Resource Assistant

The Resource Assistant dialog box allows you to add multiple resources across multiple tasks for scheduling purposes.

The dialog box is divided into two main panes that display the project task structure and a list of resources. The Apply to pane displays the project's task structure and the number of resources assigned to each task. The Results pane displays the results of the resource search and contains the following read-only columns: (Employee) Name, Code, Type, (Resource) Class, (Resource) Pool, Location, Discipline, Company, Organization, and Budget Category.

When accessed from the Project - Resources Tab, an additional Employee Availability split pane and a View Employee Assignments dialog box is also available to assess an employee's availability.

Search for Resources

  1. In the search box, enter any necessary search criteria.
  2. To further restrict your search, click the expand button next to the Results heading and enter any additional restrictions. For more information on how to use restrictions, see Restrictions.
  3. Click the Run button.
    A list of resources that match the criteria are displayed in the Results pane.

View Employee Availability

The View Employee Availability split pane allows you to view the remaining hours available for an employee, in a time-phased manner, across an established date range. The available date range is based on the Start and Finish dates of the selected task. If the employee is over allocated for a time period, a red, up arrow () is displayed to the right of all assignment and total values for the column. For information about how availability is calculated, see Employee Work Calendar.

This option is only available when the Resource Assistant dialog box is accessed from the Project - Resources tab.

  1. Search for resources.
  2. Click the Availability button.
    The Employee Availability pane displays. This is a time-phased list that displays each employee's availability for the time period. The columns are blank for all other types of resources. The pane stays in sync with the Results list. The pane is closed if you search for resources again.

View an Employee's Assignments

The All Assignments dialog box allows you to view a detail of all of an employee's assignments. For more information about this dialog box, see All Assignments.

This option is only available when the Resource Assistant dialog box is accessed from the Project - Resources tab.

  • After you have searched for a resource, select one or multiple contiguous cells for an employee resource. Click the right mouse button and then select the View All Assignments option.
    The All Assignments dialog box displays.

Add Resources to a Task

This process describes how to add resources to task through the use of the dialog buttons, but you can also select resources and then drag and drop them to add them to a task.

  1. Search for resources.
  2. In the Results pane, select the resources to add.
  3. In the Apply to pane, select the tasks where you want to add the selected resources. When a top level task is selected, child tasks are not automatically selected.
  4. Click the Apply button.
    The selected resources are added to the selected tasks.