Checking a Project’s Resource Allocation
Before you start your project, you want to make sure that none of the project members are over-allocated. To do this, click on the Resource Planning button in the toolbar. This button is available only from the Gantt chart.
The Resource Planning view shows each project resource on the left and their allocated time on the right. Their allocation is displayed in small colored blocks. If you have not zoomed out, each block represents 1 day. If a block is red, it means that the person’s allocation exceeds 100%. A block is yellow between 90% and 100% allocation, and green below 90%.
The gray bar at the top of a block represents the percentage of time that is already booked for the resource. This gray bar spans the full width of the block when 100% or more of the resource’s time is booked. The darker part of this gray bar represents the part that is booked for your project.
When you click on one of Ellen’s blocks, you will see what is planned for her that day. From that summary you can open individual tasks. If you are the manager of the project to which a task belongs, you can adjust its assignment, planned effort and/or planned duration.
When you click on a person on the left side of the Resource Planning view, you will see everything that is planned for this person. You can even drag one of your project’s tasks up or down, and then drop it onto another person. Dropping a task on another person causes the task to be reassigned to that person.
Question:
What will be the allocation percentage for a project assignee when you assign a project task to the assignee without specifying the planned effort?
When no planned effort is specified, the allocation percentage for a project assignee will be set to 100% for the given project task.
If you are managing a large project team, you can use the Search box to filter the list of people. Give it a try by entering the first characters of a person's name, job title or organization in this Search box.
Once you have made sure that none of your project’s resources are over-allocated, you can finally start your project. Do this by clicking on the subject of the project in the upper left corner of the Resource Planning view. Next, press the Start button in the toolbar to kick off your project’s workflow.