microsoft project how to assign resources

Add resources to your project

Resources are typically people included in your project plan, whether or not they are assigned to tasks. However, a resource could also include anything that is used to complete a project, including equipment and other materials (such as cement or web servers).

You can add several types of resources to your project.

Enterprise resources An enterprise resource is a part of the list of resources for the whole organization; therefore, each of these resources can be shared across multiple projects. Typically, the list of enterprise resources is managed by an administrator, and each project manager adds these resources to their projects as needed.

Non-enterprise resources A non-enterprise resource, or local resource , is not a part of the list of resources for the whole organization. No other project manager can use your non-enterprise resources in their projects.

Generic resources Generic resources are used to specify the staffing requirements for a project, such as carpenters and developers, or a team of resources.

What do you want to do?

Add enterprise resources to your project (project professional only), add generic enterprise resources to your project (project professional only), add non-enterprise generic resources to your project (project professional only).

On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, choose Resource Sheet .

(In Project 2007, choose View > Resource Sheet , and then choose View > Table > Entry .)

In the Resource Name field, type a job title, material, or generic resource name.

If you want to designate resource groups, then in the Group field for the resource name, type the name of the group.

Specify the resource type.

To specify that this resource is a work resource, in the Type field, select Work .

To specify that this resource is a material resource, in the Type field, select Material . In the Material Label field, type the label (for example, yards , tons , or boxes ) for the resource.

To specify that this resource is a cost resource, in the Type field, select Cost .

In the Max. Units field for the resource, type the number of total units that this resource is available for this project. The maximum units value specifies how much of this resource is available for this project — for example, part-time or multiples.

For example, if you have a resource who is available for your project two days a week, you can enter a maximum units value of 40% . You can use maximum units to specify multiple availability of a resource designation. For example, suppose you have a resource named Engineers , a single resource that represents three individual engineers on your team. You can enter the maximum units for Engineers as 300%. You can schedule all three engineers for full-time work at one time without the Engineers resource being overallocated.

You can enter maximum units as a percentage ( 50% , 100% , 300% ), or as a decimal ( 0.5 , 1 , 3 ).

To create a budget resource, select the resource, right-click the resource name, and then choose Information . Select the Budget check box.

You can add a work resource and associated information by using your MAPI email address book, from the Active Directory, or from Microsoft Project Server. On the Resource tab, in the Insert group, choose Add Resources , and then choose Build Team from Enterprise (Project Professional only), Active Directory , or Address Book . (In Project 2007, choose Insert > New Resource From , and then choose Address Book , Active Directory , or Project Server .)

Top of Page

On the Resource tab, in the Insert group, choose Add Resources > Build Team from Enterprise .

(In Project 2007, choose Tools > Build Team from Enterprise .)

In the Build Team from Enterprise dialog box, in the Existing filters box, select the filter that you want to apply. The filtered list of enterprise resources is displayed in the Enterprise Resource column. Any resources already assigned to your project team are listed in the Project Resource column.

To search for resources who are available to work a specific number of hours during a particular time range, select the Available to work check box. Enter the amount of time a resource needs to be available to work, and then select the date range by using the From and To boxes.

In the Enterprise Resource column, select the enterprise resource that you want to add to your project, and then choose Add . To select multiple resources, hold down CTRL while you select each resource.

To find enterprise resources that match the skills and other attributes of one of your team's existing resources, select the resource that you want to match under Project Resource , and then choose Match .

To replace an existing resource with an enterprise resource, in the Project Resource column, select the resource or generic resource that you want to replace. Under Enterprise Resource , select the new enterprise resource, and then choose Replace .

When you replace a resource, the replaced resource is not removed if they have completed any actual work. The replacement resource is assigned the remaining work.

To add a proposed resource to the project team, in the Book column, choose Proposed .

To view a graph of a selected resource's availability, choose Graphs .

Choose OK .

Adding an enterprise resource to your project allows you only to assign the resource to a task on your project. You cannot make changes to the attributes of enterprise resources, such as pay rates or availability.

