Resource Task Lists

[WhyIsEverythingSoConfusing]

I am trying to figure out how I can give my employees a well organized and
informative list of their tasks. We all worked together on the schedule, so
the know what is coming, but I want to be able to provide them with something
to help them track their progress (instead of requiring that each individual
create an excel sheet of his/her tasks). I can't figure out how to do this.

Basically, I'd like to be able to give an excel-type layout that has the
task name, the expected start/finish dates, expected work (for a specified
resource) and expected duration ... and then have columns representing days
in which the individuals can record the amount of time they spent working on
the task.

This is sounding a lot like they need a version of Project itself ... but
all of my employees use Linux, so getting Project for them isn't exactly an
easy solution.

Help.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Justin,

The Resource Usage View with some minor additions to the table *may* give
you what you are looking for.

Add the Start and Finish fields to the Usage table (left side of view). The
work field is already included in the table but sorry the duration field is
not available in a Resource view.
Add Actual Work to the right side (Format> Detail Styles).

You could use the "Should Start By..." filter to just look at a particular
date range.
Then print the view.
Hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

 

[WhyIsEverythingSoConfusing]

Hmmm. Yeah, that gets close. Unfortunately, that method requires that
people maintain hours with pencil and paper, instead of an electronic method
like excel.

(side note: low bugets and the inability to just buy a bunch of software is
getting quite frustrating)

What if I change the requirement slightly ... is it possible to export the
Task Usage or Resource Usage (including formatting) to excel?

 

[JulieS]

Hi Justin,

Well...sort of. You can export timephased data (Resource Usage or Task
Usage View) to excel using the Analyze Timescaled Data in Excel.... button
on the Analysis Toolbar. You could export both Work and Actual Work to
create the additional row for users to track their actual work. However it
will *not* be formatted like the view we discussed earlier.

The "low tech" way is to copy/paste each side of the Resource View into
excel and then format away.

I am confident there is a VBA approach -- but that is out of my current
skill set. If you have VBA skills, you try posting the specific
information on the developer newsgroup and they may offer guidance.

Hope this helps.
Julie

 

[WhyIsEverythingSoConfusing]

Thank you for your help so far.

I'm trying the low tech approach, and it can work. However, I'm running
into the following hurdle. I want the data to look like the following in
Excel.

Row Task Name Other task data Pane Freeze 10/01/05
10/02/05 ->
1 Task 1 Work |
6 h
_2_________________________________Act.__| 4 h
2 h
3 Task 2 Work |
2 h
_4_________________________________Act.__| 2h

So basically, I have two panes with the general task data on the left
(planned start/end, variance, work, duration, yada, yada) and the date
specific stuff on the right. The left pane gives two rows (merged) to each
task, and the right pane uses those two rows to differentiate between
scheduled and actual work.

I can't preformat the Excel file and copy into this format, because it
complains about a difference in formatting. If I do the formatting after
copying from Project, I'll spend all day every day doing formatting.

Any ideas here? Or will this also require some VBA work (which is outside
of my skillset as well)?

Maybe there is a better place where I can post this question?

Again, thank you.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Justin,
You are welcome and thanks for the feedback. I'm afraid again without
getting into VBA (this time in Excel) I cannot recommend a way to get the
formatting you are searching for.
You could try recording a macro (in Excel) to merge the assignment rows to
accomplish what you are seeking, but other than that, I'm afraid I'm out of
ideas.

So sorry.

Julie

 

[WhyIsEverythingSoConfusing]

The macro recording is new to me, but it looks like it will enable me to do
what I want to do without too much trouble.

Maybe someday I'll have time to jump into the VBA possibilities.

Thanks again!

 

[JulieS]

You are very welcome Justin. Thanks for the feedback.

Julie