This article describes the options of the allocation context menus for replacing and removing roles and resources in the project section of the Portfolio Designer view in Meisterplan.

• General
• Opening the Allocation Context Menus
• Allocation Context Menu for Roles
• Allocation Context Menu for Resources
• Staff Role
• Replace Role
• Unstaff to Role
• Replace Resource
• Remove from Project
• Change Project Role

General

To replace roles and resources, you need the Change, Add and Delete Allocations right.

Meisterplan supports four common use cases in daily project work for replacing roles and resources in a project:

• Staff Role: transfer role allocation to one or more resources.
• Replace Role: transfer role allocation to one or more other roles.
• Unstaff to Role: transfer resource allocation to the associated project role.
• Replace Resource: transfer resource allocation to one or more other resources.

All of these operations are available in the context menus for role and resource allocations.

You may also remove roles and resources without replacing them or change the project role of a resource via these context menus:

• Remove from Project
• Change Project Role

Team Planner
We offer functionality for Resource Managers in the Team Planner. Learn more in the Team Planner section.

Opening the Allocation Context Menus

To open an allocation context menu, click the More icon that appears when you hover over the role or resource name of a project. (Expand a project in the list by clicking the arrow icon left of the project name to show this project's allocated roles and resources).

Allocation Context Menu for Roles

The context menu for a role allocation offers the following actions:

• Staff Role: transfer all or part of the role allocation to one or more resources.
• Replace Role: transfer all or part of the role allocation to one or more other roles.
• Remove from Project: remove the role and its allocated workload from the project.

Allocation Context Menu for Resources

The context menu for a resource allocation offers the following actions:

• Unstaff to Role: transfer the resource allocation to the associated project role.
• Replace Resource: transfer all or part of the resource allocation to one or more other resources.
• Remove from Project: remove the resource allocation from the project.
• Change Project Role: change the resource allocation's project role. Initially, resources are added to projects with their primary role and can't be added to the same project again. Resources that aren't allocated to a project in their primary role can be added to the same project again.

Staff Role

If a project is planned on a role level (i.e., with role allocations instead of resource allocations), Meisterplan assists with staffing the project by suggesting ideal resources for the project time frame.

With Staff Role, you can transfer all or part of a role allocation to one or more specific resources.

Steps to Staff a Role on a Project

1. Right-click the role allocation of a project and select the Staff Role option from the context menu to enter the Staff Role mode.
2. If desired, change the time frame for replacement with the sliders to only staff the role for a part of the project duration.
3. Set the FTE value for replacement.
4. Select the resource to assign from the list. Use the search box and/or filters to find a specific resource.
5. Click Confirm Replacement to confirm.
6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 if desired.

Staff Role View Before Selecting a Candidate

• Exit Staff Role mode by navigating back to the Portfolio Designer via the link on the top left. Unless you select a replacement candidate and confirm, nothing will change when you do this.
• The Replacement Period defaults to the full project duration and may be set to any part of the project via the sliders at the project start and finish.
• The Role and Allocation to Replace are displayed below the selected project. You may change the allocation value to replace, which defaults to 1.00 FTE if the selected role capacity amounts to at least 1.00 FTE. When staffing role allocations below 1.00 FTE, the full amount of the role allocation will be pre-selected.
• Replacement Candidates are sorted by capacity fit, with the candidate with the greatest available capacity at the top. The list will initially be filtered to only display resources whose primary role is the same as the role being staffed, but you may select other filter settings via the funnel icon. If you select a resource with a primary role that doesn't match the role being staffed, that resource will still be added to the project with the role being staffed as its project role. You may also reduce the list via the quick filter by typing in part of a resource's name, a primary role or a skill. Resources without primary role are always displayed and cannot be excluded by filter.
• The Remaining Role Allocation in the project will be displayed in the light red and green areas on top of the role's histogram.
• The Allocation to Replace will be displayed in the dark red and green areas at the bottom of the role's histogram.
• An Allocation Preview shows how each replacement candidate's allocation stack will be affected in case that candidate is selected.

