Creating Labor Assignments
Overview
Labor assignments can be created, modified, and deleted on three pages:
“Global” Assignments page – accessed by Projects > Assignments or by Resource > Assignments.
All labor (resource and skill) assignments in the current data load are available on this page.
Project Workspace Assignments page – accessed by selecting the hyperlinked Project Name on other pages such as Project Data, Project Demand, Assignments.
All labor (resource and skill) assignments for the selected project are available on this page.
Resource Workspace Assignments page – accessed by selecting the hyperlinked Resource Name on other pages such as Resource Data, Resource Capacity, Assignments.
All resource assignments of the selected resource are available on this page.
The dialog to add assignments varies depending on the page (See below).
[Note: In addition, assignments of the current user are available on the User Workspace Personal Forecast page. Assignments cannot be created or deleted on this page. The user can modify the Comment field and period data values only.]
About the System Assignment ID (AID)
Each assignment row has an Assignment ID (AID) that is created automatically when the record is first saved.
This AID uniquely identifies the assignment record in the database.
The AID is required for import/export of assignment records, see Export and Import Data.
Note: New assignments are visible after creation, even if a filter is active that would ordinarily exclude them. If you apply a new filter or refresh/revisit the page, the filter will be applied to the new records as well.
How To
Add Resource Assignment from the Global Assignments Page
Step 1: Click the “+” button (Add) or the dropdown.
Step 2: Select Resource Assignment.
Step 3: Select a project from the project drop down.
Use type-ahead in the Project drop-down to filter the list to projects with names containing that string OR use the list drop-down arrow.
Step 4: Use one of the following filter strategies to expose resources in the lower pane of the dialog.
- Uncheck Has Skill – all resources in the current data load appear (unfiltered case).
- If Show Only Available Skills is checked, the Required Skills list is limited to the skills of resources in the current data load.
- With Has Skill checked, select a skill in Required Skill – all resources who have that skill appear.
[Use type-ahead in Required Skill to filter the list.]
Type-ahead is case insensitive.
- With Has Skill unchecked, type part or all of a resource name in Resource – all resources who have that string in their name appear.
- Use a user added Search filter – all resources who have the filter value in that field appear. (See section Add/Use New Search Field below in this article.)
- Check Include Assigned – if any resources that meet all other filter criteria are currently assigned to the project, they appear.
- Check Include Inactive – if any resources that meet all other filter criteria are currently inactive and present in the data load, they appear.
[Note: Project and Required Skill are both true type-ahead drop-downs; Resource takes a partial search string but does NOT take effect until the user clicks the magnifying glass icon.]
[Note: Resource Org, the resource OBS node field, is NOT available on the Resource Assignment dialog.]
Step 5: Select one or more resources to assign to the project.
Step 6: Click Add or Add & Close.
Both Add buttons create the specified new assignments. The Add button leaves the dialog open to create more assignments.
Step 7: Enter values in assignment fields and period data cells.
IMORTANT: See article Data Entry in ResourceFirst.
Step 8: Click the Save icon to save the new assignments to the database.
Adds, deletes, and modifications to records on the active page are saved to the database when the Save icon is clicked. Changes to records on other pages are NOT saved until that page is activated and the Save icon is clicked.
[IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you have NOT sorted the assignments, the new assignments appear at the top of the grid.
If assignments ARE sorted, the new assignments appear in that sort order.
New assignments are visible after creation, even if a filter is active that would ordinarily exclude them.
If you apply a new filter or refresh/revisit the page, the filter will be applied to the new records as well.]
Add Skill Assignment from the Global Assignments Page
Step 1: Click the “+” button (Add) or the dropdown.
Step 2: Select Skill Assignment.
Step 3: Select a project from the project drop down.
Step 4: Use the following steps to expose skills in the lower pane of the dialog.
- Select a node in Resource OBS.
If In Node is checked, all skills in the current data load appear. - Narrow the Skills list by typing a string in the Skill search field and clicking the Hourglass icon.
- Narrow the Skills list further by using a search field.
Step 5: Select one or more skills to assign to the project.
Finish: Steps 6-8 above for Add Resource Assignment.
Recommend First Steps for Add Resource Assignment
Select a project.
Uncheck Has Skill.
Check Show Only Available Skill.
Recommend First Steps for Add Skill Assignment
Select a project.
Select a node in Resource Org.
Use added filters as needed.
Add/Use New Search Field
Step 1: Click the Add New Search Field dropdown button.
All resource fields are in the list.
The field is added to / deleted from the dialog when the field checkbox is checked / unchecked.
Step 2: Type-ahead or click the drop-down arrow on the search field.
Step 3: Select a field value.
The set of resources meeting all filter criteria is determined.
Those resources are displayed for selection in the Add Resource Assignment dialog.
The skills of those resources are displayed for selection in the Add Skill Assignment dialog.
Workspace Assignment Pages
If you click on a resource hyperlink, the Assignments page in the Resource Workspace is activated.
If you click on a project hyperlink, the Assignments page in the Project Workspace is activated.
These pages are the same as the global Assignments page with two exceptions:
- The Resource Workspace has assignments of the resource only; the Project Workspace has assignments to the project only.
- In the Resource Workspace, only resource assignments can be created; in the Project Workspace, skill and resource assignments can be created for the project.
The impact of these exceptions is that the workspace Add Assignment dialogs are different from the dialog on the global Assignments page.
Project Workspace Add Assignment Dialog
The only difference from the global assignments dialog is that there is no project selection drop-down.
Resource Workspace Add Assignment Dialog
The only requirement in this dialog is to select a project; the resource’s Primary Skill (if any) is applied when the Add button is clicked if the Required Skill field is empty.
Reminder: Save to the Database
Remember to click on the Save icon at upper right of the page to save changes to the database.
