Customized Who Does What When

[PattiTechWriter]

I'm new to this so any help would be appreciated.

What I need is this: A report showing what each resource is working on
during a given week, including the task number and task description.
Basically, the info for the whole task row, sorted first by resource, then by
date.

Can you help?

 

[John]

I'm new to this so any help would be appreciated.

What I need is this: A report showing what each resource is working on
during a given week, including the task number and task description.
Basically, the info for the whole task row, sorted first by resource, then by
date.

Can you help?

Patti,
I can't see a way to get everything you want with any of the built-in
Reports but there are some other options.

If you are lucky enough to have only one resource assigned per task then
you could do a compound sort on the Gantt Chart view. Go to
Project/Sort/Sort by and sort first by Resource Names, then by Start. Be
sure to uncheck the box for keeping the outline structure.

If there are multiple resource assignments per task then one approach is
to set up a spare flag field for each resource. For example if task "A"
had Joe and Fred as assignments and Flag1 and Flag2 were for Joe and
Fred respectively, then task "A" would have a "yes" in both Flag1 and
Flag2. Note: this only works if there are 20 or fewer resources since
there are only 20 spare flag fields. To get a report for Joe, first sort
by Start date and then filter for Flag1. Use a similar approach for
Fred's report.

If I thought about it longer I could probably come up with other schemes
(or perhaps someone else has a good suggestion), but at least this
should get you something.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[PattiTechWriter]

Hi John! I think I'm making this harder than it has to be. I went into the
Customize Fields screen and changed the values of the 20 flags to Yes. (Yes,
I have multiple resources on multiple tasks). But then I'm lost.

In the Resource Sheet, it shows all 20 custom fields under each resource
name and then in the Gantt view, no fields show.

If you have time, can you walk me thru this? I'm getting frustrated with my
inability to figure out what is probably an easy puzzle.

Thanks,
Patti

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Patti,

You might like to see FAQ Item: 37 - Custom Fields in Tables. FAQs,
companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at this
web address:http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[John]

Hi John! I think I'm making this harder than it has to be. I went into the
Customize Fields screen and changed the values of the 20 flags to Yes. (Yes,
I have multiple resources on multiple tasks). But then I'm lost.

In the Resource Sheet, it shows all 20 custom fields under each resource
name and then in the Gantt view, no fields show.

If you have time, can you walk me thru this? I'm getting frustrated with my
inability to figure out what is probably an easy puzzle.

Thanks,
Patti

Patti,
I'm sorry, I was not very clear and Project is one of those applications
that can get very confusing in a hurry. I mentioned setting up spare
flags for each resource and it would be natural to assume that should be
done on the Resource Sheet. However that is not what I meant and it is
complicated by the fact that Project has three database parts - one for
tasks, one for resources, and one for assignments. Each of the three
have spare fields for text, number, flags, etc., but Task Flag1 is not
the same as Resource Flag1 nor is it the same as Assignment Flag1 - they
are all independent. And to make it even more interesting, some views
(e.g. Resource Usage and Task Usage) can be made to show a spare field
(e.g. Flag1) but the flag field is different depending on whether you
are looking at a Resource row, a Task row or an Assignment row.

Ok, that's the lesson for today. Now to be more clear with my suggestion.

1. On the Gantt View display as many spare flag fields as you have
resources (hopefully you have 20 or less or this method won't work for
you). For example if you have 10 resources, set up columns on the Gantt
View to show 10 spare flag fields. (Note: it will be helpful to also
display the Resource Names field immediately to the left of the flag
fields)
2. For each task, take a look at the resources assigned and put a "yes"
in each flag field you have designated for those resources. For example,
if Joe and Mary are assigned to a task and you have represented them by
Flag1 and Flag4, then put a "yes" in each of those flag fields.
3. Then sort by Start date. Be sure to uncheck the box to keep the
outline structure at the bottom of the Sort window.
4. Finally, to get a report for Joe, set up a filter for Flag1.
Similarly filtering on Flag4 will get a report for Mary (at least in my
example). Note: to make filtering easier you could set up an interactive
filter that will ask you which flag to filter on. You do that by simply
entering "Enter Flag Field number"? in the Value column in the Filter
window. Note the question mark must be after the quote.

Hopefully this is more clear, and, it will get you what you need.
John
Project MVP

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Patti,

To speed up your Flag settings that John described, from the Gantt view,
assuming a resource called Fred, right click the Fred's Flag column heading
and select Customize Fields/Formula button and enter an If formula: IIf
([Resource Names]="Fred",Yes,No), /OK/OK/OK. You should now see a Yes for
all Fred's tasks.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[John]

Hi Patti,

To speed up your Flag settings that John described, from the Gantt view,
assuming a resource called Fred, right click the Fred's Flag column heading
and select Customize Fields/Formula button and enter an If formula: IIf
([Resource Names]="Fred",Yes,No), /OK/OK/OK. You should now see a Yes for
all Fred's tasks.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

2. For each task, take a look at the resources assigned and put a
"yes" in each flag field you have designated for those resources. For
example, if Joe and Mary are assigned to a task and you have
represented them by Flag1 and Flag4, then put a "yes" in each of
those flag fields.

Mike,
Great tip. I realize the whole process is a bit labor intensive and I
would probably use VBA to get the report but your tip makes my non-VBA
method go a little quicker.

John

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi John,

It's part of the text in FAQ Item: 31. Customizing Task Bars.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

Hi Patti,

To speed up your Flag settings that John described, from the Gantt
view, assuming a resource called Fred, right click the Fred's Flag
column heading and select Customize Fields/Formula button and enter
an If formula: IIf ([Resource Names]="Fred",Yes,No), /OK/OK/OK. You
should now see a Yes for all Fred's tasks.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

2. For each task, take a look at the resources assigned and put a
"yes" in each flag field you have designated for those resources.
For example, if Joe and Mary are assigned to a task and you have
represented them by Flag1 and Flag4, then put a "yes" in each of
those flag fields.

Mike,
Great tip. I realize the whole process is a bit labor intensive and I
would probably use VBA to get the report but your tip makes my non-VBA
method go a little quicker.

John