About Resources#

Overview#

Resources are the people and machines performing the activities of a project.

With the help of a budget, you can easily define their deployment and availability on multiple capacity-related pages within the system. You can also record their impact on a company’s revenues and expenses, either independently or as part of projects and sales (which creates a link to Finance).

Resources can be part of resource groups. You can use both resources and resource groups to budget and bill highly sophisticated purchase and sales price structures.

As the resource and project functionalities are closely intertwined, the following sections will also cover some of the basics of project management, with explanations of:

• Resources and resource groups
• Units and types of work
• Unit costs and sales prices
• Resource and project journals
• Capacities
• Flextime summaries

Resources Setup#

Before you can register and post to resources, you need to set up the functionality.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Resources Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the KUMAVISION project365 FastTab, fill in the fields as described in the following table.

You can now register your first resource.

Register a resource#

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Resources, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, choose New > New to register a resource and fill in the fields as described in the following tables.

General#

Invoicing#

For more information, see Service Packages.

Personal Data#

Shows the personal data stored for an employee.

Employee Equipment#

This kind of equipment (which includes software) is maintained on employee cards, to which many users have no access. However, staff members should at least be able to view what has been distributed to them.

For this reason, a page named Employee Equipment can be opened from the Resources page and resource cards, describing the equipment assigned to a resource.

Units, work types, and alternate costs and prices#

After you have entered key resource information, you can create units, work types, alternate costs, and alternate prices for the resources you work with.

Set up a unit of measure#

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Units of Measure, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, choose New to create a resource unit such as Hour.
3. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

Work types#

Work types describe various ways of rendering and selling services. They allow you to set up structures that, for example, account for the difference in cost between an hour spent working on a project and an hour of travel.

All types are closely linked to alternate resource costs and prices. As part of a project or sales transaction, the work type has a significant influence over both.

When you register a resource or a resource group, you can assign a cost and a price to each type of work.

A work type can also be assigned to more than one unit of measure to differentiate between the use and billing of resources. For example, you can define that employees record times spent on a project in hours but that their work is billed on a per-day basis.

Set up a work type#

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Work Types, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, choose New to create a work type.
3. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

Examples:

Extended resource costs#

General setup#

If you want to work with the extended cost and price tables instead of the standard tables included with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central¹, you need to turn on the Extended Pricing feature.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Purchase & Payables Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the KUMAVISION tab, in the Extended Pricing field, choose Yes.

Set up alternate costs#

You set up alternate costs for resources and their groups on the Extended Resource Cost page. When you invoice items, the values shown on this page take priority over those specified on resource cards.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Extended Resource Cost, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, choose New to set up a unit cost for a resource.
3. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

Find resource costs#

Resource costs are retrieved in the following order:

1. From a resource in the Extended Resource Cost table if both the resource and its work type are valid within the specified period.
2. From a resource group if the group and its work type are valid in the specified period.
3. From a resource with the All option if the resource and its work type are valid in the specified period.
4. From the Unit Cost field on a resource card.

Work types and costs#

Unlike customer billing, cost calculation doesn’t distinguish between activities, as it doesn’t matter what resources spent their time on. Whether they travel or hold a workshop at a customer site, their pay is unlikely to change (at least when it comes to your own staff members).

If no unit cost can be found for a work type and period, a universally applicable entry linked to a blank Work Type field will be copied from a unit cost table.

This avoids having to specify the same unit cost in cost tables over and again. The entry will then use a resource’s base unit (the typical unit being Hour).

Prices for external resources#

It should be noted that external resources can also be brought on for projects, and that they have their own, separate list of costs. For more information, see External Resource Prices.

Extended resource prices#

You set up alternate prices for resources and their groups on the Extended Resource Prices page. You can specify multiple prices per work type.

Resource prices are retrieved when you schedule resources, enter a price on a sales line, or post resource consumption (as a time and materials entry might contain not only a unit cost but also a unit price that can be used to measure project progress or bill work done on a project).

General setup#

If you want to work with the extended cost and price tables instead of the standard tables included with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central¹, you need to turn on the Extended Pricing feature.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Sales & Receivables Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the General tab, select Never in the Find Best Price field.
3. On the KUMAVISION tab, in the Extended Pricing field, choose Yes.

Set up alternate prices#

Resource prices and costs are set up in similar ways, with prices being assigned to resources and work types on the Extended Resource Prices page.

You can create alternate prices for individual resources, resource groups, or (most conveniently) all resources at once.

To add alternate resource or resource group prices:

1. Open the relevant resource card or the Resource Groups list. On the ribbon, choose Related > Prices > Prices.
2. If you don’t want to set filters on resources or groups, choose the Search icon, enter Extended Resource Prices, and then choose the related link.

