Resource Management

Resource Management is the most efficient way to maximize your resource pool and make sure that your resources are both utilized and optimized and that you have the right balance of resources for both your inflight projects and your planned pipeline.

Resource Management allows you to:

  • View your resource availability
  • View what project's resources are committed to
  • View requests made for resources and easily fulfill these requests
  • Perform resource optimization
  • Review capacity and pipeline planning

An introduction to the Resource Management feature set in Sensei IQ is covered in this introductory video:

Here is a recording from a recent webinar held by Sensei on these new features and how they can be used:

Resource Management in Sensei IQ is performed using the following features:

  1. The Resources section of the Project and Proposal allows the resources required for this engagement to be requested
  2. The Resource Demand section allows Resource Managers to review all requests, current commitments, and the availability of resources, and provides an easy-to-use facility to action these requests
  3. The Resource Insights Power BI dashboard which allows the data relating to resources and roles to be drilled into and analyzed

FAQ

How do I get started with Resource Management?

There is some set up that will need to be done for your resources to be visible in the module and for your managers to be able to see them.

  1. Your Resource Managers need to be added to the "Resource Manager" User Role, this will give them access to the Resource module
  2. Your Resources need to be setup in the system. Please note, users need to be present as System Users in the Dynamics environment via enabling AAD sync.
  3. Allow bookable resource to be created automatically, or create bookable resources with the following specific fields populated (recommended):
    1. Primary Role (These are based on the system Generic roles, not the user's specific role)
    2. Line Manager
    3. Target Utilization
    4. Enterprise Calendar
Note

There is a DataVerse quota cost per resource so only create bookable resources for users who are participating in planning activities.

Can I sync my resources through Active Directory?

Yes, you can sync users into your environment using Active Directory, and then have Bookable Resources created automatically as needed.

Note

To synchronise AAD users to a Dataverse environment, Microsoft recommend using a Security Group to control which users are synchonised as System Users into an environment.

>> Setup Active Directory Sync to Dataverse <<

If a user is granted access to the environment Azure Active Directory will synchronise their user information into the environment where it becomes visible to the resourcing module as a System User. A bookable resource can then be created. Creating a bookable resource places load on the system and accumulates DataVerse quota costs per resource. It is recommended this activity should not be done speculatively for thousands of resources. Please also not that bookable resource can be created automatically on an as-needed basis.

How do I manage the lifecycle of bookable resources?

Bookable Resources that participate in resource planning are managed in these phases:

  1. A resource joins the organization. For resources that need to participate in resource planning, a Bookable Resource is created with an Enterprise Calendar and primary role. Bookable Resources can be created by Resource Managers and IQ Administrators. In addition, see Automatic Creation of Bookable Resources.
    • The resource has capacity created to the planning horizon.
  2. A resource leaves the organization.
    • The End Date for the Bookable Resource is set.
    • Capacity is removed beyond the end date to the planning horizon.
    • The resource can no longer be used to fulfill requests beyond their end date.
  3. The resource passes beyond planning horizon in the past
    • Once the end date of a resource passes beyond the planning horizon in the past (1 year by default) they no longer have any capacity that can be reported on.
    • The Bookable Resource can be deleted to remove them from reports, pick lists etc.
Note

The ability to temporarily deactivate resources is on the roadmap and will be supported in a future update.

Can I manage users who only work part time through the resource area?

Yes. You can set up an Enterprise Calendar based on a part time work week and assign the user to this calendar. The system will then manage their availability appropriately.

Can I manage users who work in different locations through the resource area?

Yes. If you set up Enterprise Calendars based on your different locations, which include the relevant public holidays and other non-working days, you can assign all relevant users to these calendars. The system will then manage your user availability appropriately.

Can Resources be allocated to a specific line manager that has to approve allocations for this user?

Yes. The Resources Line Manager must approve any assignments for their resources.

Can a Project Manager request resources across all areas of the business?

Yes. When a project manager requests a Generic resource, these requests can be actioned and committed to by any resources in the system. The exact allocation rules will be determined by your organization's setup.

My organization has a lot of resources, and I only need to view the ones I manage. Can the list of resources only show the resources I am the manager for?

Yes. The Resource Demand screen has a default filter that allows the user to only see the resources that they are the Line Manager for. This filter can be modified or removed if you would like to see all resources.

Will my Resource Manager receive notifications from the system when they get requests through the system?

Yes, the system is setup with notifications so that both the Line Manager and Project Manager are notified when requests are made and fulfilled. By default, these are turned off, but can be turned on in your environment.

Can I change the approvals and resources if priorities change?

Yes, commitments and requests can be changed in the system even after they have been approved. Although, changes made by the Project Manager will need to go through the approval process again.

Am I able to reassign commitments if a resource leaves the organization?

Yes, the Resource Manager can easily reassign any future commitments for resources through the system.

What happens if a committed resource is removed from a project?

If the Line Manager removes a resource from a project or reallocates the hours to a new resource, the Project Manager will receive a notification relating to the change. If the Project Manager changes a request, the Line Manager will receive a notification and will need to approve any changes made to the committed hours for that resource, even if the request is for fewer hours than the original request.

Are approvals able to be delegated if a Line Manager is on leave?

Yes, there are three roles within the environment that can complete any approvals in the system. They are the PMO User, Resource Manager or Admin User.

What tools do these new capabilities integrate with?

Sensei IQ currently integrates with JIRA, Dev Ops, Project for the Web and Project Online. Users from these systems will be visible in the Resources section as External resources. Once these External resources have been Related to a System User in IQ, they will become a bookable resource within the system.

What happens with projects that are already in flight when I set up Resource Management?

