Resource Assignment - Skills Set / Location - Can this be done? 20

[GoGoBear]

I want to assign resources with specific skills sets, and location, and I
want to assign specific skill sets required to tasks. In summary, I want to
be able to schedule tasks based on the availability and location of resources
with the required skill set for the task, and I want to do this without
having to memorize who can do what and where they live...I'd like to just
enter it once and then have it occur automatically. So...for example...if a
task calls for an electrician in Chicago, I want to have the task
SPECIFICALLY call for an electrician in Chicago when I schedule it, and be
constrained by the avaiulability of an electrician in Chicago from my
resource pool....versus being able to assign a plumber from St Louis to
perform the task. Is this possible? I am a novice user, so PLEASE be very
step by step specifric

 

[Jim Aksel]

Welcome aboard I can think of two ways to do this.

1. Name the resources correctly on the resource sheet. John
(Electrician-Chicago), Mike (Plummer-St. Louis). This way you will be more
likely to assign the correct resource to the task.

If you have Five Electricians in Chicago, forget their names. Create a
resource Electricians-Chicago and make their Max Units = 500% (this is five
heads).

2. Instead of (1) make resource groups. In the group column of the resource
sheet, you can make a group: Electricians-Chicago. Another group:
Electricians-Syracuse. etc. Of course you need to name them as well: Fred,
Barney, Wilma, Betty... This will keep you from overloading an individual
resource. When you use this method make sure to insert the Resource Name and
the Resource Group columns to your schedule so you can see.

General comments
Make sure to always assign your resources in increments of 100%. Even
though Mr. Jones may only need 1.25 Electricians in Chicago, you really can't
send a quarter of a guy to the job site.... you'd send either one or two.
So, although there is only 10 hours of work, you can send 2 guys at 100% and
get the 10 hours of labor accomplished in 5 hours of duration.

Finally, remember that Project cannot assign the resources for you, you have
to do that yourself. Project has no way to understand that a Plummer in St
Louis has no way to do the job of Electrician in Chicago. Project is
location and skill agnostic .... they are only text fields.

Hope that helps. Personally, I use the very first method I described most
frequently.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[Prasad]

If resource allocations to tasks are always 100%, your requirements
are quite simple for some scheduling tools that provide automatic
resource leveling based on advanced scheduling logic. But, criteria
for resource selection must be contained in the input data. Resources
can have multiple skills and different calendars and locations. In
such cases, it many not be possible to create mutually exclusive
resource groups as required by project management software. There is
no need to manually assign skilled resources to tasks as part of
scheduling exercise because those tools automatically select resources
for specified skills (and location) and assign them to tasks based on
resource availability. The scheduling tools also produce an optimal
dispatch list (list of tasks with start and finish times) for each
resource. Such tools may survive in the market until Project provides
dependable automated resource leveling functionality.

Prasad ( www.optisol.biz )