Overview

Resource scheduling is used by an organization to efficiently assign the employees that are necessary to complete tasks such as installations, phone support, and internal training. A task is planned subject to the availability of the required resources. Use of resource plans allows you to generate time slots during which resources from an organisation's departments can be booked to deliver specific services; Resources can be requested through planned tasks (e.g. activities), which are billed based on their duration.

Setting Up Resource Scheduling

Configuration > Foundation > Set up Resource Scheduling Settings

Before you start using Resource Scheduling, it's necessary to set up the system to reflect your own business needs.

Settings

Resource scheduling settings provides business rules for the generation of resource plan entries and for booking resource requests. As resources can be booked through activities, it's important to set up the rules on how resourcing will be handled through both areas. You can define the activities that will be allowed to request resources, as well as the maximum number of requests that can be submitted per activity or activity service.

Additionally you can determine if an available resource should be reserved automatically or whether a confirmation should be requested. If a confirmation is required, the resource request is created in a 'Pending' life cycle state, otherwise, it is created in an 'Accepted' state. You also have the option to force the use of a resource in which case the activity won't be allowed to be completed unless a recourse is requested through Force Resource Requests. This can be applicable only for specific activity types but make sure that the one you select has also been added to the allowed types.

Through the Default Resource Plan Settings section you can provide the default settings for new resource plans. The following important information can be defined in this section:

Effective Availability Percentage (%): A percentage value for the total available time that is considered as 'Effective' (e.g. can be booked by resource requests). The value can exceed 100%, and unless specified, all (100%) of the available time is considered as 'Effective'.

Overbooking Percentage (%): A percentage value for the total available time that can be booked in excess of the actual capacity. If specified, the Effective Availability Percentage plus Overbooking Percentage is available for resource requests. If not specified then overbooking is not allowed.

Days of week: The days of the week that are considered as working days in your organisation and for which resource plan entries will be enabled.

Working hours: The time slots using From and To for which entries will be created. Slots range from 5 minutes to 24 hours.

Using Resource Scheduling

Foundation > Resource Scheduling

Resource Plans

Start by creating resource plans. Resource Plans are used to define the availability of resources; the time frame for which the resources are available for, the type of tasks that resources can perform within this time frame, the duration that resources can spend on each task and of course the actual resources.

In the Resource Plan Entries section you can define the working day, working hours and the services that can be provided, as well as the resource availability applicable on that date. Each unit (i.e. team) in CRM.COM must have her own resource plan applicable for a specific period (e.g. 1 week or 1 month) and you can define the days which are considered working, so the resource entries are created accordingly. For each service you can provide the minimum and maximum amount of time necessary to perform the service.

Additionally, you must provide the following information:

Effective Availability Percentage (%): A percentage value for the total available time that is considered as 'Effective' (i.e., can be booked by resource requests). The value can exceed 100%, unless specified, all (100%) of the available time is considered as 'Effective'.
Overbooking Percentage (%): A percentage value for the total available time that can be booked in excess of the actual capacity. If specified, the Effective Availability Percentage plus Overbooking Percentage is available for resource requests. If not specified then overbooking is not allowed.

Average Number of Resources that are available and can perform tasks on behalf of the specified unit during the effective period.

As soon as the plan is saved the resources are available for booking through activities.

Recommended additional setup

In addition to the Resource Scheduling specific settings, the following may be configured for the Resource Scheduling to operate at its full capacity:

Activities: Set up the activity types for which resource plan entries will be booked for.
Products: Set up the one-time service products for which resources will be created for. It is through the product (one-time service) that the billing will take place if applicable.

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Resource Requests

A Resource Request in CRM.COM is a call for specific resources which are required to undertake specific tasks during a period of time, and are submitted by a specific business unit.

All booked resource requests can be viewed from the Resource Requests summary screen, use the NEW option to manually create a resource request.

Booking a resource

Requests can be booked from the following data entry pages:

Manage resource requests ('Available Entries' button)
Manage activities ('Request Resource' link).

The process for requesting a resource:

Provide the following information and SEARCH the available resource plan entries.
1. Requested by Business Unit: Automatically set to the 'Assigned to Unit' if it's already defined for the activity).
2. Requested number of resources: How many resources to book.
3. Requested for Activity: The entry (activity) that requires the resource.
4. From and To dates: Optionally provide the desired date and time slots.
  1. From: If the start date of the activity is defined and greater than the current date, then From is set to the start date, otherwise, it's set to the current date.
  2. To: Automatically set to the estimated completion date of the activity. If that is not available or the estimated completion date of the activity is greater than the current date, then it is set equal to 7 days after the From date.
5. Request Resources in the Action Details section is set to the number of resources defined in the Resource Request Data Entry page (and can be updated).
The system searches for available resource entries that meet the criteria specified by the:
1. Requested Business Unit
2. Service
3. From Date
4. To Date
Available resources are displayed in the SEARCH RESULTS section. If you are manually creating the resource request then click on the Available Entries button to see the available resources.
1. Planned Resources: The number of resources defined when creating the plan.
2. Available Resources: The number of resources that have yet to be booked.
  
  If Planned Resources is less than Available Resources, then the Overbooking Percentage has been set to greater than 0 % and (most likely) no resources have been allocated yet.
  If Planned Resources is greater than Available Resources, then some resources have already been allocated and consequently removed from the available resources.
Select the check box to the left of the entry you would like to book and click on SAVE.

Resources from different days cannot be booked.
As many consecutive slots as necessary can be booked, as long as the period exceeds the Minimum Duration and is less than or equal to the Maximum Duration set on the service when creating the resource plan.

Accepting a resource request

As a resource request affects resource availability, a mechanism can be set up requiring that an authorised user accepts the request before the resources are booked. This enables back-office personnel to confirm appointments with customers before finalising the employee schedule.

Requests that require acceptance are created with a 'Pending' life cycle state, indicating that the resource plan entry has yet to be confirmed. To accept a request, use Accept from the Actions menu on the data entry page of the request. The life cycle state of the request changes to 'Accepted' and the resources are reserved immediately.

To enable the confirmation requirement, enable Resource Request Confirmation is Required in the Resource Scheduling Settings.

Rejecting or cancelling a resource request

Requests that require acceptance can be rejected leaving the resource availability unaffected. To reject a request, use Reject from the Actions menu. The life cycle state of the request changes to 'Rejected'.

In case an appointment needs to be rescheduled or a customer changes their mind, accepted requests can be canceled. If the request was already accepted, then the reserved resources are released and become available again. To cancel a request use Cancel from the Actions menu. The life cycle state of the request changes to 'Cancelled'.

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