Deleting remaining work hours from inactive resources

S

Stretch

We have deactivated two resources from the Enterprise Resource Pool, and now
we're getting the message that "There is work remaining assigned to inactive
resources. Their work should be reassigned...".

Is there an easy way to zero out or delete the remaining work hours assigned
to these resources across all projects?
 
N

Nicky D.

Yes, there 'can' be an easier way.
I regularly have 2-4 inactive resources a month, and this is the best method
I've found 'so far'.
Since I usually accept timesheet updates in batches, I will often have
all/most of the affected project open at the same time.
If you are able to do that too, then this might work (or just open them all
anyway):
Within a project and task the resource is assignments to...
Open a split screen view.
In the bottom section, select the Resource Usage view.
Insert the 'Assignment Units' column (and 'Actual work' if you'd like)
Locate your resource (I usually make a note of the ID #, and scroll using
the right scroll bar)
Set the Assignment units to 0 for any task listed.

This sets remaining work to 0, without (in some cases) MS calculating that
the task as complete if 'Remaining work' had been set to 0 (by me, or you in
this case!)
The Resource Usage view also lets you see what other projects and tasks the
resource is assigned to. If you want to open those projects up too, now is
the time.

Good Luck

nickyD
 
S

Stretch

Thanks for the help Nicky!


Nicky D. said:
Yes, there 'can' be an easier way.
I regularly have 2-4 inactive resources a month, and this is the best method
I've found 'so far'.
Since I usually accept timesheet updates in batches, I will often have
all/most of the affected project open at the same time.
If you are able to do that too, then this might work (or just open them all
anyway):
Within a project and task the resource is assignments to...
Open a split screen view.
In the bottom section, select the Resource Usage view.
Insert the 'Assignment Units' column (and 'Actual work' if you'd like)
Locate your resource (I usually make a note of the ID #, and scroll using
the right scroll bar)
Set the Assignment units to 0 for any task listed.

This sets remaining work to 0, without (in some cases) MS calculating that
the task as complete if 'Remaining work' had been set to 0 (by me, or you in
this case!)
The Resource Usage view also lets you see what other projects and tasks the
resource is assigned to. If you want to open those projects up too, now is
the time.

Good Luck

nickyD
Click to expand...
 
S

Stretch

One more question I just thought of Nicky - the inactive resources are not
the only resources assigned to some of the tasks. If I zero out their
assignment units, I don't want the remaining hours to go to zero...I want the
other resource assigned to the project to pick up the slack. Do I have to go
in and manually adjust the remaining hours after zeroing out the inactive
resources' assignment units?

Thanks again,
 
D

Doug

Stretch: If the task is effort driven, I believe the other resource will be
assigned the remaining work. Test it out on one task and observe the results.

Doug
 
S

Stretch

Doug - all of the tasks are listed as "effort driven". However, on some of
the tasks, when I zero out the inactive resource assignment units, the
remaining work goes to zero...on other tasks when I zero out the units, the
remaining work stays the same. Then on other tasks, when I zero out the
units, the actual work figures are decreased.

Now I'm really confused...are the results different because the inactive
resource may have logged work against one task and not another? I
definitely do not want the actual work figures to change...that would be bad.
 
N

Nicky D.

Stretch,

1) Your original note said <zero out ... remaining work hours>, so (I think)
you do want to 0 out the remaining work for that specific resource.
2) I have not tried/needed to assign the remaining work to remaining
resources, so can't talk from experience. However, Doug's statement
(re:effort driven) should be the correct behavior. On second thought, I
believe I have seen this on effort driven tasks - maybe effort driven AND
'fixed WORK'?
3) The Actual Work should never-never be changed by using the method I
described. Work (aka 'planned work'), and Remaining Work are the two field
that change (in the view I use).
4) I'm out of ideas!

Nicky D.
 
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