Filtering Tasks in the Resource Usage View

[Lieutenant Colonel Cox]

Our department performs data collection missions to collect data from
Soldiers all over the globe. Beacause the operational tempo is high for the
Army in general (and we are chasing them), our optempo is very high as well.
However, some travel is not mission-essential. We need to closely monitor
the number of mission-essential and non-mission-essential days staff members
are performing each year so we can make fair and equitable assignments to
various data collection missions.

In the Gantt view, I have each mission (with dates) listed along with the
assigned staff members (Resources). I have also assigned Task Flag1 as
"Mission Essential"; all other tasks are non-mission-essential. In the
Resource Usage view, I can see the various staff members along with their
number of days assigned. The only other thing I need is to have this view
(Resource Usage) subtotal the number of mission-essential and
non-mission-essential days for each staff member (resource). However, I
cannot figure out how to do it. The book I bought to help me states that one
cannot use a task field to filter in a resource view. Am I approaching this
wrong or is there a work-around. I can't be the only person ever to need to
filter resource usage by task category...

Thanks,

Lieutenant Colonel Cox

 

[John]

"Lieutenant Colonel Cox" <Lieutenant Colonel

Our department performs data collection missions to collect data from
Soldiers all over the globe. Beacause the operational tempo is high for the
Army in general (and we are chasing them), our optempo is very high as well.
However, some travel is not mission-essential. We need to closely monitor
the number of mission-essential and non-mission-essential days staff members
are performing each year so we can make fair and equitable assignments to
various data collection missions.

In the Gantt view, I have each mission (with dates) listed along with the
assigned staff members (Resources). I have also assigned Task Flag1 as
"Mission Essential"; all other tasks are non-mission-essential. In the
Resource Usage view, I can see the various staff members along with their
number of days assigned. The only other thing I need is to have this view
(Resource Usage) subtotal the number of mission-essential and
non-mission-essential days for each staff member (resource). However, I
cannot figure out how to do it. The book I bought to help me states that one
cannot use a task field to filter in a resource view. Am I approaching this
wrong or is there a work-around. I can't be the only person ever to need to
filter resource usage by task category...

Thanks,

Lieutenant Colonel Cox

Lieutenant Colonel Cox,
No, you are not necessarily approaching things wrong. Let me start by
giving a little background information. Project has three parts to its
database - Task data, Resource data, and Assignment data. The assignment
data is the bridge between tasks and resources. Each of the three parts
also has several spare fields associated with it. For example there is
Task Flag1, there is Resource Flag1 and there is Assignment Flag1 - and
all three are independent.

When looking at either of the Usage views, what you see is either
Resource or Task information along with their associated assignments. In
the Task Usage view, the assignments are resources and in the Resource
Usage view, the assignments are tasks. If spare Flag1 is displayed as a
column in the Resource Usage view, on resource rows that flag is
Resource Flag1 but for the assignment rows, it is Assignment Flag1.
Therefore if a filter for Flag1 is applied to the Resource Usage view,
it will ONLY apply to Flag1 of the resource rows because the other flag1
entries are Assignment Flag1. Hopefully I haven't confused you more.

Now to address your issue. A lot depends on exactly how your file is
structured. For example, for a given mission, is there more than one
resource assigned? Also, may I assume that when you refer to the number
of days assigned for each mission you are referring to the Work field
rather than the Duration field.

If there is only one staff member per mission and you are using Task
Flag1 as the flag for mission essential or non-essential, then here is
how you can get the data you want. Instead of using the Resource Usage
view, use the Gantt Chart view and go to Project/Group By/Customize
Group By. Set the first group criteria to be Resource Names and the
second group criteria to be Flag1. If mission days are represented by
the Work field, then the grouped view should give you what you need.

On the other hand, if you have more than one staff member per mission
and/or you are using the Duration field for mission days assigned, then
a different approach will be needed and it may require the use of VBA.
Whatever, we can still help you but we need more details about your file
structure.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP