Overview

Birdview PSA offers an advanced interactive way to control resource loading. Both automatic and manual workload edit modes are available. Unlike the automatic mode whereby workload is distributed evenly over the duration of an activity, the manual workload edit mode allows you to adjust an assignee's workload for a particular day or period.  You can also adjust the duration or move an activity on the timeline, independent of  workload edit mode. 

To view the Workload tab, the Access common reports permission is required.

To be able to see resource loading workload values you need the View Assignees and View All Time Entries permissions in your project role and/or the View and Manage Members+View All Time Entries permissions in the Permissions for projects where user is NOT a member of section in your global role.

Accessing Resource Workload

To access the Resource Workload screen:

1. Click Resources on the main menu.
2. Select Workload tab.

Workload Screen  

Here's how the Workload screen looks like. The controls and elements of the screen, numbered and identified in the legend below the picture, are discussed in the sections below. Use the picture as an illustration as you read on.

Expand/Collapse all groups

These buttons are used to quickly expand or collapse any grouped data on the report, e.g. projects to show all activities falling within the period displayed or users. A collapsed grouped is marked with a rightward bracket (), an expanded group with a downward bracket ().

Reporting Period Selector

The selector consists of three parts (left to right):

• Period (Week, Month, Quarter, Year, Custom Date Range) selector
• Granularity selector (Daily, Weekly, Monthly)
• Current date button (Today)

Filters

These are used to filter the resource loading report by user (team or individual), project (including drafts), activity, skill, role, and portfolio.  To filter by date range, use the Reporting Period selector  (see above). 

More Actions menu

Additional options affecting what is included in the report are as follows:

The menu has three sections. The top one lists seldom used objects that can be included in the report, if need be, e.g. draft projects.

The middle section features two options: 

• Estimated hours
• Actual hours and hours left.  

Manual mode is available only for the Actual hours and hours left option. More on manual mode see below and Resource Loading: Manual vs. Automatic Mode.

Export to Excel Worksheet

The bottom section has a single item: Export to Excel Worksheet. The resulting Excel worksheet is as close visually as possible to the exported report.

Workload Indicator

Item 4 on the Resource Loading Screen picture above is the workload indicator for a user. It consists of three elements:

1. A color-coded bar (e.g. yellow—corresponding to Partial Allocation). See Resource loading under System Lists;
2. A shade darker bar taking the length corresponding to the percentage of the user's actual workload; and
3. Actual workload represented as a numerical value in percent (e.g. 25%).

Vacation Marker

Vacation days, including public holidays, are marked with a fat black dot (see the picture above, item 5). To view the type of holiday, place your mouse on the cell. An example:

Manual Mode button

The button is used to mark an activity with resource loading edited manually. Pressing the button disables the manual mode. See Resource Loading: Manual vs. Automatic Mode for more details.

Scheduled Hours

Scheduled hours are manually allocated hours, i.e. when manual mode is enabled. As soon as manual mode is disabled, any previously assigned scheduled hours are referred to as hours left (see below). See  Resource Loading: Manual vs. Automatic Mode to learn more.  

Hours Left

The Resource Loading report offers a detailed picture of hours allocation, including hours left. Hours left are displayed only for days that are either the current date (the current date column, see item 10 on the picture above), or future dates.

Actual Hours

Time logs you enter on a particular day are referred to as actual hours on the Resource Workload report.  If there are actual hours on the current date, it is indicated with a stopwatch icon (), and the current date cell contains an additional infopanel (viewable by placing the pointer on the cell), as follows:

• Actual hours vs Scheduled hours — in case of scheduled hours (manual mode on), or 

• Hours logged — in case of hours left (automatic mode on).

The Actual Hours value itself is not displayed in the cell and can only be viewed on the infopanel.

Balance hours

Birdview PSA calculates the difference between the three types of hours (scheduled, left, and actual) and displays the balance whenever there is a mismatch (excess or shortage). By placing the mouse pointer on the balance hours box you get an infopanel with an explication. At the top the calculation formula used is displayed. Some examples:

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