Replace Resources

Use the Replace Resources tool to replace one resource with another, provided that the new resource is included in the resource file. You can also merge several resources into a single resource.

You can either replace resources one at a time, or you can merge multiple resources into a single resource using a comma delimited (.csv) file or Excel (.xls) file.

If you use the file method, the file must contain two columns: one for the original resources and one for the replacement resources. In the following example, AERO1 and AERO2 would be merged into AERO, and MECH would be replaced with MECHENG:

AERO1 AERO
AERO2 AERO
MECH MECHENG

When performing the resource replacement/merge process, if a resource with the same name as the new resource exists for a particular control account or work package/class combination, Cobra will combine the old data with the new resource name. If there is no existing data, the old data will be renamed to the new.

Because this process just renames and combines resources, the following conditions exist:

  • You must run the Recalculate utility after using the Replace Resources utility if the new resource definition references different rates and/or different results. This is necessary since the resource replacement process does not perform calculations on the combined/renamed data.
  • Adjustments to the current period may occur the next time you calculate earned value since the resource replacement process does not recalculate earned value for merged resource data for work packages in progress or complete.
  • You must run the Apportionment Calculations utility since the resource replacement process does not perform calculations on the combined/renamed data.