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Assigning Resources to Tasks

How to assign and unassign resources on a task, and how assignment units drive duration, work, and cost.

Tagline: Put the right people on the work — and see duration, work, and cost respond.

Once tasks exist on the Gantt, staffing them from the enterprise pool is the next operational step. This section teaches the Assign resources dialog from the Assign Resources walkthrough: assignment units (Rate %), how Work stays fixed while Duration shortens with multiple full-time assignments, how Standard Rate drives Cost / Actual Cost, and how Unassign reverses the compression.

Watch: Assign Resources (~3:36).

Prerequisites — pool and rates

The Assign Resources video opens the pool on the RESOURCES tab (Cloud left-nav equivalent: Resources) so you can confirm who is available and at what rate before assigning on the project Gantt.

Pool columns shown: ID, Name, RBS, Type, Group, Cost, Standard Rate, Cost Per Use.
Demo people: Tayler OB and Kai 007 — Type Work, Standard Rate 100 ($100/h).
A row named Material with Type Material appears in the same list.

RESOURCES pool showing Kai 007 Standard Rate 100 and Material type RESOURCES pool — Kai 007 rate 100; Type Work vs Material — from video

Assign / Unassign dialog

On PROJECT → Gantt, select a task, then open the toolbar control labeled Assign resources (people icon).

Select the task row (demo: Task 1 ( one resource assigned ) or Task 2 ( two resources assigned)).
Open Assign resources. Dialog context = the selected task name.
Columns: checkbox, Name, Rate (percent).
Check one or more resources → click Assign.
To remove: select an assigned resource → Unassign.

PROJECT Gantt with two 10-day 80-hour tasks before assignment PROJECT Gantt setup — two tasks at 10d / 80h before assign — from video

Assign resources dialog Task 1 Tayler OB at 100 percent Assign resources — Tayler OB at 100% — from video

After a single assign, the Gantt bar label shows the resource name (e.g. Tayler OB). Multiple assignees appear semicolon-separated (e.g. Kai 007; Tayler OB).

Work stays fixed — duration shortens

Task 1 — assign one resource at 100% → duration stays 10d; work 80h.
Task 2 — assign Kai 007 and Tayler OB both at 100% → elapsed duration becomes 5d; work remains 80h; finish moves earlier (demo ~11/17 → ~11/10).
Key scheduling rule: multiple resources change elapsed duration; work remains.

Task 2 shortened to 5 days with Kai and Tayler labels After dual assign — Duration 5d, labels Kai 007; Tayler OB, Work still 80h — from video

Side by side 10 day vs 5 day tasks with work 80 hours Side-by-side teaching shot — 10d vs 5d, Work 80h on both — from video

This behavior matches effort-driven / fixed-work shortening. The Assign video does not open the Task Type or Effort Driven controls — those live in Scheduling → Task types and Effort-driven.

Unassign reverse: On Task 2, open Assign resources, select Kai 007 at 100%, click Unassign. Duration returns to 10d; only Tayler OB remains on the Gantt.

Task 2 restored to 10 days after unassigning Kai After Unassign — Task 2 back to 10d; only Tayler on Gantt — from video

Standard Rate → Cost / Actual Cost

With Standard Rate 100 ($100/h) and Work 80h, planned Cost on the task Edit → General shows 8,000.

Select the task → open Edit (task information).
Tabs: Fields | Predecessors | Successors | Resources.
Under Fields: General | Actuals | Calendar | Constraints | Other.
On General, set Percent Complete to 0.1 (UI fraction = 10%).
On Actuals (Task 1 demo): Actual Work 8h, Actual Cost 800 (= $100/h × 8h); Remaining Work 72h, Remaining Cost 7,200.

Edit Actuals showing Actual Work 8h and Actual Cost 800 Edit → Actuals — Actual Work 8h, Actual Cost 800 — from video

What to do next

Assigned tasks feed My Work as project timecard entries when users are linked. To understand the enterprise pool, Resource Gantt capacity colors, Teams, calendars, Edit Resource, and Peak Units graphs, continue to Resources. To control how duration/work/units respond when staffing changes, see Scheduling. When Peak Units or the Resource Gantt show overallocation, resolve it with Resource Leveling.