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Project Resource Scheduling Tab

Project Resource Scheduling Tab

The resource scheduling tab is used primarily for requesting resources and booking those requests. To learn about how and why the request/booking procedure is done, please see the Scheduling How-To. This tab is also useful for viewing working schedules for people on the project, revenue metrics like Billing Adjusted Revenue or Resource Direct Cost, and the variance between booked/approved hours.

This tab is reached by opening a project and choosing the Resource Scheduling tab.

Permissions and Settings

The changes you are allowed to make on this tab are dependent on how the project was opened. Projects can be opened in one of three modes - Scheduler Mode, Project Manager Mode, or View Project. Your current mode is displayed in the window title bar.

Projector opens projects in the most permissive mode possible. For example, if you can schedule resources on this project then it opens in scheduler mode. You can override the mode by right-clicking the project and choosing the mode you want.

The following people can request resources when the project is opened in Project Manager Mode:

The following people can book resources when the project is opened in Scheduler Mode:

  • Engagement/Project Managers who have the stage permission Project Managers can Schedule Resources

  • Anyone with all three of the following conditions:

  • Anyone with all of the following conditions:

    • Project stage permission Users with Permissions can Schedule Resources

    • Cost center permission Request or Schedule Resources for the resource's cost center

    • Role has hours that have already been booked

You might be wondering why you need no less than three conditions to schedule a role. The answer is that this gives you fine-grained control over what your schedulers have access to. For example, I can say that schedulers are allowed to book Tom on engagements in the USA only.

Share Role - If a PM does not have permission to schedule a resource due to the resource's cost center, the role can be shared to a cost center the PM does have permission for. For example, PM cannot schedule UK resources only US. A UK person goes in and shares the UK role with the US cost center. The PM can now schedule the resource. See Alien Resources.

When a project is opened in View Project Mode, you cannot request or book resources.

Hours must be entered in using multiples of the Scheduling Time Increment set in system settings.

You cannot view RDC information unless you have the global permission Resource Direct Cost (RDC) Data set to View or Update.

If you have completely filled the scheduled hours grid, click the right arrow to add additional weeks.

Notes can be shown on a resource's home page if the system setting Show allocation notes on Employee Schedule is enabled. 

Request / Book Workflow

The main purpose of the resource scheduling tab is to request or book resources. A full overview of this process is covered in our Scheduling Overview How-To. The basic idea goes like this:

  • A Project Manager requests resources on a project. They may request people by name or by criteria. For example, I want Fred or I want a Graphic Designer.

  • A Scheduler reviews the request to see who is available

  • The Scheduler books the resource and hours. They may fulfill the request in full, or only partially.

  • The Project Manager reviews the booked resource and hours. The PM can then make additional requests or accept things as they are.

The following sections assume that you have already created Roles on your project. A role represents someone who will be working on the project.

Request a Resource

A PM starts a request by going to the Resource Scheduling tab and making sure the three dropdown boxes are set to:

  • Current Requested

  • Daily/Weekly (Please see the scheduling mode section of this page if you are confused about the daily/weekly choice.)

  • Person Hours

The other dropdown options are generally for informational purposes only or do not apply to requests. In the screenshot below you can see an example of the three dropdowns setup for requesting. All the cells are white and ready for information to be entered.

Each white cell is for a role and a time period. The PM types into the cell the number of hours they need. This becomes a new Request. The row turns blue and a flag (

) is displayed, showing that you have a new, open request.

When you save your changes you have the option of sending an email notification to valid schedulers. If you don't see this dialog, then you have hidden it.

Schedule a Resource

Now that a request is in place, it is up to the scheduler to review and fulfill that request. We recommend schedulers use the Resourcing Dashboard for this, but requests can also be fulfilled on this tab. The scheduler starts by opening the project. They will see the red flag indicating an open request. 

The scheduler now has some choices they can make. Some possible choices are to:

  • Book the full amount of requested hours

  • Book less than the amount of requested hours

  • Book the preferred resource that was requested

  • Book a different resource than the requestor preferred

  • Book the hours, but don't specify a resource yet

See the Scheduling How-To for a full breakdown of the scheduling process.

To book the requested hours:

  • Double click on a role with an open request

    . This opens the Role Editor.

  • On the hours subtab you will see one row for requested hours and a second row for the number of booked hours. Any delta between the two indicates a decision to be made.

  • Enter into the white cell the number of hours you want to approve.

  • The newly booked hours change to blue and the request flag

     is cleared. 

  • Close the dialog and save your changes.

When you create the request you will be prompted to send out email notifications. If you don't see this dialog, then you have hidden it. The project's mailing list is the EM, PM, and any additional PMs marked to receive emails. Roles that have changes will be displayed. Tick the checkbox for each person you wish to notify.

 

Special Scheduling Scenarios

You may run into one of the following special situations where you want to manually control whether the request is open or closed. 

First, the scheduler may wish to refuse a request. Request are typically closed automatically by booking some or all of the hours, but this can't happen because you are rejecting it in full. Instead, right click on the role and choose Open Request to manually clear the flag.

Second, the scheduler may fulfill part of the request, but wants to finish the fulfillment at a later time. Once you have made your changes the request flag is automatically cleared. Right click the role and choose Open Request to manually reactivate the request.

Entering Hours

Projector provides a number of ways to enter hours into the grid. This is meant to speed up data entry.

Daily/Weekly Scheduling

Some organizations choose to schedule people by the day vs. the week. If you schedule people by the week then you just care that the hours are completed during that week. For example, I want Charlie to work 30 hours this week. He can work ten on Monday, and twenty on Tuesday. I don't really care as long as he gets the hours in. For companies that always schedule resources by week, we recommend that you set the control to Weekly Mode and leave it there. Similarly, for companies that always schedule resources by day, we recommend that you set the control to Daily Mode and leave it there. However, if your company commonly schedules resources in a combination of both daily and weekly manners, we suggest that the Hybrid Mode setting is the best for you. Regardless of your choice, you may simply switch between the modes at any time.