Projects and Resource Planning
If you have the Resource Planning module, you can use it to help schedule work on Projects and assign that work to members of staff. Follow these steps:
- Using the Resource Types in GUI setting in the Resource Planning module, choose to display Projects in the Resource Planner.
- When you are planning and scheduling a Project, enter the members of personnel that you would like to work on the Project in the Members field in the Project header. Separate the members of personnel with commas, and use 'Paste Special' to ensure the initials are correct.
- Open the Resource Planner by clicking the [Resources] button in the Master Control panel:
The 'Resource Type Month Overview' window opens, with open Projects listed in a column down the left-hand side of the window. These are Projects that have not been marked as Finished.
In the example illustrated above, 14, 15, 16 and 17 are all open Projects.
If you are using more than one of the options in the Resource Types in GUI setting, the column down the left-hand side of the window will include records of different kinds. For example, if you are using the Resources and Projects options in the Resource Types in GUI setting, the column down the left-hand side of the window will list Projects and Resources. Therefore it is recommended that you use Project Numbers that make it easy for all users to distinguish Projects from Resources in this window.
- To schedule work on a Project, double-click the Project Number. The 'Resource Month Overview' window opens. The column down the left-hand side of the window lists the Project's Members, and the grid shows the Activities of each Member that are related to the Project. These are Activities where the Project Number has been specified on the 'Project' card. If you click the All Time radio button in the bottom right-hand corner, all Activities will be shown (i.e. including those related to other Projects and those not related to Projects at all). The colour of the Activities related to the Project is taken from the Activity Class, other Activities are red. This window makes it easy to see when each Member is busy and when they are available for work. The current date (December 3rd in the illustration) is marked with a vertical red line. Weekends are shaded, with dates in red.
- To change the month shown, use the 'Next' and 'Previous' functions on the Record menu or the equivalent buttons on the left of the Button Bar. To jump to a different date, enter the date in the Go To Date field under the grid.
- If you change the Members in the Project, you will need to redraw the 'Resource Month Overview' window so that it shows the new Members. To do this, select 'Next' and then 'Previous' from the Record menu or use the equivalent buttons on the left of the Button Bar.
- To list the Members of a different Project, enter the Project Number in the Resource Types field under the grid.
- To open the Calendar of a Member, double-click their initials. The Calendar is described here.
- The Activities for each day are represented by coloured bars. These are solid for Time Activities and hollow for Profile Activities. Double-click any coloured bar to open the Activity, or click once for its Text to appear in the Information field. Activities of all Task Types (Calendar, To Do and Time To Do) are shown.
- By default, only Time Activities are shown. To show Profile Activities as well, use the Profile, Time option in the bottom right-hand corner. Two rows of Activities are shown for each Person: the first row shows Profile Activities and the second row shows Time Activities.
- Double-click on a date above the grid to open the 'Resource Day Overview'. This shows a single day's Activities:
- Once you have seen when each Person is available for work, you can book them to work on the Project by opening the Project and selecting 'Create Activity' from the Operations menu. Alternatively, double-click on an Activity in the Resource Planner and duplicate it. As you create new Activities, they will be added to the Resource Planner automatically.