WBS and Scheduling#

Overview#

Each job requires at least one work breakdown structure (WBS).

You can use this structure, in conjunction with a graphical planning tool, to allocate staff to a project according to available capacity and to budget the consumption of resources and items on its lines.

Work breakdown structure#

A work breakdown structure organizes a project into smaller components, making it more manageable. The smallest element of a WBS is often called a work package.

In some cases, a package might again be divided into subtasks, which are known as budget line activities in the system. These are assigned to individual resources.

You can enter one package code on each line. The system then combines this code with a phase, a task, and a step code to create a unique identifier for a line. You can therefore use a package multiple times for the same WBS if at least one of the other codes differ. What you assign as a phase, a task, or a step code is solely a matter of company organization.

If you want the system to create phase, task, and step codes for you, you can turn on the Auto PTS Code toggle in Jobs Setup.

Each WBS consists of a header, where you see the General FastTab, and lines. You can assign multiple structures to each job. To view a WBS set up for a project:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Jobs, and then choose the related link.
2. Open a job.
3. On the ribbon, choose Job > WBS or WBS Incl. Budget View.

Set up a WBS#

There are several ways to set up a work breakdown structure for a job:

Copy a WBS#

A convenient way for you to create a WBS is to copy a structure from another similar or sample job. The copy function is also used to create new versions of a WBS. For more information, see Copy WBS.

Create a WBS from a template#

Another easy way for you to create a WBS is to copy all relevant fields from a job template.

For more information, see Create Job Templates.

Insert a block from a job template#

Block-type WBS lines can be used to copy a group of field values from a job template to any part of the structure. We recommend that you set up special job templates for this purpose, as the entire WBS is copied as a block from the template.

After you selected Block on a WBS line, you can choose in the No. field the template from which you want to copy a structure. You then explode (copy) the block by using the Explode Block function on the WBS Lines FastTab.

WBS header#

On the header, you can see the number of the job for which you created the WBS, the name of the related job budget, and the version of the work breakdown structure. All structures are managed based on these three fields.

For a complete list of WBS header fields, see the following table.

Lines#

The lines of a work breakdown structure are set up with certain project criteria, such as deliverables or phases, in mind. For each line, you can specify whether to make it a Work Package, a Heading, a Begin-Total, an End-Total, or a Total. The Block option, on the other hand, isn’t used as a structural element but is a function to copy a group of fields from a job template to an active WBS.

A begin-total marks the beginning of a series of line values to be totaled, the result of which is given as the end-total. Calculations enclosed by begin- and end-totals might be nested inside one another. The sum of all calculations is then shown on a line of the total type. This line, in turn, is linked to the heading entered above the first begin-total. To budget and post revenues and expenses to a job, you need lines of the work package type.

The most important line fields are explained in the following table.

WBS functions#

Assign Position Nos#

Adds a position number to every line of the work breakdown structure.

Renumber Lines#

All WBS lines are automatically given internal numbers in 10 000 increments so that you can insert more lines between them. For example, the first line you add between 10 000 and 20 000 will be assigned internal number 15 000.

Done too often in one place, however, the line numbers will eventually go outside the integer range, and insertion will no longer be an option. To create the space required for inserting more lines, you can use this action to reassign the numbers throughout the work breakdown structure.

Calculate Predecessors#

Requires the Milestone, No. of Predecessors and Predecessor Position Nos. fields, which specify WBS line dependencies. Predecessors can be assigned to WBS lines that were selected as milestones, and you can enter more than one predecessor on each line manually. Running this function then fills in the Predecessor Position Nos. field for informational purposes.

Update Totals and Unbilled Work#

Refreshes the totals and the Unbilled Work value if, after opening the WBS, you have made changes to the structure—for example, by posting something or by creating an invoice. Continuously updating the data stored on a WBS isn’t a sensible strategy for performance reasons.

Entries are updated, however, each time the structure is reopened.

Create Sales Document#

Creates a sales quote or order from the WBS.

You can specify the information you want transferred to the document in the Copy to Sales Doc. field on individual lines. You can select there whether to copy values from the WBS line, transfer information from its budget lines, or ignore the line altogether.

Create Purchase Document#

Helps with job purchases. You can create both requisition worksheets and purchase orders from the WBS to procure the items and external services that you specified in the job budget. For more information, see External Resources.

Create Job Shipment#

For more information, see Job Shipments.

Create Job Vendor Shipment#

For more information, see Job Vendor Shipments.

Create User Task#

Creates user tasks associated with the current job. The function connects a task to the job through the TableRelation property and Record.Relation method.

Copy WBS#

Copies a structure from the same or another job.

Budget values from the WBS template can be copied as well. This function is mainly intended for the creation of new WBS versions. We recommend that you set up new jobs from a job template.

You can transfer an entire WBS or only selected lines. To copy a group of lines, turn on the Selected Lines Only toggle, and then choose OK to specify the lines you want transferred. You can also use this option to copy part of the current WBS onto itself.

