Resource Types in Microsoft Project: Work, Material and Cost
In the context of management, resource types can be anything from time, inventory, money, material, men to machine, or a combination of any of the four resources or all the resources required to achieve a defined objective. However, this article seeks to explain resource types commonly used in Microsoft Project.
The sub-titles are:
1. What Are Resources in Management?
2. Mandatory Resource versus Asset Resources
3. Resource Types in Microsoft Project
4. Walkarounds for Budgeting in Microsoft Project
5. Evaluation Questions
What Are Resources in Management?
A resource is a necessary input required to carry out a certain task or project. Generally in management, resources can be anything from time, inventory, money, material, men to machine, or a combination of any of the four resources or all the resources required to achieve a defined objective. Whereas in the context of production, there are four major types of production, namely: land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile in project management, time is regarded as a non-renewable mandatory resource while other resources are assets which may all be required or not all be required to accomplish a task or a project objective.
Mandatory Resource versus Asset Resources
When we refer to time as a mandatory resource, we mean every activity in a project schedule must be matched against time. This is because all activities involve time which on their own are not measurable unless they are matched against time. Time gives a true measure of how efficient or effective a task or project was carried out.
However, not every activity requires all four asset resources at one time. Thus, Microsoft Project is designed to accommodate this flexibility to make a choice or select from any of the asset resources required to carry out a task. In Microsoft Project, the asset resources are classified into three types.
Resource Types in Microsoft Project
A resource is necessary to carry out a certain task on a project. Good project management practice dictates that resources should be assessed and allocated before executing a project. This means that when you are about to begin a project, you need to consider what resources are required for you and your team members to finish it successfully.
Microsoft Project classifies these resources into three types, namely: Work Resources (Men and Machinery), Material (Consumables, Supplies, etc) and Cost (Budget).
1. Work Resource: Work resources have a calendar. That is, they are time-based. Never enter a unit value greater than 100% for a work resource. You may enter more than 100% for a generic resource.
2. Material Resource: Material resources are tangible objects. They are measured in units. They are assigned to work and are costed by their units.
3. Cost Resource: A cost resource has two sides of a coin. One side is the regular costs and the opposite side is the budget costs. The regular costs may include training cost, lunch cost, hotel cost, etc, and they can be assigned to sub-tasks.
In contrast, the budget cost is unassignable to any sub-task. Furthermore, you cannot specify a unit nor specify the cost of a Budget Resource. You can only assign it. To assign a Budget Resource, you need to activate the Project Summary Task.
Walkarounds for Budgeting in Microsoft Project
It is important to understand that Microsoft Project is not really setup for creating estimates or budgets prior to executing a project. This is a bit of a tricky limitation to work around. Instead, Microsoft Project is designed more for tracking a project as you go. It gives you features to view different reports: Cost view, Task Usage view, etc.
However, you can adopt some walkarounds when creating estimates or budgets in Microsoft Project as follows:
1. Create Tasks in the Entry Gantt view.
2. Create a Resource Sheet and add Cost Resources.
3. Tie cost to the Resources.
4. Then link the Resources to Tasks.
NOTE: You cannot just put money on each Task.
Microsoft Project Quiz Questions on Resource Types
Author: Ana Arm
Estd. 2013