Overview of Using Resource Management for Work Plan and Request Execution

This section explains how to use Resource Management functionality to perform operational planning tasks and analyze current resource usage. Resource Management can be used for operational resource planning, which concerns itself with how resources are being used for current work. Operational resource planning using Resource Management can consist of the following activities:

  • Viewing present resource usage

  • Determining areas of over-allocation and under-allocation of workload among resources (load balancing)

  • Displaying personal workload for the present and near future

  • Finding the most appropriate resources to complete a task or request

Whereas resource capacity planning typically involves only management-level personnel and higher, operational resource planning concerns two main sets of users:

  • Managers. Project or team managers use Resource Management to analyze resource workload for their teams and take the appropriate actions.

  • Team members. Team members view their own workload with handy visualizations and spot potential trouble areas.

Workload tracked in Resource Management can consist of either project tasks or requests.

Note: Assignments made to resources in staffing profile lines can also be tracked as operational load if so desired. See Use staffing profile to track resource demand for more information on staffing profiles.

The system takes into account users' start and end dates in resource capacity calculations and visualizations. For example, a user who is set to leave the company at a certain date cannot be assigned to a task or staffing profile afterward. Likewise, users starting work in the future can be selected for relevant entities scheduled to be active in the future.