Project Management

Project Resources
In this unit we shall consider the resources required to carry out a project and how we assign them to tasks in Microsoft Project. The most common project resources are people but other resources, such as equipment, are also used in a project. We shall see how to "level" resources when they have been over allocated. i.e. the resources are overloaded. Resources that are common to all projects are time and money. The project schedule and the project budget are of paramount importance and they must be managed effectively. We recommend that you carry out the exercises for this unit to see how the topics covered are applied in practice. Contents
3.1 Resource Types 3.2 Resource Calendars 3.3 Resource Utilisation 3.4 Creating a Resource Pool in Microsoft Project 3.5 Resource Allocation 3.6 Resource Leveling 3.7 Resources and Task Types 3.8 Exercises 3.8 Summary

3.1 Resource Types Different types of resources are required to carry out a project. We always need time and money which are, in a sense, fundamental resources. In this module we shall adopt the resource types used in Microsoft Project, which are:

people, with the required skill sets and experience, usually costed on an hourly basis (Fig 1)

equipment, of the correct type and specification, costed in MSP on a per use basis (Fig 2)

materials, such as fuel and building materials, costed in MSP on a per use basis (Fig 3) Both people and equipment are required to carry out work on the project and both have have costs associated with them. Materials are consumed as the project progresses and these also have costs associated with them.

This is an example of a fragment of a resource sheet used in MSP (Fig4) People and equipment are given a "unit" value in MSP. For example, if people are available to work on a project full time they are given a unit value of 1.00 or 100%. A group of 3 people available to work on a project task full time are given a unit value of 3.00 (300%), whilst a single person available for only half of the working time is given a value of 0.5 (50%). Equipment is treated just like people. If an item of equipment is only available for 20% of the working time, it is given a unit value of 0.2.

Materials do not have a unit value associated with them, but they do have a cost. MSP can calculate the cost associated with each task and the cost of the project overall, in a few seconds, even for complex projects. Resources may be entered in to a resource sheet and then assigned to project tasks or entered in to a resources pool and then assigned to project tasks or a combination of both. We shall use a combination of resources from a pool and project specific resources as appropriate. [back to top] 3.2 Resource Calendars It is possible to assign a calendar to each resource used on a project, so that an individual's holidays could be taken into account when planning the project. A similar situation applies to equipment and even external suppliers. Figure 5 shows a MSP calendar that is about to have a resources calendar assigned to a software developer, swd1.
Figure 5 Creating a Resource Calendar

The personal holidays for swd1 can be entered in his personal resource pool. [back to top] 3.3 Resource Utilisation Resources, particularly human resources, are seldom available to work full time on a project. For example, the manager of a department in an organisation may be available to work on a project for part of the time but she would need to spend most of her time managing the department. Similarly, people working in her department would have a main role but they may also be expected to assist in other activities on a regular basis. When assigning resources to project tasks we shall assume some of them are only available for a fraction of the working time. For example our busy manager may only be available for 10% of the working time. [back to top] 3.4 Using a Resource Pool in Microsoft Project

The resource pool is used in an organisation when several projects use the same resources. For example a small company that develops web sites for several clients would be undertaking a number of projects at the same time. Figure 6 A Resource Pool in a small Website Development Company

The human resources employed by the company include a manager, website developers, IT specialists and web authors, Of course there are more types of people employed, such as people in finance and general administration, etc. The resources are shared between the projects. [back to top] 3.5 Resource Allocation Resources must be allocated to project tasks and the mechanics of this is normally carried out by the project manager. The project manager must consult with managers of departments and members of the project team to ascertain which people have the skills and experience to carry out the tasks. Resources that are shared between a number of projects are entered into a resources pool. Resources that are specific to a particular project are entered directly into the project resource sheet: they are project specific resources. For example our web development company may be carrying out a project that requires them to set up a website on the customer's server. This resource should not be entered into our company's resource pool: it should be entered directly into the project resource sheet.

You may question entering a customer as a resource in the project plan: in the example quoted the customer must collaborate with us to set up the site and the customer will want to check the quality of the software we have provided. This will take time and this will affect the project schedule. The rule is simple: if a task affects the project schedule and/or the project cost, include it in the project plan and the resources required to carry it out. In the case of a customer the cost associated with their task to our company would be nil. [back to top] 3.6 Resource Leveling When human resources are allocated to project tasks they are often overloaded, that is they are given too much work to do in too little time. This is especially the case when these resources are shared amongst several projects The project manager should try to prevent resource overloading and the process of doing this is called resource leveling. Resource leveling will probably modify the project schedule and cost. That is the project will take longer to complete and possibly cost more. Microsoft project assists the project manager in carrying out resources leveling, but leveling should be used with care, it may produce unexpected and unacceptable results. [back to top] 3.7 Resources and Task Types We shall now consider how MSP calculates the work associated with a task and how resources assigned to the task affect such calculations. In unit 2 we pointed out that MSP defines three task types: fixed units, fixed duration and fixed work. If you don't define the task type, MSP assumes the default type, which is usually fixed units, but this can be customised. Another factor we have not mentioned yet about tasks is that they can be specified as effort-driven or non effort-driven. MSP defaults to effort-driven tasks unless you specify otherwise.

In unit 2 we introduced the scheduling formula: Task Duration * Units = Task Work, or alternatively Task Duration = Task Work/units With effort driven scheduling on, if you do not assign units to a task, that is if you do not assign resources to a task, MSP cannot calculate the work associated with a task. As soon as you assign units to a task, MSP calculates the work associated with it using the scheduling formula. From then on, MSP assumes this is the amount of work associated with the task. For example if you set the task duration to 10 days without assigning units MSP does not calculate the work associated with the task. If you then assign 2 units, say, to the task, MSP calculates the task work as 2 *10 = 20 days of actual work. If at a later stage in the project you assign 2 extra units of resources to the task, the task work remains constant, but the task duration reduces to 20days of work/4 units =5 days. MSP uses the scheduling formula, in conjunction with task types and task resources to perform numerous project "housekeeping" tasks. This will become apparent throughout this module. [back to top] 3.8 Exercises The exercises cover the topics in this unit and also some of the topics covered in unit 2. Task types and relationships can only be understood when resources are allocated to tasks. Some of the exercises are "look and see" examples, they should be studied and used as references for future exercises and assignments. The solutions to the exercise files are in your d04 folder. Unit 3 exercises [back to top] 3.9 Summary

In this unit we have considered the following:

Resource types Resource calendars Utilisation of resources The use of a resource pool in MSP The allocation of resources to tasks Resource leveling in MSP MSP task types and the relationship between task types, resources, work and task

duration.

When planning a project it is important to use the correct task type for each task in the project. If you do not set the task type, MSP will use the default task type. It is good practice to set up task details using the task information menu. This should ensure that you set the task details correctly at the planning stage. You may also add task notes to each task using the task information menu. The use of task notes is illustrated in the solution to the exercise in this unit. When we come to producing realistic project plans the task notes facility will be used extensively. It should be remembered that a project like the development of a new product is an important and expensive undertaking for any company, but especially so for an SME. The project should be planned professionally from the outset. Microsoft Project allows rapid and intuitive task entry, but if tasks are entered using the wrong task type, or if you are unaware of the defaults, the resulting plan may be seriously flawed. The situation is simple. You can go fast when you know what you are doing; until then be prepared to take extra time and progress carefully. [back to top]

Updated on: 10/03/11 by RJH This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence.