Two resources changing their base calendar simultaneously

[BrunoRB]

Hi,

I'm using Project Professional 2019.

I've created some base calendar for all the projects that I have. 

I have two resources that when I change the base calendar of one of them, the other one is changed too, in a way that I can't choose differents base calendar for this two resource.

I don't know if this is a issue or not, maybe someone experienced this and knows what is wrong... 

Thanks!

[#2]

@BrunoRB 

How exactly did you create the two base calendars?

A screen shot of your Resource Sheet showing the resources and the Base Calendars might help.

Project has three types of calendars, the Project calendar which all tasks and resources follow unless otherwise noted. To change a task's calendar, use either the Task Calendar field when in a task view (e.g. Gantt Chart) or Advanced tab of the Task Information window. To change a resource's calendar, select an alternate calendar via the Base Calendar field on the Resource Sheet or select the resource on the Resource Sheet and go to, Project > Change Working Time and create a custom resource calendar. Note, the latter is basically creating an exception calendar to the selected Base Calendar for that resource.

John

[#3]

@John-project 

I create one base calendar for each project that I work with... I create them using Project > Change Working Time > Create New Calendar ...

Then I add the calendar to each resource, using the table "Entry - Work Resouces", as you can see in the picture below.

But for some reason, when I change de Base calendar of resource ID 6 it changes the Base calendar for resource ID 11, as you can see in the next picture.

So, I don't know if resources have some "hidden link", I don't remember if I copied and pasted the resources in a way they got linked somehow, this is a problem that is bothering me lately.

Thanks for the help!

[#4]

BrunoRB,
Thanks for the screen shots. Nothing pops out but I do see you are using a Resource Pool file and for some reason the Resource Sheet is sorted (i.e. resource IDs are not sequential). That makes me wonder if you perhaps have duplicated resources (i.e. Resource ID 6 is in fact the same as Resource ID 11, one exists in the pool and the other exists in the sharer file).

Tell us more about the structure of your project files.
1. Does each project use resources from the pool file or is there a mixture (i.e. some use the pool while others use "own resources")
2. Are your files part of a master (i.e. dynamic master with resource pool)?
3. Why is the Resource pool file sorted?

After doing a little testing, my guess is that you copied a resource from a sharer file, pasted it into the pool file and then renamed that resource. Effectively though, it is the same resource and changing the Base Calendar of either will also change the Base Calendar of the other.

I suggest you carefully review your resources, clean up duplicates and re-build the pool/sharer structure.

John

[#5]

@John-project 

Answering your questioning:

1. Does each project use resources from the pool file or is there a mixture (i.e. some use the pool while others use "own resources").

To garantee that this wasn't a problem inherited from the resources of the projects, I break all the link and deleted all the resources from the projects, keeping only the resources from Resouce Pool. The "problem" stills exists. I say problem, but it may be something that I mess up.

2. Are your files part of a master (i.e. dynamic master with resource pool)?

No, each project is individual, they may share the same resources but they are unique, so I use the Resource Pool to keep track of the availability of each resource.

3. Why is the Resource pool file sorted?

Well, I kind link it sorted XD, but I Shift+F3 to sort by ID, now its like this:

Well, I broke all the links, deleted all the resources from the unique projects and this stills happens... should I delete the resource and make another one? This is probably the easiest answer...

Another thing that is bothering me is the Calendars (not the Base calendar). There is a lot of duplicated Calendars, like you can se below:

@John-project, I'm going to create my Resource Pool from the scratch, but if you find out what cause this things, what I'm doing wrong, I would be grateful to you!

Thanks.

[#6]

BrunoRB,
I think your linked structure (i.e. pool/sharer files) is corrupt. If you did in fact delete all resources from each individual project such that all projects get their resources from the pool but the problem still exists, then your structure has link "fragments" (i.e. is corrupt). If you can re-create your resource pool, that would be great but you will of course lose all assignment information. If that's not a big deal (i.e. re-assigning resources is plausible), then I'd trash the existing pool and re-build it from scratch. However, make sure you unlink each project file from the pool (i.e. turn off sharing) and then save each project file.

The duplication of calendars also suggests corruption of the structure. It looks like you have 3 custom calendars, A, B and C. I suggest you do this.
1. If you indeed want/need three custom calendars, go to the Organizer, Info > Organizer and see if those three calendars are in your Global
2. Check the work hours and exceptions to insure each calendar represents what you need.
3. Open each of your project files and look at the Calendars tab for that file.
4. If the 3 custom calendars, or any combination of them, also exists at project level, delete them, they are unnecessary duplicates of the calendars available in your Global.
5. If the 3 custom calendars are NOT in your Global, open any one of the individual project files that has all 3 custom calendars and use the Organizer to transfer them to your Global. Then delete then from the project file

Just for good measure to remove any remaining corruption, save each of your project files as XML format. Then re-open the XML in Project. Note, you will lose any custom formatting that exists in the project file. Once you have everything all cleaned up, re-create your pool file and go through the sharing process with each of your project files.

Yeah, a lot of effort, but there are no shortcuts. In the future avoid the temptation of copy and paste when working with a linked structure. And as a final thought, linked structures in Project are prone to corruption. Never rename, move, overwrite, or "save off to another location" any of the files in the structure. Ideally all files should reside in the same directory on a local drive. Avoid operating the structure over a network.

John

[#7]

@John-project 

Thanks for everything John! well, this corruption thing is very frustating, I didn't even know that would happen... you see, I'm rather new to the MSP, so this little things bothers me.

Well, I broke all the links, create a new Resource Pool, copied and paste all the resources and everything is fine now, but I do need to realocate all the resources to their tasks, this is painful, but I'll do it and will take more care with this things now.

I have another doubt... Well, with all of this that happened, I'm changing the approach of the Resource Pool, this time I'm going to do like this:

- The Resouce Pool will only contain Resources from my staff, where they can be used in N other projects.

- In the Resources of the project will only contain Resources that are not from my staff, they are from the client.

This way, when I customize my reports, each project will only contain information from itself, right?

I'm thinking like this cause the first 3 projects that I administrated where presenting the info from all resources, even if I did not use them in the project itself.

[#8]

@BrunoRB 

The problem with trying to separate your staff resources from client resources is that once sharing is turned on and resources are assigned from both the pool and locally, those resources become part of the linked structure. That is, a non-pool resource will appear on the Resource Sheet of the pool file and vice versa.

So the resources are separate but it won't look that way. What exactly do you mean by, "each project will only contain information from itself"?

I did come up with a method to more readily identify (separately) whether an assigned resource is coming from the pool file or from the local project file and that is by adding a custom Text field (e.g. Text1) to the Resource Sheet of each file. Here's what the Resource Sheet of the pool file might look like:

In the individual Project file, with resources assigned from both the pool and local file, this is what the Resource Usage view might look like:

Then by grouping, the totals for Staff and client resources can be shown:

Hope this helps.

John