This article describes how you add role and resource allocations to a project and edit them in the project section of the Portfolio Designer view in Meisterplan.

• General
• Adding Roles and Resources to a Project
• Editing Allocations
• Allocation Mode (Flexible or Time Grid)
• Splitting an Allocation (Flexible)
• Replacing or Removing Roles and Resources

General

To edit allocations, you need to have the Change, Add and Delete Allocations right. 

Adding Roles and Resources to a Project

You can add roles and resources to all projects (imported projects and new projects created in Meisterplan).

Proceed as follows to add a role or resource to a project:

• Hover over the list item of the desired project.
• Click the plus icon in that list item to add roles and/or resources.
• The project will be expanded, if it isn't already.
• If it already has allocations, the allocated roles and resources will be displayed indented under its list item.
• If it has no allocations yet, a link for adding allocations will be displayed under its list item. Clicking this link has the same effect as clicking the plus icon in the project's list item.
• A list of roles and resources that haven't been added to the project yet will also open. The icons distinguish roles (outline), internal resources (grey) and external resources (blue). Select the desired role or resource from the list.
  
• The list will stay open for adding more roles and/or resources. Select all roles and resources you wish to add. When you are done, close the list by clicking the X on the top right corner or by clicking anywhere outside the list.
• After allocating a role, it will no longer be available for selection. Resources will be added to the project in their primary role by default and will then no longer be available for selection. However, you can change a resource's project role via the context menu for its allocation, which you open by left-clicking the resource displayed under the project when it is expanded. Resources that are allocated to a project with something other than their primary role will still be available for selection.
• Please note that changing a resource's primary role in the resource pool has no effect on her project roles in existing allocations.
• You may search the list by role name, by resource name and by the primary roles and skills of available resources. In the following example, searching for "senior" yields the "Consultant - Senior" role as well as all resources with either of the "Consultant - Senior" or "Developer - Senior" primary roles that haven't been added to the project yet. The "Developer - Senior" role itself is no longer available for selection because it has already been added:
  
• If you wish to add a resource or role that isn't listed and hasn't already been added to the project, you can add that resource or role to Meisterplan in the Resource Pool.
• A link to the Resource Pool ("Add New Resource"/"Add New Role") is available at the bottom of the list of roles and resources to add to your project.
• See the Resource Pool: Resources and the Resource Pool: Roles articles for details about the resource pool.

Editing Allocations

Roles and Resources added to a project have no initial workload assigned by default. Proceed as follows to enter allocations.

• When you add allocations to a project or click the small arrow at the left edge of its row header, that project will be expanded to show all allocated roles and resources and their allocations.
  
• Allocations will be displayed in a grid view below the project bar in the right hand side Gantt view. Depending on the selected Allocation Mode, a single continuous segment which can be further segmented manually will initially be displayed for each role and resource (Flexible mode), or the allocation will automatically be segmented according to the periods selected via your Zoom Level (Time Grid mode). For details about the two modes, see the following section Allocation Mode (Flexible or Time Grid).
• When your current Zoom Level doesn't provide enough space for displaying the number and unit, the unit will be dropped. When there is still less space, the number will be rounded or dropped as well.
• Select a grid cell displayed for a role or resource to enter the desired workload in FTE, days or hours.
• In the list of resources and roles in the resource section, the role or resource whose allocation you are editing will be scrolled to, if necessary, and highlighted. The allocation you are currently editing will also be highlighted in the histogram.
• If the row for that role or resource is below an unexpanded aggregation row (role or OBS), that row will be scrolled to, if necessary, and highlighted.
• If the role or resource is hidden due to filter settings, nothing will be highlighted in the resource section.
• Type in a number. If you wish to change the unit, enter a number followed by f for FTE, d for days or h for hours. You may also change the unit in the toolbar under Allocation Unit.
  
• Hit [RETURN] to confirm.

Allocation Mode (Flexible or Time Grid)

Under Allocation Mode in the toolbar, select how to view and edit allocations:

Flexible

With the default setting Flexible, newly added allocations initially consist of one continuous segment spanning the full project duration:

• Control Keys (keys are wraparound, e.g., hitting the tab key in the last allocation segment of a row will select the first allocation segment of the following row).
• [↹] tab key selects the next allocation segment.
• [⇧]+[↹] shift + tab key selects the previous allocation segment.
• Change Segmentation
• In this mode, you can further segment the allocation as required by right-clicking on the desired splitting point.

Time Grid

With the Time Grid setting, allocations will automatically be segmented or grouped by period as selected via your current Zoom Level:

• Control Keys (keys are wraparound, e.g., hitting the tab key in the last allocation segment of a row will select the first allocation segment of the following row).
• [↹] tab key selects the next allocation segment.
• [⇧]+[↹] shift + tab key selects the previous allocation segment.
• [↑] up arrow key selects the previous row.
• [↓] down arrow key selects the next row.
• Change Segmentation
• Switching to a more detailed Zoom Level will further segment the allocations.
• Switching to a less detailed Zoom Level will merge the segments and aggregate the associated allocation values.
• If you don't change the grid values for an allocation, switching to the Flexible mode will also merge the segments and aggregate the allocation values.

Splitting an Allocation (Flexible)

In the Allocation Mode Flexible, the total workload you enter will be distributed equally over the project duration by default.

If you wish to assign more or less workload to a role or resource at some point, you can split the allocation into segments. Each segment may have a separate workload.

To do this, proceed as follows:

• Right-click the desired start point for the new segment and select Split at [date]
  
  
• Repeat the last step at the desired end point.
• Please note that the precision for splitting allocations is monthly or weekly, depending on your Zoom Level. The dividers will be created such that they always coincide with the start of a month or week.
• Once a segment divider exists, you can move it with daily precision. To do this, click the divider between two segments, hold the mouse button and drag the divider to the desired point of time. The exact date of the splitting point will be displayed in a hint:
  
• The segments created this way can be edited individually.
• When a segment is split, the associated workload will be divided proportionally between the newly created segments.
• Enter the desired workload for each segment in FTE, days or hours as you would for the whole allocation.
• To merge two segments into one again, click the divider between those segments, hold the mouse button, and drag the divider to the left or right edge of the previous or next segment. Please note that the allocations of the remaining segments will stay the same with regard to the selected allocation unit:
  • When person days or hours are selected, the allocation of the removed segment will be dropped.
  • When FTE are selected, the period of the removed segment will adapt the allocation value of the segment into which it was merged.

Splitting All Allocations at a Milestone
To enter different allocation values for each project phase, you can split all allocations at a milestone. Open the milestone context menu and select Split Allocations at Milestone. Learn more here.

Replacing or Removing Roles and Resources

The context menu for a role or resource allocation offers options for replacing and removing roles and resources and for changing the project role of a resource.

These operations are described in the Replacing or Removing Roles and Resources article.