Availability All Editions
This article explains how role capacity is calculated, where you can view role capacities, and how to manage capacity changes in the Plan of Record or in scenarios.
General
You need to have the Edit Resource Pool and Absences right, which you can find under Manage > User Groups > System Administration > Project & Resource Planning > Resources, Teams, and Roles.
How Role Capacity Is Calculated
The capacity of a role is the sum of the remaining capacities of all resources and teams with this role as primary role (project roles do not count towards the base capacity of a role).
Example: You have three resources with the Consultant role and 1 FTE capacity. Each has an allocation of 0.7 FTE. Their combined remaining capacity is therefore 3 FTE - (3 x 0.7 FTE) = 0.9 FTE. This is the capacity of the Consultant role.
You can adjust this capacity to simulate your plan with additional resources, for example to plan with additional positions. Simply specify how many FTE you would like to add to the capacity of the role.
Example: You have three resources with the Consultant role. Their combined remaining capacity after deducting allocations is 0.9 FTE. If you then specify a changed role capacity of +1 FTE, you get an overall capacity of 1.9 FTE for the Consultant role.
The capacity of a resource is determined by its calendar, absences, and (if applicable) its part-time model.
Role Capacity in Aggregated Roles
In the Portfolio Designer, the role capacity displayed in aggregated roles is the base capacity, that is, the total capacity of all resources and teams with this role as primary role, regardless of allocations.
When you aggregate the resource section by role, you get two rows for each role:
- The aggregated role shows the sum of the total capacities of all resources and teams with this primary role, both remaining and already allocated capacities. This gives you an at-a-glance view of the overall capacity of a role.
- The individual role shows only the remaining capacity, that is, the portion still available after deducting resource and team allocations, plus any capacity changes.
For a visual overview of the aggregated and individual role, see the section "Role Capacity and Capacity Changes" in the article Resource Section Basics.
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 amount of role capacities you can add for your planning. You can also learn more in the article Licensing & Pricing.
Editing Role Capacities
In the Details View of a Role
Open the Resource Pool and select the Roles tab. Move your cursor over the role entry in the list and click the pencil icon at the end of the line to open the details view of the role:
Add a Capacity Change
In the Role Capacities in "[current scenario]" section, you will only see the changed role capacity, not the summed capacity of all resources and teams with this role. So the capacity change displayed is always the change to the base capacity (which in turn is the sum of the capacity of all resources and teams with this role as primary role).
Click Change Capacity and enter the start and the finish date of the capacity change as well as the amount of FTE that you want to add or take away.
A capacity change with 2 FTE will add 2 FTE to the base capacity of the role. A capacity change with -0.5 FTE will take away 0.5 FTE from the base capacity of the role.
If no start or finish date is entered, the change is permanent.
In the Portfolio Designer
In the Resource Section, select the desired role and click the three dots at the end of the entry to open the context menu. Then, select Edit Capacity:
If the capacity change applies only to a limited period of time, first define the start and the end date of the change. To do so, move your cursor over the Change Role Capacity row and click the place where the change starts:
Likewise, set an end date if required.
Click on a value to change it, type in the desired value, and press the Enter key. Confirm the change with the tick mark or revert with the arrow.
Role Capacities in Scenarios and the Plan of Record
Role Capacity Changes are only valid for the scenario in which they were entered. Capacity changes entered in the Plan of Record, for example, have no effect on any scenario.
Reset Capacity Changes
You can reset role capacities to their basic capacity either in the Portfolio Designer or the detail view of the role:
- In the Portfolio Designer, click the three dots after the role and in the context menu, select Reset Capacity Changes.
- In the Resource Pool, open the detail view of the role, and delete the capacity changes by moving your cursor over each one and selecting the trash can icon at the end of the line.
If you want to keep the capacity change history, you can also change the capacity to 0 FTE and add a start date. Meisterplan will automatically set an end date to the current capacity change. The change to 0 FTE will not be added to the list, because it is not a change but the default.
Use Case
Planning with Additional Role Capacity
You're planning the next quarter but do not know yet whether the two approved consulting positions will be filled by then. So you create two scenarios for the upcoming quarter, "Proposed Scenario A" and "Proposed Scenario B". In the "Proposed Scenario B" you increase the base capacity of the Junior Consultant role by two FTE:
In "Proposed Scenario A" (no deviation from the base role capacity), the capacity looks like this:
In "Proposed Scenario B" with an additional role capacity of two FTE, the capacity looks like this: