Project 2013 Introduction

Lesson 4 – Working with Resources

Project 2013

Notice that the duration for the Obtain Bids task remains at 1 week , with each resource assigned 20 hours of work. The total work is still 40 hours, but instead of the duration changing, each resource has more time to do the task.

Deselect the Effort driven option for the Obtain Bids task in the bottom pane. Assign any work resource to the task. Notice that the total work increased to 80 hours . Instead of the 40 hours being redistributed among the three resources, as they would with effort-driven scheduling turned on, the amount of work on the task increased. Remove the resource assignment by selecting the last work resource in the Resource Name field, pressing the [Delete] key, and then selecting OK .

Remove the split.

C ONTOURING A W ORK A SSIGNMENT

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Discussion

You can contour work assignments to more accurately reflect how a resource will work on a task. When you contour a task, the workload for the resource is redistributed. By default, all resources use a Flat contour, meaning work is distributed evenly for the duration of a task.

You can contour work assignments using one of the following preset contours provided by Microsoft Project: Back Loaded , Front Loaded , Double Peak , Early Peak , Late Peak , Bell , and Turtle . As their names indicate, the Back Loaded contour schedules more work at the end of the task and the Front Loaded contour schedules more work at the beginning. The names of the Double , Early , and Late Peak contours also indicate how the work is distributed, with the peaks indicating the most hours of work. When you use the Bell and Turtle contours, the most hours of work are scheduled in the middle of the duration, with varying amounts at the beginning and end for each contour. When you apply a preset contour to a task, the work distribution changes accordingly and the duration of the task is impacted. After applying a preset contour, you can change the start or finish date of a task as necessary. After you apply a preset contour, an indicator appears to the left of the resource name in the Indicators column in the shape of a bar graph reflecting the work distribution.

You can also contour work assignments by changing the work distribution manually in the Task Usage view. In this view, you can enter the work values to reflect exactly how a resource will work on a task. When you manually edit the contour, an

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