resource pool won't stay attached to template

[Lisa]

Hi.
I posted this problem in the General Discussion Group but got no replies, so
I'm hoping someone here knows what the problem is.

In Project 2003 I've "shared" into a resource pool in a template in which
there are no tasks and no resource assigments done. Then I save the
template, but when I create a new file based on the template, the resource
pool is no longer attached.

Does anyone know why this doesn't work, or if there is a way to tweek it?
Thanks
Lisa

 

[John]

Hi.
I posted this problem in the General Discussion Group but got no replies, so
I'm hoping someone here knows what the problem is.

In Project 2003 I've "shared" into a resource pool in a template in which
there are no tasks and no resource assigments done. Then I save the
template, but when I create a new file based on the template, the resource
pool is no longer attached.

Does anyone know why this doesn't work, or if there is a way to tweek it?
Thanks
Lisa

Lisa,
Why would you expect the resource pool to stay "attached" to a sharer
project that has no tasks? The links (i.e. assignments of resource in
the pool to tasks in sharer files) is what creates the "attachment". You
might try including a dummy task with at least one resource assignment
in the template, then the pool will stay linked. However, something in
the back of my heads tells me this may not be the best approach since
using the template with a linked resource pool over and over may create
a large complex lined structure that can get corrupted real quick. I
think a much better suggestion is to link in the common resource pool
AFTER the template has been populated with tasks and resource
assignments for each new project.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Lisa]

Hi John. Thanks for getting back to me on this.

I've tried "sharing" to the pool, and then creating one task assigning one
of the resources, but only that one resource is listed in the template when I
create a new file and the resource pool is no longer "shared".

The goal is to create a template of calendars and "share" to the resource
pool. Then there is a group of about 10 people who will be creating
sub-projects which is part of the bi-monthly overhaul master project and they
need to draw resources from the same pool. They have to create the new
projects about once every two months. What I want is that when they create a
new project file based on the template, it is automatically "shared" to the
resource pool so Project prompts you to open the resource pool as you are
creating the new file. That way they don't have to do actually set up the
"share" to the resource pool everytime they create a new project.

Do you forsee a problem with 10 projects every two months being attached to
the same resource pool? Should we have a new resource pool every two months?

Here's another question, can the resource pool contain the calendars for the
resources, or should they be stored in the main project file? The calendars
are very specific with different working hours and days.

 

[Rod Gill]

I agree with John's warning on possible corruption. Project uses the old DDE
technology to manage resource pools, so over-writing files, moving them,
even renaming them without having the pool open in write mode and saving
pool and file can lead to corruption. I favor having all projects saved in a
single folder and having simple macros to create a temporary pool whilst you
do resource reporting etc then unsharing all files.

Basically you can't rely on busy PM's remembering to unshare a project
before taking it away on a laptop and then over-writing on return. This sort
of behavior when corruption occurs not if.

In fact, if all you want to do is report on resource workloads across
multiple projects a better ways is to:

Record a macro of you creating a new master project by inserting your
projects one by one with the Link option DESELECTED. This copies all tasks
(no link) and consolidates all information. It also consolidates all
resource data for resources with the same name.

Run the macro once a week and you create an audit trail of weekly schedules.
I find this much safer unless all your PM's are angels!!!!

 

[Lisa]

I really appreciate your guys' help.

The real motivation here is to manage resource overallocations across the
multiple sub-projects. Each sub-project is for a specific job on a complete
overhaul and each is managed by a different guy. However, each sub-project
manager (not the master project manager) is responsible to manage "his"
resources that can be used on his project or by other project managers on
their jobs. But because "he" is responsible to manage "his" resources, we
need the resource pool and link to it so that "he" can manage all the jobs
"his" resources have been assigned to. Did I explain this OK?

So it's not really for reporting purposes, and I can't see that they can
ever (until the project is complete) disconnect from the pool.

All sub-projects and resource pool and master project will be stored in one
folder and no one is taking any files away on any laptops.

With regards to your suggestion for the macro...to insert all sub-projects
into a master project without the shared pool. When I tried this, it did NOT
consolidate the resources with the same name. I didn't do it from a macro
though, just manually inserted them, is that the difference?

Any additional suggestions on how to handle this workload would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks
Lisa

 

[Rod Gill]

Hi,

You have to make sure the Link option is OFF, then it consolidates
resources. If you go ahead with the pool, make sure you have regular backups
as corruptions are inevitable if PM's don't take great care.