Generic Resources

S

Scott McClure

A bit ago I asked about the icon or indicator for a need
to publish changed assignments not going away with
publishing. It turns out that, because our resources are
generic, the indicators will not go away.

We use generic resources because we are scheduling shop
mechanics over fairly long projects and we don't want to
try to predict which of 30 guys will be assigned to a
particular job. Nor do we want to try to actually assign
these guys when the shop chief puts them on a particular
task (lower level of detail than the task in the
project). I think using generics is right for us.

My questions: is it any kind of problem to simply leave
the indicators? MS suggests changing these resources
to "real" and publishing. Does this present any problems
and could we then change them back? Would it be possible
(and simpler) to find a field in the back end to change?
Would anyone know what field that may be?

Thanks
 
G

Gary Chefetz [MVP]

Scott:

Because you can't publish to Generics, there doesn't seem to be any harm in
leaving the indicators, other than you not being able to rely on them to
flag new changes. How do you notify the shop forepersons that schedules have
changed?

--
Gary Chefetz [MVP]
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"

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S

Scott McClure

Thanks, Gary. That's sort of the tack we're taking at
this point.

We're trying to model something we've done repeatedly
here for over 40 years. We've just never planned it.
The activity sort of takes care of itself but not as well
as we'd like or we would have left it alone. So, long
answer to your questions -- we really don't. The shop
chiefs, however, do all have PWA and a little training in
it so they are charged with watching things and fixing
either the plan or the execution. We are just spooling
up a guy to oversee the plan who knows the maintenance
process pretty well. We are absolute babes in the woods
as far as planning goes let alone using a tool like PS.

Scott
 
G

Gary Chefetz [MVP]

Scott:

If the shop chiefs have PWA, you might consider simply assigning all these
tasks to them, unless you're concerned about managing their workloads
through Project Server. I'd have to know a lot more about your process and
your EPM requirements to make more specific recommendations.

--
Gary Chefetz [MVP]
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"

*** Remember to look for line breaks in links posted to the news group, use
cut and paste for these.
 
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