Generic Resources in Enterprise Resource Pool

M

Michelle To

Hi,

Our organization would like to go with the idea of having
generic resources such as Chemist, Scientist, etc instead
of actually individuals resource names. However, we have
multiple sites that have the same level of resources, ie.
A chemist in Mississauga site as well as Toronto site. To
further complicate this, we also have within one project
plan milestones that belong to other sites but the
same "resource name" is working on it. For example, we
could have drug developnment phase 1 milestone done by
Mississauga Chemist, then another milestone on the same
plan done by Toronto Chemist. We would like to do this
without having to call the resources Toronto Chemist,
Mississauga Chemist but rather just Chemist. I have
tried using the RBS/Outline codes but whenever I changed
the value in the first milestone, the second one changed
as well.

Please advise.

Thanks a bunch!

Michelle
 
S

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

Our organization would like to go with the idea of having
generic resources such as Chemist, Scientist, etc instead
of actually individuals resource names. However, we have
multiple sites that have the same level of resources, ie.
A chemist in Mississauga site as well as Toronto site. To
further complicate this, we also have within one project
plan milestones that belong to other sites but the
same "resource name" is working on it. For example, we
could have drug developnment phase 1 milestone done by
Mississauga Chemist, then another milestone on the same
plan done by Toronto Chemist. We would like to do this
without having to call the resources Toronto Chemist,
Mississauga Chemist but rather just Chemist. I have
tried using the RBS/Outline codes but whenever I changed
the value in the first milestone, the second one changed
as well.

Please advise.

Thanks a bunch!

Michelle
.
Click to expand...
I think that your problem is that you need to ensure that
your tasks are not effort driven.
When you create tasks, as soon as you add a resource who
is not 100% available (and you generic isn't because you
already have it allocated to other tasks), it will change
the duration of the task to match the availability. By
ensuring that the tasks are not effort driven, you will
negate the problem.
Stuart
 
F

Ford Alison

Hi Michelle.

How are things in the Great White North? I'm sorry to
tell you that you will need to use different names. There
is a solution but with many tasks and lots of overlap it's
an administrative headache. You can go into each
individual task and edit the Resources in the task dialog
box or with split screen. Otherwise any "replace"
activity will find all occurrences within the project. By
using the same name the potential for error far outweighs
the benefits. So my recommendation is to use different
names.

Ford Alison
Senior Consultant, PM Solutions, Inc.
 
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