Project 2007 Visual Reports - Add 'Group' to report

[ceg1]

Hi,

I have recently upgraded to MS Project 2007 to use the Visual Reports
feature. I want to be able to summarize the resource allocation for each
functional group within our company based on the Department (group) each
resource is in, by quarter periods (e.g. to say that the SW group has 3000
hours work hours avaiable for Q4, but 3500 hours of work assigned)

I have a Resource Pool with about 10 project linked to it, but are
experiencing 2 issues:
1. If I open the Resouce Pool, it offers to create a master project (the
third option in the box). If i create the master project this way though, it
seems to limit the data returned in the visual report to just a couple of
weeks. I can get around this by choosing "Insert Project" into a blank
project file making sure "link to Project' is deselected, then manually
massaging the start dates for each inserted projects (it doesn't seem to like
producing visual reports if linked to other projects). I can work around
this, but perhaps there is a better way?

2. I would like the 'Group' to be shown on the resulting Excel Pivot when i
create "Resource Work Summary Report", it's in the "Selected Fields" but does
not appear on the Pivot Table Field List. How can i add the group to the list?

I am running Project 2007, but everything else is Office 2003 (i.e. Excel is
2003)
Thanks for your help

 

[JulieS]

Hello ceg1,

My comments are inline.

Hi,

I have recently upgraded to MS Project 2007 to use the Visual
Reports
feature. I want to be able to summarize the resource allocation for
each
functional group within our company based on the Department (group)
each
resource is in, by quarter periods (e.g. to say that the SW group
has 3000
hours work hours avaiable for Q4, but 3500 hours of work assigned)

I have a Resource Pool with about 10 project linked to it, but are
experiencing 2 issues:
1. If I open the Resouce Pool, it offers to create a master project
(the
third option in the box). If i create the master project this way
though, it
seems to limit the data returned in the visual report to just a
couple of
weeks. I can get around this by choosing "Insert Project" into a
blank
project file making sure "link to Project' is deselected, then
manually
massaging the start dates for each inserted projects (it doesn't
seem to like
producing visual reports if linked to other projects). I can work
around
this, but perhaps there is a better way?

[Julie] Yes, I've noticed the problem as well using Project 2007 with
Service Pack 1 installed. I don't think you need to go through as
much trouble as you're doing however. What I do as a work around is
to add a task directly to the master project. The start date of the
task should inherit the start of the master project (you may need to
manually set the project start date in the master project through
Project > Project Information.) I then just set the duration of the
single added task to 24 mo or 36 mo or some such to show the full span
I want resource availability for. Even though no resources need be
assigned to the "fake" task, it seems to generate the Resource
availability information correctly.

2. I would like the 'Group' to be shown on the resulting Excel Pivot
when i
create "Resource Work Summary Report", it's in the "Selected Fields"
but does
not appear on the Pivot Table Field List. How can i add the group to
the list?

[Julie] Once you have created the REsource Work Summary Report, click
on a Resource's name in the report and right click to show the
shortcut menu. Select "Show Properties in Report" and select Group.

I am running Project 2007, but everything else is Office 2003 (i.e.
Excel is
2003)
Thanks for your help

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[ceg1]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your help. I’m now able to make a little more progress though am
still facing one issue. After following your advice on a workaround, I have
created a master project by inserting the 10 or so projects into a blank
project, keeping the links to the project to retain integrity of the
different start dates, and then inserting the ‘fake’ task. The Resource Work
Summary report appears to pull the work through correctly, though the
‘Availability’ field only shows a small number of hours in perhaps 1 quarter
(and thus “remaining availability†etc are wrong as well. Have I missed
something in your notes or is there a trick to pull the resource availability
through correctly? It seems to make some difference which projects are
expanded (using the box with ‘+’ sign) in the master, and which task I’ve
selected before running the report – does that have something to do with it?

With regards to showing the ‘group’ thanks very much for your assistance. I
had to do it slightly differently by choosing “Table Properties†from the
Pivot Table toolbar (I think because I’m running Excel 2003) but it was your
advice that got me there. Thanks again.

Best regards

Hello ceg1,

My comments are inline.

