Resource Groups

[Alan Anderson]

Hi,

I am having problems that resource groups do not give me what I need.

I use MS Project 2000 for a couple of main tasks,
1) determining resource levels for the medium term ( 3-6 months) for groups
of projects.( strategic view )
2) planning and tracking individual projects.( tactical view )

I had hoped to do the strategic planning with resource groups, e.g.
engineers and then later expand the plan to assign the tasks to an
individual in the group, e.g. Tom, Dick or Harry who are all engineers.
Once the actual person's name is assigned then it is easier for me to run
reports from Project to distribute to the team.

I had hoped that I could do leveling against the resource group, e.g.
engineer and then later allocate an instance, e.g. Tom and still be able to
level. But it looks as though resource groups are only a grouping for
reporting purposes and cannot be used as a resource.

Is there a good way round this, or do I have to run a high level strategic
plan with groups and also lower level plan(s) with actual names?

BTW the names have been changed to protect the innocent

Alan

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

The resource group field is strictly for reporting and summary purposes and
cannot be used for assignments. You have two options.

For people with unique talents like most engineers, you should assign and
track them as individuals, typically with a maximum allocation of 100%
although they could be less if they are only available part of their working
calendar to you. An individual can never be allocated more than 100%
because that would mean they are generating more hours of work than they are
devoting to the task - i.e., generating, say, 10 man-hours of work during an
8-hour workday, a physical impossibility. Contrary to some ads, people
cannot give 110%.

Or you can have what I call an aggregate resource (to distinguish it from a
resource group). Some sets of resources are essentially interchangeable
assets. If I have 5 custodians on staff and need one of them, I probably
don't much care which one the foreman sends over. So I could have an
aggregate resource named "Custodian" with a max allocation of 500%
indicating there are 5 individuals assets within the group and I could have
up to all 5 of them at once if needed.

The rub here is that an individual asset can be listed in one way or the
other but you can't but the same individual into the project resources pool
in both ways. I can't have an engineer John Doe listed as an individual and
also include him in the count in an aggregate group of 10 generic
"Engineers." I have to pick the way I'm going to deal with John in the
project right from the start and be consistent with him throughout.

The only workaround is to start with groups and then as you break them down
to their individuals redo all the resource assignments. That seems like a
real PITA to me and it would be easier just to go with individual names
right from the start. You can always use generic names - Engineer 1,
Engineer 2, Engineer 3 - if you don't yet know the exact individuals who
will be involved and edit the name later.