ProjectLibre Desktop · Working with ProjectLibre
Resources
Working with resources: the Resources, RBS and Resource Usage views, and inserting, editing and organising resources.
In the command ribbon, the “Resources” tab comprises some features that are divided into three groups: Views, Clipboard and Resources; some of the functions, for instance “Calendar”, are the same as the ones in the command ribbon. Therefore, it will be marked with a link.
Views
Resources
The “Resources” spreadsheet pops up with a mouse click on the “Resources” icon in the “Views” group.
This spreadsheet contains all details on resources, such as Name, RBS, type, e-mail address, initials, Hourly Rate, Overtime Rate, Base Calendar, etc.
The information from this spreadsheet is used by ProjectLibre to make calculations for your project, e.g. duration of work for a person depending on his/her maximal units, or expenditure using the personal rates etc. Filling the spreadsheet is possible by directly typing into the cells and a right mouse click offers a drop down menu with easy features to help.
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The spreadsheet is flexible and easy to adapt to your needs by hiding a column or adding new ones. To hide a column simply click on “Hide Column” and the selected column disappears from the view; it is however not deleted. To add a new column, click on “Insert Column” and a new “Insert Column” window will appear. The window allows you to choose which column to add from a long scroll-list, select your required column and confirm with a click on “OK”.
It is possible to assign a separate base calendar to each Resource/Person. E.g. A crane may have a 24 hours calendar, while the crane-drivers each have an 8 or 12 hours calendar for their respective shifts.
A double mouse-click will show the “Resource Information” window; later on this window.
RBS
Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) shows a hierarchic structure in a large list of resources, from personnel, tools, materials, equipment and other services. Cost is not a resource as such, though all resources cost money. A click on the “RBS” button in the “Resources” command bar shows this scheme, figure 69. RBS allows you to categorize and summarize resource costs within the project. It is essentially similar to a Work Breakdown Structure that organizes tasks in a hierarchical structure rolling up data as you go up the tree. In the RBS it is similar but creates the hierarchy based on the resources.
Each node/block represents a resource and indicates the expenditure of its usage in the project against the budget. The hierarchical relation between resources is indicated with a line. A click on this relation line brings a new window that allows the line to be removed by clicking on the “Remove” button, figure 70.
An option that creates a new relation line between resources is also available: click the mouse inside a resource block and a line will appear from the block to the mouse with a ∞ symbol, click on the other block to create the new relation.
Resource Usage
A detailed spreadsheet will be shown with all usage data for resources by the task, just click on the “Task Usage” button in the “Resource” command, figure 71. Usage Per Resource is indicated on the left side in a column, there is also its usage per task in hours, a total of hours and where averaging has been applied, etc. A mouse click on the head of the column allows either to hide it or even to create a new one. A New Column window opens; it allows you to select the column from a long list, among them some cost data.
On the right side of this spreadsheet the assigned hours per resource and task are indicated in date structure, in hours, days or weeks. The time scale can be adjusted using the “Zoom In” or “Zoom Out” buttons from hours to quarters of a year. The mouse allows you also to change the size of the left and right panes on this screen, with a click and drag action.
Zoom In/Zoom Out
This feature is comparable to the Zoom In/Zoom Out function and already discussed in the “Task” command.
Clipboard
The “Clipboard” features for Paste, Copy and Cut, are comparable to the ones in the “Task” command.
Resources
The resources group in the “Resource” command has several functions, some of which are similar to the functions in the “Task” command; these will be referred to.
Insert
The “Insert” button is working in the “Resources” spreadsheet and the “Resource Usage” table only. First, a resource should be marked. A click on the “Insert” button will add a row above the marked one and allow you to enter a new resource.
When you are in the “Resource Usage” table, mark a task row within a resource and click the “Insert” button, a new row will be created at the end of this resource and allow you to enter a resource.
Delete
The “Delete” button is also working in the Resource spreadsheet and the “Resource Usage” table only.
First, the row to be deleted has to be marked, by a mouse click. The row is highlighted in grey and a click on “Delete” will remove this “Resource” row from the table.
Indent/Outdent
The “Indent” and “Outdent” functions are powerful in making changes to the hierarchical structure of the RBS, similar to the Indent and Outdent functions discussed in the “Task” command.
Information
Clicking on the “Information” button in the Resource command will open a new “Resources Information” window only if a resource was selected; else a resource has to be selected for the window to appear.
The “Resource Information” window has five Tabs, but will standard open with the “General” tab open.
General information on the resource can be entered, notice that the name of the resource is already in.
The “Costs” tab allows for this resource to specify the Labour Rates, Overtime Rates and Cost per Use. Notice the first column with the name “EffectiveDate” and that there are 5 smaller tabs, A, B, C, D, E (figure 74). This will allow you to set 5 different time intervals with each rate for this resource; pretty good for a salary raise eh?
The “Resource Availability” tab allows you to specify for the resource the percentage time available for the project with some time intervals.
The “Task” tab offers a summary of all tasks that the marked resource is involved with.
The “Notes” tab offers some free space for extra information for this resource.
Calendar
The “Calendar” button in the “Resource” command brings the same information window as the Calendar button in the “Task” command.
Notes
Clicking on the “Notes” button in the “Resource” command will open the “Information” window but this time the “Notes” tab is already opened. The “Notes” tab offers some free space for extra information for this resource.
Find
The “Find” button in the “Resource” command brings the same “Find” window as the Find button in the “Task” command.