Resource Usage View

[Michael McGinley]

When using the "Resource Usage" View using Project Pro in an Enterprise
enviornment, the default view shows individual Resources tasks and hours for
all of thier assignments in the entire project portfolio. Is there a way
that I can adjust/create a view that would only show and report the tasks
and hours for the project that is currently opened?

I hope that my above description is clear and would appreciate some
feedback.

 

[Michael McGinley]

Hey Dale,

I realize you do not directly benifit from the time you donote on this
board...but...did you not understand my question regarding the Resource
usage view?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Hey Mike --

I don't answer newsgroup questions on demand. Whether I answer newsgroup
questions or not depends on whether I have the time, and not whether I
somehow personally benefit from doing so. I was annoyed enough by your
comment that I was tempted not to answer your question. However, if I
failed to do so, I would have denied everyone else the benefit of the
answer.

In regards to your original question, you must create a custom Group and
apply it in the Task Usage view to "trick" Project Server into showing you
resource information for only the active project. Follow these steps to
create and apply the custom Group:

1. Open the project in question
2. Click Project - Group by - More Groups
3. Click the New button
4. Name the new Group something like "_Group by Resource Assignments"
5. Select the "Group by assignments, not tasks" option below the data grid
6. On the Group By line, select the Name field and set the Field Type as
Assignment
7. On the Then By line, select the Name field and set the Field Type as
Task
8. Click the OK button
9. Click View - Task Usage
10. Click Project - Group By and select your new Group
11. Click the Show button on the Formatting toolbar and select Outline
Level 2

I realize the resulting view is not beautiful, but it shows the information
you want. Hope this helps.

--
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"

 

[Hugues Perron]

Hi Dale,

Just to let you know that I have implemented that trick a couple of
times at client sites and I can tell you that they are very grateful.

Hugues

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Hugues --

You are so kind! Thank you for the compliment!!

 

[Michael McGinley]

Dale --

Thank you so very much for spending your time for me. That worked
perfectly!

 

[patemarie]

I have a similar problem with our Resource Usage View. We recently upgraded
from Project Professional/Server 2002 to Project Professional/Server 2003.
Our resource usage view became corrupted in the 2002 environment after
implementing SP-1. I was unaware of the "hotfix" I have read about on this
discussion board. The corruption removed all other projects and total hours
associated with those projects from the resources in the resource usage view.
Only tasks associated with the current project were viewable. Okay, with
that said, we upgraded to 2003. The view seems to be back to normal with one
exception. Projects that were deleted prior to and after the upgrade are
appearing in the resource usage view. Allocated hours in the future that are
associated with deleted projects are appearing. I am unable to recreate this
in our test environment. SP-1 has been applied to Project Server and all
Project Professional installations. Any suggestions?

 

[Gary L. Chefetz \(MVP\)]

Patemarie:

The view does not become corrupt, however the data it displays certainly
can. It sounds like you've got leftover assignment-level data in the system.
Depending on the size of the database and number of projects and resources,
you might decide to:

1) Export everything and rebuild a fresh database
2) Use available SQL expertise to scrub the database

Which sounds less painful to you?<g>

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
"We wrote the books on Project Server"
http://www.msprojectexperts.com

For Project Server FAQs visit
http://www.projectserverexperts.com

For Project FAQs visit
http://www.mvps.org/project

-

 

[patemarie]

Thanks, Gary. The 2nd option is what I intend to attempt tomorrow in the lab
environment and then in production if all goes well. Is there a particular
table the resource usage view is utilizing? We were just going to query
based on the project names that were deleted and which are appearing. Thanks
so much for your help. I could not find anything about this in the knowledge
base or anywhere else for that matter.

Patti

 

[Gary L. Chefetz \(MVP\)]

Keep in mind that this may be data contained in the binary representation of
the data, so it may not be possible to cure this with SQL. With that said,
all tables containing assignment level data are implicated. That rebuild is
sounding better and better.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
"We wrote the books on Project Server"
http://www.msprojectexperts.com

For Project Server FAQs visit
http://www.projectserverexperts.com

For Project FAQs visit
http://www.mvps.org/project

-

 

[patemarie]

With 80+ plans in the system? Would exporting each of them, building a new
database and reimporting them cure it, do you believe? Is that what you
would do if in this situation? Have you seen this before? Thanks Gary!

Patti

 

[Gary L. Chefetz \(MVP\)]

I've certainly seen corrupt databases before. Don't get me wrong, it's an
enormous job, but rebuilding is an effective cure. You could be looking at 3
days work on an 80-project database. How much time have you burned on this
already? How much more time are you willing to risk?

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
"We wrote the books on Project Server"
http://www.msprojectexperts.com

For Project Server FAQs visit
http://www.projectserverexperts.com

For Project FAQs visit
http://www.mvps.org/project

-

 

[patemarie]

Thanks Gary for your feedback. I knew this would be the route to take as it
is the cleanest. It will be quite an undertaking, you're right, but will
resolve the issue completely! Thanks so much for your assistance!

 

[patemarie]

Do you have any specific steps/guidelines that you would suggest or somewhere
where I could find this information? Thanks, again.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz \(MVP\)]

Sorry, no published guidance: I really should write it up. Huh? I need to
stop answering questions to do that.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
"We wrote the books on Project Server"
http://www.msprojectexperts.com

For Project Server FAQs visit
http://www.projectserverexperts.com

For Project FAQs visit
http://www.mvps.org/project

-

 

[patemarie]

Thanks, Gary (I think).

Of course I have a lab environment to work with so I'll just putter around
until I find the solution. If you decide to write it up, I'd be interested
to see it!

 

[patemarie]

Gary, you had suggested that we create a new database, save off every plan,
and reupload each plan into this new database. I have the new database
created and have saved off all project plans, however, I am uncertain how to
proceed. Would you have any suggestions/steps that you recommend? Thanks so
much!

Patti

 

[Daryl]

Dale and all,

I too have used this advice and thank you for all your feedback!

One question though:

I modified this approach just a bit and used it to group by Resource Group
then Name to get the same effect (i.e. to show how many hours used by the
resource group for the current project)...works great.

How can I report (i.e. print) on this data say for a two week period?

I can't seem seem to apply any grouping in any crosstab reports.? I also
can't seem to print the view for only two weeks either- do not know why?

Thanks for any feedback!