1. Projects
  2. Project Management
  3. Working with Resources in Project Management
  4. Assigning Project Resources

Assigning Project Resources

After you begin Working with Resources in Project Management, you can then assign resources to projects and tasks as needed. Resources assigned to a project can enter time against the project. You can calculate resource productivity based on reported time.

While assigning resources, you can use the Target Utilization feature for each Project Resource. For more information, see Utilization.

You can also assign generic resources to projects and tasks when you haven’t selected a specific person yet. Add generic resources the same way you add regular project resources. For more information, see Generic Resources.

Important:

If you use Resource Allocations, you have to allocate a defined resource to a project before you can assign them to tasks. You can add generic resources to a task even if they’re not allocated. For more information, see Resource Allocations.

You can also allocate resources directly to project tasks. For each project, it's best that you choose to either allocate resources directly to project tasks or allocate resources to the project and then assign to project tasks. Using both resource allocations to project tasks and task assignments can create inconsistencies in your project data. For more information, see Assigning Resources with Allocations.

Assigning resources works in conjunction with other project preferences you select on the Preferences subtab when you create the project record.

You have two options when assigning resources to project tasks. Based on how you set the Display All Resources for Project Task Assignment option for the project, you can assign resources from a list of either:

Assigning Resources Restricted to the Project

If you don’t select Display All Resources for Project Task Assignment, follow these steps. You can only assign resources that are on the Resources subtab of the project record.

To assign resources to the project:

  1. Go to Lists > Relationships > Projects and click Edit next to the project.

  2. Click the Resources subtab.

    Note:

    If you use Resource Allocations you must first allocate a defined resource to a project before you can assign them to tasks. Generic resources are available for task assignment regardless of project allocation. For more information, see Resource Allocations.

  3. In the Name column, select the employee or vendor you want to add as a resource.

    Note:

    An employee or vendor name shows in this list only if they're marked as a Project Resource. For more information, read Working with Resources in Project Management.

  4. In the Role column, select a project role for this resource. For more information about project roles, read Creating a Project Resource Role.

    You can select multiple roles for a single resource by holding down Ctrl while selecting roles with your mouse.

  5. If you use Job Costing and Project Budgeting, a cost associated with the selected role or employee fills in automatically. In the Cost Override column, you can enter a new cost for this project.

  6. Click Add.

  7. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each resource you want to assign to this project.

  8. Click Save.

To assign resources to project tasks:

  1. Go to Lists > Relationships > Projects and click Edit next to the project.

  2. On the Schedule subtab, click Edit next to the task you want to assign resources to.

  3. In the Project Task window, click the Assignees subtab.

  4. In the Resource column, select the employee or vendor you want to add as a resource.

    Note:

    The Resource dropdown displays only the resources that you added to the Resources subtab of this project. If you use Resource Allocations, only allocated defined resources and all generic resources are displayed. For more information, see Resource Allocations.

  5. Select the service item required for this resource on this task.

  6. Enter a unit cost and unit price for this service item on this task.

  7. Click Add.

  8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 for each resource you want to assign to this task.

  9. Click Save.

Each assigned resource may have a different amount of work on the task and may work at a different rate, such as full-time or half-time. The percentage of time the employee dedicates to a single task is often referred to as their “full-time equivalent.”

You can also use resource groups to assign multiple resources to a project task at one time. For more information, see Creating Resource Groups.

Assigning Resources not Restricted to the Project

If the Display All Resources for Project Task Assignment option is selected for a project, then you can assign any designated project resource. This includes any employee or vendor identified as a project resource on the entity record.

Important:

After you assign a resource to a project, if you clear the Project Resource box, they’ll still be available if you use the Display All Resources for Project Task Assignment preference when creating your project in NetSuite.

Assign resources to project tasks:

  1. Go to Lists > Relationships > Projects and click Edit next to the project.

  2. On the Schedule subtab, click Edit next to the task you want to assign resources to.

  3. In the Project Task window, click the Assignees subtab.

  4. In the Resource column, select the employee or vendor you want to add as a resource.

    Note:

    Employees and vendors show up in this list only if they've been marked as a Project Resource, For more information, read Working with Resources in Project Management.

  5. Select the service item required for this resource on this task.

  6. Enter a unit cost and unit price for this service item on this task.

  7. Click Add.

  8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 for each resource you want to assign to this task.

  9. Click Save.

Each assigned resource may have a different amount of work on the task and may work at a different rate, such as full-time or half-time. The percentage of time the employee dedicates to a single task is often referred to as their “full-time equivalent.”

You can also use resource groups to assign multiple resources to a project task at one time. For more information, see Creating Resource Groups.

Overbooking and Underbooking

Note that resource assignment isn't automatically limited by the time constraints of that resource. For example, someone who works 20 hours a week can still be assigned to 50 hours of tasks. You must assess time reports to determine if resources are under or over their planned utilization across multiple tasks or projects.

For example, Brenda might be scheduled for Task 1 full-time next week (40 hours). You can still assign her to Task 2 full-time for the same week, even though she’ll only work 40 hours total.

After resources are assigned on projects and begin to enter time against it, you can do the following:

Related Topics:

General Notices