Here you can set the rules for planning and determine how it is undertaken.
Direct Scheduling
•Default Task Description applies when direct resource scheduling is used, where assignments are made against a project without creating a task. In this case, a task will be generated with the description you specify here. This can be changed for individual projects.
Day Length is used when creating working times so that the length of each day can be determined.
Planning has several selections that are mainly used when creating a task for a project:
•Default Task Status/Start/Finish Time determine the normal status and times for a new task.
•Default Chargeable Utilisation Target (%) is the percentage of total time that should be chargeable for each resource. This is the default percentage used if not set for a resource.
•Enable Activity determines whether activity data is to be displayed or hidden.
•Set Effort to Duration on New Tasks is checked if the required effort for a new task is to be automatically set as the number of days between the task start and end date.
•Automatically complete the Task when completing the Assignment enables a comparable setting for each project. If so, tasks for the project will be set to 100% complete when all their assignments are complete.
•Automatically record the completion date on Tasks and Assignments displays the date of completion once a task or assignment becomes 100% complete.
Assignments
•Default Assignment Status defines the normal status for a new assignment.
•Default Chargeable Utilisation Target (%) is the percentage of total time that should be chargeable for each resource. This is the default percentage used if not set for a resource.
•Unallocated MSP Resource is the name of the ‘dummy’ resource to be assigned to tasks with unallocated effort when exporting a plan to Microsoft Project.
•Highlight color for contractors in resource plan specifies the color to be used for contractor names on the resource plan to distinguish them from employees.
•Allow sum of assignment effort to exceed that of the task applies if the effort assigned to a task can be more than that required to carry it out rather than limiting effort to what is needed.
•Enable Minimum Resource/Allocated Effort determines whether information is to be displayed or hidden.
•Allow Add Multiple Assignments for Appointment Scheduling Projects specifies if a direct scheduling assignment for multiple resources can be selected when adding assignments for a project.
•Update Restrictions When Saving Assignments indicates, if checked, that the assigned resource will be added to the resource project restrictions for time recording. This will enable time to be booked for the resource against the project.
Gantt
•Use New Gantt Planning Experience is checked to enable a new Gantt planning chart and associated elements that have faster processing, new features and other improvements. Once selected, the new Gantt will apply to all users and this option will no longer appear so it will not be possible to revert to the previous version. Ensure any existing Gantt users are aware of these changes before enabling.
•Automatically calculate % complete for Summary Tasks for a duration weighted % complete based on the individual sub-tasks within the summary task
•Check for Over Allocated Resources on Plan Save to identify those resources that have more hours assigned than they have available.
•Enable Multiple Versions indicates, if checked, that plan versions can be created within a project.
•Maximum Number of Plan Versions when enabled, determines the number of versions that can be created for each plan.
•Project Plan Comparison Report is only available if Enable Multiple Plan Versions is checked. If so, select the report to be used to compare plan versions at the Project Tasks tab.
•Prompt to overwrite % Complete on publish applies when publishing a plan that has been imported from Microsoft Project, providing an option to overwrite the percentage complete for matching tasks.
Combined Resourcing joins up Strategic Planning and Scheduling resourcing modes to support an integrated approach to resourcing based on strategic project level demand forecasts, supply of resources, and allocation of resources to tasks within task planning.
•Enable Combined Resourcing to provide a combination of Strategic Planning and Scheduling resourcing modes so that resource planning is at both strategic project level and the more detailed task level resource planning and allocation. The effect of this is that:
o central resourcing is assumed to use demand/supply while local task assignment scheduling is based on the enhanced Gantt
o the Strategic Planning and Scheduling Resourcing Mode settings for Login Groups are no longer available
o cost, revenue and resource demand forecasts can be created directly from the Task Plan of the enhanced Gantt
o resources can be assigned directly from the Task Plan of the enhanced Gantt and relevant information is easily available
o comparison of allocated and assigned resources against capacity is readily available.
You can more easily view each project’s supplied resources and, taking into account effort and timing constraints, assign them to tasks from the Gantt.
Unlike Strategic Planning and Scheduling modes that can be varied by Login Group, the Combined Resourcing mode applies to all users. However, this selection can be unchecked to revert to the previous resourcing view settings for individual Login Groups.
•Assignments within Supply — Enforcement/Tolerance determines whether assignments that exceed a resource’s available supply are to be:
o Not Enforced so that no checks are made and the over-assignment is allowed
o Warning Only so that a warning message will be given for any over-assignment but saving the entry is not prevented
o Enforced to prevent over-assignment of a resource; in this case, you can set a tolerance as a percentage of the supply, so that 0 will prevent any over-assignment while a greater value will allow a degree of over-assignment (100%, for example, will allow double the supply to be assigned).