Editing consumable resource properties

To edit a consumable resource's properties:

Right-click the consumable resource in Library Explorer then select Properties. The Consumable Resource Properties dialog appears.

This dialog may or may not display a number of tabs that contain advanced functionality. Click More >>> to display all of this dialog's tabs, or click Less <<< to hide the advanced tabs from view.
In the Names group on the Details tab enter name(s) for the consumable resource in the appropriate boxes.
From the Attributes group, select the resource's calendar, which defines the days and time on which the resource is available to work on the project. You can edit the selected calendar by clicking Properties.
In the Measured in field, enter the unit used to measure this resource, for example metres or tons.
In the Availability group, enter the number of this resource that is available and the dates and times between which the resource is available. For example, if the resource is Bags of Cement and you have 3000 available, enter 3000 in the Initial availability field. The Total availability is a roll-up value: it shows the availability of that resource and all subordinate resources.
You can use the Not available for new assignments check box to prevent the consumable resource from being assigned to any tasks and to prevent an empty row being displayed for the resource in RBS views when the Show empty RBS/CBS lines check box is selected on the Allocations tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog. It is good practice to select this check box for consumable resources that are no longer actively engaged in your projects.
The controls in the Appearance group determine the foreground colour, background colour, pattern and line style of the resource as used in allocation bars and histograms. Drop down these controls to change each attribute in turn.

By default, the outline style you select applies only to line-style histogram graphs that use the resource appearance. If you want the outline style to apply to the resource's allocations, select the Use Line Style On Allocations column check box against the resource in Library Explorer.

Click the Roll-ups button to access a dialog that displays information about the roll-up values of this resource and any subordinate resources in the hierarchy.
On the Cost/Income tab, set up the default resource cost.
On the Assignment tab, set up the default allocation for this resource. After you have assigned the resource to tasks, you can edit this information for specific resource allocations.
Select the Use task calendar check box to make the resource use the calendar of the task to which it is assigned, rather than its own calendar. When this box is cleared the resource uses its own calendar; if the resource is assigned as a modelled allocation, this can affect the task duration.
Select the Consumed check box if the resource is usually consumed (used up) by tasks, or clear this box if the resource is usually supplied to tasks.
With the Allocate proportionally check box selected, when you assign a modelled resource to a task, the resource allocation is calculated so that it is the same duration as the task. When this option is cleared, if the allocation's calculated parameter is Duration, then the task duration is determined by the resource allocation (this option may not work correctly if the allocation's calculated parameter is anything other than Duration).
Select the Lead resource check box to specify that the resource should be considered the lead resource when it is assigned to tasks. If you select this check box, the Lead resource check box will be selected by default on the Details tab of the allocation's properties dialog and tasks to which this resource is assigned will be displayed with the same appearance as this resource, if you choose to colour tasks according to the appearance of their lead resource.
Select the Accounted for elsewhere check box to exclude this resource's completed costs from any task cost calculations, including roll-up costs on parent tasks. You might want to enable this if you intend to represent the task's cost with a direct cost allocation rather than monitoring the costs of individual resources.
In the Nonlinearity group, specify whether the quantity values of allocations of the resource should be linear or nonlinear:
- Click the Linear radio button to specify that allocations of the resource should be flat - linear - ie that quantity values should remain constant throughout the duration of the resource's allocations.
- Click the Resource curve radio button and select a resource curve in the field to the right of the radio button to specify that the quantity values for allocations of the resource should be calculated using a resource curve. You can use resource curves to represent resource allocations in which - for example - the effort or quantity is greater at the start or end of an allocation, or peaks in the middle of an allocation.
For each resource, you can specify a milestone appearance to apply by default to zero duration allocations - ie milestones. You may want to apply a different milestone appearance to each resource to help differentiate between the zero duration allocations of different resources. Select the shape to apply to zero duration allocations of the resource by default in the Zero duration appearance field.
On the Codes tab, specify the codes that you want to assign to allocations of the resource by default.