You will need to create resource requests and allocations for any projects in flight, so that you can see the full picture of your Resource landscape and to make sure you don't over allocate any resources already assigned to projects.

How does Resource Management surface in insights?

A Resource Availability heatmap and a Power BI reporting suite are deployed as part of the solution to allow the data regarding resources, availability, assignments, allocations and variances to be easily reviewed.

Can I assign resources to project tasks and record actual work?

Yes, Resources assigned to Tasks can see these tasks in their timesheets.

If you would like assistance setting up timesheets or your organization's Resource Management, please contact your Sensei Engagement Lead.

Automatic Creation of Bookable Resources

By default, Project Users can select to add a System User who is not yet a Bookable Resource to their Resource Plan. Upon selecting that System User to add them to the Resource Plan, a Bookable Resource record will automatically be created for that System User.

During the automatic creation process, the following fields will be set:

Field Value
Enterprise Calendar Default Enterprise Calendar
Primary Role Job Title (if matching Role found) or to 'Unclassified'

Periodically Resource Managers should monitor for Bookable Resources who are added to the Unclassified primary role and switch them to their appropriate role.

If an existing Bookable Resource is added to a Resource Plan and that Bookable Resource does not yet have a Primary Role or an Enterprise Calendar, then those fields will be populated with default values (as per above) at the time they are added to the Resource Plan.

Note

This behaviour can be turned off by enabling the configuration setting 'Disable System User Resource Selection' (disableSystemUserResourceSelection). When this behaviour is disabled, the Resource Picker will only allow selection of existing Bookable Resources.

Resource Capacity

Resource Capacity is calculated for Bookable Resources based on their selected Enterprise Calendar but also taking into account any Calendar Exceptions for that Enterprise Calendar and the Calendar Exceptions for the Bookable Resource.

The horizon for the calculations can be adjusted via the Resource Horizon setting in the Configuration Settings. By default, the horizon is set up to calculate 12 months in arrears and 36 months into the future (this is also the recommended configuration).

The Capacity for affected Resources will be recalculated whenever any of the following events occur:

  1. The Enterprise Calendar field value is changed for a Bookable Resource.
  2. The Working Days or Work Hours are modified for an Enterprise Calendar record.
  3. A Calendar Exception is created, modified or deleted for an Enterprise Calendar or a Bookable Resource.
  4. The Scheduled Process 'Capacity Calculation for Bookable Resources' runs (by default this job is configured to run Daily).

The 'Capacity Calculation for Bookable Resources' Scheduled Process is configured to run Daily and is intended to run as a 'catch up' job to ensure no capacity calculation actions have been missed, that calculations which timed out are restarted or to recalculate based on changing Resource Horizon settings. This job will target 500 resources for each run and will run for the Bookable Resources whose Horizon calculations are the most stale.

Note

Capacity Calculations can be switched off altogether in an environment by switching the Resource Horizon Configuration Setting 'Calculate Resource Capacity?' value to 'No'.

FTEs and % FTE

FTE and % FTE are a quicker way for resources to be allocated to a resource plan.

  • PMs don’t need to know how many hours a resource works
  • Multiple FTE generic roles can be added to plans easily.

To change to FTEs or % FTE mode, select the following menu:

Next to the menu icon it will display what mode is active.

The FTEs and % FTE values in IQ are a measure of effort. The hours that one FTE equates to are calculated based on the “Hours Per Work Day” field in the Default Calendar.

FAQ

I have part-time resources in my resource pool, can I set them so that the FTE calculation considers their specific calendar?

No, the FTE calculations are only based on the Default Calendar. If a PM requests 1 FTE for a part-time resource and the Resource Manager approves this resource as 1 FTE, the resource will show as overallocated by the difference between the Enterprise Calendar they are assigned to and the Default Enterprise Calendar.

Calendar Exceptions

Calendar Exceptions are used to input non-working time for Resources. If using "Auto-fill" days with calendar exceptions will not automatically have allocations placed against them, and the hours will be distributed across the rest of the days that are part of the period selected. Resource Managers can always manually override this if the allocation must fall on a day with a resource calendar exception.

Calendar Exceptions can be created at the Default Calendar level (for an organization to set non-working days for all Resources allocated to that Default Calendar) or at the Resource level (to set non-working days for an individual resource).

Days with Calendar Exceptions will show in the Resource Plan and Resource Demand screen with 0 Capacity.

  • If hours are proposed for days with a Calendar Exception they will show as red, and if the Resource Manager chooses to Autofill their Committed hours it will Commit 0 hours to that period. Specific hours manually entered into this period will show as an overallocation.
  • If hours are proposed to a higher calendar time period that contains a Calendar Exception, the allocation will not be added to the days with a Calendar Exception and will be shared evenly between the working days in that period. Due to this, these working days could become over allocated and will need to be managed. For example:
    • If a PM has requested a resource for the whole week by adding 40 hours or 1 FTE to the weekly view, and that week has one Calendar Exception day within it, those 40 hours will be spread evenly over the 4 remaining days making each of them overallocated by 25%
    • If a PM has requested only 4 of the days within a week that contains one Calendar Exception day this allocation will be allocated to the 4 working days correctly.

Software Boundaries and Limits

Detail Limit
Dataverse quota consumed per resource year. 170kb / Resource / Capacity Year
Default Capacity Horizon 4 years / resource, 1 in arrears and 3 ahead.
Maximum Capacity Horizon 11 years / resource, typically 1 in arrears and 10 ahead.
Maximum Supported Resources with calendars 2000 Resources with 4 years of capacity planning (1 behind 3 ahead)
Resources in per Resource Plan at least 90 resources
Save operations 45 resource years (90 resources for 6 months, 15 resource for 3 years etc.)