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When you allocate or replace resources, teams, or roles on a project, Meisterplan displays every available role or resource with its available capacity. This helps you select the correct roles and resources to implement your projects successfully.
General
You have the ability to add or replace resources, teams, and roles to a project in the following views:
- Portfolio Designer
- Project Details
- Team Planner (only replace is available here)
You can also add or replace resources, teams, and roles on projects with an import, like our Quick Import. However, using this functionality does not allow you to double-check available capacities.
Displayed Capacity When Adding Resources, Teams, and Roles
When you would like to add a resource, team, or role to a project in the Portfolio Designer, click the plus sign after the name of the project. In the Allocations tab of the Project Details, select Add Resources, Teams, or Roles in the toolbar. You will then see a list of all of the resources, teams, and roles, as well as their available capacity and skills:
Resources and teams are grouped by their role; the rresources, teams and roles are then sorted alphabetically.
The capacity that is displayed is that which is available during the time of the project. This means that the availability of the resource, team, or role from today until the end of the project will be displayed (according to the zoom level of either week, month, quarter or year). The exact date of the project will not be used; instead, in the zoom level Weeks, the project will start in the week where it begins. For all other zoom levels, the relevant month will be used.
Here is how each time unit affects the data displayed:
- Hours or Days: With these time units, the available hours or days will be summed up for the (remaining) duration of the project. When changing zoom levels, the amount of hours or days can vary.
- FTE: The weighted average during the duration of the project will be displayed. This means that a month with 22 working days will count more towards the average than a month with 18 working days (e.g., because of holidays). Learn more about the FTE unit in the article Full Time Equivalent (FTE).
Example: A project runs for two months, and is comprised of exactly that many days. Resource A has 120 hours (1 FTE) of available capacity in the first month, and 0 hours (0 FTE) in the second month. In the dialogue, 120 hours or 0.5 FTE will be shown as Resource A's available capacity.
When you assigned a resource, team, or a role to a project, they will be added without an allocation value (i.e. 0 hours/days/FTE). You can then click in the relevant cells and add the required capacity afterwards.
Available Capacity When Replacing
Whether replacing roles with other roles or resources and teams with other resources and teams, available capacity is calculated in the exact same way. In this section, how replacing resources and teams works is explained, as well as how the displayed values are calculated. Below that, you will find a breakdown of the differences when it comes to replacing roles.
If you would like to replace a resource or a team with another resource or team, you have different options:
- In the Portfolio Designer, click the three dots after the name of the resource or team.
- In the Team Planner, click the three dots after the name of the project that the resource or team is planned on.
Once you have decided where you want to work, head to that view and select Replace Resource or Replace Team. Then, you will see a list of all resources and teams with the same primary role, including their available capacity and their skills:
Provided you are not searching for any specific resource or team, the displayed resources and teams will be sorted based on their availability during the duration of the project.
In the title of the window, the amount of effort that will be re-allocated to another resource or team will be displayed (for example, 156 days, as in the screenshot above). This value will change based on the tab you select in the window:
- Total: The entire allocation of the resource or team will be transferred to the new resource or team.
- Overallocation: Only the overallocation of the resource or team will be transferred to the new resource or team (this functionality is not available in the flexible mode of the Portfolio Designer).
- In Percent: For a period of time (depending on the zoom level: week, month, quarter or year), the percentage that you enter of the already existing allocation will be transferred to a different resource or team.
When you move your mouse over a displayed resource or team, it will simulate how transferring this much allocation to this resource or team will affect them.
Calculation for Hours and Days
The capacity displayed for resources and teams always corresponds to the duration of the selected project. In the Portfolio Designer, this will be the entire duration of the project from today (if the project has already started). In the Team Planner and the Project Details, you can also select a smaller period of time to replace an allocation for. This will not show the exact dates of the allocation; rather, if you are working in the zoom level Weeks, it will show all weeks that include dates within the duration of the project. For all other zoom levels, it will show all months that include dates within the duration of the project.
The displayed available capacity is calculated in the following way:
Available capacity is calculated for each time period (according to the zoom level of Week, Month, Quarter or Year), and will then be summed for the duration of the project. However, only the required capacity will be calculated for each time period, even if a resource or team has more available capacity.
Example: Project A has a duration of three months. Ten days in each of these months needs to be replaced. Resource B has 20 days of available capacity in the first month; in the second month, they have ten available days, and in the third, no days. In the window, 20 days of available capacity will be displayed for Resource B. For the first month, ten days of capacity will be displayed (because that is the required capacity). For the second month, ten days of capacity will be displayed (because that is the required capacity and that is the available capacity). For the third month, zero days will be displayed.
This calculation is always used, regardless of whether you want to replace the entire allocation, only the overallocation or a specific percentage that you enter. The requested allocation will change based on which option you chose; this will also change the available capacity of the resources and teams.
Example: In the video above, when it comes to replacing the Total allocation, Jeff Kapoor has 22 days of available capacity. When you instead want to replace the Overallocation (ten days), Jeff Kapoor will be displayed with eight and a half days of available capacity, because the overallocation generally coincides with when Jeff Kapoor has available capacity. If you enter 50% under the In Percent section (which yields 25 total days to be replaced), Jeff Kapoor has 20 days of available capacity because his available capacity in some months is more than the required capacity, and in others it is less. Therefore, the sum of the available capacity per month is 20 days.
Calculation for FTE
Here, the capacity displayed for resources and teams always corresponds to the duration of the selected project as well. In the Portfolio Designer, this will be the entire duration of the project from today (if the project has already started). In the Team Planner and the Project Details, you can also select a smaller period of time to replace an allocation for. This will not show the exact dates of the allocation; rather, if you are working in the zoom level Weeks, it will show all weeks that include dates within the duration of the project. For all other zoom levels, it will show all months that include dates within the duration of the project.
The displayed available capacity is calculated in the following way:
Available capacity is calculated for each time period (according to the zoom level of Week, Month, Quarter or Year), and will then be summed for the duration of the project. However, only the required capacity will be calculated for each time period, even if a resource or team has more available capacity.
The calculated availability per time period is summed and then divided by the weighted number of time periods, i.e., the weighted average is calculated and displayed as available capacity. Months with 22 working days count more than months with 20 working days (e.g. due to public holidays).
Example: In the screenshot above, Martin O'Connor needs to be replaced on a project that runs for four months with 1 FTE each month, and each month has the same number of days. Josef Adebayo has an available capacity of 0 FTE for the first month, 0.5 FTE for the second and 1 FTE for the third and fourth month. Summed over the four months, this is 2.5 FTE, and divided by 4, Josef's available capacity is 0.62 FTE across the project's duration.
This calculation is always used, regardless of if you want to replace the entire allocation, only the overallocation or a specific percentage that you enter. The requested allocation will change based on which option you chose; this will also change the available capacity of the resources and teams.
Learn more about how the allocation unit FTE is calculated and converted into other units in the article Full Time Equivalent (FTE).
Differences When Replacing Roles
Replacing roles with other roles works just like replacing resources and teams, there are only minor differences:
- Roles are displayed in alphabetical order
- The option Unstaff to Role is missing
- Additional role capacities added under Resource Pool > Role > Role Capacities are included in the calculation. Learn more about how role capacity is calculated in the article Role Capacity Changes.