Manage and Align Resources Overview

The optional Accolade Resource Planning component provides strategic resource allocation planning, integrating resource needs and availability into its overall portfolio management process.

Note:  Resource Planning is an optional Accolade component that you may not have access to. To implement this solution, contact Sopheon Customer Support .

Resource planning consists of the following components:

  • Resources - Resources are either people or things whose assignment to projects is planned to ensure that the resources are distributed effectively. The resource plan is the list of resources needed for the next stage of a project. Resource plans and reports can be presented for approval at gate meetings.
  • Pools - Resource pools are groups of similar types of resources. Each user resource can belong to only one pool. Administrators and Resource Pool Administrators can create and modify resource pools, including assigning each pool an owner (Resource Demand Planner) who assigns demand to its resources.
  • Demand - Demand is the need for a resource and can exist in three types: requested, assigned, and approved. (Approved is an optional demand type that may not appear in your system, or in all areas of your system.) Demand types are determined by the role of the user who enters the demand. Project Managers request resources. Resource Demand Planners assign resources. Gatekeepers approve resource plans, and Process Managers record that approval within a project.

When a Project Manager first adds a resource to a project's plan, it exists as a requested demand. When a Resource Demand Planner adds a resource, it exists as an assigned demand.

  • Capacity - The total availability of a resource per time period.
  • Time Period - Demand and capacity values are defined per time period. The length of a time period (weeks, months, quarters, or years) is defined in the Administration Console when Accolade is installed.
  • Demand Curve - Demand curves are templates for the expected demand for a resource across all the stages of a project.

Access to Resource Functions

The full range of resource planning functionality requires the following resource planning roles in addition to the Administrator role, which has some resource planning rights. If security lists are in use, the correct security to assign to a user depends partly on the user's role. For example, pool administrators are constrained by security lists to create pools only within their scope of security while demand planners are not constrained by security if they own the pool.

The following roles control all resource planning functions:

Users assigned the Administrator role also have the resource planning rights, including creating, editing, and deleting resource pools.

Resource Planning Process

After resource components such as pools, general resources, and demand curves are established, the following can occur:

  • Resource Demand Planners can apply demand curves to projects to create estimates of demand need, for planning purposes.
  • Resource Capacity Planners can edit capacity and unavailable times for resources in pools to which they have access.
  • Resource Demand Planners can adjust demand on resources that have been added to projects and assign resources accordingly.
  • Process Managers, Project Managers, Idea Managers, and Resource Demand Planners can enter demand directly for a project.
  • Process Managers, Project Managers, and Idea Managers can enter a request directly on a deliverable or activity to create a demand.
  • Document owners can request resources using documents they own.

Portfolio Optimizer

Accolade Portfolio Optimizer is a tool that Process Managers and other users with sufficient rights can use to analyze and manage the projects in their portfolio, including analyzing resource needs and availability, as they decide how to prioritize and schedule their projects.

Portfolio Optimizer enables managers to locate and manage resource bottlenecks and quickly gain a high-level understanding of resource usage across their portfolios. This tool does not enable managers to modify the resource requests and assignments made in Accolade, but can be used to make decisions that require Project Managers and Resource Demand Planners to change those assignments. For more information about using Portfolio Optimizer to optimize resource allocation, see the online Help available within the Portfolio Optimizer application.

Note:  Accolade Portfolio Optimizer is an optional Accolade component that you may not have access to. To implement this solution, contact Sopheon Customer Support.

See the following to get started: