You work as a Project Manager for BlueSoft Inc. You use Microsoft Office Project 2007 for developing the project schedule. You are assigned the project of remodeling a home. Your project will require electricians to work on multiple tasks. You have five electricians to work on your project, but you are not sure who will be the best for a certain task. Which of the following actions will you perform to estimate the costs without assigning specific people to tasks?

A.
Create a generic resource “Electrician” and assign it to all the individual tasks.

B.
Create a resource pool.

C.
Create a cost resource “Electrician” and assign it to all the individual tasks.

D.
Create a material resource “Electrician” and assign it to all the individual tasks.

Explanation:
Generic resources designate the skills required for a task, instead of a specific resource. You will create a generic resource “Electrician” and assign it to all the individual tasks. Later, you can substitute the names of the specific electricians in the appropriate task assignments. Answer option C is incorrect. Cost resources are the resources that add cost to tasks, but are not related to your project schedule. They represent additional costs that are incurred on a task, such as travel expenses, etc.
Answer option B is incorrect. A resource pool is a set of resources available for assignment to project tasks. A resource pool can be used exclusively by one project or can be shared by several projects. A resource pool can be used to schedule the work of resources across multiple projects, identify conflicts between their assignments in different projects, and see how their time is allocated in each project. With the help of a resource pool, a user can administer people or equipment assigned to tasks in more than one project file. The resource information, such as the resource name, calendar used, resource units, and cost rate tables, is centralized with the use of a resource pool. Each project that uses resources from the resource pool is called a sharer file. Answer option D is incorrect. Material resources are the resources that are consumed as a task progresses. The examples are ink, concrete, wood, etc. Since the Electrician will not be consumed as a task progresses, you will not create a material resource.
What are resources?
Resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment, facilities, funding, or anything else capable of definition (usually other than labour) required for the completion of a project activity. The lack of a resource will therefore be a constraint on the completion of the project activity. There are three types of resources in Project 2007: work, material, and cost. Work resources are those, which are not consumed on the completion of the assigned task. The most common example of work resource is people. Material resources are those, which are consumed as a task progresses. The examples are ink, concrete, wood, etc. Cost resources represent additional costs that are incurred on a task, such as travel expenses, etc.