If you transfer to a WBS that already has lines, the new lines are moved to the end of the structure. However, you must turn on the Auto PTS Code toggle in Jobs Setup to ensure that the function creates unique work package lines in this case.

Copy WBS is most often used to create a new version of a work breakdown structure so that an ongoing project can be frozen. The new WBS is based on the same up-to-date values as the old one—except for job budget entries, which need to be managed separately. For posted ledger entries, only a relation is created.

A WBS line can no longer be deleted after you have posted something to it. For data security reasons, this remains true even if the related work breakdown structure was copied by mistake, and the line must be set to Finished instead.

Copy from Budget#

Copies to a WBS line the values from its budget lines, in effect totaling them at the work package level.

This function is only used on lines on which the Copy Budget field has been selected.

Update Job Account Entries#

Updates job account entries. If you change quantities or prices on WBS lines, the budget entries used to monitor the job will change as well.

This action is also available unfiltered on the jobs list.

WBS Incl. Budget View#

Shows the entire WBS in detail. For more information, see WBS Incl. Budget View.

Statistics#

Shows the WBS budget from two different perspectives.

1. The WBS Budget FastTab indicates the values stored on all WBS lines by adding up their Total Price and Total Cost fields.
2. The values entered on budget lines, on the other hand, are shown on the Detailed Planning FastTab, where they’re broken down by budget type. Any WBS line without dedicated budget lines, that is, with no detailed plan, will not be included here. The values on this tab are identical in content to the sum of the job’s Budget Lines Total Cost and Budget Lines Total Price fields.

Comments#

Shows comments about the WBS. You can also use this action to create new ones.

Documents#

Shows all open and posted documents for the job.

You can view a document by selecting an entry from the list.

Budget vs. Actual#

Compares project targets to actuals.

For more information, see Budget to Actual Comparisons.

Job Account Entries#

All budget values entered in jobs are turned into job account entries. Stored with the chart of accounts, these values can be used to perform additional analyses based on a variety of criteria and your own methods of tracking job progress.

The function considers all account entries in each WBS version related to the current job. Like in finance, however, posting procedures must be set up in advance.

Line actions#

Move Line#

Rearranges WBS lines. You need to select a line before you run this function. Once you have started the process, you need to choose OK to see a list of all lines related to the current job.

On this list, you can then decide above which line you want to insert the one that you selected at the beginning. To move it, choose Yes again.

Afterward, you must run the Assign Position Nos. function to ensure that all position numbers on the WBS are in the right place.

Change Dates#

Moves the starting and ending dates of a WBS line by a period of your choosing.

Formula Calculation#

Specifies what other WBS lines you want the system to use for determining budget values on the selected line automatically. You can specify a formula as early as creating a job template.

Fill in the Use as Calc. Base and Use as Calc. Base (Total Price) fields if you want the calculation of the Budget Lines Total Cost and Budget Lines Total Price on the line to be based on different sets of values.

You can then enter a percentage in the Share to Allocate % and Share in Total Price % fields, for example, to cover a scenario where maintenance costs stored on a WBS line were determined to be 15 % of the total value that you entered on two other lines representing the cost of production and procurement.

You can also specify in the Auto Assign New WBS Lines to Purchase Calc. and Auto Assign New WBS Lines to Sales Calc. fields whether you want to link every other part of the WBS in this scenario to a special line that you set up for this purpose while the entered formula will be used on new lines automatically.

Skills#

Stores qualifications needed to fulfill a work package. These can be set up as early as creating a job template.

The skills are later used to filter for suitable resources when you run the Assign Skill-Specific Resource function.

Dimensions#

Shows the dimension values assigned to the selected WBS line.

Work Package Info#

Shows the documents that contain the work package of the job.

To open a document, select an entry from the list.

Interaction Log Entries#

Shows entries that are generated when you create interactions.

If you turned on the synchronization feature to update a job from sales documents, you can choose Related > Job > Sales Doc. Job Budget Change Log to see a list of all changes made to interactions.

Texts#

This action provides the following options:

Beginning Text / Ending Text#

Beginning and end texts are copied to job sales documents, on which they can also be printed. Whereas beginning texts are printed before sales lines, end texts appear after the lines.

Comments#

Stores line-related comments.

Budget lines#

WBS lines help you assign budget values to a project. You can later compare these targets to the actual numbers generated over the course of the job.

A roughly planned job-related value can also be budgeted in detail. This means that quantities are allocated to the lowest planning level, where you directly assign them to resources and resource groups, items, and G/L accounts.

Some of these values then serve as the basis for scheduling capacity. For example, you might want to assign a certain task to a specific staff member.

Although the budgeting process itself involves no more than one work package, you can use an extended page to see the budget lines set up for all packages related to a job. For more information, see WBS Incl. Budget View.

Use budget lines#

To be able to use detailed planning in a meaningful way, you might need to make a few settings on the WBS line from which you want to create budget lines.

