Help! Will Project work for this application?

[steve]

I'm a new user to Microsoft Project. I've been asked to project manpower for
the production department of an electrical contracting firm. I need to
create a schedule that will project the average number of field personnel
required based on the number of electrical contracting jobs in progress.
These jobs will need to be organized by geographical areas.

I do not need to be specific (at this time) with regard to individual tasks
to complete each electrical project. Is Project able to handle this task?
Some of the projects have "finish no later than" dates, and others are
scheduled forward.

Will one of the reports in Project give me this information?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Rod Gill]

Project might well be too big a sledge hammer for this. I recommend you
start by using Excel: it will help you get your ideas together without
worrying about how to use Project.

If Excel can't do what you want, get clear on the shortfall and let us know
what it is. We can the help you get Project to finish any scheduling work
left.

 

[Jim Reid]

Steve, I disagree with Rod MSP is ideal for this situation. You would need
to know the number of man hours/days to complete a task and if the task if
set to "Fixed Duration" it will calculate the number of resources you need to
complete that task. I don't know if you could do that in Excel or not but I
know you can do it in MSP.