Candidate Assignments for Resource Availability

This article explains how to find all the assignments with some shortfall or demand that a selected resource can satisfy.

Please read the article Candidates to Replace Demand Overview  before reading this article.

Overview

The intent of this feature is to help the resource manager maximize the utilization of resources on high priority projects.

The Candidate Assignments feature answers the question, “What assignments have needs that the selected resource can partially or completely satisfy?”

The resource represented by the current Resource>Detail>Labor page provides the replacement labor supply from remaining capacity after demand on assignments that name the resource has been satisfied.

The assignments that have shortfall or demand to be replaced are called candidate assignments.

The (single) candidate assignment selected for replacement is called the target assignment.

Note: Replacement of target demand applies ONLY in the current data load date range. Demand in periods after the current data load date range is unaffected by candidate replacement.

Note: It is bad practice to replace demand in past periods. This can be controlled by setting data load date parameters to start with the current or future periods. Another option is to manually delete replacement values in past periods on the candidate grid.

The Simple Case of Candidate Assignments

Go to a Resource>Data-Detail>Labor page. (Candidate Assignments is available only on resource Detail mode Labor pages.)

Step 1: Click the Candidate Assignments icon.

The candidates pane appears with all assignments that have demand that the current resource could satisfy, i.e. the resource

has the assignment Required Skill ( either primary or secondary),

is a member of the organization (OBS node) specified in the assignment,

meets any other assignment requirements (such as Country or Location), AND

has some unused capacity in the periods where there is shortfall or demand to be replaced.

The candidate assignments are sorted in project priority order.

Step 2: Select one candidate assignment.

When a candidate assignment row is selected, the current resource’s availability to meet the assignment shortfall or demand appears in the candidate pane header row.

Only one candidate assignment at a time can be selected.

Header row periods show the resource’s remaining capacity (availability) in periods where there is target demand; they are empty until a candidate assignment is selected as the target assignment.

Header row periods are also empty if there is no target demand or if there is no remaining capacity in periods with demand.

NOTE: The values in the header row can be modified or deleted.

For example, if you want to make assignments in the next month or two, you can delete any resource availability in the header row beyond the next two months OR in past periods.

TIP: Since the header row does not have drag-fill, you can use repeated Delete-Tab to remove availability.

Step 3: Click the Assign button.

Result of clicking the candidate Assign button:

A new assignment is created for the current resource on the project in the target  assignment row.

The new assignment gets the values in the header row.

Header row values are subtracted from the target assignment demand.

Since you are on the labor assignment page for the resource, you see the new assignment with the replacement demand.

You do not see the target assignment with its reduced demand because none of the candidate assignments are for the current resource on the Detail page.

To see all changed candidate assignments, go to the Assignment>Labor page and check the Filter on Changes checkbox.

 

 

How To

Step 1: Activate the resource detail labor assignment page of a resource who has some unused capacity and click the Candidate Assignments icon in the page toolbar.

Step 3: (Optional) Select checkbox options at the top of the Candidates pane.

Use checkboxes to modify the candidate assignment pool as needed (e.g. Any Node in screenshot below).

Use the Replace Shortfall or All Demand options to change the amount of demand on the target assignment that will be replaced.

Step 2: Select a candidate assignment checkbox at the left of the page.

When you select a candidate assignment, check how much of the need the source resource can supply.

Step 4: (Optional) Modify availability values in the header row.

Step 5: Click the Assign button.

The demand on the candidate assignment is reduced by the header row values and a new assignment is created for the current resource with the header row values.

Step 6: Click the Save icon to save the assignment changes to the database.