Copy Budget
Select this field on the WBS line so that you can copy to it the sum of all values from the Total Cost and Total Price fields on its budget lines.

If a WBS uses the same unit of measurement on both the budget lines and the WBS line, the system also copies the planned quantities to show the average total cost or price.

Copy to Sales Doc.
Used to specify if the WBS line itself or individual budget lines are copied to a sales quote, a sales order, or a sales invoice.

Regardless of the option you choose in this field, users can still record expenses, for example, from time tracking, on WBS and budget lines based on the posting level set for each kind of expense on the relevant job card.

Set up budget lines#

To create budget lines:

1. Open a job card.
2. Choose Job > WBS Incl. Budget View on the ribbon. If you have already opened a structure without the budget view, choose Related > WBS Incl. Budget View on the header.
3. You can also open a WBS without the view and choose Related > Budget Lines on the WBS Lines FastTab.

The options available for budget lines are described in the following table.

The FactBox that appears on the page at the bottom (when you use the Budget Lines action) or on the right (when you choose WBS Incl. Budget View) shows you the total costs and prices for resources, for items, and for budget lines posted directly to G/L accounts from the lines.

Calculate unit prices#

Typically, a unit price is copied from a price list or entered manually on a budget line. The third option is to have the price calculated based on the unit cost entered for the item. You can then add up to three surcharges or reductions to the total.

For this purpose, you need to unhide certain fields on the budget lines and fill them in as described in the following:

Charges 1 and 2 are added one after another, whereas charge 3 is added independently.

Custom unit prices#

The FactBox on the right of the page shows the total costs and prices for resources, for items, and for budget lines directly posted to G/L accounts from the lines.

The resource section also includes the total number of hours spent on job activities, as seen on the related WBS line.

Additionally, all sections show the discounts for the relevant budget type, the profit, the profit in percent, and the actual amounts in local currency.

Line activities#

For rough planning, budget lines can be assigned to resource groups. This kind of budgeting includes the expected number of hours it will take to complete a certain work package.

However, budget lines can also be used to assign job activities to specific resources or their groups. By providing a detailed structure for activities, these lines are then no longer just planning lines but also contain budgeted activities, which resources and resource groups can use to record the time they spent on the job.

A unique number is assigned to each activity from the series that was chosen for this purpose in Jobs Setup. This number cannot be changed manually.

Basically, line activities provide you with a highly granular job budget. Whereas the rough planning capabilities provided by the system might be sufficient in the early stages of a job (while quoting and costing), long-term projects in particular might become increasingly difficult to manage over time.

In this case, you can use the Split Line action to create a resource-specific activity from a budget line that belongs to a resource group. If you cannot assign a certain activity to a specific resource, it can also remain with the group.

To see all activities for a certain job:

1. Open a job card.
2. Choose the Search icon, enter Budget Line Activities Overview, and then choose the related link.

The fields required for line activities are described in the following table.

Actions#

Explode BOM#

Adds a line for each component of a bill of materials that has been assigned to the budgeted work package on the Work Packages page.

Explode Assembly BOM#

Adds a line for each component of an assembly bill of materials assigned to an item on a budget line. This involves removing the original budget line and distributing the component quantity across the new lines.

Allocate Qty#

Distributes the line quantity evenly over the period between the starting and ending date entered on the line. You can choose whether you want the quantity distributed across weeks, months, or a day. A default interval can be specified in Jobs Setup.

The budget entries set up for the job are adjusted when you run this function. This means that a quantity of 20 is broken up into quantities of 10 a month over a period of two months.

Split Line#

Assigns to a resource part of a line activity that has already been roughly budgeted for a resource group.

For a better estimate of how much work can be split off, the function will list all line-related quantities. After you have specified in the New Type and New No. fields the resource or resource group to whom a portion of the task should go, you can enter a quantity in either the Distributed Qty. New Line field or Remaining Qty. Old Line field, with the system filling in the value in the other based on the total quantity budgeted on the line.

To have the system assign identical numbers to the new lines, turn on the Keep Line Activity No. toggle before you choose OK. This might be useful, for example, if a line pairing needs to be considered in combination at some future date.

Change Work Package#

Copies the budget line, and entries posted to it, to another WBS line. To move more than one budget line, you can select multiple lines on the upper part of the WBS Incl. Budget Lines page and run the Change Work Package Multiple function.

Order Tracking#

Checks if line demand is met, for example, by a purchase order.

Running this function opens the Order Tracking page, where you can see the supplier who meets demand originating from the budget line. This line, in turn, can be seen by choosing Order Tracking on the related purchase order.

Search for Attributes#

Searches for items based on certain attributes, a feature also available on purchase and sales documents.

Send to Calendar#

Sends a line activity as an Outlook task to a staff member.

This function requires that a valid email address has been stored for the employee (resource) in User Setup. After you hit Send, the employee receives an email with a calendar event and the relevant

• Line Activity Description
• Starting Date
• Ending Date
• Job No.
• Line Activity No.
• Project Manager Name
• Customer Name
• (Customer) Company Phone No.

