User Guide
Resource Management
Resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment, facilities
or anything else that are required for the completion of a project activity. The lack of a
resource will therefore be a constraint on the completion of the project activity.
The objective of resource management is to create the most efficient schedule possible that
minimizes the project duration and maximizes the utilization of limited resources available.
Therefore resource availability, scheduling and optimization are considered key to successful
project management. Effectively utilizing resources is a daunting task for every Project Manager.
You can add people as resources to the project for accomplishing the project goal. You can allow
a particular resource to work either for a single project or for many projects in which case the
resource needs to be global.
You can make use of Build Team action available in the action bar for adding a
resource to a project.
- Click Resources tab.
-
Select a project from the Project drop down list for which you want to add resources
(see Figure: 4.1). The Project drop down lists all the projects for which you are a member. -
Click Build Team action available in the action bar. If there are no resources
present in the project selected, a message “There are no resources in this project. Click
here to build team.” will be displayed. You can build the team by clicking the message
“Click here to build team.”. -
A form with two list boxes namely Global Resource Pool and Resources in Project
are displayed (see Figure: 4.2). Global Resource Pool lists all the available
resources and Resources in Project lists the global resources belonging to the project
selected. -
Scroll through the Global Resource Pool to select the resources by name. Use Shift or
Ctrl key to select multiple resources. -
Click Add button to add resources from Global Resource pool to the Resources in
project (see Figure: 4.2). -
Click Remove button to remove resources from Resources in Project i.e.,
from that project team (the removed resource will be again added back to the Global Resource
pool). If any resource in a project is assigned a task or issue, then that resource cannot be
removed from the project (see Figure: 4.3). - Click Save & Close button to save the changes.
Figure: 4.1 Selecting a project.
Figure: 4.2 List of resources being added from Global Resource pool to
Resources in project.
Figure: 4.3 A pop up message displayed when a resource with some assignment is being
removed.
After Save & Close button is clicked in BuildTeam page you will see a message
“Please click the ‘Sync Resources with Server’ button in Microsoft Project (under the
ValleySpeak Menu) to view the updated resource list.” in List Resources page. You will
be able to see resources in List Resources page only after Sync Resources with
ValleySpeak Project Server menu is run in Microsoft Project.
- Click on Projects tab
-
Click on the Open in Microsoft Project icon to open the project you want to do
resource sync. Alternatively, you can open the project file on your system. -
Click on the ValleySpeak menu on the menu bar. Then Select “Sync Resources with
server” menuitem. - “Resource sync from ValleySpeak Project Server Successful” message will be displayed.
- The resources will be displayed in List Resources page.
Resources will be able to view the project only after ‘Sync Resources with Server’ is
complete.
When the Build Team action is used for the first time for a project, the Global
Resource Pool will contain all the resources and the Resources in Project will be
empty. Once a resource is selected from the Global Resource Pool and added to the
Resources in Project, the resource name is taken out from the Global Resource Pool
and added in the Resources in Project meaning that the particular resource has been added
to that project team.
Resources added from Microsoft Project are considered as local resources and are
not present in the Global Resource pool. Resources in project has a list of global
resources already present in the project. Each resource is of the form “resource name-type”
(see Figure: 4.2) in Global Resource Pool list. For Example, Robert Young-(Team
Member).
Once the project has been created successfully by the Project Manager or by the Admin, a message
“Project has been created successfully. If you want to add resources to the project, then
Click here to Build Team. If you do not wish to do a Build Team at this time, you can build team
at any later point of time Click here to open the project in Microsoft Project.”. You can add
resources by clicking the link “If you want to add resources to the project, then Click here
to Build Team.”.
When you try to build a team for an archived or deleted project, a message is displayed (see
Figure: 4.4).
Figure: 4.4 A message displayed when resources are added/deleted for archived/deleted
projects.
Resources tab provides the list of resources either belonging to a particular
project or all the resources in the pool. To list the resources belonging to a particular
project, select the required project from the Project drop down list. To list all the
resources in the pool, select All Resources in pool from the Project drop down list.
