Using Team Assignment Pools in Project 2007

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26 abril

Using Team Assignment Pools in Project 2007

This post is a follow up discussion to the post on Ad Hoc Work. Though we've been busy getting Beta 2 ready, I thought we needed another scenario post.

INTRODUCING TEAM ASSIGNMENT POOLS

Team assignment pools are a powerful addition to Project Server 2007. These work resources allow you to assign work to a work team without having to specify the specific team member who will perform the work. This resource type provides the team lead with the flexibility to control and balance work assignments for their team. This type of resource can be very useful in situations where the request is related to a recurring process or to unplanned activities.

For those of you who will want to try this with the upcoming Beta 2, I will point out where the product has a blocking bug which prevents you from completing the process. All of this will work by the final version.

SETTING UP TEAM ASSIGNMENT POOLS

In order to use Team Assignment Pools, you should set up the following items.

First, the Team Name on a Resource is a pre-defined custom field. I'm a big fan of lookup tables as these insure consistent values for Team Name. While this is optional, I would recommend setting up a lookup table of Team Names and associating the lookup table to the Team Name custom field. Beyond consistency, this will also save you some time assigning a resource to a team when you have a number of resources to update.

Second, when you create the resource, you will need to set the Default Assignment Owner of the team resource to the Team Manager. This new to 2007 resource setting enables another resource to manage assignments for the Team Assignment Pool.

To set up the lookup table and associate this lookup to the custom field, perform the following steps.

In PWA, go to Server Settings
Select Enterprise Custom Field Definition
Click New Lookup Table button on the lower table
Fill in the Lookup Table name (I called mine Team Name)
Fill in the code mask and the code values below.
Set the sort order ( I set mine to Sort ascending)
Click Save

Setup of Lookup table

Now we need to associate the lookup table to the Team Name custom field.

From the Enterprise Custom Field Definition page, click the Team Name field in the top table.
Under Custom Attributes, set the Lookup Table value to the Lookup table you created above.
Click Save

Setup of Team Name

Now we need to create a work resource to represent a team.

Go to Resource Center
From the Action bar, click New, Resource
Set Type to Work
Set Display Name to the Team Name
Important!! Set the Timesheet Manager and Default Assignment Owner to the Team Manager
Scroll down and expand the Team Details section
Check the Team Assignment Pool box to make this a team resource
Set the team value to the a team in the lookup table.
Click Save
Repeat for each team

USING TEAM RESOURCES IN YOUR PROJECT

Alright, if you were able to follow my instructions above, you are now ready to begin using Team Assignment Pools. I'm getting tired of typing Team Assignment Pool so I'm going to just call them Teams from now on.

For simplicity sake, we are going to create an Activity Plan for migrating our Shared Drive content for the team to SharePoint. In this activity plan, we will assign certain tasks to the Hellp Desk team. In this case, Teams allow the Project Manager to request actions from a team without having to know who will be completing the work. The basics of this technique will also work on full Project Plans.

In order to assign work to a Team on the plan, you will need to add the Team Assignment Pool resource to the plan's resources using Team Builder. This is also true if you decide to do this on a regular Project Plan.

Below is a picture of our very simple Activity Plan. We've assigned resource setup and security setup tasks to the Help Desk. Once you've set up the plan, Save and Publish.

Activity Plan

REASSIGNING TEAM WORK TO A SPECIFIC RESOURCE

So, we've set up the Team and we've assigned work, it's time to put on our Team Manager hat. Here, you will see the new task and reassign the task to someone else.

If you are the Default Assignment Owner for the team, you will be able to see the Team Assignments by clicking the Task Center link in the My Work section of the Quick Link bar. You will then see all tasks assigned to you and to the Team. Note, the Resource Name column will contain the name of the Team for work assigned to the team. To see them together, you can sort on the Resource Name column.

Task Center

By default, the Task Center only shows tasks that are active for the next 10 days. In order to see all tasks, do the following.

Select from the tool bar, Settings, View Options.
Uncheck the Show Only Current Tasks box.
Click Apply

Task Center

To reassign a task, you can either check the box next to the task and click the Reassign Work button on the tool bar. You can hover over the task name and select Reassign Work which is the way you work with SharePoint list items. Both will take you to the following screen.

Now, if you remember earlier, I mentioned a blocking bug which is a bug that prevents you from completing an action. Well, this is where it is. If you attempt to reassign the work, you will get an error. I apologize for the inconvenience but this part will work when we ship the final product.

If this worked correctly, you would be able to select another resource in the drop down to receive the task and would press Submit.

Reassigning Work

If you read the Ad Hoc post and then read this one, you can see that we've made significant progress in enabling Managers to plan efforts without needing specific resources. We've also enabled Team Leads to have better visibility and control over new incoming work for their Team. Hopefully, you will find this very useful.

NOTE ABOUT SCREENSHOTS

I just realized that all of my screenshots were done using Beta 2 candidate build where I had been investigating various customizations. PWA will not have that logo so don't be surprised when it looks a little different in Beta 2.

Also, we won't have a Financial Reports link in the Quick Link bar for Beta 2. I had created a custom menu option called Financial Reports where I used the SQL Server Reporting Services 2005 web part with a SharePoint web part page to support a second instance of SSRS. My apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

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Comentarios (7)

Treb Gatte ha desactivado los comentarios en esta página.

	Sin nombreescribió: Thanks for the guide... For some reason, when I try to re-assign - it only gives me the group as an option - no individuals... 26 Julio
	Sin nombreescribió: I'm testing out assigning work to Teams in a resource plan. I added resources to teams, make the teams into resources and make them “team assignment pools.” Then I tried to assign work to the teams in a resource plan and when I try to save I get this error: "General error: Work value used is invalid. (Use this error information along with other errors to find out the cause of the problem.)" Anything? 5 Julio
	Igor Macoriescribió: I connected my Team Name custom field to a lookup table, but now I want change this lookup table with another one... If I try to change (Edit custom field page) this selection appear read only... Help me, please! 4 Julio
	Normand of Montrealescribió: Bravo, very useful, merci beaucoup, difficile a trouver comment le faire 28 Feb
	Nicolas escribió: Thank you for your interesting post. It's really useful because MS doesn't give us lot of documentation! However, I don't understand why we need to create a real resource for a team. I thought that we just need to create a resource and link it to a team. It’s not really clear for me… Thanks, Nicolas 16 Oct
	Treb Gatteescribió: Can you expand on which bug you are referring? 25 Sep
	Sin nombreescribió: Great guide! Thanks. Does blocking bug fixed in Beta 2 TR? 22 Sep

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