Hi,

I have recently upgraded to MS Project 2007 to use the Visual
Reports
feature. I want to be able to summarize the resource allocation for
each
functional group within our company based on the Department (group)
each
resource is in, by quarter periods (e.g. to say that the SW group
has 3000
hours work hours avaiable for Q4, but 3500 hours of work assigned)

I have a Resource Pool with about 10 project linked to it, but are
experiencing 2 issues:
1. If I open the Resouce Pool, it offers to create a master project
(the
third option in the box). If i create the master project this way
though, it
seems to limit the data returned in the visual report to just a
couple of
weeks. I can get around this by choosing "Insert Project" into a
blank
project file making sure "link to Project' is deselected, then
manually
massaging the start dates for each inserted projects (it doesn't
seem to like
producing visual reports if linked to other projects). I can work
around
this, but perhaps there is a better way?

[Julie] Yes, I've noticed the problem as well using Project 2007 with
Service Pack 1 installed. I don't think you need to go through as
much trouble as you're doing however. What I do as a work around is
to add a task directly to the master project. The start date of the
task should inherit the start of the master project (you may need to
manually set the project start date in the master project through
Project > Project Information.) I then just set the duration of the
single added task to 24 mo or 36 mo or some such to show the full span
I want resource availability for. Even though no resources need be
assigned to the "fake" task, it seems to generate the Resource
availability information correctly.

2. I would like the 'Group' to be shown on the resulting Excel Pivot
when i
create "Resource Work Summary Report", it's in the "Selected Fields"
but does
not appear on the Pivot Table Field List. How can i add the group to
the list?

[Julie] Once you have created the REsource Work Summary Report, click
on a Resource's name in the report and right click to show the
shortcut menu. Select "Show Properties in Report" and select Group.

I am running Project 2007, but everything else is Office 2003 (i.e.
Excel is
2003)
Thanks for your help

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[JulieS]

Hi,

You're welcome for the assistance. Glad to have helped and thanks for
the feedback.

I'm glad you were able to get the Group field to show information in
the report -- that's a small victory.

Since my last post, I've done some more experimenting and here's where
I've been able to get the most consistent data from the Resource
Summary report and a resource pool. I open the pool with the 3rd
option which creates a master project. However, I don't actually use
the master project as the foundation of the report -- I find using the
pool file seems to work best. In the pool file, I look at the
Resource Usage view and make sure that all assignment rows are
expanded. In the pool file, I add one task which spans the period of
time of the resource assignments. I do not assign any resources to the
task.

Then the Work availability, Work, and Remaining Availability seems to
be accurate. I've had very mixed results with the other methods.

I hope this helps.

Julie

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your help. I'm now able to make a little more progress
though am
still facing one issue. After following your advice on a workaround,
I have
created a master project by inserting the 10 or so projects into a
blank
project, keeping the links to the project to retain integrity of the
different start dates, and then inserting the 'fake' task. The
Resource Work
Summary report appears to pull the work through correctly, though
the
'Availability' field only shows a small number of hours in perhaps 1
quarter
(and thus "remaining availability" etc are wrong as well. Have I
missed
something in your notes or is there a trick to pull the resource
availability
through correctly? It seems to make some difference which projects
are
expanded (using the box with '+' sign) in the master, and which task
I've
selected before running the report - does that have something to do
with it?

With regards to showing the 'group' thanks very much for your
assistance. I
had to do it slightly differently by choosing "Table Properties"
from the
Pivot Table toolbar (I think because I'm running Excel 2003) but it
was your
advice that got me there. Thanks again.

Best regards

Hello ceg1,

My comments are inline.

Hi,

I have recently upgraded to MS Project 2007 to use the Visual
Reports
feature. I want to be able to summarize the resource allocation
for
each
functional group within our company based on the Department
(group)
each
resource is in, by quarter periods (e.g. to say that the SW group
has 3000
hours work hours avaiable for Q4, but 3500 hours of work
assigned)

I have a Resource Pool with about 10 project linked to it, but
are
experiencing 2 issues:
1. If I open the Resouce Pool, it offers to create a master
project
(the
third option in the box). If i create the master project this way
though, it
seems to limit the data returned in the visual report to just a
couple of
weeks. I can get around this by choosing "Insert Project" into a
blank
project file making sure "link to Project' is deselected, then
manually
massaging the start dates for each inserted projects (it doesn't
seem to like
producing visual reports if linked to other projects). I can work
around
this, but perhaps there is a better way?

