The best way to display resources in the Task Sheet

[MalkiaSashko]

Hello,

I am working on a project, the duration and time planning of which wil
be independent of the resources. I will not define any specific workin
time or calendar, but just use the default ones. While I want to kno
who will work on which task, I am not interested in managing m
resources working time, changing calendars etc. I only use that part o
the program, which calculates the duration of the project based on th
duration of the task I determine during their entering. I don't want t
enter resources and than use the assign resources functionality, becaus
my resources working time will not be considered and because I don'
want to risk to change the duration of a task if I assign more than on
resource to it. At the beginning I thought that I will write the name
of the people/institutions responsible for each task in the NOTE field
The problem with this is that this information does not get displayed i
the task list view fully (because if I have some other notes for a tas
the cell in the NOTE column is to small to display everything). Now
know I could just insert a text column in the task sheet view and ente
the names there, but I just don't know if this is the best way. Coul
you give me an advice how to assign resources to a task so that they ar
visible in the Task Sheet view and yet to not get involved into definin
calendars, working times etc. Thank you very much in advance

 

[John]

Hello,

I am working on a project, the duration and time planning of which will
be independent of the resources. I will not define any specific working
time or calendar, but just use the default ones. While I want to know
who will work on which task, I am not interested in managing my
resources working time, changing calendars etc. I only use that part of
the program, which calculates the duration of the project based on the
duration of the task I determine during their entering. I don't want to
enter resources and than use the assign resources functionality, because
my resources working time will not be considered and because I don't
want to risk to change the duration of a task if I assign more than one
resource to it. At the beginning I thought that I will write the names
of the people/institutions responsible for each task in the NOTE field.
The problem with this is that this information does not get displayed in
the task list view fully (because if I have some other notes for a task
the cell in the NOTE column is to small to display everything). Now I
know I could just insert a text column in the task sheet view and enter
the names there, but I just don't know if this is the best way. Could
you give me an advice how to assign resources to a task so that they are
visible in the Task Sheet view and yet to not get involved into defining
calendars, working times etc. Thank you very much in advance.

Malkia,
Boy I don't know how you figure you can realistically manage a project
if the resources are independent from the work to be done (i.e. tasks).
What makes you think the duration values are going to be accurate if
they are not allowed to change depending on who and how many resources
are assigned to do the task? Why not just do it all in Excel and save
yourself some time.

OK, that's the standard lecture for this type of "project management".
To answer your question, a spare task text field is the best way to go.

John
Project MVP

 

[vanita]

Hi

As John has advised it is good to use resource scheduling features fully.

From your post it is not clear why exactly you want to assign resources. If
you want to do this to know each day how much of each resource is required so
that you may have them available as per the time schedule you may follow the
following steps.
1. Have all your tasks as 'Fixed duration' so that when you change resource
assignments duration won't change.
2. After that in Resource sheet view add resource names and assign resources
to activities. Resources will by default be assigned the project calendar, so
that is not an issue.
3. Now through Resource graph and Resource usage view you would be able to
view the resource requirement per day

I hope it helps.
Vanita

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Malkia,

1. I do approve of your way to use Project - when you subcontract the work
duration is all you have to care about; many, many project managers do not
manage the individual resources' time.

2. If you really don't want to use the resource fields Text fields are
indeed the best alternative.
HTH
--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[MalkiaSashko]

O.K., I'll give some info about my project, because I see that m
question has sparked some concern :-

I am creating a project for a ministry. The ministry will coordinat
the project and wants to overview it, but most of the job will be don
by other institutions such as municipalities, commissions etc. So th
guys in the ministry just want to know who is responsible for whic
tasks when they look in the task list. For example, if the task has t
be done by the municipality, they don't know how many people and wh
exactly will perform it. They just say: here, municipality, you have
weeks for this and that's all that the project coordinator has and want
to know. What's more, most of the task are some bureaucratic stuff, suc
as issuing of permissions etc, so the durations of such things ar
regulated by law anyway. All in all, there are about 4-5 resources i
the whole project - the ministry, a municipality and a couple o
commissions. That is why I don't need to know the resources availabilit
either, because each institution is going to manage the performance o
each task internally. I myself am acquainted (if not perfectly) wit
the assignment units, task type, fixed duration settings, but I want t
keep it as simple as possible for them. The point is the whole plannin
is not so detailed as in a company, where having one unit take one hal
day off could shift the whole project. They know what has and how to b
done, but just want to have an information about where the projec
stands right now and have a graphical illustration of the succession o
events

By the way, its the same with the budget. They don't want to go int
such detail as calculating the hourly payment of different employees
business trips expenses etc.. They just know that their project consist
of activities A, B, C, D etc. and they know the budget for each of them
It's fixed, because the municipality applies for the project and if the
are approved they get a fixed amount of money and are not allowed t
exceed it. That's why, I just treat the budgets for the different tas
as fixed costs. This way it's very easy to look at the task list (Trevo
Rabey, you are perfectly right about the "Task Sheet View", sorry
and know how much each part of the project costs

Thanks to all of you for the valuable advices and helpful remarks :-

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Trevor,

Where has your Task Sheet view gone?
Mine is alive and kicking!
Look in More views!

