Assign a resource to a task

As the project manager responsible for creating a schedule, you define the resources for the project. As the project scope becomes more defined and you fill in the schedule by adding tasks and milestones, you are likely to refine your resource needs.

You can start adding the names of resources who will be working on this project as you acquire them. These may be the names of actual people, or they may be disciplines that act as placeholders until you are ready to assign actual tasks.

Procedure

1. Right-click the task and choose Assignments → Assign to Task.

2. Click the Organization, Project Teams, Disciplines, or Search tab and select a user, role/group, or discipline to assign to the task. You can assign a combination role/group and discipline.

   • Organization or Project Teams tab: select users from the tree and click Add. In the Organization tab, you can filter the tree by group, role, user name, or user ID. In the Project Teams tab, select the project from the Projects list and filter the tree by name.

   • Alternatively, use Resource Pool Options/Placeholder Options to assign a set of group or role members as participants instead of individual users:

     If you select	You can
     A group	Click Any Member so any member of the group can be assigned to the task, or All Members to assign the entire group membership to the task.
     A group + Placeholder Assignment	Assign members from that group later.
     A role under a group	Click Any Member and choose Specific Group to assign any member of the combined group and role, or choose Any Group to assign any member of any group and the selected role.
     A role + Placeholder Assignment	Choose Specific Group to use the combined group and role as a placeholder, or choose Any Group to use the selected role with any group as a placeholder.

   • Disciplines tab: select either a discipline or users from the disciplines tree and click Add. You can filter by name, user name, or user ID. No resource pool options are available.

   • Search tab: select a discipline, placeholder, or qualification to match a user that you can assign:

     To search for users	Select	And then
     In a discipline	The discipline underneath the task and click Find Resources	Select a user in Results and click Add — assigned in place of the discipline
     To replace the placeholder	The placeholder role/group underneath the task and click Find Resources	Select a user in Results and click Add — assigned in place of the placeholder
     Who meet the qualification required by the task	The task, select the qualification/level, and click Find Resources	Select one or more users and click Add
     With a higher qualification level than required, or out-of-date qualification	The Show Alternates check box	Select one or more users and click Add

   If you select a combination placeholder and discipline and attempt to assign a user that does not match both requirements, the user is assigned as an additional resource instead of replacing the combination.

   You can see the load of the selected user by clicking Show Resource Graph.

   Qualifications, discipline, and group/role requirements are enforced if the SM_ENFORCE_ASSIGNMENT_CRITERIA preference is set to true.

3. Click Add.

4. Change the Load value if needed.

5. Click OK.

Results

Tasks assigned to a user or a resource pool that the user is a member of appear in the Schedule Tasks folder in their Worklist.