Resource Breakdown Structure

[Lisa]

Does anyone have any information about setting up a
Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS). I found some
information at:
http://www.projectserverexperts.com/project server%
20faqs/rbsprimer.htm

There it talks about Resource Outline Code 30
specifically reserved for this purpose.

Questions:
- Does it matter what level the managers name is?
- Can the server tell the difference between a name and
an organization.
- Can you have an organization structure with multiple
layers? Development/Finance/SSC/Resource Name.

Any information or personal experience will be greatly
appreciated.

 

[Dale Howard]

Lisa --

There are several things you need to know about the RBS field:

1. The RBS field is actually the Enteprise Resource Outline Code 30 field,
as is used as a part of Project Server's security model, and is used by the
Resource Substitution Wizard. Thus, it is a very special field, and
different from the other 29 Enterprise Resource Outline Code fields.

2. The RBS field needs to be populated in some manner with the resource
organization of your company. Many people populate it with the "org chart"
of their company. For example, in the company I used to work for, one "leg"
of the RBS field would have looked something like this:

Corporation
Specific Business Unit
Department
Team
Team Members

In the above "org chart", there would be multiple Business Units, with
multiple departments beneath each, with multiple teams beneath each
department. It's like of like a tree, where the trunk (Corporation) is at
the top, with the branches spreading out below.

3. In the Enterprise Resource Pool, each resource needs to be located in
this "org chart" to show their relative position in the hierarchy of the
company. This is done by setting the proper value for each resource in the
RBS field. Team members would be at the Team Members level in their
approrpiate department, while Managers would be at the Team level (showing
that they manage their respective Team Members, you see), while Senior
Managers could be at the Department or Business Unit level. So, yes, it is
very important where the managers are placed in the RBS field.

4. Depending on your company's security policies for Project Server, you
may need to change the default settings in the Projects and Resources
sections of the My Projects and My Resources categories. Doing so would
allow you to specify which resources a manager can see when opening the Team
Builder Wizard and the Resource Center page in PWA.

I can't go into greater depth than this with you, since I do not know your
company or your specific needs for using the RBS field, but this will at
least get you started in the right direction.

--
Dale A. Howard
Enterprise Project Trainer/Consultant
Denver, Colorado
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
"We wrote the book on Project Server"