What is the best way to do capacity scenario planning ?

Simon Cowx

Hi all,

I am managing a project portfolio and need to look at resource capacity impact for future projects. Its likely there will be a number of scenarios, based on project prioritisation and resource availability through the year.

I had intended to use the Resource management People view to look at resource loads and use filters to see how the load changed when project were included or not, but have been advised by Smartsheet Support that the resource load % are not recalculated when you change filters.

How are you doing capacity management scenario management? Is the only way to change start and end dates for each project?

Thanks

Simon

Georgie

Hi @Simon Cowx,

If you’re using People View and you filter by projects, the allocation percentages for people won’t change unless the person is assigned to another task or unassigned from a task. Filtering by different projects will change the display so that you see the projects you’ve filtered by, but won’t change a person’s allocation. 

I’d recommend using placeholders for scenario planning - so, instead of assigning tasks to specific people, you can assign them to a placeholder. For more information on placeholders, take a look at this help article: Use placeholders in projects.

You may also find Capacity View helpful - more on that here: See your team's availability in capacity view.

Hope that helps!

Georgie

Simon Cowx

Hi Georgie. Thanks for the information, but that is the approach we are already taking. Unfortunately what I can't see is the impact of removing or moving a project is without actually doing it and the change being visible. I was hoping that at least through filters we could see the impact of removing or adding projects to a timeline, but as you say the percentages do not change

Georgie

Hi @Simon Cowx,

I understand what you’re saying, and I see how that would be a useful feature. I see you’ve already submitted a product idea here for this - I’ve linked it here so that other users reviewing this thread can find it and add their votes.

Thanks for your suggestion!

Georgie