Resource headcount

[Mike9865]

I am working on a project schedule and using MS Project for the first time, having used P6 in the past.  I am attempting to schedule a project with an expected headcount of 1500 concurrent field employees at peak.  We group the employees into crews, each consisting of 10 people.  Is it possible to assign a headcount to an individual resource?  Or do I have to make each employee and assign them to a team in order to achieve the desired effect?

Also, is it possible to assign quantities to a task?  For instance, the crews will be performing work on a test pack each of which has a total LF.  I would like to identified the total LF per test pack within project if possible.  

[#2]

Mike9865,
In Project you can set up resources either as individuals or as groups. In your case you want to create group resources (e.g. Engineers, Carpenters, Coders, etc.). Assuming a normal full time employee is represented by a Max Units of 1 or 100%, a group resource is simply the number of individuals in the group so for an engineering group with 10 people, the group Max Units would be 10 or 1000%

What exactly do you mean by "assign quantities to a task"? What type of quantities? And what is "LF"? Once we understand what you are trying to do, we can give a more definitive answer.

John

[#3]

@John-project Thanks for the feedback.  I believe I understand the direction for the resource and will proceed accordingly.

Regarding the second request, each crew will be working on sections of pipe.  Each section of pipe has a quantity of linear feet (LF) associated with it.  I would like to create a field in the task that identifies the linear footage of each task if possible.

Have another question for you as well.  Can MS project allow me to assign two constraints to a task?  I attempted to use the deadline task and a start no earlier than constraint but the logic ignores the deadline when scheduling.  P6 allows for secondary constraints but I don't see a field on the advance tab for that in Project.  

[#4]

Mike,
To associate the linear feet for a specific task use an extra field such as the Task Number1 field. Just enter the desired value. If however, the linear feet of pipe is really a material and you want to track cost for that material, create a material type resource. You can specify cost per foot.

With regard to your new question, I can't imagine a scenario wherein a task would have more than one constraint, but then "constraint" has a very specific meaning for Project and maybe all you are referring to is task dependencies. In a well structured plan there should be no constraints on tasks. Task starts are either determined by the project start date or a series of predecessor tasks with a normal finish-to-start dependency. Constraints such as start-no-earlier-than might be appropriate for certain tasks that have a start independent of any other task (e.g. a material or resource is only available after a certain date).

The Deadline field in Project is used for critical path calculations and is not a constraint on the task.

Hope this helps.
John