If you want to add resources to the list of available enterprise resources, you must import the resources.

On the Resources tab, in the Insert group, choose Add Resources > Build Team from Enterprise .

If there are more than 1,000 enterprise resources, you can filter the list of resources by using enterprise outline codes. Outline codes are defined based upon the requirements of your organization.

Under Customize filters , select Generic in the Field Name column, select Equals in the Test column, and then type Yes in the Values column.

Choose Apply filter to apply the filter settings to the list of enterprise resources.

In the Enterprise Resource column, select the generic resource that you want to add to your project, and then choose Add . To select multiple resources, hold down CTRL while you select each resource.

(In Project 2007, select Resource Sheet on the View menu.)

In the Resource Name column, type a name for the generic resource, such as "carpenter."

Right-click the resource name, and choose Information . In the Resource Information dialog box, select the General tab, and then select the Generic check box

On the Custom Fields tab, under Custom Fields , enter values for any fields that are required for this generic resource.

Because these custom fields are unique to each organization, see your administrator for answers to any questions about their use.

Note: You can add any generic resource to the list of enterprise resources. You might have to specify other attributes for the resource, such as calendars and skill sets, depending upon the requirements of your organization.

There are two ways to add resources to your projects:

Build Team Using the Build Team feature, you can search for enterprise resources that have the required skills to complete the tasks in your project.

Resource plan During project initiation, before a detailed project plan with tasks and assignments has been prepared, you can use a resource plan to represent the resource requirements for the project at a high level. This is helpful when you need to advise the resource managers and department managers of upcoming work, but you do not know the specific tasks or resources that will make up the project plan.

Note: You can create and view resource plans only by using Project Web Access. The resource plans are not visible in Project Professional, and the plans do not limit the resource availability within Project.

Add resources to a project by using Build Team

Create a resource plan for a project proposal.

On the Quick Launch, choose Projects .

Select the row for the project that you want to build a team for, and then choose Build Team .

On the Build Team page, a list of resources on the left shows all the resources that you have permission to see within the resource breakdown structure code for your organization. The list on the right shows the resources that are already assigned in your project.

Select the resources on the left that you want to assign to the project, and then choose Add . Select the resource by selecting the check box next to the resource.

To create a list on the left that contains only those resources that have skills that match a resource on the right, select the resource on the right, and then choose Match .

Finding resources in this way is particularly helpful when you have generic resources in your project and you want to find real resources (people) with the same skills to replace the generic resources.

If you want to replace the resource on the right with the resource on the left, select both the resource on the left and the resource on the right, and then choose Replace . If the resource has actual work values recorded for tasks, that resource cannot be used in the project.

Under Booking Type , select Committed if you want to commit the resource to the project, or select Proposed if you do not yet have authorization to commit the resource to the project.

Tip: To see a graph showing the availability of the selected resources before you add them to your schedule, select the resources on the left, and then choose Graph .

Choose Save Changes to add the new resources to your project.

You can also create a filter to see only a subset of resources on the Build Team page:

In the Filter list, select the filter that you want to apply.

Select a field in the Field Name list and a test in the Test list. In the Value list, select a value to test for, or set a range of values by typing two values separated by a comma (,).

If the filter contains more than one criterion row, select an operator in the And/Or column to start a new row.

To test whether the filter will return valid results before you apply it to your resources, choose Validate Filters .

Choose OK to apply the filter to the list of resources.

Note: Project managers may not be able to view and assign all resources in their organization. See your server administrator if you need permission to build a team.

On the Quick Launch, under Projects , choose Proposals and Activities .

Select the project for which you want to create a resource plan, and then choose Resource Plan .

In the Date range and Units boxes, type a date range and the time units to display in the timephased part of the resource plan table.

In the Display Units box, indicate whether you want the values in the resource table to show hours, days, or FTEs (full-time equivalents).

To determine how the summary resource assignments are presented in the reports that you can generate from Project Web Access, in the Calculate resource utilization from section, select one of the following:

Project plan If you want to calculate resource availability from all assignments within the project, but not from the project's resource plan, select this option.

