Microsoft project 2013 resource management free

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

First, “effective resource management” is a subjective term. If you are looking for an automated built-in feature that will manage all your resources, then no, Project can’t do that. What it can do is to help you manage your project and its resources by keeping track of your resource availability i. Project does have a resource leveling feature that will move overallocated resource assignments based on a priority that you set.

It may or may not be able to resolve all overallocations. If your resources have particular skill sets e. I’m not aware of any Project add-ins that will provide the level of automated resource management that I think you want. It might be possible to use some VBA to automate the process providing you can create the necessary algorithms to drive the process. Was this reply helpful? Yes No. Sorry this didn’t help. Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community.

Hello is it possible to do effective resource management with MS Project? This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question 0. Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. John – Project Volunteer Moderator. Thanks for your feedback. How satisfied are you with this reply?

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Add resources to your project

 

Download the sample MPP file for this tutorial. I always enjoy reading emails from project managers who put Microsoft Project techniques into action. I received an email from an employee at the United States Central Command asking about how to use Microsoft Project to track personnel on a military base and monitor resource levels as units deactivate during a base closing.

The goal was to measure the total number of personnel at any given point in time and track the resources as the base downsizes. I developed a quick resource management model in Microsoft Project that will produce this information. Since Microsoft Project supports resource assignments and resource pools, developing an ongoing model was relatively easy.

This example creates a work breakdown structure WBS that comprises teams or units that are allocated to different tasks. The first step is to develop a WBS that resembles the location hierarchy. The base the top-level WBS deliverable was divided into regions.

Each region was composed of specific buildings, and each building was further defined into specific floors. The level of detail can be extended to individual offices or cube locations. Once I had a visual breakdown of the base locations, I exported the model into Microsoft Project. I could have used MindView to assign resources and dates, but I chose to detail the WBS further in Microsoft Project Figure 2 due to the number of resources that would be added to each location or building.

To set the project start date, go to Project Project Information Figure 3 and select the desired Start Date from the drop-down menu. The next step is to define all the resources that currently occupy the base. Since this could extend to several hundred or thousand resources, you may want to import them from an Excel extract of a resource management system. Follow these steps to customize the resource sheet:.

Now you should switch back the Gantt Chart view and assign resource names to the specific buildings in the WBS. Resources can be assigned by selecting the names from the Resource Name column or by using the Assign Resource dialog box. Simply click the task and press [Alt][F10] to display the resource box Figure 5. With your resources assigned, the next step is to either enter the duration it takes to evacuate the building or select a target Finish date.

If this is a simple planning scenario where a specific building will be decommissioned, then a Finish date would be selected. If there are building dependencies for each building, then task predecessors may be used. It is assumed that all the resources are assigned to the building at the start of the project, so all tasks should have the same Start date. By selecting the decommission date, the Finish date will be populated. Figure 6 depicts the completed schedule with target dates.

Figure 6 — Basecamp Decommission Schedule. With the resources selected and assigned to specific buildings, you can view the resource ramp down curve over time.

By clicking the magnifying glass in the lower resource graph pane, you can view the resource allocation over time. By selecting multiple resources in the upper pane resource sheet, you can view the specific resource curve for each resource in the model Figure 8. Figure 8 — Completed Resource Management Model. The horizontal axis of the resource curve provides the resource count over time.

Over the five-month time span, the graph starts with 23 resources and gradually reduces to zero when the base closes. The horizontal line at the top of the graph represents the original resource level at the start of the project. By adding more resources and filtering on specific team names, project managers can view individual, team, and entire resource pool curves.

For more tutorials on how to use Microsoft Project, check out our list of Microsoft Project tutorials. We want to identify any summary tasks that have a predecessor and any summary tasks that have resources assigned. One of the key lessons learned with Microsoft Project is to build a dynamic project schedule. A dynamic schedule is properly sequenced and is free of any task constraints. Microsoft Project Tutorials. Figure 1 — Work Breakdown Structure. Figure 4 — Resource Pool Definition. Figure 5 — Resource Assignment.

Figure 7 — Bar style options. Bonus 2 How to build a 4 week task window tutorial. Learn More. Recommended Articles.