Soft vs Hard Project Allocations

You now have more control planning project work in Forecast! When creating a project allocation, you can choose between soft and hard allocations giving you the flexibility to plan confidently even before work is confirmed. Soft allocations are perfect for early-stage planning. Use them to tentatively assign time to team members before a project is fully confirmed. Hard allocations represent committed, confirmed work assigned to a resource.

This article covers:

• Project Allocation Types
• Creating a soft allocation
• Updating a soft allocation to a hard allocation

Project Allocation Types

There are two (2) types of project allocations in Forecast. Soft and hard allocations apply to project allocations only - not internal time or time-off. 

Soft/hard allocations are available for the following resource management settings:

• Allocating people to projects
• Both project allocations and task assignment (Combined Mode)

Soft/hard allocations are created in People Schedule or Project Timeline.

• Both appear in the heatmap, impact team member utilization and are included in Utilization reporting.

Soft Allocation	Hard Allocation
An unconfirmed project allocation Represents tentative work for a specific team member Appears in heatmap as a lightly shaded bubble with a dark border	A confirmed project allocation Represents actual project work for a specific team member Appears in heatmap as a dark colored bubble with no defined border

Creating and managing allocations is permissioned-based. 

• Users with access to People Schedule may create soft allocations.
• Creating hard allocations and converting soft allocations into hard allocations requires additional permissions.
• Users assigned to standard permission profiles Coordinator, Manager, Controller and Admin are permitted to create both soft and hard allocations.
• Custom permission profiles may be configured for access using the following:      

By default, Manage projects enables Approve allocations, however Approve allocations may be deselected as required.

• Check out Permissions: How they work for information on the permissions required to manage allocations.

Creating a soft allocation

Soft allocations may be created in People Schedule or Timeline.

To create a soft allocation

1. Click Resourcing in the navigation bar.
2. Select People Schedule from the dropdown.
3. Identify the resource for the allocation.
4. Click the resource's total utilization value within the heatmap.
5. In the Utilization window, click Add Allocation.
6. (Optional) Click, hold, and drag across the row to open the Create New form.
7. Complete the form with the allocation details.
   • Project: The project for the allocation.
   • Assignee: The team member assigned to the allocation (supports multiple assignees).
   • Date: The time period for the allocation.
   • Allocation per person: Total allocated hours.
   • % of day: The percentage of a team member's workday being allocated.
   • Distribution: Allocated hours are evenly distributed by default. Adjust hours per day if needed.
   • Notes: Additional context for the allocation.
8. In Allocation type, toggle Soft Allocation and click Create.
9. The soft allocation is created and appears in the heatmap. 

Updating a soft allocation to a hard allocation

Soft allocations represent tentative demand for a resource on a project. Once a project is one, updating soft allocations to hard allocations confirms the demand for the resource and the project. 

• Soft allocations may be updated within People Schedule or Timeline, as long as the users have permission to approve allocations.

To update soft allocations to hard allocations

1. Click Resources in the top bar.
2. Select People Schedule from the dropdown.
3. Find the resource and allocation to update.
4. Right click on the allocation and select Edit.
5. Update the Allocation Type toggle to Hard Allocation.
6. Click Save.
7. The allocation is converted to a hard allocation and appears as solid color in the heatmap.

Related Articles

• Permissions: How they Work
• Understanding Resource Allocation in Forecast
• Creating Allocations
• Allocating People to Projects
• About Combined Mode