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Customizing the Usage tab

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This page describes how to set up and work with the Resources > Usage tab, which provides detailed resource assignment information in histogram and spreadsheet format.

Notes:
To display the Usage tab

Tip: When you select a resource code, resource team, or primary role on the Resources Home page, the Usage tab displays summary data for the entire resource group; to view allocation data for an individual resource that belongs to the selected code, team, or role, select the resource from the View menu.

When customizing the Usage tab, you can:

Display a histogram or spreadsheet

In the Display field, choose Spreadsheet or Histogram.

What information does the histogram provide?

Histograms enable you to analyze the resource allocation for the item you select on the Resources Home page, whether the item you select represents one resource or a group of resources such as a resource team. It also enables you to easily identify resource allocation requirements and shows when a particular resource is overloaded.

Red bars indicate that the resource is overallocated in a particular time period.
Red horizontal lines show resource availability limits (the cutoff at which the resource becomes overloaded).
Blue bars represent actual usage.
Green bars indicate forecasted (future, estimated) usage.
Yellow horizontal lines show the resource's maximum availability based on allocated planning values specified in the Resource Planning spreadsheet.
 
Tip: The information described above is available as a legend you can display in the histogram. To display the legend, right-click in the histogram and choose Show Histogram Legend.

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What information does the spreadsheet provide?

The spreadsheet shows more resource usage detail by displaying actual resource allocation values per time period and per project. For example, you can view each resource's work hours by project. The table indicates if and when the individual is overallocated, and also identifies time periods where the resource is underallocated.

To save resource allocation data in the spreadsheet to an Excel spreadsheet file (*.xls), click Export to File.

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Choose a display format, timescale interval, and limit line

Click Customize to choose the display format (units or costs), select the timescale interval, and choose to show or hide a Limit line and Allocation Limit line.

For more information about hours per time period settings, see Global Preferences.

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Display past period actuals data

In addition to the customize options previously described, you can set a Global preference option that enables you to view actuals values based on data that has been stored for custom financial periods. When you choose this option, stored actuals data is spread evenly from the start to the finish date defined for financial periods. If you do not choose this option, actuals data is spread evenly from the actual start to the data date or actual finish date of the assignment if there is one.

Notes:

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