Merged resources

P

Predrag

Hi,

The problem I have with the Project 2003 is this. We are
not using resource pool (and at the moment this is not a
feasible option), but every project has its own resources.
If I open 2 projects at the same time and then go to the
resource sheet for any of these projects the resource
information is merged. Project merges into a single view
resources from both projects.
Is there are any way to disable this, so that the project
shows only the resources for the currently selected
project.
Because I can have the same resource name in both
projects, now I have in a single view duplicated resource
names. Moreover, if I change something, like for example
a cost rate for that duplicated resource, and save it, it
will actually create an additional resource with the same
name in the project. This in turn will mess up the
assignments, etc.
At the moment I am trying to have only one project open at
a time but a lot of times I have to compare 2 projects
against each other and it gets really inconvenient when
trying to save changes in one of them.

If anybody could give me any suggestion how to go around
this problem I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks,

Predrag
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Predrag --

The problems you are experiencing are caused by your lack of a resource
pool. If your company is not going to use Project Server and the Enterprise
Resource Pool available in the system, then you should use the resource pool
technology that has been avaiable for many previous versions of Microsoft
Project. To do this, complete the following steps:

1. Open both projects and apply the Resource View in each
2. Click Window - Arrange All
3. Compare the resources in each project and make sure the information
about each resource is the same (edit those that are not)
4. Open a blank project then select one of your existing projects
5. Click Tools - Resource Sharing - Share Resources
6. Select the "Use resources from" option and select the blank project
7. Click OK
8. Select your second existing project
9. Repeat steps 5-7 for this project
10. Select the blank project, which should now be populated with your
resources from both projects
11. Save the blank project using a name like "Company Resource Pool"
12. Save each of the existing projects as well

Each time you open one of the two existing projects, you will be prompted to
open the resource pool file as well. When you open both projects, the
Resource Usage view should only show one set of resources. Hope this helps.
 
P

Predrag

Thanks for the reply, although I don't think it can solve
my problem.
The main reason for our not going to the Enterprise
Resource Pool was that we didn't want to have the same
information for the same resource across projects,
particularly cost rates.
For us it is possible to have a resource being assigned to
a several projects at the same time with a completely
different cost rates. To be able to do this, and to avoid
setting up different cost table per individual task, which
would be extremely impractical if not almost impossible,
we have had to go with local resources.
But what we don't understand is that in Project 2000 you
could have opened 2 projects and their resource
information wouldn't merge. However, those same 2
projects, opened in Project 2003 have the resources merged.

Predrag
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Predrag --

In my response, I was not recommending the use of the Enteprise Resource
Pool feature in Project Server. I was recommending that you use the shared
resource pool that has been present for many years in previous versions of
Microsoft Project.

On the other hand, using either technology approach, were you aware that it
is possible to set up to 5 separate Cost rates for each resource? Is that
enough rates to solve your problem? If not, then I don't have any good
answers for you. Sorry.
 
P

Predrag

Dale,

I am back to my work after a nice vacation but the problem
is still the same.
Yes, I am aware of the possibility to have up to 5 cost
rates for a resource. However, it seems that my company's
view is that it would be almost imposible to manage our
projects that way. The problem is that our projects can
have up to a few thousand tasks. If I assign a resource
to a task it will automatically assign a default cost rate
(table A) to this assignment. Now imagine the work
required to go and manually change the resource rates for
every individual task. Not to mention what would happen
if a resource rate had to be modified for a certain period
in past, what confussion it would cause.
Anyway, thanks very much for trying to help.

Predrag
 
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