Microsoft Project Management and Accounting Scenario

The Resource Manager

David, the resource manager, sees the project that Steve, the project manager, opens and begins to assign named resources to the project.

Applications and tools that David uses:

To assign resources, David uses the Resource Substitution Wizard in Microsoft Project. This wizard allows resource managers to automatically assign resources to one or more projects simultaneously while providing them with the optimal resource allocation. It automatically searches the enterprise resource pool for resources with the right skills, availability, and any other criteria held in the database you specify, such as location. In this case, David plans to staff this project from A. Datum's Southwest region.

David now starts the resource substitution simply by choosing the "Run" button. The engine recommends optimal staff resources for the project based on resource skills, availability, and location. David can choose to update his project with the suggested resources, or save the wizard's results for later consideration. He chooses to update with the recommendations.

Looking at the allocation results, David sees that the Resource Substitution Wizard was not able to assign specific resources to all of the positions required for this project. He uses the "Build Team from Enterprise" feature to complete staffing for the project.

The system couldn't find a resource to assign as "Systems Analyst," so David does a quick search. First, he filters the available resources for the entire West region, giving him access to resources in the Northwest as well as the Southwest. He then highlights the generic resource and uses the "Match" button to quickly display the remaining resources with the required skills. David sees Jim, a field consultant, is available for the project, although he'll have to travel. So, David replaces the generic resource with Jim. When David clicks "OK," the Gantt chart is updated to reflect the change: Task 83's resource has been assigned to Jim.

Now that David has made the resource assignments, it's time for him to let those resources know about their new tasks. This happens automatically when David publishes the project plan, ensuring all employees are aware of their assignments immediately.

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