Changing Company Resource Management Settings

⏱️ 4 minute read

Selecting your Company's Resource Management setting is one of the most important steps in configuring your Forecast account.  Once you determine your resource management strategy and select the corresponding setting, it is not advisable to change the setting, however it can be done if your needs, workflows and resourcing strategies change in the future. 

This article covers:

• Forecast's Resource Management Settings
• Changing your Resource Management Setting

Forecast's Resource Management Settings

Forecast offers three (3) resource management settings. These settings determines how resourcing is managed across the platform, as well as how the heatmap behaves and resource utilization is calculated across People Schedule and in Standard/Advanced Reporting.  More information on the settings and their impact across the Forecast platform can be found in:

• Allocate people to projects
• Assign people to tasks
• About Combined Mode

Changing your Resource Management Setting

Changing your company’s Resource Management Setting may affect your entire Forecast account, depending on your current setting, the new setting, and the direction of the change. 

• If you're switching from project allocations to task assignments, existing project allocations will be impacted.
• If you're switching from task assignments to project allocations, existing task assignments will be impacted.
• Accounts using Combined Mode will experience the least impact—if any at all.

The following sections outlines the specific effects of each change, based on your current setting and the direction of the switch.

Allocate people to projects or Assign people to projects > Combined Mode

Accounts using Allocate people to projects or Assign people to tasks that want to move to Combined Mode will not see an impact on platform data. Similarly, accounts using Combined Mode that want to revert back to their previous setting will not see an impact on platform data. 

Moving to Combined Mode

• Data is not modified or removed when selecting Combined Mode.
• You can toggle between Combined Mode and your previous setting without affecting your data.

• However, you may only revert to the setting you were using before Combined Mode. For example: 

  • If you were using Allocate people to projects before enabling Combined Mode, you may only revert to Allocate people to projects—not to Assign people to tasks.
  • If you were using Assign people to tasks before enabling Combined Mode, you may only revert to Assign people to tasks.

  In both cases, this restriction is intentional and helps protect your existing data.

If you are using Combined Mode and wish to change your setting, you will first revert to your original setting before selecting your new setting.

Moving from Combined Mode

• To switch to Allocate people to projects, first revert to Assign people to tasks. Then, select Assign people to tasks by confirming the warning that explains how this change will impact your data.
• To switch to Assign people to tasks, first revert to Allocate people to projects. Then, select Assign people to tasks by confirming the warning that explains how this change will impact your data.

Allocate people to projects > Assign people to tasks

Accounts using Allocate people to projects that want to move to Assign people to tasks will see an impact on platform data.  

• Data is modified when selecting Assign people to tasks.
• All project allocations and distributions are deleted.
• A warning displays explaining the impact that the setting change will have.
• An Admin user is required to confirm the warning before the change takes place.
• Once the warning is confirmed, the change is committed. The action is final and cannot be undone. 
  

Assign people to tasks > Allocate people to projects

Accounts using Assign people to tasks that want to move to Allocate people to projects will see an impact on platform data.  

• Data is modified when selecting Assign people to tasks.
• All task assignments are converted into project allocations.
• Tasks with estimates longer than 1 week are converted into multiple weekly allocations.
• A warning displays explaining the impact that the setting change will have.
• An Admin user is required to confirm the warning before the change takes place.
• Once the warning is confirmed, the change is committed. The action is final and cannot be undone
  

Related Articles

• Identifying your Resource Management Strategy
• Allocating People to Projects
• Assigning People to Tasks
• About Combined Mode