Resource plan If you want to calculate resource availability by using resource information in the resource plan, select this option.

Project Plan until If you want to calculate resource availability from all assignments within the project until a specific date, select this option. The resource utilization from the resource plan will be used to determine the resource availability after the specified date.

Select the Show total work check box to show the total hours in the resource plan table instead of timephased values.

In the Items per page box, type the maximum number of lines to display in the resource plan table.

Choose Apply to apply the setting to the resource grid without saving.

Choose Publish to publish the plan so that it appears as a project proposal within the Project Center.

If you want to save the proposal without publishing it, choose Save . Other team members will not be able to see the proposal in the Project Center.

Why can't I perform some actions in Project Web Access?

Depending on the permissions settings you used to log on to Project Web Access, you may not be able to see or use certain features. Also, what you see on some pages may differ from what is documented if your server administrator customized Project Web Access and did not customize the Help to match.

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MS Project - Assign Resources to Task

Once the task and resource list are complete, resources need to be assigned to tasks in order to work on them. With MS Project you can track task progress, resource and tasks costs.

Assign Material Resource to Task

You can also select multiple resources to work on a single task.

Here let’s choose “Hitesh”. Now click the Assign button.

The window is split in two, Gantt Chart view and Task Form view below it.

Assign Cost Resource to Tasks

In the following example below, let’s choose “Travel” as cost resource and enter the cost at $800.

We can also assign other material resources to the same task.

Assigning resources to tasks - Auto Schedule Mode

In this article we will show you step-by-step how to add resources to tasks in MS Project's Auto Schedule Mode.

Need to learn MS Project? Why not join one of our small Microsoft Project classes in Los Angeles call us on 888.815.0604.

Note: the Resource’s Units on this Task are by default set to the Resource’s Maximum Units for this project set in the Resource Sheet, but you can edit the Resource’s Units on this Task to a lower % if required. The costs for a work type resource are displayed but cannot be amended here.

GanttProject: Adding a Resource

Assistance in finding resources with available working time

In the assign resources dialog box:.

Note : In the Assign Resources dialog box, there is a Graph button. This feature has changed from the previous versions of project. When you click the Graph button you will see a split screen view with the Gantt chart in the top half of the screen and the Resource Graph view in the bottom half. You can right click the graph to display further details:

Assigning additional resources to reduce task duration

If you later assign additional resources to a task, by default the work on the task is initially shared equally between the Resources and the Duration is reduced . However, you can modify the work allocated to each resource using the Task Entry View:

Also see How Project recalculates the task duration in Auto Schedule mode

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Lesson 5: Assign Resources to Tasks

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Once a project schedule is created, it will usually have to be altered to avoid overallocating a particular resource (for instance, a subcontractor), which will cause the schedule to be held up. Assignments are the last step of data to enter into the project schedule and they reflect who works on a task. Knowing how to allocate resources will help keep you in control of your project from start to finish. By assigning resources to tasks, you can make sure that you have enough resources to accomplish the tasks in your project. You assign people and equipment in the same way. You assign resources to tasks to clarify responsibility for getting those tasks done. Assigning resources also helps you determine how long it will take for a task to get done, and, if you track costs, how much the task will cost.

You should assign resources to tasks when your goal is to:

- Track the amount of work done by the people and equipment assigned to the tasks.

- Ensure high accountability and understanding of the project --- responsibilities are clear, which decreases the risk of tasks being overlooked.

- Have greater flexibility in planning when and how long tasks take to complete.

- Monitor resources with too little or too much work assigned.

- Keep track of resource costs.

Step by step on how to assign resources to tasks:

1. Assign resource using Resource Names column in the Gantt Chart view.

If Resource Name column is not present in your table, right click on grid columns and click on insert column then select "Resource Names".

1. You can import Team Members using the Assign Team Members dialog (menu Team - Assign - Team Member) or by adding them from Gantt Chart.