- Click Resources tab.
- Click List Resources action available in the action bar.
-
A list of resources of a particular project or all the resources in the pool are displayed
based on the option selected from the Project drop down.
Each resource row in the list resource page has the following columns (see Figure: 4.5):
-
The first column contains a notification icon which indicates whether the resource is a
Global or Local. The global resource is a resource which is available to other
projects in the organization. The local resource is the resource who is available only within
the project. Whenever you hover the mouse on the icon, a notifiction label indicates Global
or Local resource. - “#” symbol indicates the resource id.
- Resource Name column shows the name of a resource.
-
Type indicates the type of the resource. There are two types of resources, they
are: - Work includes people and equipment.
- Material includes the consumable supplies.
- Initials is generally the first letter of the resource name.
-
Max.Units indicates the maximum units for the resource availability to the
specific task to which the resource is assigned. The maximum units is the percentage of time
shown as available in the resource’s working time calendar. By default the maximum units is
100%. -
Std.Rate indicates the resource’s standard pay rate if it is work resource. If
the resource is of material type then it is the cost per unit. - Ovt.Rate indicates the resource’s overtime rate.
-
Cost/Use is the one time fee for the use of the resource. In other words, it is
the labour for that resource. -
Accrue At indicates at which the cost of the resource has been estimated. There
are three ways a cost can be estimated for a resource: - Start: is the cost accrued at the start of the project.
-
Prorated: is the cost incurred during the progress of the task. This is the
default way of incurring cost for a resource. -
End: is the cost incurred at the end of the task i.e., at the completion of
the task.
If the number of resources to display exceeds the value set for Num of records per page
field in Preferences tab, then each page will list the number of resources as per the value you
have set for the above field.
of chapter on “Preferences”.
To navigate between list pages, select the page number from the Page number drop down list
in the filter bar (see Figure: 4.6) which will be displayed only when the number of resources
available in a selected project are more than the value set for Num of records per page filed.
When you select a page number from the drop down a list for that page will be displayed (see
Figure: 4.7).
Figure: 4.6 Selecting a page number.
Figure: 4.7 List of resources in a selected page.
Filters helps in viewing only the resources which are preferred . By default, the Resource
view displays all the resources involved in the project selected from the Project drop
down list.
A filter contains instruction called criteria. The criteria specifies the rule, based on which
the resources are searched. Filters help you in displaying only part of the information
that is preferred. Their purpose is to bundle, sort and list resources for the selected criteria.
The only criteria on which the resources can be filtered is based on their Status. The
Status can be:
-
Assigned: Displays only those resources to whom one or more tasks are assigned
for the project selected from the Project drop down list. If the resource list belongs
to one particular project selected from the Project drop down list,then the filter
displays those resources to whom tasks are assigned in that project. If the option All
Resources in pool is selected, then the filter displays those resources to whom tasks
are assigned in any project associated with the resource. -
Unassigned: Displays only those resources to whom tasks are not assigned. If the
resource list belongs to one particular project then the filter displays those resources to
whom no tasks are assigned in that project. If the option All Resources in pool
is selected, then the filter displays those resources to whom tasks are not assigned in any
project associated with the resource. -
Overallocated: Displays those resources who are overallocated. Overallocated
resources are shown in red color font (see Figure: 4.8). If the resource list
belongs to one particular project selected from the Project drop down list, then the filter
displays those resources who have been over allocated in that project. If the option All
Resources in pool is selected then the filter displays all the resources who have been
overallocated by tasks in any project associated with the resource.
Whenever you would like to view a filtered list of resources, select the the appropriate filter
options from the Status filter drop down and click Apply Filter button. For
example, If you want to view all the Overallocated resources, then you can select the
Overallocated value from the Status drop down filter and click Apply Filter. The result would be
the list of all the Overallocated resources (see Figure: 4.8 and Figure: 4.9).
Figure: 4.8 Select the status from status dropdown .
Figure: 4.9 Result of applying the Over allocated filter to list of resources belonging to a
project.
