Working with Resources in Project Management

People you assign and use as labor on a project are project resources. These resources can be your employees or vendors you employ as subcontractors.

Anyone you use as a project resource must first be set up as a project resource on their record. Project resources are then available for assignment when you create a project task. You can add only project resources to project tasks. This enables you to track and measure precise labor information for your projects and resources.

For example, when you set up an employee record to show that person as a project resource, you can record their hourly labor costs and days available to work. This data helps you with scheduling and calculating profits for a project. Resource rates you set can be overridden later on individual project tasks.

For any employee or vendor you want to assign as a resource on projects, you must complete the steps below to set up the record to show them as a project resource.

Setting Up Project Resources

Complete the following to use resources on your projects.

1. Check the Project Resource box on each employee and vendor record that you want to assign to projects.

   Important:

   In order to assign vendors and employees to complete project tasks or manage projects, they must first be identified as a project resource on their record. After a resource has been assigned to a project, if you clear the Project Resource box, the resource is still available to be assigned if you use the Display All Resources for Project Task Assignment preference when creating your project in NetSuite.

   Read the following for more information:

   • Identifying an Employee as a Project Resource

   • Identifying a Vendor as a Project Resource

2. Create one or more work calendars to set work and non-work days, and assign a work calendar to each resource.

   Read Project Resource Work Calendars.

   

3. Create project resource roles.

   Read Creating a Project Resource Role.

After you have set up resource records and created resource roles, you can implement these resources on projects. When creating a project, for each project task, select a resource to complete the task and select the role they will use to complete it.

For example, Amy Nguyen is identified as a project resource and has a Standard U.S. Work Calendar assigned on her employee record. When she is selected as a resource on the ABC Office Expansion project, her role is identified as Staff.

In addition to specific employees and vendors, you can also create a generic resource to act as a placeholder when creating project plans and templates. Generic resources are used when a specific resource has not yet been identified. For more information, read Generic Resources.

General Notices