In microsoft project. 1) What is a resource? 2) Why aren\'t resources assigned t
ID: 436440 • Letter: I
Question
In microsoft project.1) What is a resource?
2) Why aren't resources assigned to summary tasks?
3) What is the difference between Start, Prorated and End in association with costs?
4) Give a real-world example of the difference between a fixed cost and a cost per use?
5) Why is a fixed cost entered with the task and not the resource?
6) Why is the resource cost for the Wiring Contractor $0.00?
7) Which resource is Overallocated and why?
Explanation / Answer
1. Something that can be used for support or help: The local library is a valuable resource. Resources: The total means available for economic and political development, such as mineral wealth, labor force, and armaments. Resources: The total means available to a company for increasing production or profit, including plant, labor, and raw material; assets. it is something in your environment that you can use to survive a natural feature or phenomenon that enhances the quality of life 2. When organizing the tasks for a project, you can group the tasks that share characteristics or that will be completed in the same time frame under a summary task. Project managers sometimes call summary tasks "hammock tasks." You can use the summary tasks to show the major phases and subphases in the project. Summary tasks summarize the data of their subtasks, which are the tasks that are grouped beneath them. You can indent the tasks as many levels as needed to reflect the organization of your project. There are two methods for organizing your task list: With the top-down method, you identify the major phases first and then break the phases down into individual tasks. The top-down method gives you a version of the plan as soon as you decide on the major phases. Note If you can think of tasks that don't fit under the phases that you defined, you are probably missing a phase. With the bottom-up method, you list all the possible tasks first, and then you group them into phases. After you decide on a method for organizing your tasks, you can begin outlining them into summary tasks and subtasks in Project. Top of Page Top of Page Create summary tasks and subtasks Create an outline for your tasks by indenting and outdenting them to create the summary tasks and subtasks. By default, the summary tasks are bold and outdented, and the subtasks are indented beneath them. Keep in mind, that a summary task can also be a subtask of another task above it. In the Gantt Chart view, click the row for the task that you want to indent as a subtask or outdent as a summary task. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click Indent to indent the task, making it a subtask. Task tab Schedule group Tip You can indent or outdent a task quickly with the mouse. Point to the first letter of the task name. When the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow, drag right to indent the task or drag left to outdent the task. Warning Assigning resources to summary tasks can create unpredictable durations and assignment values. If you have the same resource assigned to the summary task and its subtask, you will not be able to resolve an overallocation if the summary task is automatically scheduled.In addition, fields such as %Comp are usually used on summary tasks to indicate amount of progress made on all its subtasks. However if there is an assignment on the summary task as well, then the %Comp is used for tracking both the progress made on subtasks *and* progress from that summary assignment. Under these circumstances, Project may not be able track specific progress accurately. Notes To undo outlining, outdent all of the subtasks and lower-level summary tasks until all tasks are at the same outline level. You can easily rearrange the project phases in your outlined schedule. When you move or delete a summary task, you automatically move or delete all the subtasks associated with it. When you delete a summary task, Project will automatically delete its subtasks. To delete a summary task and retain its subtasks, you need to first outdent the subtasks to the same level as the summary task. When you rearrange a task list, the outline numbers for the listed items will change. Outline numbers are updated automatically when you move, add, or delete tasks, because they reflect the current structure of the task list. If you are using a custom numbering system that you entered manually, your numbers are not updated automatically. You need to manually adjust the numbers to reflect the task's new location if you move it. Placing tasks in a hierarchical order does not automatically create task dependencies. To create task dependencies, the tasks must be linked. After you rearrange the linked tasks in your outlined schedule, the task dependencies that you set previously may no longer be relevant, and you may need to update them. Top of Page Top of Page Learn more about how summary task values are calculated Not all summary task values show the combined total of your subtask values. Although some summary task values (such as cost and work) represent the total subtask values, others (such as duration and baseline) do not. For example, Project calculates the duration of a summary task as the total work time between the earliest start date and latest finish date of its subtasks. Summary task Callout 1 This summary task information summarizes the period between the earliest start date and latest finish date of all the included subtasks. It does not show the sum of all the subtask durations. Because Project calculates the summary task values, most of them cannot be edited. If you need to change a summary task's values, such as duration, update the individual subtasks. Summary task values are then recalculated. Top of Page Top of Page Why aren't the outline buttons working right? There may be a number of reasons why the outlining buttons