Declare demand and staff a project

Before you start

What you need

• The Resourcing manager permission to plan and propose, or Resourcing approver to declare demand and confirm.
• A project, and how many people each of its roles needs.

1. 1

   Open the Projects view

   In the menu, choose Resourcing. The menu entry goes to /resourcing, and the page opens in the Projects view. When you click a tab, the address changes to /resourcing/projects, so every view has its own link. At the top you have the view switcher (Projects, People, Requests, Actuals) and the period picker: 1 week, 9 weeks or 13 weeks. The first column is headed Project · role. Expand a project to see its roles, and a role to see the people assigned to it.

   Tips

   • The h / % unit switch only changes how you read the cells. It converts hours to a percentage of capacity and back. It does not change any data.
   • Copy view link saves the period, the filters and the reading in the address. Anyone who opens that link sees exactly the same view, as long as they have access to those projects.
   • With many rows, switch Rows from Comfortable to Compact. More projects then fit on the screen without scrolling.

   • Open the Projects view
2. 2

   Declare the need for a role

   Click Declare a need in the page header. This button needs the Resourcing approver permission. In the dialog, pick the Project and the Role, then enter an amount. The unit switch sets FTE, Hours or Days, and the switch below it decides whether the value counts Daily, Per week or For the period. Fill in Needed from and Needed until. Flowtly shows the conversion as ≈ 50% = 20 h/week, so you can see exactly what you are saving. Save the demand.

   Tips

   • In People needed you can enter 0.5, which is half a full-time position. One role with a value of 2 gives two open seats in the same row, not two rows.
   • Add another role lets you declare several roles in one save. If one of them has a different period, tick Use different dates for this role on it. Without that, every row shares the dates at the top of the dialog.
   • A message saying this role is already in the list with the same dates is not a data error. To ask for more people, raise the amount on the existing line instead of adding a second identical one. Saving 0 removes the demand but leaves the people already assigned on the grid.

   • Knowledge base: Setting a role's demand
3. 3

   Read the gap on the grid

   Go back to the grid. The role cell now shows the fraction staffed / demand, for example 60 / 100. A row with nobody assigned is labelled Open seat, with the note needs 100%. This is why demand is declared separately: an unstaffed position shows up as a shortfall that someone has to fill.

   Tips

   • The grid's Legend explains the colours. Open role is demand with nobody in it, or only partly staffed. Over capacity is more hours than needed. Draft is a proposal that is not yet confirmed.
   • The Roles filter has an Open roles only option. It keeps only the rows with a gap on the grid, and it is the shortest route to a list of what needs staffing.
   • If you see a tilde next to a number and the label Capacity assumed, no contracted working time is on file for part of the period. The value is then an estimate. Complete the contract details if you need it to be exact.

   • Knowledge base: Capacity by project
4. 4

   Fill an open seat from the bench

   Expand the Bench panel. It lists people with free capacity in the period on screen, with a caption such as 40% free. The Most free sort puts the people with the most room first. Drag a person onto the role row in the week they should work. Flowtly adds them as a draft and tells you up front what will happen, for example Anna → 60% in week 47 if confirmed.

   Tips

   • A draft books nothing yet. It does not count against the person's capacity until someone confirms it.
   • If the drop is refused with a message that the person has no free capacity, they are fully booked in that period. Shorten the period, lower the share or pick someone else from the bench.
   • Dragging needs the Resourcing manager permission. Someone with view-only access does not see the bench at all.

   • Knowledge base: The bench and draft bookings
5. 5

   Or add a person and plan their days

   The bench works in weeks. When you need day-level precision, use the Add a person button. Pick the project and the person. The list groups candidates into Free in this window, Fully booked and Already on this project, and a role with declared demand is marked demand declared. Then go to Plan their days: click a day, Shift+click selects a run of days, and Ctrl or ⌘ with a click adds a single day. Enter Hours per day and confirm with Apply to the selection.

   Tips

   • The days are saved as a draft, exactly like a proposal from the bench. Confirming them is a separate step for the approver.
   • If the selection includes leave, Flowtly lists those days and skips them by default. That is the Apply, skipping leave button. Booking them anyway is one click: Apply to every selected day.
   • Entering 0 hours removes the day. If some days fail to save, the message names exactly those days, and the rest are saved.

   • Knowledge base: Capacity by person
6. 6

   Confirm the draft

   Finally, turn the proposals into staffing. On the draft cell, choose Confirm. This needs the Resourcing approver permission. A confirmed allocation counts against the person's capacity, goes into the totals and appears in the Actuals view. Un-confirm turns it back into a draft, and the arrows on the cell extend or shorten the booking by a week.

   Tips

   • If the confirmation is refused, retrying will not help: as it stands, the allocation would exceed the person's capacity in some week. Lower the share or shorten the period first.
   • When one role row holds several people, expand the row. You then extend dates separately for each person and for the open seat.
   • Three different permissions cover three different changes. Changing an allocation's period needs Resourcing manager. Changing days that are already confirmed needs Resourcing approver. You can change the period of the demand itself without the approver permission.

   • Open the Projects view