Using soft and hard project allocations

Resource Managers now have the ability to select the allocation type when creating a project allocation.  Defining the allocation type is useful when planning a project and forecasting future resource demand.  Hard allocations represent actual assigned work for team members while soft allocations represent possible project work that is not yet confirmed. Having the option to create a soft allocation allows you to tentatively assign demand to a team member until the project opportunity is won thus enabling you to plan for future demand and maximize resource utilization. Once a project is won, soft allocations are easily updated and transferred into hard allocations representing actual project work assigned to your team members.

This article covers:

• Defining project allocation types
• Creating a project allocation
• Creating a soft allocation
• Updating a soft allocation to a hard allocation

Defining project allocation types

You now have the option to choose the allocation type for project allocations.  The table below defines the allocation types and the impact each has throughout the platform. 

Creating a project allocation

Only users with the dedicated permission profile to access the Schedule People heatmap can create or edit allocations in a Forecast account. The permission profiles with access to the heatmap are Coordinators, Managers, Controllers, and Administrators.  Check out Reviewing your resource heatmap (Schedule People) to learn more about how the heat map works.  

Project allocations can be created from Schedule People or Project Timeline. To learn more on how to create project allocations, see Creating and editing allocations. 

Creating a soft allocation

When creating a new project allocation from Schedule People or from Project Timeline, you now have the option to define the allocation type. You can select soft allocation or hard allocation. Soft allocations represent a tentative resource demand while a hard allocation represents an actual allocation for a project's team member.  

To create a soft allocation

1. Follow the steps above to create the project allocation from Schedule People or the Project Timeline.
2. In the pop-up modal fill in the following information

1. 1. Project: Select or confirm the project that this allocation should fall under.
   2. Assignee: Select who will be assigned to that allocation.
   3. Date: Choose the dates for the allocation.
   4. Allocation per person: Define the number of hours allocated and the percentage of allocation for each day.
   5. Allocation type: Select Soft allocation.
   6. Distribution:  Change the number of hours that this allocation should be focused on for each day of the week.
   7. Notes: Add a note to the allocation.
   8. Click Create.

Updating a soft allocation to a hard allocation

Soft allocations are easily updated and transferred into hard allocations from within Schedule People or within the project allocation's Timeline. While soft allocations allow you to tentatively book a team member's time without impacting their utilization, it is important to update to hard allocations once the work is confirmed. Hard allocations impact a team member's utilization and actual project work assigned, therefore keeping allocations current and updating soft to hard soon after the work is confirmed is crucial to accurately managing your resource utilization.

Additionally, users with the dedicated custom permission to manage allocations can update and approve the change of a soft allocation into a hard allocation, making it easier to control project allocations and resourcing. See Creating and Managing Custom Permission Profiles to learn more about provisioning personalized permissions.

Updating a soft allocation from Schedule People

1. Click Resources in the top bar. 
2. Select People Schedule from the dropdown. 
3. From People Schedule, click on the dropdown button next to each individual, to view each project they are working on
4. Locate the soft allocation you need to update to a hard allocation. 
5. Click into the allocation and select the option for Hard allocation. 
6. Click Save. 
7. The allocation will update and appear fully shaded with no border indicating it is now a hard allocation.

Updating a soft allocation from Project Timeline

1. From Projects page, open the project for which you need to update the allocation.
2.  Select the Timeline tab. 
3. On the left side, expand Project Team to view all team members assigned to the project. 
4. Locate the team member you need to update the allocation for. 
5. Click on the soft allocation in the Timeline to open the Edit allocation window. 
6. In the Allocation type section, toggle the option for Hard Allocation.
7. Click Save.
8. The allocation will update within the timeline to reflect the change.