If a line activity is canceled or put on hold, the calendar task is deleted from Outlook automatically.

Change Dates#

Reschedules a budget line.

When you run this function, you are asked to specify by way of a formula the amount of time that the line should be moved up or back.

The formula must include at least one mathematical operator and a time expression such as D = day(s), W = week(s), M = month(s), Q = quarter(s), or Y = year(s).

A message appears if you make an incorrect entry, explaining the reason why.

You can use this function, for example, to adjust a job budget because of a change in shipping dates for the job. The starting and ending dates of the affected budget lines are then edited automatically to match the new schedule.

Allocate to Dates#

Opens a matrix that shows the budget lines set up for the job, with activities broken down on each line based on the interval you chose in the Period field on the header. All project work is initially put on the starting date.

You can use this matrix to budget quantities in detail, specifically at the budget entry level, that is, you can schedule quantities for resource and item lines on the calendar in steps that go from 24 hours to a year.

Each time you assign a budgeted quantity to a resource or an item in a calendar field on the page, the system will create job budget entries. These entries are the smallest elements of a job budget and the basis for planning resource capacity (see Capacity Planning).

Change Type & No#

Allows some flexibility in planning. Typically, you can change the Type and No. fields until hours have been posted to a budget line.

To move a resource from one line onto another, you can simply change the No. field on the lines themselves. However, to move a line from a resource group to a specific resource, you must run this function for technical reasons.

After hours have been posted, you need to use the Split Line action to assign part of a quantity to a new line type and number.

Reserve#

Creates a reservation on the line for tracked supplies, for example, from inventory or a purchase order.

Take#

Assigns stock to the job from non-reserved quantities. Stock that has been assigned previously can be identified by its filled-in Job No. field. This function can only be run from item-type lines.

Running the function opens a page on which you can see the job inventory items you specified on the line and assign new item entries. Entries you want to remove from a location entered on the line must contain a positive value and be open. Moreover, the entries cannot be reserved or assigned to a job. You can clear the job number filter should you want to move items from one job to another.

You can then specify how many items you want to remove from the warehouse. The number of items you take can, of course, not exceed the total number held onsite.

Choose OK to post the selected quantities to job inventory. A reference to the job (or, more specifically, to the budget line) is then added to each item entry that you move in this way. Afterward, you need to create a job shipment to post consumption of the item while removing it from the stock assigned to the project.

Assign Job Ledger Entries#

Typically, when you post usage for a job, the number of the budget line from where consumption originates is assigned to the related job ledger entries automatically.

Sometimes, however, a number might need to be assigned manually, for example, if you entered an item on more than one budget line created from the same WBS line.

You can then use this function to assign all job ledger entries stored on the WBS line to the budget line provided one of the following criteria is met:

• If a resource has been stored on the budget line, consumption entries must refer to the same resource.
• If a resource group has been stored on the line, consumption entries must refer to the same resource group (with the resource for whom consumption is posted being a member of that group).
• If an item has been budgeted on the line, all entries must refer to the same item number.
• If a G/L account has been budgeted on the line, selected G/L account lines must refer to the same account.

Connect
Assigns all selected entries.

Disconnect
Deletes existing assignments (as indicated in the Budget Line No. field).

Card#

Opens the line activity card.

Item Availability#

Provides multiple item availability lists designed for the same purpose and function as those used for sales documents.

Dimensions#

Shows the dimensions assigned to the line.

Reservation Entries#

Shows the items reserved for the line.

Predecessors / Successors#

Assigns predecessors or successors, or both, to work scheduled on the line.

Beginning Text / Ending Text#

Specifies line-related texts, which can be copied to sales or purchase documents.

Comments#

Stores internal comments regarding the line.

Navigate to Line Activity#

Indicates where a line activity is being used.

Line activity numbers are stored on purchase and sales documents, with job ledger and time entries, on CTC lines, and in time sheets.

Resource by Job#

Shows the budget entries created for the WBS and resource. Making another WBS the active structure will change these entries on printouts.

Choose the lookup if you want to see more details on an entry. You cannot edit the entry on that page, however.

Resource Group by Job#

Identical to Resources by Job, except that this function filters for resource groups, not individual resources.

Capacity Plan#

Shows the capacities assigned to resources. You can fill in the fields on the Options FastTab to filter for a specific resource if necessary. The page includes all capacity-related values stored on the active WBS. For more information, see Capacity planning.

Assign Skill-Specific Resource#

Copies resources with certain qualifications to the budget.

This function requires that you have assigned skills to the relevant resources. These skills can then be assigned to work packages, that is, WBS lines, or you can set them as filters manually. Resources are indicated with their capacity values, including their overall capacity, their times of absence, and their quote and order entries.

