Multiple Resources Assigned to 1 Task

[Product Mgr.]

I am using MS Project Web Access to collaborate on a project using the
Percentage Complete method. I have assigned several tasks to multiple
(human) resources. As long as one resource tells me the task is complete, I
consider the work done.

If I assign multiple resources to one task, is it necessary for each
resource to send updates for that task? Or, if one resource reports a task
is 100% complete, will this eliminate the need for all resources to report
the task as being complete?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Product Mgr. --

If you assign multiple resources to a task, the software does not consider
the task complete until ALL resources assigned to that task have updated
their assignment as complete. Hope this helps.

 

[Wegz]

If its any consolation to you, i think in the new version of
Project/EPM you can assign a task to a 'group' of people and then they
can decided who does what when... So there is hope for the future at
least.

But thats just my understanding of it. I may be wrong.

matt

 

[tonyzink]

Hi Product Mgr. --

I'd like to add a bit more to Dale's response... specifically, the
difference between a "task" and an "assignment".

A "task" is not much more than a small piece of work or an activity
which needs to be done in order to complete a project.

An "assignment", however, is generated with you combine a "resource"
with a "task". If you assign two resources to a single task within a
project schedule, then you will generate two assignments:

Task: "Climb hill and fetch bucket of water"
Assignment 1: "Climb hill and fetch bucket of water" + "Jack"
Assignment 2: "Climb hill and fetch bucket of water" + "Jill"

As a side note, you can think of the "Resource Usage" view and the
"Task Usage" view in MSProject as "assignment" views, since they list
all of the assignments for the project schedule. In the "Resource
Usage" view, the list of assignments is grouped by resource, and in the
"Task Usage" view, the assignments are grouped by task.

Regardless of which tracking method you are using (% complete or actual
work), all of the assignments for a task need to be completed in order
for the overall task to be considered complete.

For example, let's pretend that Jack and Jill have agreed to share the
work of painting their living room, and they've agreed to split the
work 50-50 (they will each paint 2 walls). If Jack is lazy and slow, so
Jill finishes her two walls before Jack finishes his half of the task,
the overall task (painting the living room) is still not complete until
Jack is done with his half.

Make sense?

Good luck!

Tony Zink
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[Product Mgr.]

Thanks, tonyzink! That is very helpful.