P6 Professional User Guide

Resource Usage Spreadsheet

The Resource Usage Spreadsheet

Use the Resource Usage Spreadsheet to analyze quantity or cost usage for resources or roles. For every role and resource in the project, you can review cost or quantity information for a specific project or for all projects across the enterprise (total allocation). You can also select the spreadsheet fields to specify which cost or quantity information you want to view and set the timescale for displaying data values. If you have the appropriate security privilege, you can manually enter values for budgeted or planned and remaining (early) units in the spreadsheet.

Use the Resource Usage Spreadsheet to

Quickly analyze resource data.

View past period actual data.

View resource or role data.

Filter resources, roles, and activities.

Group and sort resource data.

Manually plan future resource distribution.

In the Activities window, the Resource Usage Spreadsheet is available only in the bottom layout.

When you choose to display information for all projects, the bottom layout is divided into two panes.

The left pane lists all the resources or roles stored in the hierarchy, depending on your current view.

The right pane displays the values for the activities assigned to each resource or role.

When you choose to display information only for a specific project, the bottom layout is divided into three panes.

The left pane lists all the resources or roles stored in the hierarchy, depending on you current view.

The middle pane displays all of the activity assignments for the resource or role currently selected in the left pane.

The right pane displays the values for the activities assigned to the resource or role currently selected in the left pane.

In the Resource Assignments window, the Resource Usage Spreadsheet is available in the right pane.

You can group, sort, or filter the resources or roles displayed in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet.

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Customizing Activity Layouts

Tips

You can display past period actual values in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet. In the right pane of the bottom layout, click the Display Options bar and choose Spreadsheet Fields, Customize. The available past period actual fields are listed in the Financial Period Value section for both Cumulative and Time Interval. If the Financial Period Value section is not available in the Columns dialog box, you must specify the range of financial periods available for display as columns on the User Preferences, Application tab. When displaying Financial Period Value fields, past period actuals stored per financial period are distributed evenly, within each financial period, from the financial period start date to the financial period end date and earned value calculations are based on these stored period quantities. For all other columns, actuals are spread evenly from the actual start to the data date or actual finish date of the activity or assignment.

When you display a financial period timescale and display data for all projects (rather than for open projects only), activity and resource data must be summarized by financial period to accurately display data for closed projects.

When connected to a P6 Professional database: If you have administrator rights, to ensure that activity and resource data is summarized by financial period when you summarize projects, choose Admin, Admin Preferences, select the Options tab, then mark the 'By financial period' checkbox.

When connected to a P6 EPPM database: If you have administrator rights, to ensure that activity and resource data is summarized by financial period when you summarize projects, you can do so from the Applications Settings page in P6.

With the appropriate security privilege, you can edit the Budgeted or Planned Units and Remaining (Early) Units fields. Your ability to manually enter/edit data in these fields is determined by user preference settings, timescale settings, and other factors. For information on the types of activities that are ideal candidates for manual planning, refer to Future Period Bucket Planning. For detailed information on entering and editing data in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet, including troubleshooting information, refer to Future period bucket planning FAQ.

Notes

In the Activities window, the Resource Usage Spreadsheet must display data for open projects only if you want to manually plan future period resource distribution. If the spreadsheet is displaying data for all projects, click the Display Options bar, then choose Show All Projects to remove the checkmark; the title of the Display Options bar changes to 'Display: Open Projects Only."

The hierarchy in the Resource Usage spreadsheet does not represent rolled up values for resource groups; therefore, if you select a resource group, only the values directly related to that group appear in the spreadsheet. Values for the individual resources belonging to that group do not appear.

If you are displaying actual to date values (not past period actual values) and you do not want the resource unit/cost values spread evenly, use resource curves to distribute those values nonlinearly, or manually enter the values. The Resource Usage Spreadsheet reflects the resource curves. If the planned work on an activity cannot be accurately captured by applying a resource curve, you should manually enter values to achieve the most accurate resource distribution per timeperiod. If you are displaying past period actual values, the resource unit/cost data is spread by financial period.

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P6 Professional User Guide

Multiple resource rates are not reflected in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet.

Dashes display in the cells of summary rows if your selection contains a mixture of labor/ nonlabor and material type resources.

Display the Resource Usage Spreadsheet

With the Activities window active, do one of the following:

Choose View, Show on Bottom, Resource Usage Spreadsheet.

Click the Layout Options bar and choose Show on Bottom, Resource Usage Spreadsheet.

Click on the Bottom Layout toolbar.

With the Resource Assignments window active, do one of the following:

Choose View, Show on Top, Resource Usage Spreadsheet.

Click the Layout Options bar, then choose Resource Usage Spreadsheet.

Click on the Top Layout toolbar.

Tip

To hide the upper layout and display only the Resource Usage Spreadsheet in the Activities window, drag the split bar separating the upper layout from the Resource Usage Spreadsheet all the way to the top.

Group and sort Resource Usage Spreadsheet columns in the Activities window

In the left or middle panes of the Resource Usage Spreadsheet layout, click the Display Options bar, then choose Group and Sort By. Choose one of the predefined group and sort options, or, to customize grouping and sorting, choose Customize.

If you choose Customize

1)In the Group By column, double-click the cell, then select the field by which you want to group.

2)Click Sort, then select the field names you want to sort by for the grouping. Click OK.

3)To change a group's display color and font, double-click the appropriate Font & Color field.

4)To group and sort by additional fields, repeat steps 1 and 2.

Tip

To remove a grouping field, select the field you want to remove, then click Delete.

Group and sort Resource Usage Spreadsheet columns in the Resource Assignments window

In the Activity Resource Assignments layout, click the Display Options bar, then choose Group and Sort By. Choose one of the predefined group and sort options, or, to customize grouping and sorting, choose Customize.

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Customizing Activity Layouts

If you choose Customize

1)In the Group By column, double-click the cell, then select the field by which you want to group.

2)Click Sort, then select the field names you want to sort by for the grouping. Click OK.

3)To change a group's display color and font, double-click the appropriate Font & Color field.

4)To group and sort by additional fields, repeat steps 1 and 2.

Tip

To remove a grouping field, select the field you want to remove, then click Delete.

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