This opens a list of all alternate prices stored for each resource and group. It’s also the only way to enter universally applicable prices.

To specify validity periods for prices, fill in the Starting and Ending Date fields on the Extended Resource Prices page.

Examples

Pricing options#

You have more than one option for setting up detailed unit prices for resources.

For one, you can create special project-specific prices by opening a project card and choosing Related > Prices > Resource.

What you see on this page—which looks almost exactly like the Extended Resource Prices page—has been copied from the project card.

You can also turn on the Use WBS Res. Prices toggle on a project card. With the toggle turned on, a resource price isn’t retrieved the usual way when you post project usage or create a sales line manually but is copied directly from the related WBS line.

Where to use resource prices#

You can enter alternate unit prices for resources during various stages of a project.

Planning
You can run a function to fill in extended unit prices when you schedule resources with the help of a budget. You can then change these prices manually if necessary.

Sales
When you create a sales document such as a quote or an order in project planning, the resource prices on WBS lines are transferred to this document alongside other project information.

Should you create a new sales line, however, the price on that line might be retrieved from elsewhere in the system.

Time tracking
When a resource posts hours spent on a project, the alternate unit price is added to the time and materials entries created during this process.

The price can then be used to measure project progress or see an estimated price total for unbilled services.

Purchasing
For the same reason as in time tracking, a unit price is added to project ledger entries for an external resource when you post consumption from a purchase document.

Find resource prices#

Prices are added to a resource or resource group in the following order:

1. If you turned on the Use WBS Res. Prices toggle, unit prices are copied from a WBS. Based on the posting or link level, a price might be copied from a budget line or a work package. It is, however, only retrieved if
   • it is stored with a resource or a group (not an item).
   • its work type and unit codes are identical to the those of the project.
   This type of setup makes sense if there’s a certain latitude in how you can budget a project, that is, a unit price can be specified during planning (on the spot) and isn’t copied from a list. Turning on the toggle ensures that there are no differences in price between time and materials entries created for project usage, planning and sales.
2. If the toggle mentioned under 1) is turned off, the system will try to find a suitable price among the resource prices specified for a project.
3. If no project-specific price is available for the given period, the system will try to find one in the Extended Resource Price table.
4. If that table contains no valid price either, the price will be copied from the resource card.

For any table, the system runs through the following sequence:

1. Find a price for a resource.
2. Find a price for a resource group.
3. Retrieve a universally valid price.

A price is considered valid if it has the same work type (a blank field is not taken to mean that a price is universally valid), uses the same currency and is valid between the starting and ending dates specified in the table.

Sales transactions#

As part of sales transactions, resources are billed according to their work types and relations to projects. The entry type created in this context is always Sale, as resource postings on sales documents represent project revenues. Posting revenue for a project doesn’t create consumption.

For the use of project-specific prices in sales, turn on the Use Project Prices on Sales Doc. toggle in Projects Setup. With the toggle turned off, prices are retrieved from resource cards only.

Resource capacity#

Resource capacity represents a resource’s work hours available for planning.

To limit these hours, you can use the calendar that you chose in Resources Setup. You can specify in this calendar the public holidays, weekends, and other days on which employees aren’t at work.

You can also set up resource-specific versions to account for differences in the number of holidays observed in different states and regions.

Alternate base calendar#

The standard calendar functionality is part of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central¹ Premium license. Customers with an Essentials license can use the calendar that comes with KUMAVISION project365.

To turn on the project365 calendar:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Resources Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the KUMAVISION project365 tab, in the Resource Calendar Type field, select project365 Calendar.
3. In the project365 Calendar Code field, choose a calendar.

View and set capacity#

To see the capacity of a resource, choose the Search icon, enter Resource Capacity, and then choose the related link.

This opens a page that lists capacities by day, week, and month. Capacities can be specified for several resources at once. Be aware of filters applied to the list.

To specify resource capacity:

1. Open the Resource Capacity page.
2. Go to the Resource Capacity Matrix section. On the ribbon, choose Planning > Set Capacity.

As a rule, capacity is scheduled for long periods in advance. No time sheet template needs to be specified if all filtered resources have one when you run the function. A template is only needed for resources that don’t.

You can also set capacity for individual resources:

1. Open the Resource Capacity page.
2. Select a resource.
3. On the ribbon, choose Planning > Set Capacity for Resource.

Group capacity#

Resource groups don’t have capacities, nor can you specify capacity for them.

Instead, the total number of hours that you can schedule for a group equals the capacities available for all resources within that group.

Time summaries#

Time summaries show you the monthly work hour totals of resources for whom you set up capacities.

