Resource Requests Overview
This article explains the resource request process from both the project manager (requester) and resource manager (responder) perspectives.
For “How-To” instructions, see Using Resource Requests.
Why Requests?
A good enough (if not best) practice in project-driven organizations is to hold resource/functional managers responsible and accountable for assigning people and teams to projects and for forecasting the level of effort required by the projects.
Resource managers cannot be held accountable if project managers can make people assignments and change the level of effort forecast for the projects.
The solution is to enable project managers to make requests for skills, teams, or people and for the level of effort required for project success. Resource managers can respond to the requests by accepting or rejecting them. The resource manager then controls the level of effort forecast.
Properly executed, this process ensures accountability for resource plans as well as communication between project and resource managers.
Note: There may be cases where some or all project managers have the rights to create skill and resource assignments. That is a decision for each organization to make. The Request feature is a solution for those cases where project managers do not have assignment rights.
Note: This feature must be activated by an administrator (in Administration->Settings->Features). The administrator can also configure whether requests are automatically approved without resource manager action.
Key Terms and Objects
Labor Assignment: A Skill or Resource assignment on the Global assignment page or on a Detail assignment page.
Request Assignment: a special type of Labor assignment created by a user as a request to the resource manager(s) of the skills or resources requested.
Labor Assignments Page: displays all labor assignments in the current data load.
Detail Labor Assignments Page: the labor assignments page after drilling down to a specific project or resource. This page displays only the assignments for the project or resource.
Request Page: displays all Open, Accepted, and Rejected request assignments in the current data load.
Detail Request Page: the request assignments page after drilling down to a specific project or resource. This page displays only the request assignments for the project or resource.
Request fields on Labor and Request assignments:
Assignment ID: of the request/assignment
Request ID: the Assignment ID of the request; shown on the Labor page for assignments created by approval of a new request.
Request State: Open, Approved, Rejected
Request By: full username of the requester
Request Date: date the request was first saved (i.e., create date)
User Rights and Requests
If the user has P1 rights to individual projects, requests can only be created on project detail request pages of projects to which the user has the P1 right, NOT on the Assignment>Request page.
If the user has P2+ rights to some but NOT ALL project nodes in the data load, requests can only be created on project detail request pages of projects to which the user has P2+ rights, NOT on the Assignment>Request page.
If the user has P2+ rights to ALL project nodes in the data load, requests CAN be created on the Assignment>Request page.
Who does What and Where
Project managers use the Request page to create requests for new assignments.
Project managers use the Labor page to create change requests to modify previously created assignments.
Resource managers use the Labor page to reject or approve Open requests.
An approved request is turned into an assignment which can be modified by the resource manager.
Requests are preserved with original values on the Request page with the response state Approved or Rejected (unless deleted by the originator).
Resource and Project managers use the Request page to review requests addressed to their resource OBS node that are open or that have been approved or rejected.
When a request is created by either method, it appears as an Open request assignment on the Request page. A read-only copy appears on the Labor page.
For example, the project manager can create a resource/skill labor plan for the project on the Request page.
Resource managers use the Labor page to reject or approve Open requests.
The result on the Request Page
The result on the Labor Page
For “How-To” instructions, see Using Resource Requests.
