Use of Skill Types and Project Role Types in the ofBiz Project Manager module

[Bertuzzi, Armando [Nervianoms]]

Can someone provide a clarification about use/meaning of Skill Types and
Project Role Types in the ofBiz Project Manager module?
The following are some of the uses of those concepts that are
implemented and that, with features currently implemented, seem
difficult to integrate.
1. Each Person (Party) can have one or more Skills  (defined in
screen Party > Party Skills)
2. In the Project Manager module, each Person (Party) can have one
or more Roles (defined in screen Project > Resources > Role(s))
3. For a Task, the quality and amount of effort required for it to
be carried out are described in terms of Skills:  Skill Standards are
defined at Task level and are used to compute the Total planned Hours
for each Task and the Project as a whole.
4. For a Task, the need of resources with time is  defined at a
Project's Task level in terms of Role Types: when Resources (Persons)
are assigned to Tasks, together with a From - Through date interval,
they are assigned to play a given Role Type (screen Project > Task >
Resources) . Multiple assignments date interval + Role Type can be
defined for a same Person to a Task.
5. When a Person enters Timesheet data (My Time screen) only the
Project/Task Name is required.  Neither the Role Type nor the Skill that
the person has played in the hours recorded in the Timesheet are
requested.
The separate use of  Skill Standards for Tasks (with estimated People
number, Duration and Cost) and of Project Roles for Resources assigned
to Tasks (with From-Through date periods) seems to make it difficult to
plan and monitor assignment of persons to Tasks with time taking based
on the type of ability or organizational role they play.
Any help and comment will be truly appreciated.
> Many thanks,
> Armando
>

[hans_bakker]

Hi Armando,

please find my answers in-line.....

Regards,
Hans

--
Ofbiz on twitter: http://twitter.com/apache_ofbiz
Myself on twitter: http://twitter.com/hansbak
Antwebsystems.com: Quality services for competitive rates.

On Wed, 2010-04-07 at 14:37 +0200, Bertuzzi, Armando [Nervianoms] wrote:

> Can someone provide a clarification about use/meaning of Skill Types and
> Project Role Types in the ofBiz Project Manager module?
> The following are some of the uses of those concepts that are
> implemented and that, with features currently implemented, seem
> difficult to integrate.
> 1. Each Person (Party) can have one or more Skills  (defined in
> screen Party > Party Skills)
> 2. In the Project Manager module, each Person (Party) can have one
> or more Roles (defined in screen Project > Resources > Role(s))
> 3. For a Task, the quality and amount of effort required for it to
> be carried out are described in terms of Skills:  Skill Standards are
> defined at Task level and are used to compute the Total planned Hours
> for each Task and the Project as a whole.

skills are there to be able to support the person selection process and
if for information only.

Roles is to define the role of the person at that task like programmer,
manager, tester and is there for info. All persons have to set the task
to complete, the the task status will change to complete.

> 4. For a Task, the need of resources with time is  defined at a
> Project's Task level in terms of Role Types: when Resources (Persons)
> are assigned to Tasks, together with a From - Through date interval,
> they are assigned to play a given Role Type (screen Project > Task >
> Resources) . Multiple assignments date interval + Role Type can be
> defined for a same Person to a Task.
> 5. When a Person enters Timesheet data (My Time screen) only the
> Project/Task Name is required.  Neither the Role Type nor the Skill that
> the person has played in the hours recorded in the Timesheet are
> requested.

no need because is for info only.

> The separate use of  Skill Standards for Tasks (with estimated People
> number, Duration and Cost) and of Project Roles for Resources assigned
> to Tasks (with From-Through date periods) seems to make it difficult to
> plan and monitor assignment of persons to Tasks with time taking based
> on the type of ability or organizational role they play.

as mentioned before, skills and roles are for info only and do not play
a role in the time registration process. The rates however are person
dependent and is used for invoicing.

> Any help and comment will be truly appreciated.
> > Many thanks,
> > Armando
> >

[Bertuzzi, Armando [Nervianoms]]

Hans, thank you for your answer.

Concerning use of Role Types for timesheet (my 5. item) I have noted
that

a) A Role Type can be explicitly defined when timesheet Hours records
are added (e.g. by Admin) using Project > Task > Time Entries for
individual Party&Date (not using Timesheet screen).

b) When a person is listed with multiple Roles for the Task (task
Resources), the way hours are entered in Timesheet are also affected. If
this occurs, during Timesheet entry the picklist for Task Name shows
multiple entries for (apparently) the same "Project-Phase-Task" label
and this seems to be associated to the different Role Types the person
is a Resource for (this might correlate with comment a) )

These behaviors seem to support the fact that Time spent by persons on
tasks can be associated to specific Role Types.  
If entry of this information (Role Type) is made clear also in the My
Time editing table it could be used not only for info purposes but for
reporting purposes too and be summarized at task and project level.

A method to more specifically compare the forecasted needed time by
skill/role (hours of Skill Standards) and actual consumption of
resources by skill/role (hours by Role in Timesheet) might give much
more support to project planning and project control activities.

Armando
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hans Bakker [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 3:55 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Use of Skill Types and Project Role Types in the ofBiz
Project Manager module

Hi Armando,

please find my answers in-line.....

Regards,
Hans

--
Ofbiz on twitter: http://twitter.com/apache_ofbiz Myself on twitter:
http://twitter.com/hansbak
Antwebsystems.com: Quality services for competitive rates.

On Wed, 2010-04-07 at 14:37 +0200, Bertuzzi, Armando [Nervianoms] wrote:

> Can someone provide a clarification about use/meaning of Skill Types
> and Project Role Types in the ofBiz Project Manager module?
> The following are some of the uses of those concepts that are
> implemented and that, with features currently implemented, seem
> difficult to integrate.
> 1. Each Person (Party) can have one or more Skills  (defined in
> screen Party > Party Skills)
> 2. In the Project Manager module, each Person (Party) can have one
> or more Roles (defined in screen Project > Resources > Role(s))
> 3. For a Task, the quality and amount of effort required for it to
> be carried out are described in terms of Skills:  Skill Standards are
> defined at Task level and are used to compute the Total planned Hours
> for each Task and the Project as a whole.

skills are there to be able to support the person selection process and
if for information only.

Roles is to define the role of the person at that task like programmer,
manager, tester and is there for info. All persons have to set the task
to complete, the the task status will change to complete.

> 4. For a Task, the need of resources with time is  defined at a
> Project's Task level in terms of Role Types: when Resources (Persons)
> are assigned to Tasks, together with a From - Through date interval,
> they are assigned to play a given Role Type (screen Project > Task >
> Resources) . Multiple assignments date interval + Role Type can be
> defined for a same Person to a Task.
> 5. When a Person enters Timesheet data (My Time screen) only the
> Project/Task Name is required.  Neither the Role Type nor the Skill
> that the person has played in the hours recorded in the Timesheet are
> requested.

no need because is for info only.

> The separate use of  Skill Standards for Tasks (with estimated People
> number, Duration and Cost) and of Project Roles for Resources assigned

> to Tasks (with From-Through date periods) seems to make it difficult
> to plan and monitor assignment of persons to Tasks with time taking
> based on the type of ability or organizational role they play.

as mentioned before, skills and roles are for info only and do not play
a role in the time registration process. The rates however are person
dependent and is used for invoicing.

> Any help and comment will be truly appreciated.
> > Many thanks,
> > Armando
> >