MicrosoftВ® Office Project 2007 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))

In this exercise, you will focus on resource allocation-how the task assignments you’ve made affect the workloads of the work resources (people and equipment) of a project. The relationship between a resource’s capacity and his or her task assignments is called allocation. Each work resource is in one of three states of allocation:

• Underallocated The resource’s assignments do not fill the resource’s maximum capacity. For example, a full-time resource who has only 25 hours of work assigned in a 40-hour work week is underallocated.

• Fully allocated The resource’s assignments fill the resource’s maximum capacity. For example, a full-time resource who has 40 hours of work assigned in a 40-hour work week is fully allocated.

• Overallocated The resource’s assignments exceed the resource’s maximum capacity. For example, a full-time resource who has 65 hours of work assigned in a 40-hour work week is overallocated.

In Microsoft Office Project 2007, a resource’s capacity to work is measured in units; the maximum capacity of a given resource is called maximum units. Units are measured either as numbers (such as three units) or as a percentage (such as 300% units).

It is tempting to say that fully allocating all resources on every occasion is every project manager’s goal, but that would be an oversimplification. Depending on the nature of your project and the resources working on it, some underallocations might be perfectly fine. Overallocation might not always be a problem either depending on the amount of overallocation. If one resource is overallocated for just one-half hour, Project will flag the overallocation, but such a minor overallocation might not be a problem you need to solve depending on the resource involved and the nature of the assignment. Severe overallocation-for example, a resource being assigned twice the work he or she could possibly accomplish in one day-is always a problem, however, and you should know how to identify it and maintain strategies for addressing it. This chapter helps you identify and remedy resource overallocation.

In this exercise, you look at resource allocations and focus on two resources who are overallocated.

Be Sure To start Microsoft Office Project 2007 if it’s not already running.

Open Short Film Project 9a from the \Documents\Microsoft Press\Project 2007 SBS\ Chapter 9 Advanced Plan folder. You can also access the practice files for this book by clicking Start, All Programs, Microsoft Press, Project 2007 Step by Step, and then selecting the chapter folder of the file you want to open.

1. On the File menu, click Save As.

The Save As dialog box appears.

2. In the File name box, type Short Film Project 9, and then click Save.

3. On the View menu, click More Views, click Resource Allocation, and then click the Apply button.

The Resource Allocation view appears. This is a split view, with the Resource Usage view on top and the Leveling Gantt Chart view on the bottom.

On the left side of the Resource Usage view is a table (the Usage table, by default) that shows assignments grouped per resource, the total work assigned to each resource, and each assignment’s work. This information is organized into an outline that you can expand or collapse.

The right side of the view contains assignment details (work, by default) arranged on a timescale. You can scroll the timescale horizontally to see different time periods. You can also change the tiers on the timescale to display data in units of weeks, days, hours, and so on.

The bottom pane shows the Leveling Gantt Chart view only for whatever resource or assignment (single or multiple) is selected in the upper pane.

4. On the Standard toolbar, click the Scroll To Task button.

Project scrolls the right side of the view to show some assignment details.

Next, you will collapse the outline in the table to see total work per resource over time.

5. Click the Resource Name column heading.

6. On the Project menu, point to Outline and then click Hide Assignments.

Project collapses the outline (assignments per resource) in the Resource Usage view. Resource assignments are hidden in the Usage table, and the resources’ total work values over time appear in the timescaled grid on the right.

Next, you will look at two work resources and their allocations.

7. In the Resource Name column, click the name of resource 4, Anne L.Paper.

8. On the Standard toolbar, click Scroll To Task.

Project scrolls the timescaled grid to show Anne L.Paper’s earliest assignment on Wednesday.

9. Point to the W column heading (for Wednesday) at the top of the timescaled grid.

A ScreenTip appears with the date of the assignment: 5/28/08. Such ScreenTips are handy in any timescaled view, such as the Resource Usage view or the Gantt Chart view.

Currently, the timescale is set to display weeks in the middle tier and days in the bottom tier. You will now change the timescale to see the work data summarized more broadly.

10. On the Format menu, click Timescale.

The Timescale dialog box appears.

The timescale can display up to three tiers, typically in descending order of detail, such as years, months, and days. However, the top tier is disabled by default.

11. Make sure that the Middle Tier tab is selected, and in the Units box under Middle tier formatting, click Months.

12. In the Show box under Timescale options, click One tier (Middle).

13. Click OK to close the Timescale dialog box.

Project changes the timescaled grid to show work values per month.

As you can see in the timescaled grid, Anne L.Paper is underallocated in each of the three months in which she has assignments in the project: May, June, and July. Anne is one of the actors assigned to the scenes in which her character is needed, so this underallocation is really not a problem you need to address.

Notice that the names of Clair Hector and other resources appear in red. The red formatting means that these resources are overallocated: at one or more points in the schedule, their assigned tasks exceed their capacity to work. In the timescaled grid notice that Clair’s 68 hours in May is formatted in red. Even though 68 hours within a month isn’t an overallocation, at some point in May (perhaps even for just one day) Clair is scheduled to work more hours than she can accommodate.

You will focus in on Clair Hector first by changing the timescale settings.

14. On the Edit menu, click Undo Timescale Edit.

Project resets the timescale back to its previous setting.

15. In the Resource Name column, click the name of resource 6, Clair Hector.

16. On the Standard toolbar, click Scroll To Task.

Project scrolls the timescaled grid to show Clair Hector’s earliest assignments. It appears that Clair has no overallocations.

17. Click the plus sign next to Clair Hector’s name in the Resource Name column.

Project expands the Resource Usage view to show Clair Hector’s individual assignments.

18. Scroll the Resource Usage view to the right to see both of Clair’s assignments on Monday, May 5. Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the Project window.

Clair’s total work that Monday, 10 hours, is formatted red, indicating the overallocation. Clair has two assignments on May 5: the two-hour task Staff planning meeting 9 (one instance of a recurring task) and the eight-hour task Select locations. If necessary, drag the horizontal divider bar down to show more of the Resource Usage view.

These two tasks have been scheduled at times that overlap between the hours of 8 A.M. and 10 A.M. (If you want to observe this, format the timescale to display days in the middle tier and hours in the bottom tier.) This is a real overallocation: Clair probably cannot complete both tasks simultaneously. However, it is a relatively minor overallocation given the scope of the project, and you don’t need to be too concerned about resolving this level of overallocation. However, there are other, more serious overallocations in the schedule that you will remedy later in this chapter.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind when viewing resource allocation:

• By default, the Resource Usage view displays the Usage table; however, you can display different tables. On the View menu, click Table: Usage, and then click the table you want displayed.

• By default, the Resource Usage view displays work values in the timescaled grid. However, you can display additional assignment values, such as cost and remaining availability. On the Format menu, point to Details, and then click the value you want displayed. To add to or customize the appearance of fields displayed in the Resource Usage view, click Detail Styles on the Format menu.

• Instead of using the Timescale command on the Format menu to change the tiers of the timescale, you can click the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons on the Standard toolbar. However, this method might not produce the exact level of detail you want. If it does not, use the Timescale command on the Format menu.

• To see allocations for each resource graphed against a timescale, you can display the Resource Graph view by clicking the Resource Graph command on the View menu. Use the arrow keys or horizontal scroll bar to switch between resources in this view.

• The Resource Management toolbar contains a handy collection of buttons when you’re looking at allocation issues, leveling resources, or performing other common activities that relate to resources. This toolbar is hidden by default. To display it, on the View menu, point to Toolbars and then click Resource Management.