Assigning and Managing Resources in Microsoft® Project 2013
- 5/15/2013
- Creating work resources quickly in the Gantt Chart view
- Creating resources using the Resource Sheet
- Modifying resources
- Changing the maximum units for a resource
- Changing a resource’s working day
- Entering resource holidays
- Assigning a single work resource to a task
- Assigning multiple work resources to a task
- Adjusting the work, duration, and assignment units for a task
- Assigning material resources to a task
- Assigning cost resources to a task
- Resolving overallocated resources using the Task Inspector
- Resolving overallocated resources using the Team Planner
- Deleting resources
Assigning cost resources to a task
Cost resources are typically used to add cost to tasks without adding work hours or task duration. A typical cost that a cost resource would be used for is travel expenses. When the cost resource is assigned to a task, the estimated cost should be entered.
Assign a cost resource to a task
- In the Resource tab, select the Gantt Chart view from the drop-down menu on the Team Planner button.
- Click the Assign Resources button to display the Assign Resources dialog box.
- Click the task that you want to make the assignment on.
- Verify that the task name is displayed within the Assign Resource dialog box.
- Type in the estimated cost for the resource on the task.
Click the Assign button.
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What is an overallocated resource?
Juggling resource demand and availability on a project is another key skill required of the project manager. Project 2013 automatically highlights resources that are overallocated and provides several features to help resolve the overallocations.
When a work resource is assigned to a task, Project calculates the Peak Units value, which reflects the maximum workload that a resource has on an assignment. For example, if a resource is assigned 10 hours of work during a single eight-hour day, the Peak Units field would equal 125%. The Max Units field is defined for each resource on the Resource Sheet and defines the maximum value that the resource is available during the current time period.
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An overallocated resource is one where the peak units for any time period exceeds the max units defined for the time period—for example, two tasks running simultaneously with the same resource assigned could give 16 hours of work in an eight-hour day. Tasks with overallocated resources show a “red man” (
) in the indicators column in the Gantt Chart view.
There are many ways to view and review overallocations. Any resource that is overallocated is always displayed in red in the Resource Sheet and other resource-centric views. An Overallocated filter is available to quickly identify those resources that are overallocated. In the Team Planner both resources and the conflicting assignments are highlighted in red, and on the Gantt Chart view the “red man” is displayed to indicate tasks where an overallocation exists.