2. When you open the Resource Names drop-down menu, you will get a list of all resources in your project and the Team Members (marked with an icon). Note that all the Team Members are visible in this list (imported or not). Selecting any Team Member in this list will import it to the current project (only once). If you want to add a new Team Member, click Add Team Member button and the following dialog will be opened.

After clicking on the Add Team Member button, John will be added as a Team Member .

Note that Imported Team Members that are assigned to tasks are shown in the Resource Names with a distinct icon in front of their name.

2. Assign Resource using Task Information dialog

Open Task Information dialog and in Resource tab write or select the resource/resources you want to add. Set the resource units or the number of items.

3. Assign Resource using Assign resources dialog.

Select the desired task in the grid then go to menu Team - Assign - Resource . In Assign Resource dialog, select the desired resource and click on Assign button. Set the resource units or the number of items.

Note: If a task is not selected and we click on the Assign – Team Member or Resource buttons from the Team menu, a message will warn you that you must select a task in order to use this option.

4. Assign resource type Material .

First add resources like equipment and materials using Resource Sheet view.

Define resource type using Type column - select Material type.

Then, go to Gantt Chart view, locate in Resource Names column the desired material resource.

Note: If you have a single task with a lot of people assigned, making changes in the Resource Names column may not work.

For tasks where you need a lot of resources assigned, it's best to make your assignments, and make changes to those assignments, in the Task Information dialog box. On the Resources tab, you can assign a longer list of resources to the task.

With regard to resource assignment, there are two types of scheduling generally met in project management:

1. Fixed deadline and unlimited resources - it is the case when adhering to a strict deadline is mandatory, and the project manager must do whatever it takes to meet the deadline;

2. Limited resources - when the resources are limited but the deadline is flexible; in this situation the PM is not allowed to hire new persons; overallocation is allowed, corresponding to resources working more than 8 hours a day (extra-working hours), and this degenerates in a more flexible deadline.

Project Plan 365 implements the two scheduling policies above regarding resource assignment and, also, a third one.

In the first scenario described above, the PM estimates the maximum duration for each task such that the whole project will meet the deadline. Then, it assigns all the resources necessary to accomplish the activity in the given period. If you are in this situation while planning, then Project Plan 365 must use the "Fixed Duration" policy.

In the second scenario, instead estimating the duration of the task, you should estimate the total amount of work required to accomplish the task (that is the number of hours required by a single person to do the task). After setting the work field, you assign the resources you have and the duration of the task will be computed based on the assignment. In this situation, Project Plan 365 must use "Fixed Units" policy.

The current section describes resource assignment under "Fixed Units".

You can assign one resource, a part-time resource, multiple resources, or multiple units of the same resource to a task. Project Plan 365 displays the percentage of time a resource is assigned to a task, and the number of multiple resources assigned to the task, next to the resource name by the task bar on the Gantt Chart. You can remove a resource from a task at any time. If you want to remove a resource from a task, simply delete the resource name values from the Resource Names cell corresponding to that task. Use the Undo option if you want to restore the assignment.

When assigning a resource of type work, this may work full time at a given task, or part time. You indicate the percent of the work day dedicated by the resource to the task in units: 1 unit (or 100%) is equivalent to full time. Project Plan 365 allows resource assignments with 0% units and resource assignments that exceed 100% units. A resource assignment with 50% units corresponds to 4 hrs/day, while a resource assignment with 200% units corresponds to 16 hrs/day. If two resources are allocated to the same task, the total number of Resource Units assigned to that task is 250% or simply 2.5.

The first time you add resources to a task, you will notice that a value for the work field is computed for that task. The formula used to compute work is: task work = task duration x assignment units . If you edit again the assignment (i.e. the Resources names field), you will see that duration gets modified while the value of work is kept constant. If you modify the total amount of work required for the task and edit the work field, the duration is recomputed. Changes in duration draw updates on work. This is the scheduling behavior at resource assignment under the "Fixed Units" policy.

