The Resource Planner can display usage data metrics about you resources, departments, locations, project as and more.  The following metrics can be displayed:

• Fixed Cost
  
• Fixed Cost Net
• Estimated Cost
• Estimated Cost Net
• Actual Cost
• Actual Cost Net 
• Fixed Duration Hours
  
• Fixed Duration Days
• Estimated Duration Hours
• Estimated Duration Days
• Actual Duration Hours
• Actual Duration Days
• Percentage
• Number of Units

Tip: Over allocations or cost overruns are displayed with red colored cells to alert you that there are problems.  This means that resources have been over allocated onto bookings, activities or tasks - or costs have exceeded the budget.

Click the Units menu to set the usage data metric you wish to see.

Fixed Cost

Click the Fixed Cost unit to see all fixed cost values in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Fixed cost is the fixed or original or budgeted cost for the booking, activity or task. Fixed cost lets you see the total cost originally budgeted for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You have budgeted USD$1.5M for a project and wish to see how that has been distributed or allocated across your departments.

Fixed Cost (Net)

Click the Fixed Cost (Net) unit to see all net fixed cost values in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Fixed cost (net) is the fixed or original or budgeted net cost for the booking, activity or task with associated rebates applied. Fixed cost (net) lets you see the total net cost originally budgeted for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: Some of the work that is being completed in a project attracts a regional government tax incentive or tax credit (i.e. a rebate).  You wish to see the budgeted costs for the project with thoise tax credit (or rebates) applied across your various locations.

Estimated Cost

Click the Estimated Cost unit to see all estimated cost values in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Estimated cost is the real-time calculated costs for the booking, activity or task based on the estimated duration, the assigned staff's cost rates and their utilization. Estimated cost lets you see the real-time total cost for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to compare the original budget (fixed) costs for a project against the current estimated costs since your customer has requested many changes and the project schedule has been changed to accommodate their change requests.

Estimated Cost (Net)

Click the Estimated Cost (Net) unit to see all net estimated cost values in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Estimated cost (net) is the real-time calculated costs for the booking, activity or task based on the estimated duration, the assigned staff's cost rates and their utilization with associated rebates applied. Estimated cost (net) lets you see the real-time total net cost for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to check the latest net estimated costs with the current tax credits (or tax incentives or rebates) applied to the project so you can inform the customer about the up-to-date net costs that they will have to pay for the project.

Actual Cost

Click the Actual Cost unit to see all actual cost values in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Actual cost is the real-time cost of all the work effort to date for the booking, activity or task based on the estimated duration, the assigned staff's cost rates and their work effort to date. Actual cost lets you see the real-time actual total costs to date as work is completed for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to see the cost of all the work effort thus far across your departments and locations to make sure the project is tracking on budget.

Actual Cost (Net)

Click the Actual Cost (Net) unit to see all net actual cost values in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Actual cost (net) is the real-time net cost of all the work effort to date for the booking, activity or task based on the estimated duration, the assigned staff's cost rates and their work effort to date with associated rebates applied . Actual cost (net) lets you see the real-time net actual total costs to date as work is completed for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to see the net costs for the work effort completed thus far to ensure that the budgeted costs with tax credits (or tax incentives or rebates) applied are tracking on budget.

Fixed Duration Hours

Click the Fixed Duration Hours unit to see all fixed duration values and represented as hours in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Fixed duration is the fixed or original or budgeted duration for the booking, activity or task. Fixed duration lets you see the total amount of time originally budgeted for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to see the original budgeted times in hours for the project so you can compare them to today's estimated times for the project after project has been started, expanded and modified due to change orders.

Fixed Duration Days

Click the Fixed Duration Days unit to see all fixed duration values and represented as days in cells (when you have Usage also displayed).  Fixed duration is the fixed or original or budgeted duration for the booking, activity or task.  Fixed duration lets you see the total amount of time originally budgeted for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to see the original budgeted times in daysfor the project so you can compare them to today's estimated times for the project after project has been started, expanded and modified due to change orders.

Estimated Duration Hours

Click the Estimated Duration Hours unit to see all estimated duration values and represented as hours in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Estimated duration is the time that the booking, activity or task will take now since originally budgeted. Estimated duration lets you see the total amount of estimated time for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to see the latest estimated times in hours to complete the bookings, tasks and activities for resources, and then compare those times with the original budgeted times.  

Estimated Duration Days

Click the Estimated Duration Days unit to see all estimated duration values and represented as days in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Estimated duration is the time that the booking, activity or task will take now since originally budgeted. Estimated duration lets you see the total amount of estimated time for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to see the latest estimated times in days to complete the bookings, tasks and activities for resources, and then compare those times with the original budgeted times.  

Actual Duration Hours

Click the Actual Duration Hours unit to see all actual duration values and represented as hours in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Actual duration is the amount of work effort taken so far to complete the activity or task. Actual duration lets you see the total amount of work effort for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to see the total amount of work effort in hours for your staff, departments and locations, and compare that with the original budgeted times.

Actual Duration Days

Click the Actual Duration Days unit to see all actual duration values and represented as days in cells (when you have Usage also displayed). Actual duration is the amount of work effort taken so far to complete the activity or task. Actual duration lets you see the total amount of work effort for a project across the departments, locations and staff.

Example: You wish to see the total amount of work effort in days for your staff, departments and locations, and compare that with the original budgeted times.

Percentage

Click the Percentage unit to see the utilization percentage displayed in cells (when you have Usage also displayed).  The utilization percentage tells you how much the resource, department, location, etc. is being utilized.  This is a good measure of the load on resources, departments, locations, etc. 

Example: If a resource cell has a utilization value of 100%, then the resource is being fully utilized and has no spare capacity to be used elsewhere. 

Example: If a department cell has a utilization value of 60%, then the department is only being utilized at 60% of its total capacity and it has 40% spare capacity to take on extra work. 

Example: If a location cell has a utilization value of 200%, then the location being over utilized (or over allocated) by 2 times.  This represents a risk to the company and it should be addressed.  It has no spare capacity to take on extra work.

Number of Units

Click the Number of Units unit to see the required number of units displayed in cells (when you have Usage also displayed).  The number of units tells you how many units are required for the resource, department, location, etc..  This is a good indicator how many resources are required to complete the scheduled work. 

Example: If a resource cell has a number of units value of 1, then it means that one unit is required to do the work.  This is fine if the resource has a quota of 1 or higher. 

Example: If a department cell has a number of units value of 5 and the tooltip shows availability of 10 resources, then you know that the department has capacity to do the scheduled work and there are no problems that need to be addressed. 

Example: If a department cell has a number of units of 13 and the tooltip shows availability of 10 resources, then you know that the department has exceeded its capacity by 3 units and there are resourcing problems that need to be addressed.