For a quick and easy way to include resources in a budget, you can select a resource, navigate to the Values FastTab, and then choose Manage > Quick Assignment on the ribbon. Afterward, you can use the budget lines to plan a resource’s capacity in more detail, for example, by entering quantities.

You can also choose Detailed Assignment on the same ribbon to open a page where you can budget resource hours per week.

WBS Incl. Budget View#

This function shows the active work breakdown structure of a project in combination with the budget lines set up for the job.

Information about the structure itself can be found on the header, whereas the other parts of the page show text lines, comments and, most of all, the budget lines set up for a WBS line. All entries always relate to the currently selected WBS line.

The line statistics on the right show the planned resource quantity, key values broken down by budget type, and the total cost and price of the WBS line. Budget entries are added up under Budget Line Total. You can compare these to the values found under WBS Line, which allows you to immediately spot differences in amounts between the work breakdown structure and the detailed budget.

The Usage section, on the other hand, indicates usage based on total cost and price, whereas Billings shows the amount invoiced so far and the amount that you have yet to invoice to the customer based on job progress and the billing type of the WBS line.

The actions on the WBS Incl. Budget Line page are the same as those described for the individual WBS and Job Budget pages.

Main WBS#

To track the impact of additive and deductive change orders on initial cost estimates, you can create what is called a main WBS.

This involves setting up non-active versions of a structure so that you can log negative and positive adjustments to a job. When you release those versions, their values are then merged and transferred to a WBS version that serves as the main—and active—structure for the project.

Set up a main WBS#

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Jobs Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the Project Management FastTab, fill in the fields described in the following table.

Main WBS#

This toggle shows whether a structure is used as a main WBS. Found on the WBS header, it turns on automatically if the budget name specified for the job is identical to the name entered in the Job Budget Name (Main WBS) field on the Jobs Setup page.

Copy Structure Only#

You can select this toggle when you run the Copy WBS function (found on the ribbon of work breakdown structures).

With the toggle turned on, the function copies the main WBS to a new structure but leaves the quantity fields blank so that you can edit WBS lines that already exist (see the following example).

Example#

You set up a new WBS, enter Default as the budget name, and perform a calculation in one or more versions. None has been released yet.

After the customer places an order, you set up another structure with a budget called Main WBS, the name entered in the Job Budget Name (Main WBS) field in Jobs Setup. You release the structure and turn on the Active toggle on the header.

You then release the ordered version with the Default budget name so that its lines are copied to the main WBS. (You could have also run the calculation on the main WBS, but that would have meant no version of the base calculation would have been archived.)

The result is a released and active structure to which you can post.

Afterward, you set up a WBS for a change order, entering Additive as the budget name. You run the Copy WBS function from the main WBS and, on the dialog page, turn on the Copy Structure Only toggle to copy the WBS lines without quantities to the new version. You then specify the details of the change order:

• You enter a quantity on an existing WBS line, with a positive quantity representing an increase and a negative quantity a decrease in what is being ordered.
• You add WBS lines and calculate their values.
• You keep or delete the WBS lines that remain unchanged from the new version (lines deleted here aren’t deleted from the main version).

You release the order. The adjustments you made will be copied to the main WBS as follows:

• Quantities changed on existing lines will be adjusted.
• Lines created on the non-active WBS will be added to the main WBS.
• New descriptions will replace the old ones.

Changes to quantities and prices that you made to existing WBS lines will be copied as well. For example, if a line used to contain 100 hours at a rate of USD80, but the change order includes 20 hours at EUR100, the main structure will show 120 hours at an average rate of USD83.33 following the update.

As a result, the latest changes to the job have now been incorporated into the main WBS. You can view the original estimate by opening the Standard job budget and the adjustments through the Additive budget.

The Additive budget name can also be reused later to set up another non-active version for an additive change order.

Capacity planning#

Capacity planning can help outline your company’s resource needs by setting limits on the time employees can spent on projects.

Only after you have set a total number of hours that employees are available overall and assigned part of their daily, weekly, or monthly capacity to one or more jobs will you be able to draw meaningful conclusions from the data presented here.

For more information on how to specify resource availability at the resource (group) level, see View and Set Capacity. Each resource, or collectively, each resource group, has a limited supply of hours, which you can assign to lines on a WBS. These hours, the differences between resource availability and utilization, and the demand left for projects can then be shown on a capacity plan.

Assuming you have specified enough capacity for all resources working on a certain job, setting up such a plan provides a way for you to quickly implement changes to a rolling wave schedule. The feature also uses a base calendar to account for time off, such as on weekends and holidays. You can open plans from:

• Resources
• Jobs (Resources > Capacity Plan on the Job Budget FastTab)
• Budget lines

Depending on where you run the function from, the Date Filter field might be filled in by default. Resources are shown on a plan by resource group, with the total capacity of a group being displayed as well. Resources with no assignment to a group will be the first on the list.

The following table describes the fields found on every capacity plan.

To export the plan values to an Excel workbook, choose Export to Excel on the ribbon and select a date filter.

