docs/user-guide/resource-management/README.md
[feature: resource_management]
The Resource management module in OpenProject enables project managers to plan work based on people's availability, skills and capacity. Instead of only planning what needs to be done, you can also plan who should do the work and when.
Within a project, you can create one or more resource planners to organise work packages, allocate work to users and monitor team capacity using different planner views.
Before starting with Resource management:
To open the Resource management module, select a project and then select Resource management from the project menu.
The Resource management overview consists of a navigation sidebar and a list of existing resource planners.
The navigation sidebar contains:
Favourite resource planners are marked with a star icon.
The main content area lists all existing resource planners in the project, including their names, number of work packages and members, and start and finish dates. Select a planner name to open it.
Select the More menu (...) at the end of a planner row to:
A resource planner defines how resources are displayed within a project. Each planner can contain one or more planner views, allowing you to analyse the same project data from different perspectives.
You can create multiple resource planners for different teams, departments, planning periods or scenarios.
To create a new resource planner, select the + Resource management button.
In the form that opens, specify the following details:
Name of the resource planner
Date range
Default view type. Available options are:
Depending on the selected planner view, you will specify additional settings in the next step.
Public checkbox
Favourite checkbox
Select Next.
Next, configure the first planner view. This can be changed later.
Specify:
If you choose Automatically filtered for one of the two work package views, define which work packages should be included by specifying:
Select Create.
The new resource planner opens with its first planner view.
You can edit a resource planner either from the Resource management overview or from within an open resource planner.
To edit a planner:
You can update:
You can also:
You can delete a resource planner either from the Resource management overview or from within an open resource planner.
To delete a resource planner:
[!NOTE] Deleting a resource planner removes the planner and all of its planner views. It does not delete any work packages, allocated times or project data.
Each resource planner can contain multiple planner views. Planner views display the same planning data in different ways, allowing you to focus on work packages, users or staffing activities.
You can add additional planner views at any time. To do so, select the + icon next to the existing planner view tabs and choose the desired planner view type.
Timeline views share the same toolbar, which lets you:
The Work packages timeline displays work packages together with their planned allocations over time.
The left side lists all work packages included in the planner.
Each work package displays:
Select the More menu (...) for additional actions, including:
The timeline displays allocations across the selected time scale.
The Users timeline groups planned work by user instead of by work package.
This view helps identify:
Warning icons indicate users who:
The timeline displays each user's planned allocations across the selected period.
The Work packages list displays planning information in a table.
Use this view when you prefer working with planning data in a table instead of a timeline.
Besides the standard work package information, it includes planning-specific columns such as:
Each row provides work package-specific actions in the More menu (...), including:
Use the Configure view icon to customise the displayed columns.
The Users card list provides an overview of available project members.
Each card displays information that helps with staffing decisions, including:
[!TIP] The utilization bar is relative to the date range of the resource planner. It will show the user's utilization within that given range. If no range is set up, no utilization is displayed.
Use the Configure view icon to choose which user attributes are displayed on the cards.
Use this view to quickly identify users with the required skills and available capacity.
You can create allocations from all planner views.
Depending on the current planner view, you can:
The Allocation dialog displays all existing allocations for the selected work package.
Select Allocate resource to create a new allocation.
You can allocate work by User or Filter criteria.
Select the desired option and then select Next.
Allocating work by User assigns planned hours to a specific project member.
Specify:
Select Allocate.
The new allocation is immediately displayed in the planner. Allocated hours and utilisation are updated automatically.
[!TIP] If the selected user is over-allocated, a warning message is displayed.
Allocating work by Filter criteria creates a placeholder resource request based on user attributes instead of assigning work to a specific user.
Specify one or more user attributes as filter criteria. For example, you can request a resource with a specific language, certification or other user attribute. For more information, see the User attributes guide.
Enter a Resource filter name and select Allocate.
The allocation is created as an open resource request in the Staffing view, where it can later be assigned to a project member.
The Staffing view helps assign open resource requests to suitable project members.
Instead of assigning work directly to a specific user, you can first create a resource request based on user attributes or filter criteria. The Staffing view then helps you match these requests with suitable project members based on their availability, skills or other user attributes.
This is useful when you know which skills or role are required, but have not yet decided who will perform the work.
The Staffing view lists open resource requests that have not yet been assigned to a specific user. It displays:
Select the More menu (...) to:
The Assign dialog lists all available users matching the selected filter criteria together with their remaining available capacity.
Select a user and then select Assign to assign the resource request.