don't appear to be working correctly. You may be trying to outdent a task that is already outdented as far as possible (or a first-level task) Tasks at the first outline level cannot be outdented. Instead, indent those tasks that you want to include as subtasks to the first-level summary task. You may be trying to move a task that is contained within a consolidated project (or master project) When working with consolidated projects or master projects, you cannot outdent a task beyond the level of the subtask of a summary task. You may be trying to indent or outdent assignments, not tasks The Resource Usage and Task Usage views display task and resource assignments with indentations similar to those of subtasks. Although assignments may be shown or hidden along with subtasks, they cannot be indented or outdented. You may be working in a view that doesn't use the outline buttons Outline buttons work only when the Gantt Chart, Task Sheet, or Task Usage view is the active view. If you are using one of these views and the outline buttons don't work, make sure that your summary tasks are displayed. Click the File tab, and then click Options. On the Project Options page, select Advanced. Under Display options for this project, select the Show project summary tasks check box. You may have your tasks sorted without keeping their outline structure If your tasks are currently sorted without their outline structure, the outline buttons aren't available. To keep the outline structure when sorting your tasks, on the View tab, click Sort in the Data group, and then select Sort By. In the Sort By dialog box, make sure the Keep outline structure check box is selected. You may have your tasks grouped To remove grouping, on the View tab, in the Data group, click No Group in the Group By box. 3. his is a Free Tutorial about Microsoft Project 2007 and you find more free tutorials here written by Johan Beijar. More tutorials about Microsoft Project 2007 are frequently added. These tutorials will not guarantee that you will run a successful project or be a great manager but it will increase you possibilities of understanding and work more efficiant with the project management software. As a project manager your primary task is to lead and manage Resources to predefine goal and objective. To be able to assign resources to tasks in Microsoft project you need to define the resources first. You do this in the Resource Sheet and you will notice that you have three different types of recources to choose from; Work, Material and Cost. 1. Work You should use this type when you would like to define a human resource or equipment that consuming time when working on a task. This could be used when you have, for an example, have a carpenter remodelling you house or rent equipment. 2. Material This type is used for recourses that are consumed over time, like petrol, nails, water or wood. 3. Cost If you need to rent a house for a specific activity you should use this type or resource. You are able to connect a specific cost to an activity. It is benefitial for you to define the resources in a good way because; Microsoft Project will provide accurate information about the cost of each task and the project as a whole. You are able to filter out which tasks that are performed by which resource. You are able to identify over and under-utilized resources and in that way gain a higher efficiancy in the project. You enter your resources in the Resource sheet that you find by choosing View -> Resource Sheet. I recommend to use the resource-sheet to enter your resources. You get a better overview of your resources allocated to the project and you also avoid doing misstakes. 4.In economics and finance, marginal cost is the change in total cost that arises when the quantity produced changes by one unit. That is, it is the cost of producing one more unit of a good.[1] If the good being produced is infinitely divisible, so the size of a marginal cost will change with volume, as a non-linear and non-proportional cost function includes the following: variable terms dependent to volume, constant terms independent to volume and occurring with the respective lot size, jump fix cost increase or decrease dependent to steps of volume increase. In practice the above definition of marginal cost as the change in total cost as a result of an increase in output of one unit is inconsistent with the calculation of marginal cost as MC=dTC/dQ for virtually all non-linear functions. This is as the definition MC=dTC/dQ finds the tangent to the total cost curve at the point q which assumes that costs increase at the same rate as they were at q. A new definition may be useful for marginal unit cost (MUC) using the current definition of the change in total cost as a result of an increase of one unit of output defined as: TC(q+1)-TC(q) and re-defining marginal cost to be the change in total as a result of an infinitesimally small increase in q which is consistent with its use in economic literature and can be calculated as dTC/dQ. In general terms, marginal cost at each level of production includes any additional costs required to produce the next unit. If producing additional vehicles requires, for example, building a new factory, the marginal cost of those extra vehicles includes the cost of the new factory. In practice, the analysis is segregated into short and long-run cases, and over the longest run, all costs are marginal. At each level of production and time period being considered, marginal costs include all costs that vary with the level of production, and other costs are considered fixed costs. If the cost function is differentiable joining, the marginal cost is the cost of the next unit produced referring to the basic volume. MC= rac{dTC}{dQ} 5.You probably think of depreciation as something that happens to a new car when you drive it off the lot after purchasing it. All of a sudden it is worth 20 to 30 percent less and