You work as a Project Manager for company.com Inc. You have been assigned the task to manage a
project in order to streamline business processes. You need to prepare a resource estimate required
to complete the project in six months or less. The executives want to know how many resources you
will need and the skill sets each resource must possess. You have constructed a task list and linked
the tasks to create a schedule. What should you do next to prepare the estimate?
A.
You should open the Assign Resources dialog box. For each task in the project, search for
resources by Resource Breakdown Structure codes and assign them to tasks.
B.
You should create generic resources for each set of skills the project requires and assign generic
resources to all the tasks.
C.
You should assign specific resources to your project tasks. Then, generate a resource report that
specifies the number of resources you need based on their Resource Breakdown Structure codes.
D.
For all the resources you create in your Project file, in the Booking Type drop-down list, choose
Proposed.
Explanation:
You will create generic resources for each set of skills the project requires, as shown below, and then
assign generic resources to all the tasks.
Generic resources represent skill sets rather than specific people. By assigning generic resources to
tasks, a user can estimate how many resources he needs of each skill set for each time period of a
project. Later, generic resources can be replaced with specific resources.
Answer option C is incorrect. Assigning specific resources to tasks is not the best way to estimate
resources based on skill sets. The skill sets required are not immediately obvious based on a
resource name and you must be sure to replace the specific resources you originally assigned with
the resources you have been given for your project.
Answer option A is incorrect. The Resource Breakdown Structure codes do represent skill sets.
However, assigning specific resources means that you must be careful to replace those temporary
resources with the ones you have been given for your project.
Answer option D is incorrect. Using the Proposed booking type designates resources as tentative
assignments when you publish a project to a Project Server. Booking type does not help you
determine how many resources you need based on skill sets and does not apply when you use
Microsoft Project without Project Server.
What are resources?
Resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment, facilities,
funding, or anything else capable of definition (usually other than labour) required for the
completion of a project activity. The lack of a resource will therefore be a constraint on the
completion of the project activity. There are three types of resources in Project 2007: work,
material, and cost. Work resources are those, which are not consumed on the completion of the
assigned task. The most common example of work resource is people. Material resources are those,
which are consumed as a task progresses. The examples are ink, concrete, wood, etc. Cost resources
represent additional costs that are incurred on a task, such as travel expenses, etc.
