Candidates to Replace Demand

This article explains how to find candidate Resources to allocate demand from existing Skill or Resource assignments.

When to Find Candidates to Replace Demand

There are multiple situations when it may be appropriate to find candidates to replace demand:

When it is time to allocate a named resource to an existing skill demand.

When a resource has excess demand over a period of time (the resource is overallocated, the Resource Manager may look for a candidate to shift the excess demand to.

When a resource is leaving the organization, the Resource Manager may look for candidates to shift ongoing assignment demand to.

When a Resource Manager changes his/her mind about an assignment to a named resource and wants to find an alternate candidate.

How to Find Candidates to Replace Demand

First, clearly identify which demand you wish to shift to a named resource candidate. This includes the specific periods (e.g., all demand for the existing skill or resource assignment, only ongoing demand after a certain date, certain periods when the resource is no longer available or is allocated to higher priority projects, etc.). You also need to determine for those periods whether all of the demand for the resource, or only the excess demand (Shortfall) for the resource needs to be transferred.

Make sure that your date range from the Get Data scope filter will support your intended change. For instance, if you want to move all demand for the existing skill or resource assignment to the candidate, make sure that all non-zero demand periods for that assignment are visible within your selected date range. If you want to move all demand beyond a certain date, adjust the date range to start then. If relevant, you may also want to adjust the resource’s capacity beyond an expected termination date to 0, so that demand beyond that period becomes Shortfall.

The Default Case vs. Options

Note: When ResourceFirst finds candidates, the system seeks to:

Find candidates:

a) with the right skill (the Required Skill in the source assignment),

b) from the right organization (the Assignment Org in the source assignment),

c) with some availability in the periods needed (the full set of non-zero periods for the source assignment in the current date range), and;

d) only replace the Shortfall from the existing assignment. If the source assignment is a skill assignment, the Shortfall includes all of the skill demand. If the source assignment is a Resource assignment, the Shortfall is only the excess allocation to the named resource.

This behavior can be changed using the Options check boxes in the Candidate box when it appears:

The Default Case

Use the following steps to select a named resource candidate to replace an assignment:

1. Once your date range is set as desired, select the assignment row for which you wish to find candidates to replace demand.

2. Click the Candidates button  in upper left. The system will show any suitable candidates, using the default assumed intent.

3. To select a candidate, select the checkbox to the left of the desired row.

The Assigned column indicates with a black circle whether the resource is already assigned on the project. The numbers shown in the period cells for each candidate row reflect that candidate’s availability for that period (capacity minus existing allocation), but only up to the demand needed. In other words, it shows how much of the needed demand the resource can fill per period. Note that some candidates may be able to fill all of the demand and others only part of the demand.

4. After selecting a candidate, click the Replace button  at upper right of the Candidate info. If the need was fully satisfied, the Candidate info will disappear, the transferred demand in the source assignment above will be zeroed, and a new row will appear for the selected candidate, with the allocated needs shown.

5. Remember to click the Save button to save your changes.

Using Candidate Options

The system behavior when finding candidates can be changed using the Options check boxes in the Candidate box when it appears:

All Nodes– Clicking this will widen the search to include all organizations in the current filtered scope, not just the Resource Org in the source assignment.

All Skills– Clicking this will include candidates who are in the Assignment Org specified in the source assignment who do not have the needed skill. Sometimes it is necessary to apply someone who has similar skills or previously used the needed skill.

All Demand– Clicking this will cause the system to seek to replace all of the demand in the source skill or resource assignment (with resources in the Assignment Org specified in the source assignment), not just the Shortfall. Thus, only candidates who can satisfy all the required demand will be listed.

Reminder: The candidates row shows how much of the needed demand the resource can fill per period. Note that some candidates may be able to fill all of the demand and others only part of the demand. This option ignores those who can only satisfy partial demand.

Ignore Availability– Clicking this will allow overallocation and show candidates regardless of availability instead of limiting the allocation to available capacity. It will even show candidates who are completely unavailable (as opposed to the default, which is to show candidates who can at least partially satisfy the demand).

Note that combinations of the checkboxes may also be used.