Swapping Resources ?

[Glenn]

Hi all,

I have 2 resources, Jim and Mike.

Mike makes $20/hr and Jim makes $40/hr. The work for my task is 10days. If
I assign Jim to the resource and let him work 1day, I will have 9days of work
remaining.

If I then remove Jim and assign Mike to the task, I get a dialog box stating
"The Selected Item has some actual values. Do you still want to delete it?
Yes, No. If I select Yes, it removes the work that Jim did in lieu of
placing Mike on the job with 9days of remaining work which I believe should
be the expected behaviour.

What am I missing?
Glenn

 

[JulieS]

Hi Glenn,

Try using the Assign Resources button. After recording the 1 day of
actual work from Jim, select the task and click the Assign Resources
button. Select Jim's name in the dialog and click the Replace
button. Select Mike's name click Ok and close. Jim still has the 1
day of actual work and the remaining work (72 hours) is assigned to
Mike.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[Glenn]

Julie,

When I replace Jim with Mike, both Jim and Mike are now shown in the Assign
Resources dialog as being checked. None the less, if I now add an additional
day of Actual Work, costs are added only for Mike.

After replacing Jim with Mike, shouldn't Jim's name no longer be listed as a
resource for the task with Mike being the only resource listed from this
point forward?

thanks,
glenn

 

[JulieS]

Hi Glenn,

If you've recorded 1 day of actual work for Jim, Project will retain
that actual work, so both will show as being assigned in the Assign
Resources dialog box.

Try looking at the Task Usage view to see what is going on -- you'll
see Jim's work for 1 day and Mike assigned to the remaining 9 days.
If you record more actual work, it will be added to Mike as you
replaced Jim with Mike.


I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[Glenn]

Hi Julie,

Sure that makes sense but if Mike is replaced by Jim and both Mike and Jim
are shown as resources, it gets confusing as to which resource is incurring
cost upon the task even though in this case it would now be applied to Jim
and no longer to Mike.

I think the fundamental thing to recognize is that once a resource is
assigned, they will continue to be available for work on the task although
they may or may not be continuously used. As such, the Resource Usage view
must be examined to see who is currently working on the task.

Is my interpretation of this correct?

Thanks,
Glenn

 

[JulieS]

Hi Glenn,

You are correct that seeing a resource's name appear next to a Gantt
bar or in a task view does not imply that a resource is working
continuously throughout the entire task. By default in Project,
when a resource is assigned Project will spread the work for the
resource across the span of the task. However, as you note a
resource may have work scheduled or performed on an intermittent
basis. Either the resource usage or task usage view is the best way
to view timescaled work for a resource or resources.

Julie

 

[Glenn]

Hi Julie,

I assign both Jim and Mike to the same task and I then have them both do one
day of Actual Work. Next I try to Remove Jim from the task but I get a
dialog box that says, "The selected item has some actual values. Do you want
to delete it?" Yes/No. If I click Yes, it removes the day of work that Jim
provided.

What I really was attempting to do was to remove Jim from doing any further
work from this point forward. Instead, Project removed Jim's last day of
work and the cost for that day of work. How can I remove a resource without
this happening?

Thanks,
Glenn

 

[JulieS]

Hi Glenn,

If you don't want to replace Jim with another resource, you can set
his remaining work to zero. Add the remaining work field to the
Task Usage view and set Jim's assignment remaining work (not the row
with the task name -- but the row with Jim's name) to zero. Jim
will still have 8 hours of actual work. You'll need to make the
appropriate change to increase Mike's remaining work as needed.

Julie

 

[JPenny]

Glen, I think we have the same question. i see exactly what your tryin
to say. Julie, you have been a great help to me so far, thank you very
muh. If I could take this scenario a little further maybe it will prompt
a new approch. I havent tried the remaining work yet, although it
sounds like it will work well, but if that resources was to be assigned
to another task or project in a master file, will it show him as over
allocated since his name is under two tasks? Also, when you remove or
replace that resource to a task, is there a way to update that task so
that ms p will recalculate the durations and associated data? I was
hoping for something like a pause button for resources, so in the event
that a resource had to go to another task, you could leave his time and
cost accrued entact and then reactivate him when he finishes his other
task.

 

[JPenny]

I tried to adjust "remaining work" but if it cant redistribute the work
equally amoung the resources left assigned to the project, then this
wont be very useful for me. also i tried to make a dummy place holder,
but this doesnt allow me to assign the resource i replaced to anything
else. if you do, it doesnt recognize the calendar or distribut the work
into any duration. is this a function that ms project cannot do? it
seems logical that people would have resources that work on many task
more or less at the same time within a project or even between projects
and wouldnt want to do a bunch of manual entry for units or remaining
work.

 

[JulieS]

Hi JPenny,

My comments are inline.

Glen, I think we have the same question. i see exactly what your
tryin
to say. Julie, you have been a great help to me so far, thank you
very
muh.

[Julie] You're welcome JPenny.

If I could take this scenario a little further maybe it will prompt
a new approch. I havent tried the remaining work yet, although it
sounds like it will work well, but if that resources was to be
assigned
to another task or project in a master file, will it show him as
over
allocated since his name is under two tasks?

