Availability All Editions
In the Resource Pool, you can find all your roles in a clear configurable list view.
In this video we show you how to configure roles in Meisterplan.
How Roles Help You
Roles describe how an employee contributes to a project, like, as a “Project Manager“ or “Developer“. By adding roles to projects, you can start planning long before you know which resource or team will work on the project.
Once you move from the rough to a detailed plan, use the Staff Role feature to find the right resource or team for your projects.
In Meisterplan, you can plan individual resources and entire teams for your projects alongside roles. Find out more about how teams and roles interact in the article When to Use Teams vs. Roles.
How to Find
You need to have the Edit Resource Pool, Absences, OBS, Calendars and Skills right to access this function.
In the left Sidebar, click Resource Pool and select the Roles tab:
In the list, you can see an overview of the roles with selected role details. If you have selected a portfolio that is based on a resource filter, the list will only display roles that are included by the filter (OBS, primary role). Learn more in the Portfolio Filters - Details article.
Click on a column header to sort its content alphabetically or numerically (depending on content type). Use the Search field to search all columns for a word or phrase.
Configuring Your View
The role view is only configured per user. If you reconfigure your columns, only you will see the changed configuration.
Filter Roles
To filter the role list for roles with certain values, click Filter:
You can select from the following fields:
- Top level OBS, e.g., department
- Resource Manager: displays roles with the selected resource manager
You can use several filters at the same time to further limit the results. Learn more in the Ad-Hoc Filter article.
Configure Columns
To see only the role details that are relevant to you, customize the role list. Click Configure Columns to select the information you want to display in your preferred order.
You can also change the order of the columns by dragging and dropping them in your preferred order.
Find a list of all fields that you can select as columns here.
Exporting Your View
For this function you need to have the Export Data right.
You can save an Excel file of your configured view by clicking Export to Excel.
Adding Roles
You can add a new role in Meisterplan either manually or collectively by importing them.
Adding by Import
There are several options for importing roles collectively, and some options can also be automated:
- Adding roles from other tools
- Copy & Paste from spreadsheets
Adding Manually
In the role list, click Add Role and fill in the fields. Name is the only required field, the others are optional.
Find an overview of all fields with explanations here.
Editing Roles
To edit an individual role, click on the role in the list view. The following fields can be edited directly in the list:
- Name
- OBS (e.g., department, location)
- Resource Manager
You can also edit individual roles in the detailed view. To do so, move your cursor over the role entry in the list and click the icon at the end of the line:
Fields
In the section General, you can find the following fields.
- Name: Required Field
- Resource Manager: Assign a resource manager for each role. In the Team Planner, you can filter the displayed resources, teams and roles by resource manager.
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Cost per HourPro Premium: Basis for calculating allocation cost; also used for resources and teams with this primary role when no cost per hour is designated for the resource or team.
In the General section of your user group, you need to have the Access Financial Data right to access this field. -
Billing Rate per HourPro Premium: Basis for calculating allocation and total benefit; in the Project Details' section Roles and Resource - Billing Rates, you can apply these standard billing rates from the Resource Pool;
In the General section of your user group, you need to have the Access Financial Data right to access this field.
- Cost Type: Must be either Opex or Capex
- OBS: Use the organizational breakdown structure to define, for example, the department and office of the role; learn more in the Managing OBS article.
Role Capacities
The capacity of a role is the sum of the capacities of all resources and teams with this role as primary role (project roles do not count towards the base capacity of a role), as well as any additional entered role capacities. You can change the capacity to simulate your plan with additional positions.
In the Role Capacities in "[current scenario]" section, you can add capacity changes for roles, either temporary or permanent changes.
Click Change Capacity and add the following details:
- Capacity Change in FTE: Capacity of the role in the time period specified; the capacity change is added to (or subtracted from) the base role capacity ( sum of all resource and team capacity with this role as primary role).
- Start/Finish Date: This field is optional; if no dates are entered, the change is valid for the time period between the previous and the following capacity change. If there are no other capacity changes, the capacity change always applies.
To edit an existing role capacity change, simply click the respective row and edit the capacity change. The change will be saved automatically.
To ensure the retrospective capacity remains correct, we recommend keeping past capacity changes. The following options help you maintain the correct sequence of different role capacity changes:
Use Case | What to Do |
You would like to plan with a different capacity change from a certain date. | Enter the new capacity change with the start date. Meisterplan will automatically set an end date to the previous capacity change. |
You would like to adjust an existing capacity change for a limited time period. | Enter the new capacity change with the start and end date. Meisterplan will automatically set an end date to the previous capacity change and create a new entry with the original change after the temporary change's end date. |
You would like to reset a current capacity change. | Enter a capacity change with 0 FTE and the start date. Meisterplan will automatically set an end date to the previous capacity change. The 0 FTE change will not be added (because it is not a capacity change but the default). |
Role capacity changes are scenario-dependent and are only valid for the scenario that is currently selected in the header.
Exceeding the License Package
Adding additional role capacity will count towards your license consumption and may exceed the number of resources available in your current package. Contact the Meisterplan administrator in your organization if you are unsure about the number of role capacities you can add for your planning.
Deleting Roles
To delete a single role, move your cursor over the role entry in the list view and click the trash can icon at the end of the line. You can also delete a role in the role detail view.
To delete several roles at once, check the boxes on the left side of the roles and click Delete. To select all roles displayed in the list, check the box to the left of the column headers.
Deleting a role has the following consequences:
- Allocations will also be deleted: Direct allocations of this role in the scenario or Plan of Record will be deleted together with the role, both current and past allocations.
- Deletion of the primary role: Resources and teams with the deleted role as primary role lose their primary role.
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Deletion of the project role:
- Allocations of resources and teams with the deleted role as primary role and project role lose their project role.
- Allocations of resources and teams with the deleted role as project role but not as primary role will be changed to the primary role of the resource and team.