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[John]

O.K., I'll give some info about my project, because I see that my
question has sparked some concern

I am creating a project for a ministry. The ministry will coordinate
the project and wants to overview it, but most of the job will be done
by other institutions such as municipalities, commissions etc. So the
guys in the ministry just want to know who is responsible for which
tasks when they look in the task list. For example, if the task has to
be done by the municipality, they don't know how many people and who
exactly will perform it. They just say: here, municipality, you have 4
weeks for this and that's all that the project coordinator has and wants
to know. What's more, most of the task are some bureaucratic stuff, such
as issuing of permissions etc, so the durations of such things are
regulated by law anyway. All in all, there are about 4-5 resources in
the whole project - the ministry, a municipality and a couple of
commissions. That is why I don't need to know the resources availability
either, because each institution is going to manage the performance of
each task internally. I myself am acquainted (if not perfectly) with
the assignment units, task type, fixed duration settings, but I want to
keep it as simple as possible for them. The point is the whole planning
is not so detailed as in a company, where having one unit take one half
day off could shift the whole project. They know what has and how to be
done, but just want to have an information about where the project
stands right now and have a graphical illustration of the succession of
events.

By the way, its the same with the budget. They don't want to go into
such detail as calculating the hourly payment of different employees,
business trips expenses etc.. They just know that their project consists
of activities A, B, C, D etc. and they know the budget for each of them.
It's fixed, because the municipality applies for the project and if they
are approved they get a fixed amount of money and are not allowed to
exceed it. That's why, I just treat the budgets for the different task
as fixed costs. This way it's very easy to look at the task list (Trevor
Rabey, you are perfectly right about the "Task Sheet View", sorry )
and know how much each part of the project costs.

Thanks to all of you for the valuable advices and helpful remarks

Malkia,
It sounds like things are essentially backwards. I fully understand the
concept of fixed "projects" with "fixed" budgets, those are pretty
universal. However, to get a true picture of a project to be executed,
it needs to be planned out and reviewed for viability. The organization
who will be doing the project needs to lay out a detail plan complete
with assigned resources. If that project cannot be accomplished within
the fixed budget, then the potential performers need to tell the
ministry that is the case and either scale back or scrub the whole
thing. Once a detail plan is developed, it can be shown to the ministry
in summary form. The ministry may have to develop their own management
plan that includes tasks they will perform (i.e. award, reviews,
approvals, etc.).

This process creates a realistic project that has a high probability of
success on time and within budget. It also provides the powers-that-be
(i.e. ministry) with an overview which is just what they want/need.
Anything short of this type of planning will doom a project from the
start.

Hope this helps.

John
Project MVP

 

[MalkiaSashko]

Hi John

The project has already been reviewed for viability, all the financia
calculations has been done. Basically, the information about what has t
be done and which institutions have to do it is available, as well a
how much each part will cost. The plan is just on paper (infact on A LO
of papers), so my job is just to visualize the whole in MS Project

Regards
Alexande

 

[John]

Hi John,

The project has already been reviewed for viability, all the financial
calculations has been done. Basically, the information about what has to
be done and which institutions have to do it is available, as well as
how much each part will cost. The plan is just on paper (infact on A LOT
of papers), so my job is just to visualize the whole in MS Project.

Regards,
Alexander

Alexander,
What exactly do you mean, "the plan is just on paper"? Does it include a
timeline or network diagram? Was it developed with input from those who
will be performing the tasks or is it a top down guestimate? The former
has a much higher probability of success.

There must have been some level of detail planning. Otherwise how was
the viability reviewed and how were the calculations done down to the
level of how much each "part" will cost? I'd use that information to
create the plan in Project. However, if you really don't have the
necessary detail to create a real plan in Project, then you might as
well lay it out in Excel. You won't have a Gantt timeline but it will be
a whole lot easier to develop.

If for some reason you've just "gotta have it" in Project, then lay out
the Gantt with no resources assigned and use a spare fields (e.g. cost
and text) to enter budget and performer information. It won't be a real
plan but it will have basic information, (who and how much), with a
pretty Gantt bar picture, and it might make somebody feel good.

John
Project MVP

 

[Steve House]

There's a fundamental flaw in your logic. How is it even possible for the
duration and time planning to be independent of the resources and their
calendars? The project's duration is based on the amount of time it will
take to do the physical work that is required to create its end result.
Work only takes place when resources perform it and resources only work when
they are physically present. A task that is supposed to start tomorrow can
only start if the required resource is going to be here to do it. If he's
on vacation for a week, the schedule for the task has to be delayed a week
until he returns and if that task happens to lie on the critical path
through the project, the project end date will also be delayed a week
because of the resource's absence. Likewise, for most tasks, the length of
time it will take to complete, its duration, depends on how hard the
resources are working on it - if they give it their full attention it might
take a day but if they have other things on their plates at the same time or
if they spend too much time at the water cooler talking about the sports
scores it might take 2 days or 3 or 4. The way you're going about it, it
sounds like you're using Project as nothing more than a to-do list with a
colourfull timeline picture, not really a dynamic schedule management tool
at all.

 

[Steve House]

O.K., I'll give some info about my project, because I see that my
question has sparked some concern

I...>
By the way, its the same with the budget. They don't want to go into
such detail as calculating the hourly payment of different employees,
business trips expenses etc.. They just know that their project consists
of activities A, B, C, D etc. and they know the budget for each of them.
It's fixed, because the municipality applies for the project and if they
are approved they get a fixed amount of money and are not allowed to
exceed it. That's why, I just treat the budgets for the different task
as fixed costs. This way it's very easy to look at the task list (Trevor
Rabey, you are perfectly right about the "Task Sheet View", sorry )
and know how much each part of the project costs.

Thanks to all of you for the valuable advices and helpful remarks


--
MalkiaSashko
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You're not talking about a budget - you're talking about the amount that has
been allocated for the tasks. That is NOT the project budget. The budget
is a calculated bottom-up estimate of what it really will cost. Hopefully
that will be less than the amount allocated otherwise you'll run out of
money before the project is completed. But unless you work with estmated
costs for the work, you'll never know.

The idea is to build a plan that lets you compete the project on time and
within allowed cost. The ways you're going about it, you'll never know if
your proposed plan can be successful or not until it's too late to fix it.