to learn, there is an
excellent set of lessons on our MVP website at:
http://www.mvps.org/project/links.htm
Look for the link at the bottom of the page to: "Project 98 Visual Basic
Environment Training Materials". Even though it says it is for Project
98, it is equally applicable to all current versions of Project. If you
are not interested in learning VBA, the best you can do is to find
someone who does know Project VBA and enlist their help.

Even if you don't know anyone with Project VBA knowledge, you CAN get
the data you want using the utility although it is not necessarily easy
or convenient. The "analyze timescale data in Excel" utility is limited
in the data that it exports but if it is combined with a static export
map, some manipulation in Excel can eventually produce the graphs you
want. Basically, the utility is needed to export the timescaled data and
an export map is needed to capture some of the other fields (i.e.
Project field).

With regard to percent allocation, if you end up using a copy and paste
approach, why not simply display the % Allocation field in the Resource
Usage view, then the data is already in the form you need.

The Percent Allocation field simply indicates how much of a resource's
time is allocated during a specific time period. For example, let's say
Joe is a resource with a Max Unit value of 100% (i.e. available full
time). Joe is assigned to work two tasks, 4 hours each. For that case
the Resource Usage view will show Joe at 50% allocation for each task.
The actual formula Project uses is:
Percent Allocation = Assigned Work/Work Capacity * 100.

John
Project MVP

 

[Pooja]

Hello John,
First of all thanks for the info. It actually works when I change the view
in resource usage to percent allocation. But there is one thing I wanted to
confirm......The allocation I am looking for is %distributin for each
resource in multiple projects by month. Is %allocation giving me the same
kind of distribution.
Also the formula makes sense to me for %allocation, but one question I have
is what do you mean by "Work capacity". Isn't that the same thing as 100%?

Third question...when I look at the resource graph. Under Peak units for
resource1, I see it's overallocated but If view the same graph for
%allocation, it doesn't not show overallocated (red), it's actually
underallocated under %allocation. Could you please tell me the difference.

I do want to learn the VBA.....I have visual basic book at home and I am
going to start learning it...can you tell me the best approach for me to
learn and familarize myself with VBA.

Thanks a lot for all your help....I really appreciate it.

Pooja

 

[John]

Pooja,
Responses as noted below

Hello John,
First of all thanks for the info. It actually works when I change the view
in resource usage to percent allocation. But there is one thing I wanted to
confirm......The allocation I am looking for is %distributin for each
resource in multiple projects by month. Is %allocation giving me the same
kind of distribution.

It depends on how the file is set up. If it is a single file with
projects delineated by summary lines then yes, the % Allocation is based
on all projects. If you have a master file (i.e. master with inserted
subprojects), it depends on how the resources are defined, per
subproject or via a Resource Pool file.

Also the formula makes sense to me for %allocation, but one question I have
is what do you mean by "Work capacity". Isn't that the same thing as 100%?

Resource "capacity" is defined on the Resource Sheet as Max Units. If a
single resource is set for 100% then that is his capacity. However, if
it is a group resource and the Max Units are say, 300%, then for an 8
hour day, the "capacity" is 3 * 8 = 24 hours.

Third question...when I look at the resource graph. Under Peak units for
resource1, I see it's overallocated but If view the same graph for
%allocation, it doesn't not show overallocated (red), it's actually
underallocated under %allocation. Could you please tell me the difference.

Let me use an analogy. Let's say the high temperature yesterday was 80
degrees and the low was 40 degrees. And for the day as a whole, the
average temperature was 53 degrees. Now translate the high temperature
into peak units and the average temperature into % allocation. They are
showing two different pieces of similar data. Depending on the timescale
displayed, the Peak Unit graph might show overallocation when the %
Allocation data does not.

I do want to learn the VBA.....I have visual basic book at home and I am
going to start learning it...can you tell me the best approach for me to
learn and familarize myself with VBA.

I already gave you the link to lessons on Project VBA.

Thanks a lot for all your help....I really appreciate it.

You're welcome. Good Luck
John