Resource management

About resource management

BigPicture helps you efficiently and effectively utilize available resources to achieve specific goals. It supports you with planning, organizing, and allocating resources to ensure that projects are completed on time and to the desired quality standards.

Resources module

The Resources module is the backbone of resource management that currently offers two “views”:

• the current view is the default module view where you can visualize your resources against the timeline, display and re-assign their tasks, schedule tasks, and display resource skills

• the beta view is the new view you can enable directly in the module. It offers the same functionalities as the current version, plus:

  • redesigned interface

  • yearly timeline view

  • two-level swimlanes grouping

  • backlog panel

Refer to the Resources module page for more information.

Workload and capacity

Workload and capacity are the two co-existing concepts behind resource management.

• Workload is the amount of work assigned to or expected from a particular resource within a specific period.

• Capacity is the maximum amount of work or output that a resource can handle or deliver within a specific period. It represents the limit to which a resource can be utilized without overloading or underutilizing it.

The Resources module visualizes resource capacity and workload in the form of color-coded bars whose colors and capacity thresholds can be customized. You can click the bar to open a dialog with full workload details. To find out details on an individual task, click the taskbar to open a dialog with task details.

Refer to the Workload and capacity page for more information.

Effort modes

Effort mode determines the source of data used to calculate resource workload distribution. They let you estimate tasks and track the time your team members spend on them in three different ways:

• Original Estimate mode: it shows the planned workload versus the resource capacity.

• Remaining Estimate mode: it shows resource workload history (Spent time) and the remaining workload versus the resource capacity.

• Story Points mode: it shows the planned workload versus the resource capacity expressed in story points.

The effort mode can be expressed in the following units:

• Hours

• Man-days

• Percent

• Story points

Refer to the Effort mode page for more information.

Holiday plan

You can create unlimited holiday plans to reflect the holidays and observances. Each non-working day resulting from the holiday plan reduces the capacity of the assigned resource or the team.

In addition, absences further reduce the resource capacity.

Refer to the Holiday plan page for more information.

Workload plan

A workload plan is a calendar that reflects the specific working hours of an individual resource. It is the basis for calculating individual and team capacity in the Resources and Board modules.

Refer to the Workload plan page for more information.

Skills

For each role your project needs, you can create a skill and add it to your respective resources (individuals and teams). For example, you can create skills for developers, designers, construction managers, plumbers, etc.

When project skills are added to the app and assigned to your resources, you can match people's and teams' skills with the skills the tasks require for completion.

Refer to the Skills page for more information.