How generic resources work or should work?

[Nabil Shams]

Products Information:
1. Project Server 2007
2. Project Professional 2007

Recently I have been asked a question regarding Generic resources.

If there is multiple people of same designation, will the generic resource
be multiple or single to that designation. Why we create multiple generic
resources when there are multiple people for same designation?

Answer
If there are multiple resource , you have to create multiple generic
resources.

The reason of creating multiple generic resources is that each resource is
representing an actual resource and each generic resource is going to be
replaced by a single Actual resource in future. That’s the way how replace
resource feature works.

I think, rather than creating multiple generic resources, it would be better
if Microsoft Project Server have provided us with an option of single generic
resource for every designation and allow a counter with periods.
Like this.
Generic Resource Type.01
Generic Resource Type.02
Generic Resource Type.03

MOSS Consultant
EPM Consultant
IS Consultant

What would you do if you want 2 MOSS consultants ?

Answer:
MOSS Consultant.01
MOSS Consultant.02

Here 01,02 are just mere counters which will only be visible to project
managers.
Unfortunately Microsoft has taken a much easier path to differentiate
generic resources with Actual resources.

During Build Team option resource managers have the option to add generic
resources to the plan, where every generic resource is only limited to that
project. Right now, one generic resource of a project is affecting another
project which seems a bit odd to me.

Your comments are highly appreciated as I might be missing some key features
of project server while stating this idea.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Nabil --

This is an excellent question, my friend! Consider the following scenario:

1. You have 5 software developers who can perform software development work
in a project. Your Project Server administrator creates one single Generic
resource called Software Developer and sets the Max. Units value to 500%,
indicating that the resource represents five full-time software developers.

2. As the PM of a software development project, you know that you need 2
full-time software developers to work on a task. Using the Build Team
dialog, you add the Generic resource called Software Developer to the
project. Then you select the task in question, select the Software
Developer resource, and set the Units value for the assignment to 200%,
indicating that this assignment represents two full-time workers.

3. Later, you as the PM need to replace the ONE Software Developer generic
resource assigned to the task with TWO different human resources. There is
no easy way to do this in Microsoft Project 2007 on a project-wide basis.
In both the Build Team dialog and the Assign Resources dialog, you can only
replace resources on a one-to-one basis. Therefore, it would require much
extra work for a PM to replace the single Generic resource assigned at 200%
Units with two human resources, each of which are assigned at 100% Units.

If your PMs will not face step #3 in the above scenario, your Project Server
administrator can create individual Generic resources, each of which
represents a skill or some other attribute, and set the Max. Units value to
represent the total number of human resource which have that skill or
attribute. If your PMs will have the possibility of step #3 above, then
your organization must make a choice. Your Project Server administrator can
create multiple instances of the same Generic resources, naming each
something like Software Developer 1, Software Developer 2, etc. Or he/she
can create a single Generic resource for each skill or attribute, and your
PMs will have more work to do when replacing a Generic with a human, when
the Generic is assigned at more than 100% Units.

Hope this helps.

 

[Nabil Shams]

Dale -
I know that we have a work around for this situation, nonetheless the
information you provided is really usefull.

But usually in organizations we have two roles one is project manager and
the other is Resource Managers, where.

Project Managers : are responsible for creating project plans with Generic
Resources. They don't know what resources are going to be assigned on this
project.

Resource Managers: are the one responsible for assigning resouces.

But wouldn't it be better if we have a proper rather than working on work
arounds ?

Thanks Dale.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Nabil --

I don't work for Microsoft and I didn't design or code the software, so
don't complain to me if you don't like how it works.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

Nabil:

I wouldn't call either scenario a workaround. The use of generic resources
along with the web-accessible build-team function in Project Web Access are
Microsofts tools to specifically address this very common scenario. The only
issue that arises from using multiple generics versus one generic is whether
the "replace" function in the Build Team from Enterprise dialog will be a
useable feature or not. Generally speaking, when assigning multiple
resources of the same skill set to multiple tasks, PMs and team leads need
to actually "think" about this rather than using blanket substitution which
works with simple resourcing requirements. Keep in mind that you can also
use resource plans rather than assigning generics at the task level. In all,
Microsoft has made a substantial investment in supporting scenarios where
PMs and RMs must work together to achieve project resourcing.

--
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Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
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