Resource Planning

People and the Resource Register

The resource register is the list of people who work on projects: each one's code, grade, weekly hours, utilisation target and the user account they sign in with. Nobody can book time, be allocated to a project or be priced by a rate card until they are in it, so set it up before anything else in Projects & Time.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Projects & Time:

• Projects & Time — the console: the People card on the Resourcing tab
• Resources — the register itself, each resource linked to the platform user it belongs to
• Resource Capacity — optional capacity rows per period, where a person's hours vary

Admin Panel → Projects & Time:

• Projects & Time — the same console for project managers

Why the user link matters

Linking a resource to a user account does two things. It lets that person open My Time & Expenses and book their own hours, because the screen always books as the signed-in user's resource. And it stops them approving their own time, expenses or time off: the approvals list marks their own items Your own - another approver must decide and offers no buttons. Someone who opens My Time & Expenses without a link sees You are not set up to book time yet and is told to ask their project manager to add them.

Adding a person

1. Open Projects & Time, choose the company and go to Resourcing.
2. Click Add a person.
3. Enter a Name and a Code. The code is what time and rate cards are recorded under, and it cannot change once time is booked.
4. Enter a Grade. It matches a rate card's grade, so a consultant's hours are priced at their grade rate unless a more specific card applies (see Time, Expenses & Projects).
5. Set Hours per week (37.5 by default) and Target utilisation % (75 by default).
6. In Signs in as, type a name or e-mail and pick the user from the list. Any sign-in works: built-in, single sign-on or social.
7. Optionally enter a Manager code (the manager's own resource code), and leave Active ticked.
8. Click Add person. The person appears in the People card with their code, grade, sign-in, weekly hours, target and status.

The person also needs the ERP: Time & Expenses role (or ERP: Projects) and write access to the company to use My Time & Expenses. Roles and company access are granted on ERP Setup; see Getting Started with ERP.

Changing someone's details

Click Edit on their row in the People card. You can change everything except the code once time is booked. You cannot change who your own resource signs in as: another administrator has to, because the link is what stops anyone approving their own time. Untick Active when someone leaves; their history stays and they are no longer offered for allocation or time off.

Where capacity comes from

Utilisation and the plan grid divide by capacity, and the Capacity from column on the Resourcing tab says where each person's figure came from:

• Capacity rows: rows on the Resource Capacity datastore covering the period, prorated by working days.
• Business calendar: a Resource Capacity row that names a business-hours calendar instead of a number of minutes.
• Weekly hours in the register: the Hours per week you entered here.
• ASSUMED 7.5h a day: nobody has set the person's capacity, so the figure is an assumption and says so.

Approved time off comes off capacity, so leave recorded in the system makes the figures honest.

What goes wrong

• "A person needs a name and a code.": both are required.
• "Pick the user from the list, or clear the box.": typed text in Signs in as must be chosen from the matches.
• Someone appears as "(not in the register)" on the plan grid: time or an allocation exists under a code with no register row, and capacity is assumed at 37.5 hours a week. Add them.
• "Not linked" in the Signs in as column: the person cannot book their own time yet.

Worked example

A new consultant, Priya, joins on Monday. The project manager adds them with code PSHAH, grade Consultant, 37.5 hours a week and a 75% target, and links them to their single sign-on account. An ERP administrator adds their security group to ERP: Time & Expenses. On Monday morning Priya opens My Time & Expenses, sees Booking as Priya Shah · grade: Consultant, and Priya's hours are priced at the Consultant rate card without Priya typing a rate.

Recommendations

• Add people before they start, so their first week can be booked.
• Always link the user account; it is the segregation-of-duties control as well as the way in.
• Use grades that match your rate cards exactly.
• Set realistic targets: a target nobody can reach makes the utilisation figure meaningless.

Allocations, Capacity and Utilisation

Resource planning puts people on projects for a period and sets that load against the hours they actually have. The Resourcing tab shows, week by week, who is over-allocated, who has room, and how each person's utilisation compares with their target, so you can see a clash before you promise the work.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Projects & Time:

• Projects & Time — the console: the Resourcing tab, and each project's Team section
• Resource Allocations — who is booked on which project, when and for how many hours, confirmed or tentative
• Absence — approved and recorded time off

Admin Panel → Projects & Time:

• Projects & Time — the same console for project managers

Confirmed and tentative

• Confirmed allocations consume capacity and are what over-allocation is judged on.
• Tentative allocations are shown under the confirmed figure and warn when they would over-allocate if confirmed, but never count against capacity. Use them for pipeline work.

Over-allocation is always a warning, never a refusal: you may know the person is doing overtime that week.

Allocating someone

1. Open Projects & Time, choose the company and go to Resourcing, or open a project and go to Team.
2. Click Allocate someone.
3. Choose the Person and the Project (filled in when you start from a project's Team section).
4. Set From and To, and the Type: Confirmed or Tentative.
5. Choose the Measure: Hours per week, Hours in total or % of their capacity, and enter the Amount.
6. Leave Billable work ticked for client work, add Notes if useful, and click Allocate.

If the allocation pushes someone over capacity, the confirmation message says so as a warning. People see the projects they are allocated to at the top of their project list on My Time & Expenses.

Reading the plan

Set Weeks from and Show (4, 8, 12 or 26 weeks). Then:

• Confirmed load against capacity: one row per person and one cell per week, reading confirmed hours / hours available. Red is over capacity; tentative hours appear underneath as "+N tentative". The last columns give Load and Forecast utilisation against the person's target.
• Over-allocated: a red list naming each person and week that is over.
• Utilisation: for the recent period, each person's capacity, booked, billable hours, utilisation and target, with Capacity from saying where the capacity figure came from. It counts approved and invoiced time only.
• Utilisation by month: choose From month and To month and click Show utilisation for billable hours against capacity per person per month.
• Allocations in this window: every allocation with Edit and Remove.
• Time off and People: approved leave in the window, and the resource register.

Recording time off on someone's behalf

People request time off themselves on My Time & Expenses. For leave already taken or agreed elsewhere, or more than 90 days back, click Record time off on the Resourcing tab, choose the Person, Kind of time off, First day, Last day and Length, and save. It is recorded as approved by you and comes off their capacity. Days that already have time booked are refused, because leave and work never overlap.

What goes wrong

• "Choose the person and project, an end date and how much.": all four are required.
• "Allocation must be between 1% and 200%." or "That is more hours than there are in the date range.": check the measure and amount.
• "An allocation can span at most two years - split longer engagements."
• A person is "not in the register": capacity is assumed at 37.5 hours a week. Add them under People.
• Resource planning is not installed on this system.: the projects schema patch has not been applied; ask the hosting administrator.

Worked example

A delivery lead is staffing a twelve-week build. They open Resourcing, show 12 weeks, and allocate two developers confirmed at 30 hours a week and a designer tentatively at 50% of capacity for the first four weeks. The grid shows one developer at 52.5 / 37.5 in week three because of another project, and the Over-allocated list names that week. They move the developer's other allocation by a week, and the cell turns back from red.

Recommendations

• Confirm only what is signed; keep pipeline work tentative.
• Record leave in the system, or the plan promises hours people do not have.
• Review the grid weekly with the next four to eight weeks in view.
• Fix "assumed" capacity by setting weekly hours in the register.