WBS Summary Level Resources

[Brian]

Hi All,

I have read previous threads that have discussed this, but do not seem to
conclude with a solution. What I am after is the capability to look at a
summary level view of resources using a WBS structure. For example, I have
WBS below,

WBS 1 - Design Widget
WBS 1.1 Analyze Requirements (resourses Tom 20 hrs, Dick 40 hrs, and Harry
100 hrs)
WBS 1.2 Draft Design
WBS 1.2.1 Invent Wheel (resources Tom 10 hrs, Dick 20 hrs, Harry 50 hrs,
$10000 Material)
WBS 1.2.2 Invent Wagon (resources Tom 10 hrs, Dick 20 hrs, Harry 50 hrs,
$10000 Material)
WBS 2 - Test Widget
WBS 2.1 Lab/Bench Abuse Test (resourses Tom 20 hrs, Dick 40 hrs, Harry 100
hrs, $10000 Material)
WBS 2.2 Beach Test (resources Tom 20 hrs, Dick 40 hrs, Harry 100 hrs, $20000
Material, $10000 Travel)

I would like to see a task usage summary,

WBS 1 - Design Widget
Tom 40 hrs
Dick 80 hrs
Harry 200 hrs
Material $20000

WBS 2 - Test Widget
Tom 40 hrs
Dick 80 hrs
Harry 200 hrs
Material $30000
Travel $10000

I was able to kind of get this with MP with various reports or group views,
but both do not total up at the top summary level. This seems to be a pretty
basic item for a schedule/resource management package.

Thanks,

Brian

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

This is doable. Just go into your Task Usage view, and create a group by
WBS (Project > Group By > More Group). Then add the fields you need (Work,
Actual Work, etc.) and they should sum up to the group level.

You may need to create a custom field to just capture the left couple of
characters in the WBS code, if you only want a rollup to the highest level
of the WBS. That works just like in Excel, where you would have to calculate
the number of characters on the left that you want to include in the grouping,
and then use something like the LEFT command to truncate the WBS code. i.e.
1.3.2 or 1.3.3 become 1.3.

-A

 

[John]

Hi All,

I have read previous threads that have discussed this, but do not seem to
conclude with a solution. What I am after is the capability to look at a
summary level view of resources using a WBS structure. For example, I have
WBS below,

WBS 1 - Design Widget
WBS 1.1 Analyze Requirements (resourses Tom 20 hrs, Dick 40 hrs, and Harry
100 hrs)
WBS 1.2 Draft Design
WBS 1.2.1 Invent Wheel (resources Tom 10 hrs, Dick 20 hrs, Harry 50 hrs,
$10000 Material)
WBS 1.2.2 Invent Wagon (resources Tom 10 hrs, Dick 20 hrs, Harry 50 hrs,
$10000 Material)
WBS 2 - Test Widget
WBS 2.1 Lab/Bench Abuse Test (resourses Tom 20 hrs, Dick 40 hrs, Harry 100
hrs, $10000 Material)
WBS 2.2 Beach Test (resources Tom 20 hrs, Dick 40 hrs, Harry 100 hrs, $20000
Material, $10000 Travel)

I would like to see a task usage summary,

WBS 1 - Design Widget
Tom 40 hrs
Dick 80 hrs
Harry 200 hrs
Material $20000

WBS 2 - Test Widget
Tom 40 hrs
Dick 80 hrs
Harry 200 hrs
Material $30000
Travel $10000

I was able to kind of get this with MP with various reports or group views,
but both do not total up at the top summary level. This seems to be a pretty
basic item for a schedule/resource management package.

Thanks,

Brian

Brian,
Normally my first response to custom reports of Project data is to use
VBA to export and format the exact report in another application, such
as Excel. However, it looks like you can get what you describe above by
doing the following.
1. Set up fields you want to see in the Task Usage view. Unfortunately
the WBS field is not available in this view, and I don't know why not,
but the Outline Number field is available and with a basic structure it
tracks the WBS.
2. Go to Project/Group by/Customize
3. Set the first criteria as Outline Number
4. Set the second criteria as Resource Names
5. Then check the option to "Group assignments, not tasks"
6. Go back to the Field Type column for the Resource Names and change
the field type to "Assignment"
7. Hit "OK" and you should have what you want.

Hope this helps.

John
Project MVP

 

[Brian]

John,

Thanks for the suggestion. This works pretty good, but limits the summary
to any summary task. For example, if the WBS is

1
1.1
1.2
1.2.1
1.2.2

You get a summary for resources at 1 for 1.1 and another at 1.2 for 1.2.1
and 1.2.2. So it still does not total up to the top level for all the
resources

Brian

 

[JulieS]

Hi Brian,

Pardon me for bumping in, but with a tweak in John's steps, I think we
can get what you are seeking.

In the Task Usage view, add a Text field (Text1 for example), and create
a formula for the field of [WBS]. In the customize fields dialog box,
set the summary rows to use the formula. Rename the field WBS Level.

Create the group as John suggests but use the WBS Level (Text1) field
instead of the Outline Number field. Click the Define Group Intervals
button and select Prefix Characters in the Group on drop-down.

This should now group on the first character of the text field which is
showing WBS. You should see summary data for WBS Level 1, WBS Level 2
etc. The only oddity is the highest level group text says
"WBS level: 1*" "WBS Level 2*", etc. -- but I'm hoping that is just a
minor irritation

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

Julie
Project MVP

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