Work sequence#

Whereas job planning has so far been discussed only in terms of quantities and line values, the following paragraphs will focus on the scheduling feature that is part of project365. This feature uses starting and ending dates, durations, fixed dates, and task dependencies on WBS and budget lines to provide you with several options for indicating the time and sequence of job activities.

Line dependencies#

The relationships between activities are the basis for job scheduling. They can be set up at either the work package or budget line level.

To specify how one line activity is related to another based on its type and duration in days, you can use the Assign Predecessor and Assign Successor actions on the Job Budget or WBS Lines FastTab. The types are modelled after those used for task dependencies in Microsoft Project.

Duration in Days#

In addition to starting and ending dates, you can maintain a duration in days on both work package and budget lines. If you store this information, starting and ending dates are calculated automatically from the workdays available over the course of a job. For an example, see the following table, where red means changed by the user and green calculated by the system.

)

Fixed starting and ending dates#

You can also set fixed starting and ending dates on both WBS and budget lines.

Ignore in Planning#

Shown on WBS lines, this field can be selected to exclude from job planning work packages that are used solely to collect receipts, such as for travel expenses and license fees, that is, those for which capacity cannot be budgeted.

Scheduling Direction#

In this field found on job cards, you can set the scheduling direction of a project to forward or backward.

WBS Scheduling#

Actual scheduling is performed on a separate page. To view the page, open a work breakdown structure and choose WBS Scheduling on the ribbon.

A schedule shows the WBS and budget lines created for a certain job, as well as the information required for indicating the start and end of project operations. Activities are planned on both types of lines at the same time.

If a schedule already exists for a WBS, you see a message that asks if you want to overwrite current planning data. Choosing Yes will delete all entries from the page.

The values shown are used to simulate a requested planning scenario. Following a review and potential revisions to the schedule, you can choose Accept Planning on the ribbon to copy the data from the page to the related work breakdown structure.

The simulated entries are stored in the Planned Starting Date, Planned Ending Date, and Planned Duration (Days) fields on a schedule and can be edited manually. You can identify the status of each entry by its color and style. The following indicators, explained in the system by way of a legend, are available for this purpose:

• Red and bold
  Indicates that the scheduled values exceed the starting or ending date of the job (as specified on the job card).

• Red
  Indicates that, according to the schedule, the line should be in progress, but the work status is still set to Open.

• Green
  Indicates that the value was changed manually or during a planning run.

• Blue
  Indicates that the value can be changed neither manually nor during a planning run.

Scheduling a job manually only makes sense after the first automated planning run. However, you can already prepare for manual entry on the relevant work breakdown structure by specifying the duration, fixed starting and ending dates, and line activity relationships relevant to your situation, as every automated planning run is based on these WBS or budget line fields.

To start a planning run, choose Start Planning on the ribbon. This puts each WBS line and its budget lines onto the plan based on the duration, the fixed dates, and the line dependencies set up for the line. The results of the simulation are then entered in the Planned Starting Date, Planned Ending Date, and Planned Duration (Days) fields.

Depending on what option you selected in the Scheduling Direction field, the system will begin to schedule activities from the starting date or the ending date entered for the job.

Graphical (line activity) planning#

Line activities (budget lines) can also be scheduled by using the integrated graphical resource planner. In graphical planning, line activities can be dragged on the timeline and onto other resources on Gantt charts.

However, before you can work with this feature, you need to make some settings on the pages described in the following.

Jobs Setup#

Select Day in the Default Budget Allocation Period field.

Resources Setup#

In the Resource Planner Start and End fields, specify the period you want to copy to the chart. Choose a period that you’re comfortable scheduling with. The longer this period is, the greater its drag might be on tool performance and resource utilization.

Example
-1W / 2 M means that the data copied to the chart includes all information available for scheduling from the prior week until 2 months into the future.

Resource card#

Only resources and resource groups for which the Use in Resource Planning toggle has been turned on will be copied to the chart. To copy resource capacity, you also must specify at least a planning period.

Line activities#

Budget lines must meet the following requirements for inclusion:

• The job must have been set to Quote or Order.
• The WBS line must have a work status of Open or In Progress.
• The budget line must be of the resource or resource group type.
• The budget line must be Not Started or In Process.
• The budget line must have a starting and an ending date (and at least a 1-day difference between them).

Absences#

Absence registrations are automatically copied over, which means that additional settings aren’t required here.

Open graphical planning#

To open the scheduling tool:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Resource Planner, and then choose the related link.
2. Alternatively, open a budget line view. On the Job Budget FastTab, choose Resources > Resource Planner on the ribbon.

Rough planning#

Graphical resource planning starts on the Initial Planning page, with multiple weeks being visible at once.

For performance reasons, resource utilization isn’t shown at this point. Instead, you see an overview of all activities related to a project. To show resource use, you need to switch to Detailed Planning and choose the refresh spinner.

