Resource availabilities, sometimes called the resource pool, are entered into the Resource Sheet view in Microsoft Project. Resources must be entered into the Resource Sheet before they can be assigned to tasks.
Depending on your organization’s processes, this may be done before your project team has been identified. If so, you should use Generic resources.
If your team has been assigned, you may enter the individual team members’ names into your Resource Sheet.
To access the Resource Sheet, right click on the current view name on the far left of the table area, and select Resource Sheet from the list.
A blank Resource Sheet will be displayed.
In the example shown below, equipment, material, and both Generic and Named resources have been entered. The Generic field has been inserted between Resource Name and Type.
The only field that must be entered is the Resource Name field. Everything else has a default value.
Key Resource Sheet field information (and default values) includes:
- Resource Name (no default) – Must be unique.
- Generic (No) – Flag to identify whether a resource is a generic resource. Generic resources also have an indicator shown in the Indicator column.
- Type (Work) – There are three options available – Work (used for labor and equipment), Material (used for material that will be used up by a task), and Cost (which we will cover in a later section).
- Material Label (blank) – Used only for Material resources to identify the measurement that each unit represents, e.g. pound, meter, square foot, etc.
- Max. Units (100% for Work resources/blank for Material and Cost resources) – The percent of a resource’s time that has been assigned to the project. In this example, we have been assigned 2 full-time Design Engineers, a half-time Marketing Manager, and everyone else is assigned full-time. Material resources cannot have an entry for Max. Units.
Once resources have been entered into your Resource Sheet, they may be assigned as requirements to tasks in your project.