Staff Role View After Selecting a Candidate

• Exit Staff Role mode by navigating back to the Portfolio Designer via the link on the top left. Unless you select a replacement candidate and confirm, nothing will change when you do this.
• Click a replacement candidate to Select.
• Click a selected candidate to Deselect.
• A preview of the Remaining Role Allocation will be displayed in the role's histogram at the top.
• The Allocation Preview displayed for the individual replacement candidates will show the actual effect on all allocation stacks, that of the selected candidate and the unaffected stacks of the candidates that weren't selected.
• Click the Confirm Replacement button to Confirm.

Example

The "Internal Reorganization" project requires 2 FTE of the "Developer - Junior" role:

Next, staff 1 FTE of this role with the resource "Keira Baker":

1 FTE of the role have been staffed, but the resource "Keira Baker" is now booked for more than 1 FTE at the beginning and end of the project:

The behaviour is caused by the way the capacity is calculated. In this example, the resource capacity is viewed per month for the entire time period that needs to be staffed. In January, there are 2 FTE that need to be staffed from January 19 onwards, that is, 2 x 9d = 18d. Viewed per month, the resource has a capacity of 1 FTE which is more than 18d. Therefore, Meisterplan recognizes this additional capacity and the entire 18d is assigned to the resource.

To avoid this behavior, use the Time Grid setting to view the allocations. With the Time Grid setting enabled, the resource is staffed with a maximum of 1 FTE. The Portfolio Designer now reflects the intended 1 FTE of allocations in each month. In the Portfolio Designer, select Settings > Editing of Allocations > Time Grid to use this funtion.

Replace Role

You have to change your plan, e.g., work with a junior role instead of a senior role to save cost?

With Replace Role, you can transfer all or part of a role allocation to one or more other roles.

The Replace Role mode works similar to the Staff Role mode. It offers the same features and interactions (see the Staff Role section for details).

Only two differences need to be noted:

• The Total Role Allocation which was selected is available for distribution under Assign up to.
• Only Roles Are Available as Replacement Candidates in the resource list at the bottom left.

Unstaff to Role

You identified a resource that is drowning in work, but you don’t know yet which other resource can replace her?

With Unstaff to Role, you can transfer a resource allocation to the associated project role.

You can then use Staff Role to assign the role allocation to one or more other resources.

Unstaff to Role works without a dedicated replace screen or workflow. The complete workload entered for the selected allocation will instantly be transferred to the associated project role.

Unstaff a resource allocation to its project role with the following two steps:

1. Right-click the resource allocation you wish to unstaff to open the allocation context menu.
2. Select the Unstaff to Role option.

Replace Resource

You’ve found a bottleneck resource and you already know one or more other resources who are available during the project timeframe?

With Replace Resource, you can transfer all or part of a resource allocation to one or more other resources.

The Replace Resource mode works similar to the Staff Role mode. It offers the same features and interactions (see the Staff Role section for details).

Only the following differences need to be noted:

• The list of replacement candidates offers resources whose primary role is the project role of the resource being replaced.
• If the resource being replaced is allocated in her primary role, that role will also be included as a replacement candidate for unstaffing.
• The selection of available replacement candidates is controlled by a primary role filter:
• Via the filter button above the resource list, you can modify this filter to offer different resources for selection.
• Other than the primary role, you can select individual resources here, as well as filter by skills and data source.
• All selected resources with the selected properties will then be available for selection.
• The roles themselves, except for the primary role of the resource to replace, will not be available for selection.
• If you select a replacement resource, regardless of her primary role, the project role of the allocation will stay the same.

Remove from Project

To remove a role or resource allocation from the project, right-click its list item and select Remove from Project from the associated context menu.

Change Project Role

Via the context menu for a resource allocation, you may change the project role of the allocated resource.

After switching from a resource's primary role to another one, you can add the resource to the project once more.

Proceed as follows to change the project role of a resource:

• Right-click the list item of the allocated resource under the associated project to open the context menu.
• Select Change Project Role.
  
• Select the desired project role from the list.
  
• The resource will be allocated to the project in the selected role.
• After switching from a resource's primary role to another one, you can add the resource to the project once more.
• You can enter the workload for each project role of a resource individually.