Assign a resource

1. by typing its name in the cell from Resource Names column in Gantt Chart view

2. in Task Information Resource tab type the name of the resource in cell

3. use Resource Name cell and select from a resource from the drop-down list of available resources

4. to assign a resource part-time, type a decimal fraction in the Units field to represent the percentage of working time you want the resource to spend on the task

5. to assign several different resources, select them

6. to assign more than one of the same resource, such as two carpenters, type the number of units in the Units field

Units - The number of units or the quantity of a resource assigned to a task. For example, if you have a plumbing task, you could assign two units, or two plumbers, to the task. If you have one plumber, you could assign 0.5 units (half of the plumber's time) to the task.

Once a resource is assigned to a task, the resource name will be displayed in Resource Name column and in Gant panel on the right side of gantt representation.

If you do not enter resource information, Project Plan 365 calculates your schedule using just task duration and task relationships information.

Resource assignments affect the length of time it takes to complete a task. Based on your resource assignments, Project Plan 365 also calculates costs for resources and tasks, if you entered cost information, and the amount of work completed.

Changing a resource assignment may change the duration of the task.

Practice

1. If you look in the current commercial construction project, you will notice that so far, since no resource was assigned to a task, no work is conducted yet in the project. So if you switch to the Gantt Chart and look in the Work column, you will notice that we only have zero values.

2. Now, let's start entering assignments in our commercial construction project plan. To assign a resource to a task, click in the Resource Names cell and use the drop-down arrow to select a resource from the pick list. This is better than typing in the name in case you get the spelling wrong. You may need to resize the Resource Names column by dragging it to the right to reveal more content of it. Please keep in a mind that if you enter in the Resource Names cell a new resource name different than the resources you already have entered in Resource Sheet, a new resource will be automatically created and added for you in the list from Resource Sheet. Let’s consider that the task called Receive notice to proceed and sign contract has allocated the resource named G.C. General Management. You will see that in the displayed drop-down there are listed in an alphabetical order all of our resources, regardless of their type. Check in this list G.C. General Management so it will be assigned to the task. Press on another cell so that the change is applied.

3. When assigning a resource of type work, this may work full time at a given task, or part time. You indicate the percent of the work day dedicated by the resource to the task in units: 1 unit (or 100%) is equivalent to full time. Assignment units indicate how much of the resource's available time, according to the resource calendar, is being used to work on a particular task. In our previous case, since no assignment unit was explicitly specified, it is considered to be 100% or the resource works full-time to the task. Keep in mind that assigning resources using the ‘Resource Names’ column will assign by default resources to tasks at 100% units.

4. The first time you add resources to a task, you will notice that a value for the work field is computed for that task. For our task, the automatically computed work value is of 24 hrs. This value is computed based on the scheduling formula:

Work = Duration * Resource Units , where:

In our case, the duration is of 3 days and we have assigned to the task a resource with a Standard calendar that is working full-time, 8 hours/day. This results in a work of 24 hours for this task.

5. Notice that once the assignment was made, the resource name will appear next to the taskbar in the right Gant Chart panel. Select this task and then in the Task menu, press on Scroll To option. This will help you to quickly locate in the right chart the taskbar corresponding to this task. This is the default formatting of displaying the assigned resource name to the right of the taskbar. However, this behaviour can be changed by customizing the display of the taskbars in Gantt Chart.

6. We will continue with assigning resources to tasks in our project and proceed in the same way as before. Suppose that for the completion of Install millwork and wood trim task it is needed the G.C. Finish Carpenter Crew resource. Locate this task and in the list from the Resource Names cell select this resource to assign it to the task. In this case, the computed work is of 120 hours, corresponding to a task duration of 3 weeks, each week consisting of 5 days, when the resource is working full-time, 8 hrs/day.

7. Next we will assign Electric Contractor to the Install conduit at ceiling plenum space task, for Install duct in ceiling plenum space task allocate HVAC Contractor resource. Then for Install ceiling grid and Install ceiling tile tasks we will need the Drywall Contractor resource.

8. Notice that the assignment of Drywall Contractor, which is a part-time resource, draws some changes in the scheduling. This causes the finish date of the task to move later on in time, incurring also changes in the parent summary task and in the project summary task.