[Julie] Yes, I've noticed the problem as well using Project 2007
with
Service Pack 1 installed. I don't think you need to go through as
much trouble as you're doing however. What I do as a work around
is
to add a task directly to the master project. The start date of
the
task should inherit the start of the master project (you may need
to
manually set the project start date in the master project through
Project > Project Information.) I then just set the duration of
the
single added task to 24 mo or 36 mo or some such to show the full
span
I want resource availability for. Even though no resources need be
assigned to the "fake" task, it seems to generate the Resource
availability information correctly.

2. I would like the 'Group' to be shown on the resulting Excel
Pivot
when i
create "Resource Work Summary Report", it's in the "Selected
Fields"
but does
not appear on the Pivot Table Field List. How can i add the group
to
the list?

[Julie] Once you have created the REsource Work Summary Report,
click
on a Resource's name in the report and right click to show the
shortcut menu. Select "Show Properties in Report" and select
Group.

I am running Project 2007, but everything else is Office 2003
(i.e.
Excel is
2003)
Thanks for your help

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project

 

[ceg1]

Hi Julie,

It works! Thanks so much for your assistance, would never have discovered
this workaround on my own, had tried so many different things and almost
given up hope.... Now I should have no problems producing the required
reports.

Best regards.

Hi,

You're welcome for the assistance. Glad to have helped and thanks for
the feedback.

I'm glad you were able to get the Group field to show information in
the report -- that's a small victory.

Since my last post, I've done some more experimenting and here's where
I've been able to get the most consistent data from the Resource
Summary report and a resource pool. I open the pool with the 3rd
option which creates a master project. However, I don't actually use
the master project as the foundation of the report -- I find using the
pool file seems to work best. In the pool file, I look at the
Resource Usage view and make sure that all assignment rows are
expanded. In the pool file, I add one task which spans the period of
time of the resource assignments. I do not assign any resources to the
task.

Then the Work availability, Work, and Remaining Availability seems to
be accurate. I've had very mixed results with the other methods.

I hope this helps.

Julie

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your help. I'm now able to make a little more progress
though am
still facing one issue. After following your advice on a workaround,
I have
created a master project by inserting the 10 or so projects into a
blank
project, keeping the links to the project to retain integrity of the
different start dates, and then inserting the 'fake' task. The
Resource Work
Summary report appears to pull the work through correctly, though
the
'Availability' field only shows a small number of hours in perhaps 1
quarter
(and thus "remaining availability" etc are wrong as well. Have I
missed
something in your notes or is there a trick to pull the resource
availability
through correctly? It seems to make some difference which projects
are
expanded (using the box with '+' sign) in the master, and which task
I've
selected before running the report - does that have something to do
with it?

With regards to showing the 'group' thanks very much for your
assistance. I
had to do it slightly differently by choosing "Table Properties"
from the
Pivot Table toolbar (I think because I'm running Excel 2003) but it
was your
advice that got me there. Thanks again.

Best regards

Hello ceg1,

My comments are inline.

Hi,

I have recently upgraded to MS Project 2007 to use the Visual
Reports
feature. I want to be able to summarize the resource allocation
for
each
functional group within our company based on the Department
(group)
each
resource is in, by quarter periods (e.g. to say that the SW group
has 3000
hours work hours avaiable for Q4, but 3500 hours of work
assigned)

I have a Resource Pool with about 10 project linked to it, but
are
experiencing 2 issues:
1. If I open the Resouce Pool, it offers to create a master
project
(the
third option in the box). If i create the master project this way
though, it
seems to limit the data returned in the visual report to just a
couple of
weeks. I can get around this by choosing "Insert Project" into a
blank
project file making sure "link to Project' is deselected, then
manually
massaging the start dates for each inserted projects (it doesn't
seem to like
producing visual reports if linked to other projects). I can work
around
this, but perhaps there is a better way?

[Julie] Yes, I've noticed the problem as well using Project 2007
with
Service Pack 1 installed. I don't think you need to go through as
much trouble as you're doing however. What I do as a work around
is
to add a task directly to the master project. The start date of
the
task should inherit the start of the master project (you may need
to
manually set the project start date in the master project through
Project > Project Information.) I then just set the duration of
the
single added task to 24 mo or 36 mo or some such to show the full
span
I want resource availability for. Even though no resources need be
assigned to the "fake" task, it seems to generate the Resource
availability information correctly.

2. I would like the 'Group' to be shown on the resulting Excel
Pivot
when i
create "Resource Work Summary Report", it's in the "Selected
Fields"
but does
not appear on the Pivot Table Field List. How can i add the group
to
the list?

