Setting Up Resources in Microsoft Project 2010

Adjusting Working Time for Individual Resources

Project uses different types of calendars for different purposes. In Chapter 2, “Creating a Task List,” you modified the project calendar to specify nonworking days for the entire project. In this exercise, you will focus on the resource calendar. A resource calendar controls the working and nonworking times of an individual resource. Project uses resource calendars to determine when work for a specific resource can be scheduled. Resource calendars apply only to work resources (people and equipment), not to material or cost resources.

When you initially create resources in a project plan, Project creates a resource calendar for each work resource. The initial working time settings for resource calendars exactly match those of the project calendar, which by default is the Standard base calendar. The Standard base calendar is built into Project and accommodates a default work schedule from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M., Monday through Friday, with an hour off for lunch each day. If all the working times of your resources match the working time of the project calendar, you do not need to edit any resource calendars. However, chances are that some of your resources will need exceptions to the working time in the project calendar—such as

• A flextime work schedule

• Vacation time

• Other times when a resource is not available to work on the project, such as time spent training or attending a conference

Changes that you make to the project calendar are reflected automatically in resource calendars derived from the same project calendar. For example, in Chapter 2, you specified a nonworking day for a staff morale event, and Project rescheduled all work to skip that day.

In this exercise, you specify the working and nonworking times for individual work resources.

1. On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Change Working Time.

   

   The Change Working Time dialog box appears.

2. In the For calendar box, click Toby Nixon.

   Toby Nixon’s resource calendar appears in the Change Working Time dialog box. Toby has told you he will not be available to work on Thursday and Friday, January 19 and 20, because he plans to attend a book industry conference.

3. On the Exceptions tab in the Change Working Time dialog box, click in the first row directly below the Name column heading and type Toby attending a conference.

   The description for the calendar exception is a handy reminder for you and others who may view the project plan later.

4. Click in the Start field and type or select 1/19/12.

5. Click in the Finish field, type or select 1/20/12, and then press the Enter key.

   TIP

   Alternatively, in the calendar you can first select the date or date range for which you want to create an exception, and then enter the exception name. Project will insert the Start and Finish dates automatically based on your selection, and then press the Enter key.

   

   Project will not schedule work for Toby on these dates.

   TIP

   To set up a partial working time exception for a resource, such as a portion of a day when a resource cannot work, click Details. In the Details dialog box, you can also create recurring exceptions to the resource’s availability.

   To conclude this exercise, you will set up a “4 by 10” work schedule (that is, 4 days per week, 10 hours per day) for a resource.

6. In the For box, click Jun Cao.

7. When prompted to save the resource calendar changes that you made for Toby Nixon, click Yes.

8. Click the Work Weeks tab in the Change Working Time dialog box.

9. Click [Default] directly under the Name column heading, and then click Details.

   Next, you will modify the default working week days and times for Jun Cao.

10. Under Selected Day(s), select Monday through Thursday.

    These are the weekdays Jun can normally work.

11. Click Set day(s) to these specific working times.

    Next you’ll modify Jun’s regular daily schedule for the days she normally works.

12. In row 2, click 5:00 PM and replace it with 7:00 PM, and then press Enter.

    Finally, you will mark Friday as a nonworking day for Jun.

13. Click Friday.

14. Click Set days to nonworking time.

    Now Project can schedule work for Jun as late as 7 P.M. every Monday through Thursday, but it will not schedule work for her on Fridays.

    

15. Click OK to close the Details dialog box.

    You can see in the calendar in the Change Working Time dialog box that Fridays (as well as Saturdays and Sundays) are marked as nonworking days for Jun Cao.

    

16. Click OK to close the Change Working Time dialog box.

    Because you have not yet assigned these resources to tasks, you don’t see the scheduling effect of their nonworking time settings. You will observe this in Chapter 4.

    TIP

    If you find that you must edit several resource calendars in a similar way (to handle a night shift, for example), it may be easier to assign a different base calendar to a resource or collection of resources. This is more efficient than editing individual calendars, and it allows you to make project-wide adjustments to a single base calendar if needed. For example, if your project includes a day shift and a night shift, you can apply the Night Shift base calendar to those resources who work the night shift. You change a base calendar in the Change Working Time dialog box. For collections of resources, you can select a specific base calendar directly in the Base Calendar column on the Entry table in the Resource Sheet view.