Regardless of how the Project Server administrator defined resources in Project Server 2003, you must add all members of the Enterprise Resource Pool either by creating them directly in the Enterprise Resource Pool (using Project Professional to check the Enterprise Resource Pool out from Project Server), or by using Active Directory synchronization, the Import Resources Wizard, or the Import Projects Wizard to add them to the Enterprise Resource Pool. Checking out the Enterprise Resource Pool is the only way to create and modify all resource data in a single location.

While resources that are part of the Enterprise Resource Pool are checked out, other Project Server users are still be able to view the information for those resources, but they cannot enter or modify data.

To add users by checking out the Enterprise Resource Pool

1. Open Project Professional as a user who has the New Resources global permission and Edit Enterprise Resources category permission and connect to Project Server 2003.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Enterprise Options, and then click Open Enterprise Resource Pool.

   After Project Server 2003 verifies that you have permission to open the Enterprise Resource Pool, the Open Enterprise Resources dialog box appears. This dialog box displays all of the resources in the Enterprise Resource Pool. A visual indicator in the Information column indicates whether the resource can be opened read-only or can be checked out (read/write), as well as whether the resource is currently checked out to another user.

   

   The Open Enterprise Resources dialog box enables you to do the following:

   • Click Select/Deselect All to select all or deselect all resources that are available in the Open Enterprise Resources dialog box.
   • Select individual resources by checking the box to the left of the resource. Only selected resources can be checked out.
   • Use the filters to refine the list of enterprise resources to find only those with a particular value or Enterprise Resource Outline Code. All filtering of the Enterprise Resource Pool must be based on Enterprise Resource Outline Codes (including Enterprise Resource Multi-Value Outline Codes) that are saved to the Enterprise Global Template; codes that are saved in local projects are not available. For example, if you wanted to filter the resources by a node in the RBS, select RBS from the Enterprise Outline Code column, select a node in the Value column, and then click Apply Filter.

     

3. When you have finished making your selections and applying filtering, click Open/Add.

   The Enterprise Resource Pool opens in Project Professional as a project called Checked-out Enterprise Resources. All resources that are selected in the Open Enterprise Resources dialog box are available in the Resource Sheet view.

   

Adding New Resources to the Enterprise Resource Pool

You can create new enterprise resource entries directly in the Checked-out Enterprise Resources project and edit resource data for all selected resources. In addition, in the Checked-out Enterprise Resources project, you can add users from Active Directory or from the Address Book. To use these options, on the Insert menu, point to New Resource From, and then select Active Directory or Address Book.

The standard fields in the Resource Sheet that are available for enterprise resources are as follows:

 Note   You can add a new column to the Resource Sheet view by right-clicking in the column header row and selecting Insert Column from the list.

• Resource Name   The name of the resource.
• Type   The resource type, either Work or Material.
• Material Label   The type of material resource; for example, bag of concrete.
• Initials   A resource's initials.
• Group   The name of the resource group to which this resource belongs. This does not map to the security groups created in Project Server 2003 unless you enter the name of the Project Server security group in this field.
• Max. Units   The percentage of time that a resource is available to work on all project-related tasks. The default is 100 percent (8 hours per day based on the standard Enterprise Calendar). If you enter 50 percent, then based on the same calendar, the resource is 50 percent available. You can exceed 100 percent in this field. For example, if you have a material resource called bag of concrete, but actually have three bags of concrete, you can enter 300 percent in this field. Or if you have a work resource who is available to work 10 hours of overtime in an upcoming week, you can adjust their Max Units to 125 percent.
• Std. Rate   The standard cost for an enterprise resource.
• Ovt. Rate   The overtime cost for an enterprise resource.
• Cost/Use   The cost of the resource each time the resource is assigned to a task.
• Accrue At   The point at which actual costs are incurred for the enterprise resource: either at the start of a task, at the end of task, or distributed evenly over the lifespan of a task.
• Base Calendar   The Enterprise Calendar used to determine the working days, working times, and overall schedule for the enterprise resource.
• Code   An alphanumeric code that can be assigned to a resource. Use this field to characterize resources. For example, you can assign department accounting codes to each resource, enabling you to sort resources based on this code and determine the hours charged against each department.

Using the Resource Information Dialog Box

In addition to working in the Resource Sheet view, you can use the Custom Fields tab of the Resource Information dialog box to work with all of the custom fields specified in the Enterprise Global Template that are associated with that particular resource. Double-click any resource in the Resource Sheet view to open the Resource Information dialog box.

The Resource Information dialog box.

Adding Custom Enterprise Data to the Resource Sheet view

If members of your organization need to work with large numbers of Enterprise Custom Outline Codes or Enterprise Custom Fields, consider adding these custom fields to the Resource Sheet view so that the information can be entered in the Resource Sheet view without the need to use the Resource Information dialog box. This minimizes the number of steps that are required to maintain this data and can save a considerable amount of time. If you want changes to be applied to all projects, then they need to be made in the checked-out Enterprise Global Template.

To add custom fields to the Resource Sheet view

1. Open Project Professional and connect to Project Server 2003.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Enterprise Options, and then click Open Enterprise Global.
3. On the View menu, click Resource Sheet.
4. In the Resource Sheet, right-click the column header to the right of where you want to add the custom field, and then select Insert Column to open the Column Definition dialog box.

   

5. In the Column Definition dialog box, select the field that you want to add from the Field name list. If you want to use a custom name for the field, type the custom name in the Title box and specify the remaining format-related information.

    Note   Enterprise Custom Outline Codes and Enterprise Custom Fields are listed twice—once by their generic name and once by the name that was assigned when the data was created. For example, if Enterprise Resource Outline Code1 was named Department when it was created, you view both Enterprise Resource Outline Code1 (Department) and Department (Enterprise Resource Outline Code1).

6. Click OK to add the field to the Resource Sheet view.
7. Repeat steps 4, 5, and 6 for each field that you want to add to the Resource Sheet view.

Creating Generic Enterprise Resources

Generic resources are a specific type of resource that you can use to support skill-based resource assignment and replacement. Generic resources enable you to define and save frequently used skill and code profiles (specific values for one or more Enterprise Resource Outline Code fields). Generic resources are handled similarly to the way that you handle work resources. However, because generic resources are not actual resources, Project Server accounts are not created and task assignments are not set for them.

You can use generic resources when you are using the following Project Professional features to perform skill-based resource planning:

• Build Team from Enterprise, which you can use to select resources from the Enterprise Resource Pool and assign them to tasks.
• The Resource Substitution Wizard, which you can use to replace generic resource entries with a specific person who has the required skills and is available to complete the task.

You create generic enterprise resources in the same way that you create other enterprise resources. You can specify that a resource is a generic resource by selecting the Generic check box on the General tab of the Resource Information dialog box or by adding the Generic field to the Resource Sheet view in the Enterprise Global Template or project templates.

The Resource Information dialog box.

Before you add generic resources to the Enterprise Resource Pool, it is important to plan and document the types of generic enterprise resources that you will use in your organization. This helps you to minimize the number of generic resources that you create and can help to optimize the overall resource management process within your organization. Consider using a single generic enterprise resource for primary categories and then using a custom text field to allow users to specify the exact type of generic resource within the category.

Additionally, you need to set Enterprise Resource Outline Codes for generic enterprise resources in the same way that you do for any other resource in the Enterprise Resource Pool. If an Enterprise Resource Outline Code is required, you must specify a value for the generic resource.