How do I automate assigning multiple resources to multiple tasks..

[Philip]

I have a project where there are multiple resources, each having a calendar
showing work availability. The project itself has its own calendar and the
tasks are based on timeframes throughout the workweek. i.e. task1 is monday,
wednesday and friday from 7:00 am to 10:00 am; task2 is tuesday and thursday
from 7:30 am to 11:00 am. I need to assign 3 resources to each of the tasks
that have their own calendar showing times that they can/cannot work. I want
develop within Project (2003) to auto-assign resources to the tasks.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[Ed Hanna]

Philip,

Go to pulldown menu "Tools/Assign Resources". This opens the "Assign
Resources" dialogue box.

On the Gantt Chart, click on a task to select it; hold the <Ctrl> key and
select additonal tasks as needed. In the Assign Resources dialogue box,
click on a resource to select it; hold the <Ctrl> key and select additional
resources as needed. Now, click on "Assign" and all of the selected
resources will be assigned to all of the selected tasks.

For each resource that you assign in the Assign Resources dialogue box, be
sure to make an entry in the "Units" column if you wish to assign anything
other than 100% availability units--which is the default.

Ed

 

[Steve House]

To automatically assign resources ??? How can Project know who is competent
to do what tasks?

I think what you mean is you have a task that should happen Monday from 7 am
to 10 am and if resource Fred is available to work at that time, assign him
to it. You've got several problems with that approach ... the biggest is,
suppose that none of your three resources are available to work Monday
morning. What happens to that task then? Do we just not do it? But that
means that work required to produce a deliverable in the project won't be
done so that can't be right. Or do we do it at a different time? It turns
out your resources are available Monday afternoon. When we assign the task
to them, it moves in the schedule, no longer running from 7 am to 10 am but
instead running, say, 1 pm to 4 pm, so it takes place when the resources are
there and able to do it. This is Project's default behaviour. This applies
whether its just one resource like Fred or all three - Project handles each
resource's required work separately. If the task takes 3 hours and you need
to assign 3 resources to it, that means it requires 9 hours of work, split
between the three resources. Whether they work together or separately, each
person must put in 3 hours of work on the task. If Lucy and Ricky are
available Monday morning and Fred Monday afternoon, the task will split up
With L & R working on it 7 am to 10 am, while F works 1pm to 4pm, the
duration changing from 3 hours to 6 hours in the process.