MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING

COMP4543

Microsoft Project Lab 5

Assigning Resources to Tasks

Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to assign the proper resources to the different tasks.

Method
Once the resources have been set up, it is now time to assign the appropriate resources to the tasks.
Although it is not necessary to assign resources to tasks, doing so will enable better control on the
progress of the project.

We will continue with the project you worked with in the last lab exercise. Attached is a set of
activities that must be undertaken to complete the Systems Analysis phase of your project.

Note: This is the most complex of all the labs. I have found that when I was working on this lab
exercise, it was a good idea to save the work often and using different filenames such as lab 6a, lab
6b, etc. This way, when you make a mistake, you can always go back to the last saved file.
Otherwise, you may have to start all over again.

1. Launch MS Project if necessary and open the project that you worked with in Lab 4 and save as
“SA Project – Lab 5”.

2. Before we begin assigning resources, change Christine White’s schedule back to the default
schedule. This will make this exercise easier.

3. Change the current view to Gantt Chart view.

4. Click on the Resource tab then click on Assign Resources. The Assign Resources dialog box
appears.

5. On the Task Name column, click on “1. Project Start-up”. On the Resource Name column of the
Assign Resources dialog box, click on Arnold Jones and click Assign. A check mark appears next
to Arnold’s name. On the Gantt Chart, Arnold Jones is shown beside the activity bar.
 MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
COMP4543

6. On the Split View section, click Details and choose Task Form from the drop-down menu. This
splits the window in to the upper pane showing the Gantt Chart and the lower pane showing the
Task Form, which shows the task duration, units, and work values.

7. Two or more resources can be assigned to a task. On the task list, click on Task 2.2.b (User 1)
“Perform Actual Interview” for User 1. On the Assign Resources dialog box, click on Arnold Jones
and then holding the <ctrl> key, click on Brenda Smith and then click on Assign. Notice that
Arnold Jones and Brenda Smith move up on the list and have check marks beside them. Their
names are added beside the activity bar.

8. A word about duration, units, and work. Work is the amount of effort that a resource spends to
complete the task. Work is calculated by the scheduling formula as:
Work = Duration * Units
Thus, a 2 day task assigned to a resource of 100% units has a work value of 16 hours:
[(2 day * 8 h/day) * 100%]
Similarly, a 2 day task assigned to 2 resources of 100% units each has a work value of 32 hours:
[(2 day * 8 h/day) * (2 * 100%)]

9. MS Project uses effort-driven scheduling. This means that the work value remains constant
regardless of how many is assigned. The effect of this is seen when an additional resource is
assigned. The duration will decrease. To see this, click on Task 1.1. Add the Project Consultant
to this task.

On lab computers you may not be able to do below so if you don’t see the smart tag then ignore
the instructions in yellow:

You may see a small triangle at the top left corner of the cell. This is called a Smart Tag. This will
allow you to inform MS Project how you want to handle the additional information. You will need
to define this before doing anything else. Once, defined, you cannot change this.

You will see the Smart Tag Actions button on the left (yellow diamond). If you click on this, you
will get a drop-down menu of options. Choose the first one and see what happens. The duration
becomes .67 days because the Project Consultant contributes only 50%.

Undo what you did. This returns the situation to the point before you added the consultant. Add
the consultant again and this time, choose the third action. Notice that the units that each
resource spends changes but the duration of the task remain the same. Undo the changes and
 MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
COMP4543

this time add the Consultant and choose the second one. The duration goes back to 1 day. {a
good place to save as SA Project – Lab 5A}

Enter the other resources as shown in the attached (except for the Weekly Meeting, which will
be done later) up to the second interview. For the multiple resources, you might want to enter
the first resource, add the others and adjust how to treat the allocation of resources, as in # 9.
You will note that the duration of the task may change so change the allocation so that you are
as close as possible to the duration as the original. Accept what Project provides which may be
different than what was the original. {a good place to save as SA Project – Lab 5B}

10. After you enter the assignment for the second set of interviews, you will notice that there are red
figures in the first column beside some activities. This means that some resources are over-
allocated. Go to the Resource Sheet. Some of the resources are red with an alert symbol beside
it. What had happened? As you can see from the attached sheet (or the Gantt Chart), the
activities of the two interviews are parallel to each other and some resources are the same for
these. Thus, if you assign 100% of Christine to one and 100% to another, you will be over
allocating Christine. Hence, the alert. Note which ones are red in colour. These are the ones you
need to deal with.

You will need to level the resources so that none of the resources are over-allocated. It might be
a good idea to un-split the window. Go to the Resource Usage view. This shows the resources
and what activities they are assigned. The over-allocated resources are in red. Notice that the
date on right panel is today’s date. Move to early February (since this is the month when the
assignments start.) If you look at Arnold Jones, you will notice that there are red numbers during
certain weeks. These show the over-allocated time. There are 2 activities that contribute to this
over-allocation. For the first over-allocated date, change the time for both activities to 4 hours
each (total 8 hours). You will see that there is now no over-allocation for this date. What you
have done here is that Arnold will be spending 4 hours for the first activity and 4 hours for the
next activity for a given day. (Alternatively, you can assign 8 hours for the first activity and 0
hours for the second. As long as you do not exceed 8 hours in any given day, you will not have
any over-allocation). Level out the rest of Arnold’s over-allocation. Do the same thing for the
other over-allocated resources. Note, however, that the Project Consultant is only working at
50% or 4 hours a day while the Document Specialists work at 150% or 12 hours a day. After you
have done this, check both the Gantt Chart and the Resource Usage table to see that there are
no over-allocations. {a good place to save as SA Project – Lab 5C}

11. Let us now look at the third interview. Notice that the interview will not occur until Mar 2. Is
there really a need to start the preparation so early? Would it not be better to start the
preparation closer to the time of the interview? To do this, change the start date to Feb 27.
 MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
COMP4543

12. Assign the resources to the third interview. You will need to again level the resources as before.
Save your work after this. It would be difficult to recover if you lose your work. {a good place to
save as SA Project – Lab 5D}

13. Next, you can assign a material resource to an activity. Click on Task 2.2.b – Perform Actual
Interview (for User 1). Assign the resources “Recording Supplies” to this. Notice that the
resource will be included but the duration does not change since this does not contribute to the
aterwork. Do the same for all the other interviews.

14. For the weekly meeting, you will need to assign the project team and the documentation
specialists to this task. To do this, click on Weekly Meetings (Task 1.4). You will notice that no
resources are listed after the bars. However, the details will show the resources identified. Also,
notice that this action actually over-allocates all these resources. If you want, you can level the
resources. However, since this activity is only for 2 hours, I suggest not to worry too much about
this at this time. {a good place to save as SA Project – Lab 5E}

15. Continue to play around the assigning of resources. For example, you may want to assign the
meeting rooms and recording equipment. These have been identified as “work” resource.
Would it have been better to identify it as “material” resource?

16. Finally, try to complete the project plan by scheduling the other tasks shown on the attached.
Make reasonable assumptions on predecessors and resource assignments. The only constraint is
that the phases must come one after the other. You may use the attached to fill in the
information you will use.

After you add the other activities, make sure that you extend the weekly meetings until the end
of the project.

17. Save your work and submit your MS project file for Lab 5 in D2L