Create resources to represent capacity (Project Server 2010)
Applies to: Project Server 2010
Topic Last Modified: 2011-04-13
When you are analyzing which projects your organization can take on, an important factor to consider is the expected resource capacity. That is, a summary of what resources are available to work on a proposed project. In Microsoft Project Web App, you can define resources to represent resource capacity by your organization’s resource roles. You can use individual named resources ("real" people), non-named resources ("to be hired" people), or a combination of both.
Note
Each resource that is used to represent capacity must be associated with a single primary role.
What do you want to do?
Configure non-named resources to represent capacity
Configure named resources to represent capacity
Use named and non-named resources to model capacity
Configure non-named resources to represent capacity
When you are modeling resource capacity without creating individual named resources, the idea is to create one resource for each role that you defined in the Role lookup table. For example, you want one resource to represent all developers, another resource to represent all testers, and so on. If you have not defined roles in a lookup table, see Define your organization's resource roles (Project Server 2010).
On the Quick Launch, under Resources, click Resource Center.
On the Resources tab of the ribbon, click New Resource.
In addition to the required fields, complete the following fields:
Resource can logon to Project Server: Cleared
Display Name: <Role name> - Capacity (For example, “Developer - Capacity.”)
Max Units: Type a percentage that represents the number of resources that you have available for this role. For example, if you have 10 developers available at 100% of their time, enter 1000%.
Role: Choose the role that corresponds to the display name that you have specified. For example, if you typed "Developer - Capacity" in the Display Name box, click Developer in the Role list.
Click Save, and then repeat Steps 2 and 3 for each role in your organization’s Role lookup table.
Configure named resources to represent capacity
To use named, or "real," resources to represent capacity, there are two considerations:
Must be an enterprise resource Each named resource must have been created as an enterprise resource in Microsoft Project Server 2010. Not all Project Server 2010 users are also available as resources. For more information, see Add a user account in Project Server 2010.
Must have a defined role Each named resource should have an associated role set in his or her resource properties.
When you are evaluating whether your organization has the resource capacity to take on specific project proposals, you can use any named resource that meets both conditions.
Use named and non-named resources to model capacity
The key to modeling capacity using both named and non-named resources is to flag them separately for reporting. First, you have to create a custom field that you will use for flagging.
On the Quick Launch, under Settings, click Server Settings.
In the Enterprise Data section, click Enterprise Custom Fields and Lookup Tables.
On the Enterprise Custom Fields and Lookup Tables page, in the Enterprise Custom Fields section, click New Field.
Type Used for placeholder capacity in the Name box.
In the Entity and Type section, click Resource in the Entity list, and then click Flag in the Type list.
Click Save.
With this custom flag set up, you can now identify named resources as placeholders by clicking Yes in the Used for placeholder capacity list, in the Resource Custom Fields section of the New Resource, Edit Resource, New User, or Edit User page.
For non-named resources, leave the Used for placeholder capacity list set to No. This way, in a list of resources with a specific role, you can filter named versus non-named resources using the Used for placeholder capacity flag.