assigning resource to summary task

[John]

Can anyone tell me why assigning resource/s to a summary
task is a bad thing...

thanks,

John

 

[Sarah]

John,

A summary task shows the total of the work assigned to the tasks below
it. When you assign a resource to the summary task itself, you are
adding more work, and not getting the true picture of the "summary" of
the subtasks. Try not to think of the summary task as a task at all.
It really isn't.

Sarah
(sarah_kiko@(removethis)cinfin.com)

 

[John]

John,
I agree with Sara 100% but there is an exception. Sometimes it is
beneficial to set up a Project plan with "planning tasks". Planning
tasks describe future effort that isn't fully detailed (e.g. effort 6
months and beyond). For example, a planning task might be a summary line
with several subtasks with estimated durations but no resources. However
in order to get some idea of the total cost involved, resources are
temporarily assigned to the summary line. When the full detail becomes
more fully developed, resources are added to the subtasks AND the
temporary resources are removed from the summary line.

John