Resource Allocation
🚧 Coming soon — in development. This feature is being built and is not yet available in your workspace. This page previews how it will work so the team can prepare; check the app for what’s live today.
What is resource allocation?
Resource allocation is how you commit part of a person’s weekly capacity to the work you have lined up. Where Resource Planning sets up who is available and how many hours they have, an allocation reserves some of those hours for a specific deal or project over a period of time. Doing this across your team shows you, at a glance, who is fully booked, who has room, and who is over-allocated.
An allocation answers one question: for this deal, how many hours per week does this person give it, and for how long?
Where to find Resource Allocation
In the left sidebar, click Time & Resource Management to expand it, then choose Resource Allocation. The page opens at /tr/resource-allocation. The header reads “Allocate resources to projects and tasks.” with a New Allocation button in the top right.
Resource Allocation is being rolled out. The page, its views, and the New Allocation form are in place, and while the feature is wired up to your live data you’ll see sample resources and deals so you can see how planning will look.
The allocation views
The page has two views you switch between with the pill tabs at the top:
- Resources — grouped by person. Each row is a team member; expand it to see the deals they’re allocated to.
- By Deal — grouped by deal/project. Each row is a deal; expand it to see the people allocated to it.
Across the top of both views you can search and filter by status.
Resources view
Each person’s summary row shows their capacity and how it’s being used:
| Field | Content |
|---|---|
| Person | Name and role, with avatar |
| Capacity | Total weekly hours the person has available |
| Allocated | Hours committed across all their deals |
| Planned | Hours scheduled in detail |
| Actual | Hours actually logged |
| Utilization | Allocated against capacity, as a percentage, with a progress bar |
| Status | The allocation health of this person (see below) |
Expand a person to see each of their allocations in a table:
| Column | Content |
|---|---|
| Deal / Project | The work the hours are reserved for |
| Client | The client the deal is for |
| Allocated | Hours committed to this deal |
| Planned | Hours scheduled in detail for it |
| Actual | Hours logged against it |
| Status | The status of this single allocation |
By Deal view
Each deal’s summary row shows the deal, its client, and the total hours per week committed across everyone on it. Expand a deal to see who is on it:
| Column | Content |
|---|---|
| Team Member | The person allocated, with avatar |
| Role | Their role |
| Hours | Hours per week they give this deal |
| Period | The start and end dates of the allocation |
Creating an allocation
- Click New Allocation (top right).
- In the New Allocation dialog (“Assign capacity to a team member”), fill in:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deal / Agreement | Yes | The deal or agreement to staff |
| Team Member | Yes | The person whose capacity you’re reserving |
| Hours | Yes | How many hours, 0 or more |
| Per | Yes | Weekly or Monthly — the cadence of those hours |
| Start Date | Yes | When the allocation begins |
- Click Create Allocation.
Utilization and status
Each person and each allocation carries a status that tells you whether the planning is healthy. The page can also be filtered by status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| On Track | Allocation sits comfortably within capacity |
| Under Utilized | The person has noticeable free capacity left |
| Over Allocated | More hours are committed than the person has — a conflict to resolve |
| Under Planned | Hours are allocated to the deal but not yet scheduled in detail |
Over Allocated and Under Planned are highlighted in red so they stand out; Under Utilized shows in amber, and On Track in green. Use the status filter at the top to jump straight to the people or deals that need attention — for example, everyone who is over-allocated.
Allocated, planned, and actual
Three numbers travel together throughout the page, and it helps to keep them apart:
- Allocated — the capacity you’ve reserved for a deal (the commitment).
- Planned — hours scheduled in detail within that allocation.
- Actual — hours that have actually been logged against the work.
Comparing them tells the story: allocated against capacity shows utilization; planned against allocated shows whether the commitment is fully scheduled; actual against planned shows whether the work is on pace.
Access
Resource Allocation lives inside the Time & Resource Management module, so you need access to that module to open it and to create allocations. If you don’t see the Resource Allocation page or the New Allocation button, ask your administrator to grant you access.
Related
- Resource Planning — set up people as resources with their capacity, schedule, and rates first.
- Time Budgets — the hours and amounts a piece of work may consume.
- Skills — tag resources so you can find the right person for a deal.
- Time Tracking — log the actual hours that fill in against your allocations.