In this article, we will help you to understand how to allocate team members by Project Manager.

Skip Ahead to: Overview Navigation Steps to Allocate Team Members Allocate Employee Search and Allocate Direct Allocate Score Calculation Alternate Search External Hiring

Overview

The Team Member Allocation page displays the number of open requests for a project. Both the project manager and resource manager can view the total requests in the Open Requests panel. In each request, the number of required users and the total number of allocated users can be seen against each persona upfront. Each request includes information such as the type of persona, requested hours, duration, % of the time required (whether the user is required for 100% of the time or 50% of the time), skills, etc.

You can allocate potential users based on their skills and availability or if you are aware of the users that would be the best fit for the project requirements, you can directly search and allocate the request. Also, task dependencies that might affect the completion of particular steps must be identified. Similarly, if it is mentioned allocate by RM or not in the team member’s request, the resource manager can allocate users based on the availability, priority, scope of the request, requests from other projects, etc.

Navigation

In the left navigation panel, expand the Recent Projects menu and select the required Project. Hover over the Project breadcrumb at the top, expand the Plan module, and select Team Member Allocation.

Steps to Allocate the Team Members

Prerequisites: Ensure that you have the application preference ‘Team Member Allocation’ set to Yes (Administration > Organization Settings > Application Preferences).

1. Select the required request/persona and then allocate team members as shown below:
   • • Direct Allocate
       1. 1. Click the DIRECT ALLOCATE button.
          2. Enter the name or email ID of the member whom you feel is the best fit for this request.
          3. Click the SEARCH button, and a list of people with skills and persona will be displayed.
     • Search and Allocate
       1. 1. After clicking the SEARCH AND ALLOCATE button, a list of team members having similar criteria (skills, location, availability, etc) appears.
2. The list of users appears on the allocation board. To know how the available and allocated hours are calculated, click here.
3. Select the required users that best fit your requirement by checking the boxes next to their names on the allocation board.
4. Click the ALLOCATE button at the bottom right corner. The Allocate Employee window appears.
5. Click on the Edit icon and enter the fields in Allocate Employee window as explained below:
   • • Start and End Date: Enter the start and end dates to specify the user’s duration for the request.
     • Time Allocated (%): Enter the percentage of time to be allocated relative to the duration.
     • Hours: The number of hours is automatically calculated based on the employee’s availability between the start and end dates and the time allocated in percentage.

If you are still having trouble finding the appropriate user, you can use the Alternate Search or external hiring options.

Notes:

1. You can not allocate users if the personas in open requests are flagged.
2. The available hours are calculated based on the working days, leaves, and hours set in the Personal Calendar for the requested duration.
3. The resource manager can allocate users at the project level.
4. The Open Requests Panel displays Team Member Requests by date, with the most recent requests displayed at the top.

Allocate Employee

When you allocate a team member to the project, you can change the Time Allocation (%) by specifying different From and To dates in the Allocate Employee window. The Time Allocation (%) helps compute the number of Hours as per the Project calendar. You can enter the Time Allocation (%) for a user, which in turn calculates the Hours. You can change the date range in the Start and End Dates. Any changes to the selected date range will re-calculate the Allocated Effort keeping Time Allocation (%) as before.

Each user gets allocated to the project with an allocation start/end date and Time Allocation (%) on the standard Allocated Hour computation:

Allocated Hours = (Total number of working hours from the Start date and end date x Time Allocation (%) )/100

For example, a user is allocated to a project from 19th Aug 2022 to 25th Sep 2022, with a 50% allocation. Assuming that the Hrs/Day is 8 and working days are 6, the allocated hours for the user would be = ((25×8)*(50)/100)=100hrs.

Note: Team member allocation date must be in-between project Start Date and End Date.

Direct Allocate

If you are aware of which user(s) are most likely to meet the requirements, you can use Direct Allocate. After clicking Direct Allocate, type the employee’s name or email. You can now see the list of users on the allocation board.

Direct allocation displays each user’s active project(s), persona, skills, allocated hours, and available hours for the upcoming weeks/months. To view a user’s skill set, hover your cursor over skills. Click the drop-down to view a list of the projects they are working on as well as the percentage of allocation for each.

