Assigning and Managing Resources in Microsoft® Project 2013

  • 5/15/2013

Assigning a single work resource to a task

Assigning work resources to a task creates work values for the task. The simplest way to assign resources is directly within the Gantt Chart view. This creates a simple assignment where the work value is calculated using the following formula: work = units × duration.

By default, the units for a single resource is 100 percent and, therefore, the work calculated is simply the number of days duration multiplied by the number of hours in a working day (by default, eight hours). I call this the default assignment (where neither the work nor assignment units have been modified).

If you have already created resources by typing their names directly into the Gantt Chart view, then you have already assigned your resources to tasks using the default assignment.

When working with assignments, it’s a best practice to have both the duration and work column visible in the entry table, and I have already done this for the remaining screen shots in this section. For information on how to add columns into a table, see Chapter 2, or Chapter 3.

Assign a single work resource to a task

  1. In the View tab, select the Gantt Chart view.
  2. Drag the vertical splitter bar (click and hold the bar) to the right to reveal the Resource Names column within the entry table.

  3. Click in the Resource Names cell for the desired task and select the resource using the drop-down menu.

  4. Review the value in the work column to ensure that the calculated value matches your expectations.