Can I use the Resource Usage View to enter "work" per month?

[Danny]

I have tasks with multiple generic resources, and even a single generic
resource, that spans across months. We are in a fixed duration mode,
non-effort driven task type. My project leads give me "work" hours per month
and that is how it is transferred out to another software program. If I just
enter the total hours in the Gantt chart view, the hours are contoured per
the selected contour. There is no contour that seems to fit the monthly
spread that I am given. Is it possible to use the Resource Usage/Work Table
View to enter the monthly hours on the tasks? Is there a potential problem if
I do this?

 

[Gérard Ducouret]

Danny,
Yes, you can enter actual Work in the Resource Usage view:
Right click in a yellow cell to display the Actual Work field.
Double click the timescale to set the Bottom Tier in Months, the Middle Tier
in years for ex...
Enter the Actual Work at the assignment level : italic tasks names.

Gérard Ducouret

 

[John]

I have tasks with multiple generic resources, and even a single generic
resource, that spans across months. We are in a fixed duration mode,
non-effort driven task type. My project leads give me "work" hours per month
and that is how it is transferred out to another software program. If I just
enter the total hours in the Gantt chart view, the hours are contoured per
the selected contour. There is no contour that seems to fit the monthly
spread that I am given. Is it possible to use the Resource Usage/Work Table
View to enter the monthly hours on the tasks? Is there a potential problem if
I do this?

Danny,
Entering the data into the cells on either Usage view is exactly what
you need to do. The only potential problem I see is if the work hours
you enter on a monthly basis ends up spanning more than the fixed
duration you have given the task.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Danny]

Thanks for the feedback so quickly. The reason that I had doubts was that I
had heard from another division of the company that if you input information
in the "grid" as they called it, it would corrupt the MSP file.

 

[Danny]

Gerard,

Thank you for your quick response. I will be entering the "Work" field in
this view after entering the total hours for the resources in the gantt view.
We are not entering the actuals there. This will then be like a custom
contour?

Danny

 

[Gérard Ducouret]

<<like a custom contour?>>

Yes, indeed!

Gérard Ducouret

 

[Danny]

John,

Because we are using generic skill code names, there can be multiple people
with these skills on one task, so there shouldn't be a problem there. If not,
then I personally feel that this could sound a warning to the lead that
he/she should make sure to have more than one resource with that skill
assigned to the task.

Thanks again.

Danny

 

[John]

Thanks for the feedback so quickly. The reason that I had doubts was that I
had heard from another division of the company that if you input information
in the "grid" as they called it, it would corrupt the MSP file.

Danny,
No, no and no. Whoever that person was gave you bad information. Manual
contouring of resources is the accepted method for doing what you need.

You're welcome.

John