Creating Resource Pools

Resource Pools are groups of similar resource types. Administrators and Resource Pool Administrators can create and modify resource pools, including assigning each pool an owner (Resource Planner) who assigns demand to its resources. Resource pool types are defined and identified by the demand type that is assigned to the pool. How you group your resources into pools and how you manage your resource pools depends on the processes defined in your organization.

To create a resource pool:

1. From the Resource menu, select Pools.
2. Do one of the following:

• To add a new pool - Click Add Pool in the upper right corner of the page.
• To edit an existing pool - Click on the name of the pool to open it for editing.

3. Complete the following information to identify the pool:

 

Field	Description
Name	Enter a name, up to 64 characters long, which identifies the resource pool.
Active	Select this check box if the pool is ready for use in resource planning. If you are building pools for future use, leave this check box clear.
Demand Type	Select the type of demand, requested, assigned, both, or none, for this pool to limit the pool's availability when creating new demands using the Resource Editor. More... When creating new demands using Resource Editor, Project Managers can only select resources from pools with a demand type of requested. These pools are considered planning pools and contain general resources.  Resource Planners can only select resources from pools they own with the demand type of assigned. Assigned pools are allocation pools, and contain specific resources, such as employees. Both demand types are selected by default. If both options in the Demand Type field are left deselected, existing demands for that pool are still viewable in Resource Editor; however, new demands cannot be created using the pool. Example You may want to limit Project Managers from requesting specific resources at your company, but allow them to select a general resource, such as Any Chemist or Any Engineer. Your Resource Planners can assign specific resources. You can limit the pools that your Project Managers see in Resource Editor when adding demands by creating resource pools and assigning them a demand type of requested. When a Project Manager adds a demand row in Resource Editor, they only see resource pools that include a demand type of requested.

4. Identify who can assign demand to the resources within a pool.

 

Field	Description
Owner	Click to select the primary Resource Planner who owns and manages the pool. To filter the list of users, enter one or more search criteria to filter by name, login name, email address, function, or extended field. More... Clicking Select current user will assign the role to the current user (if they have the appropriate rights). Selecting a Function in the drop-down will display available users that are assigned to the function. The current selection defaults to the function to which you are assigning a user, however depending on the project configuration, you can assign any user. Clicking the Show advanced filters check box displays or hides the additional filter options. Clicking Clear removes the current user assignment and displays [None] to indicate that no user is assigned. If a resource pool does not have an owner, any Resource Planner can modify demands for the pool.
Additional Owners	Click Select and select any additional pool owners who own and can manage the pool. To filter the list of users, enter one or more search criteria to filter by name, login name, email address, function, or extended field. More... Clicking Select current user will assign the role to the current user (if they have the appropriate rights). Selecting a Function in the drop-down will display available users that are assigned to the function. The current selection defaults to the function to which you are assigning a user, however depending on the project configuration, you can assign any user. Clicking the Show advanced filters check box displays or hides the additional filter options. Clicking Clear removes the current user assignment and displays [None] to indicate that no user is assigned. A resource pool can have a primary owner (selected in the Owner field above) and any number of additional secondary owners. Assign additional owners to a resource pool if more than one Resource Planner has ownership of a pool. Assigning multiple owners to a resource pool allows planners to share their workload, as well as establish a backup owner during their absence. Additional owners have the same capabilities as the primary pool owner.

5. Complete unit of measure and capacity options as appropriate for the pool.

 

Field	Description
Unit of Measure	Enter the units in which this resource is counted, such as FTE. Units of measure do not affect any calculations in Process Manager. However, if you are using Portfolio Optimizer to manage your project portfolio, there is an advantage to using the same unit of measure for all similar pools. Portfolio Optimizer will not show resource data unless all selected pools have the same unit of measure. See the Portfolio Optimizer online Help for more details.
Related Pools	If Requested is the only check box selected in the Demand Type field, click Edit to link this pool with one or more assigned-only resource pools. If links are already established, the pool names display in this field. See Linking Requested Resource Pools with Assigned Resource Pools for more information.
Auto Calculate Capacities for Resource	Ensure that you have added resources to the resource pool. If the pool is a requested-only pool (Demand Type set to Requested and not Assigned), select the resource (typically a general resource) within the pool that you want to ensure stays in synch with the capacity set for resources in the related assigned-only pool. If you have not related this pool to an assigned pool, this setting has no affect. See Auto-Calculating Capacity for Request-Only Pools for more information. Example Your company uses request-only pools that are related to assigned-only pools that Resource Planners use to assign resources. You have a request-only pool that your Project Managers use to request any engineer located in the USA. That pool contains a general resource called Any USA. The Any USA pool is related to the assigned-only allocation pool that contains all the engineers located in your USA-based office. You want to ensure that the capacity of the request-only pool stays in synch with the capacity of the engineers available for allocation. Selecting a resource from this list sets the resource to automatically derive its capacity from the total of the capacities of the resources in the related pools. Any time capacities change in the related pools, the capacity of this resource automatically recalculates accordingly.

6. In the Function field, select the default function used to assign a resource demand if an owner is not assigned to a deliverable or activity.

Note:  The function option is only available for Assigned pools. Selecting a function adds a system-generated resource to the pool.

7. (Optional) Complete the additional information about the pool if necessary. More...

    

   Field	Description
   Security Lists	If security lists are in use, select items in every list to specify which Resource Planners can access this pool if it is unowned. The Administrator can create or modify a pool with any security setting, but a Resource Pool Administrator can only create or modify pools that the Pool Administrator can access. The Resource Pool Administrator can only assign security to a pool that would be within the Pool Administrator's own scope of access. An Administrator can assign any item in a security list to a new pool.
   Timesheet Approver	Select the user that approves all timesheets for resources within the pool. Only users assigned the Timesheet Approver user role are available for selection. If a pool does not have an assigned Timesheet Approver, timesheets for users within that pool are not sent through the timesheet approval process. This field is only available if your company uses the optional Time Tracking component. See Time Tracking Overview.
   Extended Fields	If one or more extended fields have been configured for resource pools, select the appropriate values for this pool. Fields are used to identify pool contents on the Resource Pools page and to filter the pools on the Resource Editor page. A multi-select list behaves like an OR filter in Resource Editor. Selecting any of the items that are selected for the pool displays the pool in the dialog box.

8. Click Create to create the new pool or Apply to save changes to an existing pool.

Notes:    To delete a resource pool, click next to the pool. You cannot delete a pool that has active demands associated with it (even if the value of the demand is 0). A demand is active unless the previous gate decision was hold or kill, or the project is closed. Changing the function assigned in a pool does not modify any existing demands that used the default resource prior to making the change. Resource Planning is an optional Accolade component that you may not have access to. To implement this solution, contact Sopheon Customer Support .