[Julie] A resource becomes overallocated if the sum of his/her
assignment units (Peak Units) exceeds his/her max. units. So,
assigning the same resource to tasks which overlap in time *may*
create an overallocation depending upon assignment units and max.
units.

Also, when you remove or
replace that resource to a task, is there a way to update that
task so
that ms p will recalculate the durations and associated data?

[Julie] If the task is effort-driven and you remove a resource,
Project will re-calculate one of the other values -- usually
duration -- and will redistribute the remaining work.

I was
hoping for something like a pause button for resources, so in the
event
that a resource had to go to another task, you could leave his
time and
cost accrued entact and then reactivate him when he finishes his
other
task.

[Julie] You can use resource leveling with different priorities and
task splits to shuffle a resource around to different assignments.
Actual work and actual cost are not changed by resource leveling.
You can also use the Resource or Task Usage view to manually change
when a resource works on assignments.

 

[Glenn]

Hi JPenny,

Yes, I believe we are both facing the same issue.

I have learned that the only way to remove a resource from a task without
losing information on that resource's past activity is to remove the resource
prior to ever assigning them any "Actual Work".

That seems pointless to me. Why would someone want to assign a resource to
a task if they never use the resource.

It seems that the behaviour of the Remove button in the Assign Resources
dialog should be to remove a resource that has done some work on the task who
you no longer plan to use for the task.

Thanks
Glenn

 

[Mike Glen]

Well... when you're planning well ahead you might enter a resource that
later, before the project starts, leaves the business. His assignments need
to be deleted. Or you might want to assign him to another task and remove
him from this one as another resource comes available. Or..... (Note that
I've used the word "assign", not to delete him from the project, which can
only be done from the Resource Sheet.)

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[JPenny]

I understand the need for planning, but I think tracking is twice a
important. from that standpoint, i dont understand why ms p isnt mor
flexible when it comes to tracking resources. If a resource is added o
removed during a tasks work, wouldnt anybody want to know what kind o
duration, etc. is left and for those that track thier financials wit
it, wouldnt they want the time already spent to stay intact to give a
accurate reflection of monies spent? Selling a program that only plan
things out but doesnt help you track or adjust it to completeio
accuratly is like sellin dreams

 

[JulieS]

Hello Glenn,

Did you try re-setting the remaining work for the "removed" resource
to zero as I suggested? If you want to retain the actual work the
resource accomplished, he/she must remain assigned to the task.

Julie

 

[JulieS]

JPenny,

I don't follow your comment. You can add and remove resources from
tasks while still maintaining the actual work and cost.

Granted, there is no "one push button" automatic method, but from a
planning to execution perspective I don't know how you'd ever create
a program to do that. If you had planned on Mike doing the work and
then had to remove Mike and replace him with Julie, how could the
Project programmers know what you else you wanted to do?

Julie

 

[JPenny]

Changing the "remaining work" for a resource does keep time spen
intact, but it deletes the total "work" for the task, whitch is why i
not sure this would be the answer for me. you would have to know wha
was originally planned, and if your like me, you would have to manuall
calculate the deleted work to fall equally upon the remaining resources
very time consuming and lots of chance for error. i keep saying t
myself that there must be a way to handle a resource if it doesnt wor
100% of the task without losing important information or doing manua
calculations. if not, then i would need to utilize a different rackin
system. ps, any add on apps that could perform what glen and I need

 

[JulieS]

JPenny,

My post was actually meant in response to Glenn's comments, but to
clarify a couple of your comments.

re:

Changing the "remaining work" for a resource does keep time speny
intact, but it deletes the total "work" for the task, whitch is
why im
not sure this would be the answer for me.

Setting remaining work for a resource to zero does not delete total
work, it drops the remaining work on the task. How do you picture a
piece of software to know if and how you wish to distribute the
remaining work? If you really want the remaining work for a resource
to be redistributed, replace the departing resource with a new
resource. Do not apply any actual work to the new resource. Make
sure your task is effort driven and then remove the new resource.
The remaining work will be redistributed to the other resources on
the task.

re:

you would have to know what
was originally planned

That is what a baseline is for.

re:

you would have to manually
calculate the deleted work to fall equally upon the remaining
resources.
very time consuming and lots of chance for error

See my first comment.

re:

i keep saying to
myself that there must be a way to handle a resource if it doesnt
work
100% of the task without losing important information or doing
manual
calculations. if not, then i would need to utilize a different
racking
system.

If you don't want the resource to work throughout the entire
duration of the task consider either contouring the resource's work
through the Task Usage view or breaking the task into smaller
components. I also gently suggest proof reading -- I assume you
mean "tracking" system.

re:

ps, any add on apps that could perform what glen and I need?

JPenny, despite your numerous posts, I'm still not at all clear on
what you need. You seem to want a project management scheduling
product that can discern what you want to do without any effort on
your part. Sorry, I doubt there is an add on for that. You can
certainly browse through the list of companion products at:
http://project.mvps.org/comprods.htm

Good luck.
Julie