All (most) wise people that have written about the usage of resource pool in a master/sub project setup, recommend that the usage of a separat project file with only resources should be initiated and then used as the pool for all projects within a master project.

I am currently playing around with this setup in MS Project 2016, before I do any real project planning...

The setup I am testing is a simple:

Master plan
Resource project (used as resource pool)
-Project1 (Sub-project) <-- I can see resources here
--Task1 <-- I cannot see any resources here (empty list)
--Task2 <-- I cannot see any resources here (empty list)
--Task3 <-- I cannot see any resources here (empty list)
-Project2 (Sub-project) <-- I can see resources here
--Task1 <-- I cannot see any resources here (empty list)
--Task2 <-- I cannot see any resources here (empty list)
--Task3 <-- I cannot see any resources here (empty list)

I have no problems to set this up and I can see the resources from my resource project in my resource list in the master project and on every sub project title row
However, when I try to assign a resource to a specific task the list of resources is empty and the assignment dialog seems to be looking in the resource list of the sub project.

Am I missing some setting here or am I completely off track?

Been looking at this as an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1A_Q_oyE6w

Is your Project 2016 fully patched? Did you attach the resource pool to the master file or the subproject files? The resource pool should be attached to the subproject file, then make the master using the pool file.

Thanks Julie for a swift and wise answer!
I did indeed not attach the resource pool to the subproject files. I thought the procedure was to create master file, then add subprojects and then pool the resources to the master file.
As I understand it I have to use the resource pool on each subproject and then add them to the master file.

Cheers!

You are correct, the resource pool file needs to be connect to each subproject. You can then create a consolidated file by opening the Resource Pool file and selecting the third option to create a master file.

Thanks JulieS for your answer!

I created a master file as a new project and then added the sub projects to that. Not really sure what option you refer to as -the third?

Sorry for being less than clear. When you open the resource pool you should see a window saying "This file is the resource pool for many projects". There are three options in that dialog window:

• Open the pool read-only.
• Open the pool read/write so that you can make changes...
• Open the resource pool read/write and all other sharer files into a new master.

Select the third option to create the master.

Thank you again Julie for clearing this up!
Made me aware of potential future linking head aches.

You're welcome and thanks for the feedback.