9. For the Hang wallpaper task we will need the Painting Contractor, for the Complete elevator inspection and certification task we will need Elevator Contractor, for Install hard tile flooring in common areas we will need Tile Contractor, for Substantial completion date we will need G.C. Superintendent and for Issue final completion documents including warranties we will need G.C. Project Management.

10. So far we’ve only added only one resource to each task, but we can have more than one resource allocated to a task. Using the drop-down list from Resource Names cell we can assign at a task multiple resources at once. Let’s do this for the task called Rough-in electric and plumbing in elevator. In the displayed drop-down list, we just need to select all the resources needed for the completion of this task, let’s say Plumbing Contractor and Electric Contractor. After pressing on another cell, notice the name of the two resources separated by a comma, that appears in the Resource Names cell.

11. Besides work resources, we can also use this method to assign material resources to tasks. Bear in mind that unlike work resources, assigning material resources to a task does not affect task scheduling. Let’s suppose that for the Paint walls and woodwork task we require a Painting Contractor and 1 liter of Painting Material. In the drop-down list for this task, just check Painting Contractor and Painting Material.

Once doing this, you will notice that the name of the material resource will be followed in brackets by its material label that we’ve specified in Resource Sheet. 1 liter written within the square brackets signifies that for this task we need one liter, meaning 1 unit from the Painting Material.

12. A similar thing is for task called Pour concrete elevator walls. Let’s assume that for its completion we need the G.C. Concrete Crew and 1 ton of Concrete. Select these two resources from the drop-down list. The name of the Concrete resource will be followed like previously by its material label.

13. Using the drop-down list displayed in the Resource Names cell was a quick and easy method of assigning resources to our tasks. The only issue with this method is that there is no option in the dropdown that could allow us to specify units for a particular assignment. If you want to specify how much of a resource should be assigned to a certain task, you have to edit the Resource Names cell and type this assignment unit directly in this cell. Notice that you can also assign a resource to a task by directly typing a value in the Resource Names cell. Let’s say that for the Pour column piers and foundations task we need to indicate an assignment unit of 150% for the G.C. Concrete Crew resource, meaning that we need for this task more than 1 unit of the same resource. For this, in the Resource Names cell we will type G.C. Concrete Crew[150%]. Notice that after the name of the resource, within the square brackets we indicate the assignment units. Project Plan 365 supports resource assignments that exceed 100% units.

14. For the Strip wall forms task, we will proceed in a similar manner by directly typing in the Resource Names cell. In this case, we will specify an assignment unit less than 100%. The resource called G.C. Labor Crew spend his time on other tasks from this project and can allocate to this task only 10% of this time. To indicate this, in the Resource Names cell we will type G.C. Labor Crew[10%]. In this case, we have a task duration of 2 days, the assignment unit is 10%, so to compute the work for this task we have to multiply 2 by 8, which corresponds to a 100% assignment units when the resource is working full-time 8 hrs/day according to the Standard calendar. But since here we only have 10% assignments units, the resulted work for this task is 1.6 hrs. If you look in the right side of Gantt Chart, notice that like in the Resource Names cell in the left, for this resource, besides its name it also appear the assignment units.

15. Also for the material resources that we’ve previously assigned in our project, we see next to the taskbar, the name of the material resource followed by the material label.

16. Another way of assigning a resource to a task is to use the Task Information dialog. This method is especially useful if you don’t want to type the assignment units by yourself in the Resource Names cell. Also for tasks where you need a lot of resources assigned, it's best to make your assignments, and make changes to those assignments, in the Task Information dialog box. Select for instance the task called Prepare and submit project schedule, and in the Task menu press on Task Information option. In the Task Information dialog that shows up, go to the Resources tab. If you select the Resource Name cell, you will see that again in the displayed drop-down, the resources are listed alphabetically. Let’s suppose that for this task I need full-time the G.C Scheduler and only 25% of the G.C. Project Management resource. First we will select G.C. Project Management from the displayed list. To specify 25% assignment units for this task, in the Units field type 25. Select another cell so that the drop-down list closes. Then, move to the below row and here when pressing in the Resource Name cell, we will select G.C Scheduler. On the row corresponding to this resource, notice that 100% Units is filled by default for you, meaning that the resource is working full-time on this task.