Detailed planning#

On the Detailed Planning page, you can see resource utilization per week. You can also use the ellipsis in the upper-right corner to show resource deployment during other weeks.

Visual information#

On the left of the chart, you can see a list of all job-related resources, broken down by resource group. On the timeline to the right, bars in different shades of blue show the activities assigned to the related resource or group. Activities that have been started are in dark blue. Line activities in parentheses belong to a job that is still in the Quote stage.

A yellow background indicates the degree of resource utilization on a given day. An example of an event that lowers daily capacity is vacation, where yellow is filling out the day entirely.

By selecting a bar, its utilization values will be shown in a FactBox on the right-most side of the view. Areas of overscheduling are displayed in red.

Hovering the mouse over an activity bar shows a FactBox that describes the activity.

Reschedule#

To reschedule activities, you can drag them on the timeline or move them from one resource line onto another.

Reduce / extend activity time#

You can also use the mouse to reduce or extend the time that a resource will spend on an activity by dragging the ends of the relevant bar to the left or right.

Filter jobs#

By using the right mouse button on an activity bar, you can open a context menu to set a filter on the activity, limiting the planning view to a certain job.

Split lines#

The Split Line action works in the same way on the chart as it does on budget lines.

Resource planning (without line activities)#

In an ideal world, resource schedules would align perfectly with the goals you have for your business. Unfortunately, experience shows that allocating the right amount of capacity can be a very time-consuming task.

This is because it might take a while before you can schedule resource hours at the budget line level, that is, at the level of line activities, and it can take even more time to update these plans regularly.

To provide you nevertheless with a reasonable degree of control over the time that you have available, you can use an alternate job-based plan that is decoupled from individual activities.

Requirements#

Before you can schedule in this way, you must have

• set capacities for the required resources.
• created one or more jobs on which you want them to work.

Setup#

Besides the requirements already mentioned, only a few settings might need to be made before you can work with job-level resource planning.

Resource Planning Setup#

On this card, you can specify which fields must be filled in before you can schedule resources for a job. You can also turn on one or more toggles on the Filter FastTab to set filters on the Resource Planning page. Additionally, you can choose if you or the resource who will work on a resource request should be notified by email when the request is completed.

If you want to copy absences to planning, you need to fill in the Resource Absence Job Name field on the Planning FastTab. You can enter any name in this field. The name of an actual job isn’t required, as the label is only used to group absences on the Resource Planning page.

Planning Types#

Planning types help you distinguish between different kinds of resource scheduling. For example, you can use them to separate the hours budgeted for internal projects from those spent on customer jobs.

They also make it easy for you to spot absence, such as the time a certain resource will be on vacation, immediately. You can specify in which order entries appear on a resource schedule and assign a style to a type on the Planning Types page.

The styles you can choose on the page serve the same function as elsewhere in the system.

Copy absence to resource planning#

To include resources’ sick time or time off, you can copy absences from the Absence Registrations page to scheduling. This page includes the causes of absence that you specified in the Planning Type field on the Cause of Absence Page.

Each cause set up with a planning type will be copied to the schedule. A shared type is often enough. You only need to create more than one if, for example, absence due to vacation needs to be separated from other causes.

On the Resource Planning page, you can then choose Insert Absence Registration on the ribbon to copy absences to the page.

Overscheduling Setup#

On this page, you can specify the resources for whom you want to display a warning message in the case of overplanning, that is, if the work hours scheduled are greater than the resource capacity remaining. You set up the warning for every department to which resources are assigned.

Resource Planning page#

The core element of job-level resource scheduling is a matrix that shows the number of hours budgeted per week. On the lines, a schedule can be broken down by job and planning type. The types are shown in different colors (and styles) to make it easy to differentiate between them.

Options#

For a better overview, filters can be set on the schedule. If the user who opens the Resource Planning page has been linked to a resource, the department assigned to that user is filled in automatically, based on the assumption that schedules created by one’s own department are of the most interest in this situation.

You can also turn on the No Date Filter field on the header if you want the system to show what resources aren’t included during the selected period but have been in the past or will be in the future.

Values#

This FastTab initially shows one line for each resource scheduled for a job. You can, however, expand the lines section to view a more detailed breakdown of employees’ work schedules. The columns on the right indicate the number of hours allocated to the resource for tasks per week.

Resource lines#

The resource-type line represents the upper-most level of the section. At this level, the fields on the right show the quantity and total capacity set for resources during the week specified in the relevant column. This helps you gain a quick overview of their availability and detect overscheduling.

Planning types#

The second level in the hierarchy covers scheduling by planning type. Ideally, these types can be distinguished by their color and style (see Setup).

Jobs#

The lowest line level contains schedule items related to individual jobs. The lines are in the same color as the planning type to which they have been assigned.

Requests#

The Requested By, Requested On, and Request Type fields at the bottom of the page can be used as a template to create more schedules.

