Set Up Resource Planning

Use the Resource Planning Setup forms to make decisions about how you will use the Resource Planning application.

Each of the setup forms focuses on a different area.

Form	Description
Summary	This form shows you all of the work that you have done on the other forms.
Plan Settings	Use this form to make basic decisions about how you will use Resource Planning, including whether you will plan consultant and non-consultant expenses, and what overhead rate you will apply to planned projects. Select Yes for the Enable Expense Planning option if you want to be able to enter plan data for expenses. You can enter plan data for direct, indirect, and reimbursable expenses. Select Yes for the Enable Consultant Planning option if you want to be able to enter plan data for consultants. You can enter plan data for direct and reimbursable consultants. In the Starting Day of the Week field, select the first day in your work week. Enter the default target labor cost multiplier. The target multiplier represents how much revenue is anticipated for each labor cost dollar spent on a project. It is commonly used as the basis for evaluating the EAC labor cost multipliers as projects move forward. In the Overhead % field, enter the default overhead percentage for plans, as a whole number. For example, enter 10 for 10 percent. A user with the necessary security rights will still be able to enter different percentages for individual projects and opportunities. If the Resource Planning module is activated but the Accounting module is not activated, select the character (a period, for example) that you want to use as the delimiter between WBS levels in project numbers.
Rates	Use this form to specify whether planned amounts should be based on cost rates, billing rates, or both. Later, you will need to provide additional information about cost and labor rate methods, tables, and multipliers.
Resource Settings	Use this form to specify: Utilization Thresholds: These are the low and high utilization percentages within which an employee is considered fully utilized. Example: You set the lowest percentage to 95 and the highest percentage to 105. If an employee's target utilization is 80 percent, that employee is considered properly utilized for a given period if their utilization is between 76 percent (.95 x 80) and 84 percent (1.05 x 80). She is underutilized if her utilization is below 76 percent and overutilized if it is above 84 percent. Scheduled Thresholds: These are the low and high scheduled percentages within which an employee is considered fully scheduled. Example: You set the lowest percentage to 95 and the highest percentage to 105. If an employee's available hours for a week is 40, that employee is considered properly scheduled if they are scheduled for between 38 hours (.95 x 40) and 42 hours (1.05 x 40). He is underscheduled if his scheduled hours are less than 38 and overscheduled if they are more than 42. Soft and Hard Booking: This is an option to tentatively plan, or "soft book" assignments, then "hard book" them when they are confirmed. The soft and hard book feature enables you to distinguish between tentative or placeholder resource assignments and those confirmed or approved assignments that you consider a permanent part of the plan. When you generate planning reports, you can filter those reports to include or exclude assignments based on booking status if you include the Booking column on the report.
Labor Categories	Use this form to define a master list of labor categories and related standard billing rates. Labor categories are standard staff roles on projects (for example, Principal, Project Manager, or Supervisor). In the Employees hub, you can associate each employee with a default labor category. You can use labor category rates to invoice new projects. If you use the Resource Planning module, you can use these rates to set up plans for new projects. (If DPS is set up to use both multiple companies and multiple currencies, this form is not available.)
Non-Work Days	Use this form to identify the days of the week and the holidays on which employees are not expected to work. When DPS spreads planned hours for you in Resource Planning, non-work days and holidays are allocated no hours, but planners can still assign planned hours to them.