17. In this way, we've indicated that for this task, the G.C. Project Management resource is assigned part-time, having in the Units column, a percentage less than 100. More exactly 25% means that the resource is spending a quarter of its available time on this assignment. Even if the resource is a full-time resource, some assignments may require only a part-time effort, leaving the remaining time available for another assignments or projects. Press OK in this dialog, so that all these changes will have effect. If we look in the Resource Names column for this task, we now see the resources that we’ve just assigned before.

18. Now let’s use again the Task Information dialog to assign some resources to other tasks in our project. Select the task called Excavate foundations and open for it the Task Information dialog. We need for this task two resources: G.C. Labor Crew and Site Grading Contractor, with an assignment unit of 50%, being allocated part-time to this task. Like before, first we will select G.C. Labor Crew in the drop-down list. As a tip, to find more quickly a resource in this drop-down list, if you type the first letter of the resource name, you will be offered some suggestion based on the resource name. In the second row we will select Site Grading Contractor. Then type in the Units cell 50. In this way, we’ve specified that the Site Grading Contractor is spending half the available time on this assignment.

19. Now for the Perform architect's inspection task we will indicate that we need for its completion G.C. Superintendent and G.C. Project Management resources, both of them working part-time on this task. We will introduce these assignments by using again the Task Information dialog.

20. For the task below this one, we need the same resources with the same assignment units as before. To specify this more quickly, we will use copy and paste to copy these assignments from the Resource Names cell. Position on the Resource Names cell for the Perform architect's inspection task and in the Task menu, press Copy. Then position in the Resource Names cell from the below task and press on Paste. You will notice that the same content as in the above cell was copied here in the Resource Names cell corresponding to Perform Fire Marshal's inspection task.

21. Using the same Task Information dialog make the following assignments:

a. for Submit bond and insurance documents task assign G.C. Project Management,G.C. General Management[25%] resources

b. for Obtain building permits task assign G.C. Project Management[50%],G.C Procurement[50%] resources

c. for Submit preliminary shop drawings task assign G.C. Project Management[50%],G.C Procurement[50%] resources,

d. for Submit shop drawings and order long lead items - steel task assign Steel Erection Contractor Management resource

e. for Submit shop drawings and order long lead items - roofing task assign Roofing Contractor Management resource

f. for Detail, fabricate and deliver steel task assign Steel Erection Contractor Management[50%],Steel Erection Contractor[50%] resources

g. for Install temporary power task assign Electric Contractor resource

h. for Set up site office task assign G.C. Superintendent,G.C. Labor Crew[10%] resources

i. for Prepare site - lay down yard and temporary fencing task assign Site Grading Contractor,G.C. Labor Crew[10%] resources

j. for Prepare site - lay down yard and temporary fencing task assign Site Grading Contractor,G.C. Labor Crew[10%] resources

k. for Clear and grub site task assign Site Grading Contractor resource

l. for Rough grade site (cut and fill) task assign Site Grading Contractor resource, for Install exterior fire line and building fire riser task assign Plumbing Contractor resource

l. for Perform final site grading task assign Site Grading Contractor resource

m.for Cure elevator wall concrete task assign G.C. Labor Crew[10%] resource

n. for Prepare and pour concrete floor in elevator pit task assign G.C. Concrete Crew resource

o. for Remove debris from building and do final clean-up task assign Tile Contractor[50%] resource

p. for Issue final request for payment task assign G.C. Project Management[33%],G.C Accounting[33%],G.C. General Management[33%] resources.

If you prefer to see things in action, rather than reading text, watch out this video , which covers some of the topics from this section.

