Microsoft Project 2013: The Missing Manual

Building Reality into Assignments

A first-draft schedule almost always represents the way projects would go in an ideal world. But you live in the real world, and just as the jeans you buy never look like they do on the catalog model, your real-world project will have a few bumps and wrinkles. Understanding resource units and calendars (Defining When Work Resources Are Available) is only half the battle. You also have to figure out how to combine them to handle real-world resourcing situations. This section explains how to make Project’s resource features model reality.

Replacing Generic Resources with Real Ones

Sometimes you know the type of resource you need, but you don’t know exactly who you’ll get. In these situations, you may have assigned a resource that represents the role that resource plays, such as website designer, painter, or programmer’s muse. Once the powers that be have assigned a real person to your project, you can replace the generic resource with one that represents the flesh-and-blood team member. The Assign Resources dialog box makes it easy:

1. In a task-oriented view like Gantt Chart, apply the Entry table by heading to the View tab’s Data section and clicking Tables→Entry.

   The Entry table includes the Resource Names field.

2. Turn off summary tasks by clicking the Gantt Chart Tools | Format tab and, in the Show/Hide section, turning off the Summary Tasks checkbox.

   Now only subtasks appear in the task list.

3. Filter the task list to show only tasks assigned to the generic ...