Each task in your project should be reviewed to determine the resources needed to complete it.
** Best Practices:
Resources should NOT be assigned to milestones or Summary Tasks.
There are many methods that can be used to assign resources to tasks. We will describe the two recommended approaches: Assign Resources Dialog Box and the Task Entry View (combination view with Gantt Chart on top and Task Form on bottom).
The examples we show all use Fixed Duration tasks, except where specified.
Assign Resources Dialog Box
To access the Assign Resources Dialog Box, on the Resource ribbon in the Assignments section, select Assign Resources.
The Assign Resources dialog box shows all of the resources listed in the Resource Sheet, in alphabetical order.
Select one or more tasks in your task list (use Shift or Ctrl to select multiples), then select one or more resources in the dialog (use Shift or Ctrl to select multiples), and click Assign.
All of the resources you selected will be assigned to all of the tasks you selected.
By default, resources will be assigned at 100% if the Max. Units in the Resource Sheet for that resource is 100% or more. If Max. Units is less than 100%, the resources will be assigned at the Max. Units value.
You can also enter a Units value if the resource will only work part-time on the task. The same Units value is used on all of the tasks you currently have selected. Continue selecting tasks and assigning resources.
The Remove button can be used to delete the resources assigned to tasks.
Task Entry View
The Task Entry view is accessed on the View ribbon in the Split View section, by clicking the checkbox next to Details. The Task Entry view is a combination view. By default, the Gantt Chart is shown in the top pane and the Task Form view is shown in the bottom pane. This is the Task Entry view.
Once the Task Entry view is applied, format the bottom pane by right-clicking in the blank area in the Task Form, and selecting Resources & Predecessors.
Note: Previously, in Lesson 3 in the section on Entering Links, we applied the Predecessors & Successors format. For working with resources, we want to use Resources & Predecessors.
Select the task that you want to assign resources to. The information displayed in the bottom pane is information about that task.
Then click the first blank cell under Resource Name and select the needed resource from the pulldown list displaying all resources from the Resource Sheet.
If you then click OK in the bottom pane, the resource will be assigned to the currently selected task using a default Assignment Units. The default Assignment Units will be 100% if the Max. Units in the Resource Sheet for that resource is 100% or more, or if Max. Units is less than 100%, the default Assignment Units will be at the Max. Units value.
You may also specify a Units value before you click OK if you know the percentage of time the resource will be working on the task.
Microsoft Project will calculate the Work for each assignment.
Or, instead of a Units value, you may enter a total number of hours that the resource will work on the task in the Work column and click OK.
Notice that the value in Units says 100% even though we only assigned 40 hours to this 10 day task. That is because the Units value shown is the Assignment Units. The Peak field will show the true 50% calculated value.
If you are using Fixed Work tasks, you may enter Work and Units and those values will determine the task Duration.
How the Work, Units, and Duration column change as you make changes is based on the Task Type and Effort Driven options as described in the Estimating in Microsoft Project – Task Types and Effort Driven section.
To delete a resource, select the Resource Name in the bottom pane and press the Delete key. Then click OK.
Continue selecting tasks and assigning resources.
Note: Remember that the Units value shown in the Task Form of the Task Entry view is the Assignments Units. This means if you change a value that causes Microsoft Project to recalculate Units, you will not see the change in this field. You may insert the Peak field into the Task Usage or Resource Usage views to display the currently assigned percentage for the resource – the Peak units.
– In the example below, John Smith is assigned at 100% to the 3 day task – 24 hours of Work. Both the Peak (visible in the top pane) and Assignment Units (visible in the top and bottom pane) are at 100%.
– If the Work is changed to 12 hours on this Fixed Duration task, Microsoft Project recalculates the Units. The Peak value changes (visible below in the top pane), but NOT the Assignments Units (visible in the top and bottom pane).
You will get the same type of results with various changes to other Task Types as well. Only YOU can change Assignments Units and only Microsoft Project can change Peak.
As resources are assigned to tasks using either approach, the Resource Name and Assignment Units values are visible in the Resource Names column and in the Gantt Chart area. If you see a Resource Name with no value next to it, that means the Assignment Units is 100%. If the resource is assigned at anything other than 100%, the Assignment Units value is displayed next to the name.
Remember, this is the Assignment Units value, so it may be be misleading at times.
If a Work resource is assigned full-time (Assignment Units = 100%), only the name of the resource is shown. If a Work resource is assigned is assigned at anything other than 100%, the Assignment Units is shown next to the Resource Name.
If a Material resource is assigned, the Units (quantity) assigned is displayed next to the Resource Name.
If more than one resource is assigned to a task, each of the Resource Names are separated by a comma (,).
Note: The Units value that is visible is the Assignment Units, not the Peak Units. This means that if you make a change and Microsoft Project recalculates Peak, this value will NOT change.