How to Allocate Resources in Microsoft Project

Last Updated: March 28, 2019

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Microsoft Project is a project management software application branded under the Microsoft Office suite. The application allows users to control all aspects of managing a project, including budgeting, scheduling, and resource management. For this reason, the software is used heavily in the construction and engineering industries. One of the most important but often overlooked parts of the project management process is allocating resources properly. Once a project schedule is created, it will usually have to be altered to avoid over-allocating a particular resource (for instance, a subcontractor), which will cause the schedule to be held up. Knowing how to allocate resources in Microsoft Project will help keep you in control of your project from start to finish.

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Begin your task duration estimates by estimating the total number of man-hours needs to complete the task. By focusing on man-hours rather than total workdays, you take into account how many resources will be needed.

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Always involve the people who will be performing the work in the duration estimation process. This generally increases accuracy and improves morale. ⧼thumbs_response⧽ Helpful 5 Not Helpful 0

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http://www.techrepublic.com/article/estimate-task-size-to-allocate-resources-in-microsoft-project/1064497

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Assign Resources to Tasks in MS Project

by Vivek Prakash | Nov 24, 2020 | Blog , MS Project | 2 comments

Questions, this post answers:

Assigning Resources to Activities in MS Project

In previous post we discussed about adding resources to our resource list. Now let’s look into assigning these resources to project activities. We should use Assign Resources on Resource Tab to assign the resources. For different type of resources, we need to provide different specification while assigning. Assign Resources feature facilitates proving different specification.

For work resources, we need to provide allocation in percentage. For example I assign only 25% of a senior engineer and 100% of a junior engineer to an engineering task because senior engineer will provide oversight and junior engineer will perform the work.

We assign quantity of material to a task which was estimated to be consumed when task is performed. For example I assign 50 bags of cement to a construction activity.

For cost resources, we provide estimated expenses while assigning a cost resource. For example, I assign travel to a survey activity 5000 rupees because I estimated INR 5000 for the travel.

Assign a resource to an activity

Assigning Work Resources

Under work resources, we include two types of resources – human resources and equipment. Work resources are the resources that perform work. Their assignment directly impact the duration of the tasks. We assign work resources in terms of percentage. If you assign a work resource without mentioning the percentage, it will be fully assigned i.e. assignment will be 100% to that tasks.

If you do not specify any percentage in the “Units” column, the resource will be fully (100%) assigned to the tasks.

If you want to assign multiple resources to a tasks, select multiple resources by pressing control key at the step 1.

Please refer the following figure

Assign Resources to Tasks in MS Project - 1

The implementation of work resources is like that if you add or remove resources from a task, the work (efforts) gets recalculated. If we increase or decrease percentage allocation of the assigned resources, the duration gets recalculated. There if you increase the percentage allocation, there duration decreases and if you decrease the percentage allocation, the duration increases.

If you want to changes the percentage allocation of a resource without affecting the duration, never changes the percentage allocation instead unassigns the resource and reassign with correct percentage allocation.

Assigning Material Resources

The purpose of assigning material resources to tasks is to plan the consumption of the material. During execution, our plan tells us how much material is required at any points of time. This helps the project manager to check the store whether sufficient material is available. This will avoid any kind of delay due to unavailability of the material.

We have two methods to assign material resources to tasks

We assign a material resource as follows…

Assigning fixed units

Refer the figure below

Assigning variable units

Refer the following figure…

Assigning Cost Resources

Cost resources are incidental expenses and therefore there is no rate like work or material resources applicable here. In the resources list, only name of the cost resources was mentioned. When we will assign a cost resource to a task, we specify the planned cost.

The cost column is editable only for cost resources. For work and material resources, the cost column is not editable but calculated by MS Project.

At the end, we should remember that we always assign resources to activities/tasks and not to any Summary Task. If you assign resources to a summary tasks, the resource may get allocated twice and resource will appear as over-allocated.

How was your experience while assigning resources to tasks? Did you face any problem? Did you find any better way to assign the resources? Please write your thoughts in the comments section below, I look forward to reading your comments and responding to them.

very detailed and informative explanation..i am sure by reading this article resource assignment will be cake of piece for project team.Appreciate your knowledge sharing efforts.

Thank you Zafar for your kind words. Nice to learn that you link the blog.

microsoft project how to assign resources

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