Scheduling staff

In the Global Project, settings for all projects are mades. This also applies to the resource master data. These are:

Interfaces

These data can either be maintained manually, or are transferred automatically via an interface. An interface is particularly useful when many resources are kept up-to-date. Since most companies already have systems that maintain current master data, the integration of such systems is very useful. This eliminates the need to manually care for absence, illness, parental leave, part-time, etc., and the data stock is always automatically up-to-date for resource planning.

The systems that are most frequently connected are SAP HR and the Active Directory. However, due to the open architecture it is also possible to connect almost any other system.

Basic planning: Availability planning

Basic planning is simplified resource planning and regulates several topics in the system. Among other things, a project role is assigned to the individual person in the project team, which then automatically controls the authorization in the further process. Thus the authorization in the system is largely automatic.

The following simple steps already give a great resource planning which is easy to use, takes little time and is very informative:

Detailed Planning: Based on Activities

After resources have been assigned to the project via the basic planning, these are now available within the project. In the further course of  planning, it is now possible to allocate these resources to specific work packages in the schedule and thus refining the planning successively. In SmartProjectManager, this detailing is only necessary for the further execution of the project, if the progress of the project is automatically controlled via the feedback of the individual resources (see feedback / feedback user).

Planning ressources on work packages

Resource utilization at work package level

Comparison of Basic vs. Detailed Planning

Confirmation

After resources have been allocated to the individual work packages in the detailed planning. Each individual participant contributes to the project success and supports the project manager in a targeted manner.

Remaining Effort

As usual in a typical project process, work packages extend as the processing lasts longer than planned. This state is normal in almost all projects and at this moment nothing to worry about. If it's within limits, there is no objection. This time will most commonly be caught up within the project period, so that there's has no impact on the project deadline and thus on the project objective.

Frequently, however, these extravagances can be mission-critical. Especially if this is not recognized by or communicated to the project manager. For this reason, it is possibe for the project participiciants to report an estimated remaining work effort of specific work packages. The individual work packages are included with the respective plan expenses, the actual costs, and the calculated remaining efforts. If the project employee does not manage to succeed with the calculated remaining efforts for a work package, he can enter his estimates and send it to the PM.

Updating the Schedule

The project schedule is automatically updated (plan - actual), made possible by the confirmation of the project participants, so that the progress of the individual work package is calculated automatically. As already explained, it can happen that the expenditure for an operation takes longer than planned. In Smart Project Manager, the degree of completion from "Plan / Actual" as well as from "Plan / Actual + Estimation" are displayed side by side, so that the project manager directly sees where extensions are possible in individual processes. This allows the PM to reschedule  appointment in good time, in order to ensure the success of the project.

The PM is then able to override the calculated degree of completion manually and thus give its own estimation of the progress of the project. Thus, the PM has full control over the tasks and status of his project.