These entries are mainly used for flextime arrangements but might also be linked to scenarios that involve night differential pay or bonuses for working on holidays.

Set up time summaries (flextime)#

Resources setup#

If you want to add a premium for night shifts, fill in the Night Differential Start and Night Differential End fields in Resources Setup.

Holidays#

To set up holidays:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Base Calendars, and then choose the related link. Select a calendar.
2. On the ribbon, choose Actions > Functions > Maintain Base Calendar Changes.
3. Select the Holiday checkbox for each day that you want to specify as a holiday.

Causes of absence#

For flextime summaries to be calculated correctly, you must ensure that the Ignore for Flextime checkbox is selected on the Causes of Absence page for lines that don’t affect time tracking in a negative way, such as lines used to record absence due to illness.

Essentially, the checkbox must be selected for all kinds of causes, except for reductions in flextime. A code for reductions isn’t strictly necessary, as work hours that aren’t posted to a project are subtracted from flextime summaries automatically. Nevertheless, the reductions might need to be logged for documentation purposes.

Example
You set up sick leave, vacation, and flextime as causes of absence, flextime being the only category that the Ignore for Flextime field isn’t selected for. You then post as many hours in the system as shown in the following table.

As said previously, registering flextime absence isn’t what causes a reduction. A lack of postings on certain days is. In other words, the registration is for documentation purposes only, whereas the time staff members aren’t working due to vacation or sick leave doesn’t affect the numbers at all.

Starting summaries#

To use time summaries:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Time Summary Journals, and then choose the related link.
2. Record all existing flextime summaries of employees. Each entry must start with the last day of the prior month—such as 11/30/2023—if summaries are implemented on 12/01/2023.
3. When you recorded all summaries, go to the ribbon, and choose Post to copy all entries to the Posted Time Summary Journals.

The last step is crucial, as you cannot create starting summaries if you have already set up individual summary entries for employees. You also cannot reset a summary.

The starting summaries are then posted automatically when you choose the Create Time Summary Entries action on the Time Summary Entries page.

Time summary entries#

You can create time summary entries by running the Create Time Summary Entries function on the Time Summary Entries page. To avoid inaccuracies in time tracking, we recommend that you generate these entries at the close of every month.

A time summary entry contains all information required to fill in the Flextime, Night, Saturday, and Sunday and Holiday Summary fields per resource and month.

But whereas a flextime summary is calculated regularly from the times recorded by a resource the prior month, the other fields show mere snapshots of data. This means that they are used for informational purposes only; their contents aren’t incorporated into other functions, such as updates of project estimates.

All totals are calculated from a resource’s (that is, an employee’s) capacity, posted work hours and periods of inactivity, with the system using the calendar and related fields specified in Resources Setup to determine night shift and holiday totals from the hours posted.

For later postings (of times recorded or periods of absence), you need to rerun the Create Time Summary Entries function.

Summaries are always created for the month prior to the work date.

Example
Work date = 05/02/2023 = System calculates summary for April 2023.

Corrective postings#

To post adjustments to Saturday, holiday, nighttime, or flextime work hours:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Time Summary Journals, and then choose the related link.
2. Select the resource number of the relevant employee.
3. Fill in the Quantity field. In the Reason Code field, choose a reason.
4. On the ribbon, choose the Post action to post the journal.

For tracking purposes, the relevant journal is then copied to the Posted Time Summary Journals page. This creates an entry combining a resource’s latest summary and the data you entered.

Project time journals#

Create a time journal template#

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Project Time Journal Templates, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, choose New.
3. Fill in the fields as necessary.
4. Select a template. On the ribbon, choose the Batches action.
5. You can now fill in resources and their user IDs. If you assigned a journal to a user in User Setup, the correct journal is chosen automatically when you open the journal selection.

Only users for whom the Other Res. in Time Tracking checkbox has been selected in User Setup can edit other resources’ journals, for example, to post times. When you assign a resource to a journal, the number of the resource is entered automatically on all journal lines.

External resource prices#

To set up a price for an external resource:

1. Select the External option in the Type field on the relevant resource card.
2. Enter a Vendor No. so that you can open the Resource Purch. Prices page from the resource or the vendor card.

What external resource prices, resource unit prices and resource unit costs have in common is that they can only be retrieved if the right work type has been specified.

You can specify external resource prices as early as creating budget lines for a project. This is because you can already store basic vendor data for an external resource on a resource card. This data is then copied to a budget line when you enter a resource on it, and a price is determined based on the vendor and work type specified on that line. When you later run the Create Purchase Document function from the budget line, the pricing function enters a suitable price on the document—that is, unless you entered a price manually or selected the Manual Purchase Price checkbox on the budget line, in which case the price on that line is copied to the document instead.