[Julie] Once you have created the REsource Work Summary Report,
click
on a Resource's name in the report and right click to show the
shortcut menu. Select "Show Properties in Report" and select
Group.

I am running Project 2007, but everything else is Office 2003
(i.e.
Excel is
2003)
Thanks for your help

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project

 

[JulieS]

Superb! I'm glad all works for you. You are most welcome for the
help. Thanks very much for the feedback.

Julie

Hi Julie,

It works! Thanks so much for your assistance, would never have
discovered
this workaround on my own, had tried so many different things and
almost
given up hope.... Now I should have no problems producing the
required
reports.

Best regards.

Hi,

You're welcome for the assistance. Glad to have helped and thanks
for
the feedback.

I'm glad you were able to get the Group field to show information
in
the report -- that's a small victory.

Since my last post, I've done some more experimenting and here's
where
I've been able to get the most consistent data from the Resource
Summary report and a resource pool. I open the pool with the 3rd
option which creates a master project. However, I don't actually
use
the master project as the foundation of the report -- I find using
the
pool file seems to work best. In the pool file, I look at the
Resource Usage view and make sure that all assignment rows are
expanded. In the pool file, I add one task which spans the period
of
time of the resource assignments. I do not assign any resources to
the
task.

Then the Work availability, Work, and Remaining Availability seems
to
be accurate. I've had very mixed results with the other methods.

I hope this helps.

Julie

Hi Julie,

Thanks for your help. I'm now able to make a little more progress
though am
still facing one issue. After following your advice on a
workaround,
I have
created a master project by inserting the 10 or so projects into
a
blank
project, keeping the links to the project to retain integrity of
the
different start dates, and then inserting the 'fake' task. The
Resource Work
Summary report appears to pull the work through correctly, though
the
'Availability' field only shows a small number of hours in
perhaps 1
quarter
(and thus "remaining availability" etc are wrong as well. Have I
missed
something in your notes or is there a trick to pull the resource
availability
through correctly? It seems to make some difference which
projects
are
expanded (using the box with '+' sign) in the master, and which
task
I've
selected before running the report - does that have something to
do
with it?

With regards to showing the 'group' thanks very much for your
assistance. I
had to do it slightly differently by choosing "Table Properties"
from the
Pivot Table toolbar (I think because I'm running Excel 2003) but
it
was your
advice that got me there. Thanks again.

Best regards



:

Hello ceg1,

My comments are inline.

Hi,

I have recently upgraded to MS Project 2007 to use the Visual
Reports
feature. I want to be able to summarize the resource
allocation
for
each
functional group within our company based on the Department
(group)
each
resource is in, by quarter periods (e.g. to say that the SW
group
has 3000
hours work hours avaiable for Q4, but 3500 hours of work
assigned)

I have a Resource Pool with about 10 project linked to it, but
are
experiencing 2 issues:
1. If I open the Resouce Pool, it offers to create a master
project
(the
third option in the box). If i create the master project this
way
though, it
seems to limit the data returned in the visual report to just
a
couple of
weeks. I can get around this by choosing "Insert Project" into
a
blank
project file making sure "link to Project' is deselected, then
manually
massaging the start dates for each inserted projects (it
doesn't
seem to like
producing visual reports if linked to other projects). I can
work
around
this, but perhaps there is a better way?

[Julie] Yes, I've noticed the problem as well using Project
2007
with
Service Pack 1 installed. I don't think you need to go through
as
much trouble as you're doing however. What I do as a work
around
is
to add a task directly to the master project. The start date of
the
task should inherit the start of the master project (you may
need
to
manually set the project start date in the master project
through
Project > Project Information.) I then just set the duration of
the
single added task to 24 mo or 36 mo or some such to show the
full
span
I want resource availability for. Even though no resources need
be
assigned to the "fake" task, it seems to generate the Resource
availability information correctly.

2. I would like the 'Group' to be shown on the resulting Excel
Pivot
when i
create "Resource Work Summary Report", it's in the "Selected
Fields"
but does
not appear on the Pivot Table Field List. How can i add the
group
to
the list?

[Julie] Once you have created the REsource Work Summary Report,
click
on a Resource's name in the report and right click to show the
shortcut menu. Select "Show Properties in Report" and select
Group.

I am running Project 2007, but everything else is Office 2003
(i.e.
Excel is
2003)
Thanks for your help

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information
about Microsoft Project