Definitions:

Committed - A resource that is formally allocated to any task assignments they have within a project. This is the default booking type.

Proposed - A resource with a pending resource allocation to a task assignment that has not yet been authorized. This resource assignment does not detract from the availability of the resource to work on other projects.

1.  Within your schedule, click on >View, >Resource Sheet

2.  Insert the column Booking Type

3.  Code your resources either Committed or Proposed

4.  Develop your schedule assigning resources to tasks

5.  Click on >View, >Resource Usage

6.  Click on >Window, >Split

7.  Click anywhere on the bottom pane to activate

8.  Click on >View, >Resource Graph

The Resource Graph will now appear in the bottom pane. Note that this shows a graph for Peak Units. (this is not the graph we would like to leverage)

9.  Right click in the TimePhased portion of the Resource Graph and click on Work

10.  Right click in the TimePhased portion of the Resource Graph again and click on Bar Styles. The following dialogue box will appear:

11.  Under Selected resources, for Overallocated work (left side) show as Bar. For Allocated work, show as Bar. For Proposed Bookings, Show as Bar.

12.  Under Resource, for Overallocated work, Show as Don’t Show. For Allocated work, show as Don’t Show. For Proposed Bookings, Show as, Don’t Show. As a final step, check the Show Availability line. Here is how the dialogue box should be configured:

Click on OK!

13.  Now, click on the first resource name and lets examine the screen.

14.  Now click on the second resource name, and let’s inspect this view.

15.  Now click in the blank square in the upper left corner (above the ID number) to select all resources.

16.  Before leaving this exercise, let’s look at one more scenario. Let’s play with a Role.

17.  On the Resource Sheet, set Resource 2 Booking Type to Committed. Then add a resource named Role 1. Set the Booking Type to Proposed….AND…the Max Units to 0%.

18.  Now let’s say two new tasks are identified for our project. We are not sure exactly which resource we want to assign to those tasks yet, so we assign Role 1.

19.  Moving back to our combination view of Resource Usage on top and Resource Graph on bottom, let’s examine the details.

By clicking on Role 1, we see there is 40 hours of Proposed Work for the weeks of July 6th and July 13th. But notice there is no Availability line. This is because Role 1 is actually a placeholder and has no 0 hours of availability. We need to figure out which resource we can assign these tasks to.

20.  Now hold down the Control Key and click on Resource 1.

From this graph we see that if we moved this work from Role 1 to Resource 1, Resource 1 would become overallocated. We would be asking Resource 1 to do 80 hours worth of Work for the weeks of July 6th and July 13th.

21.  Let’s see if Resource 2 could handle the Work. Click on Role 1, hold down your Control Key and click on Resource 2.

Upon examining this graph, we can see that Resource 2 has the availability to handle this Proposed Work.

EXTRA: How to easily transfer the assignments from Role 1 to Resource 2.

1.  Click on the row to highlight Task 5.

2.  Hover over this row within the indicator column. You will see your cursor turn into 4 arrows. Now hold down with your left mouse button and drag this task until it is under Task 4. Release the left mouse button.

3.  Click on the row to highlight Task 6. Hover over this row within the indicator column. You will see your cursor turn into 4 arrows. Now hold down the left mouse button and drag this task until it is under Task 5. Release the left mouse button.

4.  Click on Resource 2

Notice that Role 1 no longer has any assignments. Resource 2 has all 4 assignments and the graph indicates all this work can be done without causing Resource 2 to be overallocated.