it’s called depreciation. Well, for bookkeeping purposes it’s not quite the same thing. Accountants use depreciation to adjust the books based on the aging of a piece of equipment or other asset. As an asset is used, its useful life is reduced. For example: when you drive a car 15,000 to 20,000 miles a year, you know that eventually it will need more and more repair until finally you decide it’s used up and you want to replace it with something new. That happens to manufacturing machineries and equipments, furniture and fixtures, as well as any other business asset held for more than a year. A company needs to track this use of assets to know the value of what it has and also to estimate repair and replacement costs based on the age of its assets. Not everything can be depreciated. Any item that you expect to use up in a year is not eligible for depreciation. These types of items are written off as expenses instead. You also don’t depreciate land. Land does not get used up. While you cannot depreciate a building or car you rent or lease, if you do major renovations to a leased property you can depreciate the value of those improvements by capitalizing. Assets you own that are used for both your business and your personal life can be partially depreciated based on percentage of use. The two most common types of partially depreciated assets for people who own a home business are their car and a portion of their house. For these situations the business owners are primarily looking to take advantage of the tax savings that can be generated by depreciation. 6.Resource details provide additional information about a resource and usually are entered on the Resource sheet. Information includes maximum units, costs, project/accounting codes, calendars, etc. 1. From the View menu, select the Resource sheet view. 2. Select the Project Manager name and tab to the column, Initials. (We will not be using the material label for work resources). 3. The Initials column is where you can give abbreviated "nicknames" to each resource. You should give each distinctive letters or names of at least two characters. 4. Enter PM. 5. The next column, Group, again is optional for giving a name for a group of resources, such as Network Staff, Project Team, etc. For now, leave this blank and move to the next column. 6. A maximum unit is where you enter the number of units for each resource available to you for the project. Since there usually is only one project manager, leave this default of 100%. 7. Tab to Standard Rate. In any project, there are two types of costs: resource costs and fixed costs. This information is crucial in identifying project budgets, cost overruns, etc. Each resource and task can have a cost associated with it (with the exception of summary tasks). Costs can be an hourly wage, rental on equipment, license fees, contractor expenses, material charges, etc. Costs can be prorated, paid up front or paid out at the end of the project. As you create budgets for your project and assign costs, it is important to determine whether the cost is a resource cost or a fixed cost. Resource costs are fairly easy, with one exception. Wages, salaries, etc are resource costs. However, a fixed contract, say for installing wiring, is a fixed cost and is assigned to the task not the resource. The exception, and one that is hard to discern, is cost per use. Cost per use is a resource cost and is applied when then is a set charge every time you use the resource. For example, if you have a piece of equipment delivered to a construction site, you might be charged a delivery fee for the equipment (as well as an hourly rate). The delivery fee would be a cost per use. Let's start with the easiest: resource costs. 1. Under the Standard Rate for the Project Manager, enter 150. Tab to the next column. (Note: if the resource is paid other than hourly, you can enter weekly, monthly or yearly salaries). 2. The next column, Overtime Rate, you would enter the amount of overtime pay rate for the resource. Please note that on this sheet you cannot enter a formula to calculate overtime rate, you must calculate it for yourself. (Microsoft left this one out!) Since our Project Manager does not technically qualify for overtime rate, one might leave this blank; however, I would enter the same amount for overtime as standard. 3. Enter 150 for overtime rate for the Project Manager. Let's go to the next easiest: fixed costs 7.What is probably happening is that you are assigning 100% of a resource's time to at least 1 task of any length (doesn't matter if it is less than 8 hours). Then the resource is considered used up, and if you add additional tasks, the resource will appear overallocated. I know, it's kind of weird, but that's how MS Project calculates it. Here is the method I use to fix this problem: 1) For each task your resource is assigned to, open the Task Information box (double-click on the task). 2) Click the Advanced tab and make sure the Task type box is set to Fixed units. I would recommend unchecking the "Effort driven" box too if you routinely need to schedule resources more than 8 hours a day. 3) Now go to the Resources tab. Think about the percent of their day the resource will actually spend on this task, and enter that in the Units column (defaults to 100% which is why you are having the overallocation problem). Click OK. 4) Go to your Duration column. Set the duration for the task. Now you should be good to go. With this method, what you are essentially doing is fixing the amount of time per day that your resource will work on the task, then estimating the amount of time it will take them if they spend that much time on it every day. Work is set automatically. This is just one method, I'm sure there are others which are just as good. The one you use depends on your preferences on scheduling, and on the way your resources/business work.
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