SOLVED

How to correctly assign resources

Copper Contributor
Hello,
I am new to ms project.
I would like to assign resources to a project in the following way.
- I know the start and end date
- I have a maximum of hours available to spread over 3 resources
- 1 resource will make use of half of the total amount of hours and the other 2 only one quarter of the amount of hours
How should I set up the project and resources? I was told that it is not possible to create a project like this and that I can only assign resources based on a percentage of their daily work. Is it true?
Thank you,
Luca
10 Replies
lucamarchini6 --

Yes, what someone told you is true. You cannot assign resources the way you are describing. Sorry. But hope this helps.
This is very easy to do with Project Online and Project Desktop client given their advanced functionality, but this is not currently mimicked in P4W. Hopefully MS will add it in the near future
Brian --

Look at the user's exact resource requirements. If it is so easy to do, why don't you give the user the exact steps to do it?
Dale that was my point. With Project Online, it can be done. But it can't be done using Project for the Web. I feel her pain and hope MS will offer this type of functionality found in Online within P4W sooner than later.
Brian --

How do you know this user is using Project for the Web? Granted, people will sometimes use the words "Microsoft Project" when they actually mean Project for the Web. But what in the user's message indicates that he/she is using Project for the Web and not Microsoft Project? Just curious.
I guess it was my assumption. I didn't realize this was a general discussion, thought it was specific to P4W. My apologies if I misunderstood

Hi all,

thank you for the many replies. I am using MS Project Professional 2016.


I'll try to explain again the details (and as I said before, I am new to the software).

I have a task which can be started from a certain date and must be finished by a certain date. But the amount of hours paid by the project is fixed. The contractors assigned to the task can start to work on it and book hours to the task whenever they want (after the start date) but they don't necessary need to start on the defined start date. Of the three resources assigned 1 would get 60% of the available amount of hours, the second one 20% and the third one 10%.

 

Thank you for your help.

Luca

best response confirmed by lucamarchini6 (Copper Contributor)
Solution
Luca --

Since you provided this additional documentation about your problem, I now agree with Brian that it is pretty simple to assign resources the way you need to assign them to a single task. Here is what you will need to do:

1. Display the Gantt Chart view and then double-click the task in question.
2. In the Task Information dialog, click the Advanced tab.
3. On the Advanced page of the dialog, click the Task Type pick list and select the Fixed Duration task type.
4. Click the OK button.
5. For the selected task, enter a duration value measured in days in the Duration field.

The first five steps will "lock" the Duration of the task so that Microsoft Project will not change the Duration while you are assigning resources to the task.

6. Leave the task selected, then right-click anywhere in the white part of the Gantt Chart pane and select the Show Split item on the shortcut menu.
7. In the Task Form pane, select the names of each of the three resources you want to assign to the task.
8. In the Work column for each of the three resources, enter the amount of work measured in hours that you want to assign for each resource.
9. In the Task Form pane, click the OK button.

Microsoft Project will assign the resources to the task with the amount of work you specified for each of them. Hope this helps.

@Dale Howard 

Thank you so much!!

Luca --

You are more than welcome for the help, my friend. If my latest reply answered your question, would you please mark my response as the Best Response for your question? Thanks!
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by lucamarchini6 (Copper Contributor)
Solution
Luca --

Since you provided this additional documentation about your problem, I now agree with Brian that it is pretty simple to assign resources the way you need to assign them to a single task. Here is what you will need to do:

1. Display the Gantt Chart view and then double-click the task in question.
2. In the Task Information dialog, click the Advanced tab.
3. On the Advanced page of the dialog, click the Task Type pick list and select the Fixed Duration task type.
4. Click the OK button.
5. For the selected task, enter a duration value measured in days in the Duration field.

The first five steps will "lock" the Duration of the task so that Microsoft Project will not change the Duration while you are assigning resources to the task.

6. Leave the task selected, then right-click anywhere in the white part of the Gantt Chart pane and select the Show Split item on the shortcut menu.
7. In the Task Form pane, select the names of each of the three resources you want to assign to the task.
8. In the Work column for each of the three resources, enter the amount of work measured in hours that you want to assign for each resource.
9. In the Task Form pane, click the OK button.

Microsoft Project will assign the resources to the task with the amount of work you specified for each of them. Hope this helps.

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