Actions and overview#

Insert Absence Registrations#

Before you start planning your next project, we recommend that you use this action to copy all current absences to the Resource Planning page.

New#

Before you choose this action, you need to ensure that you have selected the correct line on the page, as the resource related to that line will be suggested for scheduling.

When you run the function, the values in the Default FastTab fields are copied to the new schedule automatically. The default planning period is the current week.

You can then enter a number or a starting date to specify the week during which you want to add the resource to the schedule; an ending date isn’t relevant here. You can also turn on the Fixed Date toggle if the starting and ending dates that you specified on the tab should be included when you reschedule job activities. However, the fixed dates can be changed later if necessary.

On the Base Data tab, you must enter a type and job number; filling in the other fields is optional. A new schedule that leads you to allocate too much work to a resource in a week will prompt a warning message if you chose this option when you entered the resource’s department in Overscheduling Setup

Distribute#

On this page, you can create several schedules at once. The total budget needs to be entered in the Distributable Hours field. These hours are then reduced by the amount of time planned on the lines, and the result is shown in the To Distribute field.

Overplanning on this page will prompt a warning message. However, you can choose Yes on the dialog that appears to raise the value in the Distributable Hours field.

Show Time Available#

This function displays for each resource the available capacity per week, calculated by subtracting a resource’s total capacity from the hours scheduled for the resource in that time.

(Planning) Overview#

On this page, you can not only filter planning entries according to your requirements, but you can edit them as well, which provides you with a quick and easy method for changing more than one entry in resource planning. You can also choose New on the ribbon to draw up another schedule.

Alternatively, you can run the Overview function from a line on the Resource Planning page to filter entries for a specific week and resource (and potentially planning types and jobs).

General Planning#

Creates a regular workload for resources over a longer period, for example, to offset unexpected events.

Planning Resource Matrix#

Shows resource planning from the perspective of resources, that is, how many hours have been scheduled for a resource in a certain week.

You can set filters on the Matrix Options FastTab to see, for example, only the jobs a specific resource has been assigned to work on and at what time.

Job Planning Matrix#

Same, but from the perspective of jobs. You can again use the filters on the FastTab to see who will work when on a job.

Plan own resource#

As a rule, all those with read/write access to resource management can see and edit resource activities in the system. Typically, however, the task of creating a plan for a week-by-week breakdown of these activities falls to one or more resource managers.

But there are also companies where at least some staff members can set their own hours. By selecting the Plan Own Resource field in User Setup, these employees not only gain read/write access to scheduling but also prevent other users from adding them to their resource schedules.

Where am I needed?#

This page, which is built into the Project Lead role center, shows logged-in users to which project schedules they’ve been added over the next three weeks.

Selecting a number on the page and drilling down will then open the planning entries related to a specific job.

Resource requests#

Requests for resources are typically created by a project manager. Each request is then forwarded to a resource manager, who will reserve the hours required based on available resource capacity.

Once scheduling is completed, an email will be sent to the resource scheduled for a job and the person who created the request (if the relevant toggles have been turned on; see the following).

Resource Planning Setup (resource requests)#

If the project manager or the scheduled resource should be notified by email after a request has been handled by the resource manager, you must use one or both of the toggles that can be turned on for this purpose in Resource Planning Setup.

Each email sent to the project manager or resource contains information about who has been scheduled to work on which project task, as well as the effort estimated for completing the activity, and the starting and ending date of work.

Create a request#

Project managers can only see requests they’ve created, whereas resource managers see all requests from every department. To create a request:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Resource Planning, and then choose the related link.
2. Choose Actions > New Resource Request.
3. Fill in the fields as necessary.

Key fields found on the request page are described in the following table.

Once all necessary fields have been filled in, a request can be submitted through the Release Planning function on the ribbon, after which the data entered on the page can no longer be changed.

A request not yet handled by a resource manager can be cancelled by the project manager at any time through the Cancel Planning function.

Handle a request#

A resource manager (who might not yet be specified as one in the system) begins handling a request by opening it and choosing Start Planning.

This fills in the Planner field with the resource manager’s user ID and assigns the schedule immediately to the manager’s page views (by adding the plan to the relevant filter).

On the Lines FastTab, one or more resources can then be allocated throughout the requested period. One line is created per resource and calendar week.

Example
A line activity is budgeted at 40 hours of work performed by two resources over two weeks, which results in a schedule as described in the following table.

The page provides resource managers with ample information, including a resource’s current utilization status on calendar week lines.

The Planning in Requested Period FactBox on the page shows the availability of a resource in the relevant period if a resource was specified in the request. Additionally, the Show Planning action can be used to open the Resource Planning page from a request, with all lines already filtered for the staff member.

After allocating hours to resources and calendar weeks, the resource manager can choose End Planning on the ribbon to finalize the schedule. The system then creates resource budget entries from the lines and notifies the budgeted resource(s) and project manager(s) by email.

To suspend planning temporarily and take it up again later, a resource manager can choose Cancel Planning on the ribbon.