Forum Discussion
Managing resources across multiple projects
Amit,
Please understand that Project Online is an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) system--and it is built expressly for managing a portfolio of "Enterprise Projects"--and sharing "Enterprise Resources" across those projects. Typically, a small number of your users will require the (more costly) Project Plan 3 license which enables them to build and maintain project schedules--using the Project Professional application. The bulk of your users will typically be those who are: (1) reviewing project information and/or (2) providing progress updates. This latter class of users are served by Project Web App (PWA) which is the browser-based access point to the project data--and they require only a Project Plan 1 license. So, get a Project Plan 3 license and start building some quality project schedules. Add the less-costly Project Plan 1 licenses as you need them. You do not need to be concerned with Project Plan 5 licenses.
You have the right product (Project Online) to do what you wish to do--sharing resources across projects! Licensing cost is very minimal (one Project 3 license) to get started. (BTW: The resource pool approach you mentioned is obsolete--the way things were done 20 years ago. So, disregard your concerns in that area.) Be aware that Project Online requires some "configuration" to tailor it to your organization--and there is an Administrator role (and expertise) required. There are specialized Microsoft partners and consultants who can assist with this setup--and they can help you grow your own Administrator capabilities--if that is appropriate. It would be ideal to rely on partners or consultants who have construction industry experience.
As ehannadataexpressinc indicated, you would need to use Project Online to manage the sharing of resources across multiple projects. It's not quite as easy as this user indicates to get started with Project Online, however. First you would need to get your Project Online instance created by your Office 365 administrator. Then you (or someone you designate) would need to serve as the Application Administrator to set up the Project Online instance to match your project management processes, and you would need to populate the Enterprise Resource Pool with your organization's resources. And then you would need to add your organization's project managers to the Project Online system. Each PM would need a Project Plan 3 license, by the way, and would need to use Project Online Professional (aka Microsoft Project) with Project Online.
You would then need to disconnect each of your projects from the shared resource pool (which is ancient technology, by the way) and then save each of these projects in the Project Online system. After that, you would need to replace the resources in each project with corresponding enterprise resources from the Enterprise Resource Pool. After doing this in each project, and publishing each project, someone in your organization could create a resource utilization and availability report in Power BI so that you can see the usage of each resource, and their availability for future projects.
Get the picture? It's not quite as easy as the other user made it sound. But it can be done. And there are lots of organizations who use Project Online in the manner I have described to manage the utilization of their resources. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much. That's really useful what you have given out. Gives me a definite direction in which to work my way through.
Many thanks
Amit