Search and Allocate

If you are not sure which user(s) would be the best fit for the request, then you can use Search and Allocate. When you click “search and allocate,” a score-based list of users that match the request requirements as closely as possible will be displayed.

The users will be displayed three times the request number in the people column. For example, if the requested number is 2, the top four users will be displayed in the people column.

Search and Allocate displays each user’s active project(s), score, allocated hours, and available hours for the requested duration. Click the drop-down to view a list of the projects they are working on as well as the percentage of allocation for each. Click the score to view the dimensions that contributed to it.

Score Calculation

Dimensions	Weightage Value	Condition	Score
Location	1	Remote/Any	1
		Exact location	1
		Another location in the same country or any other location is valid	0.5
		Different country	0.25
Mandatory Skills (Multiple)	2	Exact Match	2
		2/3 Matches	0.67
Optional Skills	1	Exact Match	1
		1/2 Matches	0.5
Persona	2	Exact Match	1
		Alternate Match	0.5
% Available	2	“= or >” Required Allocation should be in terms of hours	1
		“= or >” 90% Required Allocation in terms of hours	0.75
		“= or >” 80% Required Allocation in terms of hours	0.5
Start Date	2	<= before the required week	1
		Within 2 weeks of the required date falling in week	0.75
		After 2 weeks and Within 1 month of the required date falling in week	0.5

A score calculation determines a user’s score against the requested dimensions (requirements). To calculate a score, a comparison between the requested dimensions and the user information for that specific duration is made. The better match for the request is indicated by a higher score. A user allocation decision is made based on the result of this comparison.

Alternate Search

If you did not find the user that you are looking for using Direct Allocate or Search and Allocate, then you can use Alternate Allocate. Where you can search for alternate persona(s) and skills that match the requested requirements. Click on the Alternate Search and enter the alternate persona and skills to find the list of users with scores.

The users will be displayed three times the request number in the people column. For example, if the requested number is 2, the top four users will be displayed in the people column.

Alternate Search displays each user’s active project(s), score, allocated hours, and available hours for the requested duration. Click the drop-down to view a list of the projects they are working on as well as the percentage of allocation for each. Click the score to view the dimensions that contributed to it.

To find out how the score calculation works, click here.

External Hiring

You can use external hiring if you are not satisfied with the available users or you can’t find the perfect fit for your request. You can submit a request for external hiring by clicking on Yes and entering the E-mail address.

Example

Let us take an example of an architect as a persona. Architect positions are critical for project delivery. They are expensive and less in numbers. They need to be involved at the beginning of the project for system design-related work.

The following table describes the requested requirements for an Architect persona.

Case 1: Users are known

In this case, you can use the Direct Allocate option to allocate the known users for either a requested or a specific duration. You must have some idea of who would be the best fit for the position since you made the request.

• After clicking Direct Allocate, enter employee names or email IDs to search for the users. Then, compare the requested persona’s information to the user’s information on the allocation board, such as the requested hours of the persona to the available hours of the user for a duration, and similarly compare for location and skills.
• You can allocate the users that match your requirements.

Case 2: Users are Unknown

In this case, you can use the Search and Allocate option to search for the organization’s user availability and allocate users by the score.

• After clicking Search and Allocate, a score-based list of users that closely match the request requirements will be displayed.
• Click on the score to view the user’s score against the requested dimensions (requirements). For information on the score calculation, click here.
• You can allocate if you are satisfied with the user’s dimension value and score.

Case 3: Alternate Users

In this case, you can use the Alternate Allocate to allocate the users with an alternate persona or set of skills against the requested persona’s requirements.

• After clicking Alternate Search, select the alternate personas/skills that closely match the requested requirements. A score-based list of users will be displayed.
• Click on the score to view the user’s score against the requested dimensions (requirements). For information on the score calculation, click here.
• You can allocate if you are satisfied with the user’s dimension value and score.

Case 4: Users are not Available

If the organization has user capacity but there is a mismatch in the skill, persona, etc. among the available users, or if the organization has no user capacity, you can use external hiring to allocate the users from an external organization.