Planning Ahead with Generic Resources

Resource managers can plan time for projects by using generic resources as placeholders when resources are not identified yet. When planning time for team members (other than yourself) you need the View Team Plans and Manage Team Plans permissions for the teams you're planning for.

The generic resources feature offers a solution of mapping resources to project tasks early before actual resources are identified. Generic resources can be managed in Planner and in Tempo Teams. You can use generic resources as placeholders in the following scenarios:

• For projects in the early planning stages and until the actual team members are identified and allocated to work on projects.

• When a team member working on a current project is no longer available, their planned tasks can be assigned to a generic resource until a replacement is found.

• When actual resources are available, a generic resource can be replaced by a team member now identified and available to work on the allocated tasks.

The Resource Planning page shows a list of users and generic resources with the availability of users along with their plans.

Generic Resources in Planner and in Teams

Generic resources are managed in Planner and in Teams. Typically a project owner with the required permissions can create a generic resource and add it to fill a certain role in a team. Project tasks that are planned in advance can use the generic resources. When a replacement is found, plans are reassigned to an actual team member. This is described in the general workflow:

1. Create a generic resource in Teams. Once created the generic resources is available to be added to any team or multiple teams.

2. When an actual resource is identified, reassign plans to another resource in Planner.

3. You may keep the generic resource unassigned in a Team, however when removing it, it remains available to other teams with its allocated plans intact. 

   

   Deleting generic resources from Planner will delete them from all the teams they belong to.

   Plans belonging to the generic resources are also deleted.

You have the ability to manage and plan the generic resources as follows:

Generic resources are not included in reports and not in the team planning legacy view.

Plan for Generic Resources

Generic resources are created in Teams and made available in Planner. Once created, add plans in the Resource Planning View.

• Create a generic resource in your team.

• Select Planning 

  

  in the Tempo sidebar.

• Assign planned time for a generic resource as you would assign plans to a user.
  Note that generic resources are not part of the plan approval process as users are.

Reassign Plans Between Resources

Reassign plans of a team member to a generic resource or to another team member. In the event that a team member is not available for the duration of a project, the tasks can be assigned to a generic resource as a placeholder until a replacement is found. For example, the tasks of a team member who is going on a leave of absence can be assigned to a generic resource. Reassign plans between two generic resources, users to generic resources, or vice versa.

To reassign plan for a team member:

1. In the Resource Planning view, mouse-over a user and click the Reassign plans icon.

   

2. In the Reassign Plans window, select the Type of Resource you are attempting to reassign plans for:

   • Select User, when reassigning the plans to a team member.

   • Select Generic Resource, when reassigning the plans to an unidentified team member.

3. Search for the name of the user or the generic resource name.

   

4. Select one of the following Plan Options:

   • All Plans, to reassign all plans

   • Reassign plans within a date period, to reassign the plans for a defined period of time

   • Reassign plans after a specific date, to reassign the plans after a specific date. All plans are reassigned to the selected generic resource/user after the selected date.

5. Click Apply when done.

The generic resources' timeline is updated with the plans according to the selections made above.

Plans that are outside the selected time frame will not be moved.

Filter for Generic Resources in Planning View

You need to have View Plan permissions for the teams where the generic resources are a member in order to see their plans in the Resource Planning View. Just like users you can filter for any generic resource but you are only able to see them if you have the required permissions.

To filter by generic resources:

If you are filtering for generic resources that are assigned to multiple teams, having View Plan permission for one of the teams enables you to see all the plans in the Resource Planning View.

1. In the Resource Planning view, click the Filter box.

2. In the Resource Filters window, click to select Generic Resources and select the names from the list, or enter a name to search for.

   

3. The filter is applied and the search strings are added to the Filter box. You may add or remove filters as needed.

4. Add additional filters as needed to narrow down the search result list.

5. To see the generic resources assigned to a team, clear all filters and add to filter by TEAMS.

   • All plans belonging to both users and generic resources are shown in this filter.

   • If a generic resource is a part of multiple teams, all plans are shown when filtered with at least one of the teams.

6. Learn more about how to filter the Resource Planning view.

Delete Generic Resources in Planner

Deleting generic resources in Planner will permanently delete them from the system. They will be removed from all teams and all their associated plans will be deleted. You need to have the required team permissions to delete generic resources.

To delete generic resources:

1. In the Resource Planning View find the generic resource that you want to delete.

2. Click on Delete button, next to the generic resource name.
   All plans are deleted and the generic resource is deleted from all associated teams.

   

   If you wish to keep the plans of the generic resource, you have the option of reassigning them to another generic resource before deleting the original generic resource from the system.

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