Resource entries

[Maurice Newsome]

Greetings:

I am working with Project Professional 2003 without a
server. As I enter resources, I find that I cannot
include specific services and products. In this case, A
lighting company offers spot lights, strobe lights, fog
effects, etc. Each have different rates and some have
different fixed setup fees in addition to the time of
service. How can I use project to allow for this?

 

[JulieD]

Hi Maurice

really depends on how you want to approach this situation ... one way is to
create a resource e.g.
AAA Lights
in the std cost column enter the figure for the type of work that they do
most of for you and in the cost per use column enter the fixed setup fee
associated with this type of work
now double click on AAA Lights
go to the costs tab and you will find tabs headed A through E these are five
different cost rates that you can set up for this resource (A is the same as
on the resource sheet) ... you will notice that you can enter a std rate &
cost per use rate for each of the other 4.

Then once you've assigned them to a task you can then go into the resource
useage view, find AAA lights, find the tasks you've assigned them to &
double click on the first task .. on the bottom right of the assignment
dialog box you'll find a rate (i think its called) field - here you can
choose whether cost rate A, B, C, D or E is appropriate for this task.

the only "downside" to this method is that you need to remember what A, B,
C, D & E all refer to - for this add a note to AAA Lights in the resource
sheet (oh, and you've got to remember to change the rate code in an
assignment view)

alternatively you can set up one company multiple times in the resource
sheet
e.g.
AAA Lights - Fog Lights
AAA Lights - Spot Lights

but then you can't ensure that you haven't overallocated them.

hope this helps
Cheers
JulieD

 

[Steve House]

Why not? Perhaps you are attempting to enter them as materials, which they
are not. In fact, you're looking at the classic definition of an equipment
resource, which Project treats in the same manner as a human work resource.
Enter 1500W Spotlight in your resource list, set its type to "work", its
maximum availability as the number of units you have or are renting (if you
have 5 units its availability is 500%, for example) and its standard rate as
the rental charge. Any equipment that is in limited supply, whose cost must
be budgeted, and whose availability will affect the schedule is a candidate
for this treatment. You probably should list the cameras, for example, but
not the crew's hammers.

Material resources are consumables used up during the task they're allocated
to - it sounds like you're in the film/video industry and film, video tape,
disposable batteries, electricity, gaffer's tape, and fuel for the
generators would be examples of materials you might track in the project
plan.