Quick Access: Reports > All Reports > New Report > Utilization Report
Forecast's Utilization Report is an extensive, comprehensive standard report that focuses on resource utilization. Only Admins, Controllers, and Coordinators can view the Utilization report.
The company portfolio page (company name tab) is accessible, by default, by everyone but Collaborators.
This article will cover:
- Understanding the Utilization Report
- Understanding how billable time is calculated
- Project allocations vs tasks (Agile only)
- Breakdown of Utilization Report
- Managing the data displayed
Understanding the Utilization report
- The utilization report provides a detailed breakdown of each resource utilization for a given period.
- The period could be in months (option, Period) or for the entire year (option, Month by Month).
- The report draws data from the schedule people heatmap and the timesheets.
- That data is then calculated, added up, and presented in the report broken down into different categories that can be enabled/disabled from the eye icon.
- Planned time appears immediately on the report, however, actual time (hours registered by a team member on a task/project or on non-project time) will appear the day after.
- It is up to the project manager to decide what data will be displayed on the report at any time.
- It is possible to export the report as a CSV at any time.
Understanding how billable time & time tracking (Agile only) are calculated
One of the information provided in the Utilization report is billable time. Billable time in Forecast is derived only from billable projects. To that end, this section explains how the different billable time categories are calculated depending on the resource management setting that is chosen on the Forecast account. To learn more about the two resource management settings please visit Selecting your resource management strategy.
Billable time with assigning people to tasks (Waterfall)
- Actuals Billable time - the sum of time registrations in the period.
- Planned Billable time - the sum of estimates on tasks in the period.
- Remaining Billable time - the sum of remaining time on tasks in the period.
- Forecasted billable time - Actuals Billable time + Remaining Billable time.
Billable time & time tracking with project allocation (Agile)
- Actuals Billable time - the sum of time registrations in the period.
- Planned Billable time - the sum of allocations in the period.
- Remaining Billable time - the sum of allocations in the remainder of the period starting from today.
- Forecasted billable time - Actuals Billable time + Remaining Billable time
Project allocations vs tasks (Agile only)
If the resource management setting on an account is set to Project Allocations then the report allows the users to view information both in regard to project allocations and tasks so that managers can view the information easier and compare the two. This is especially useful when it is necessary to review the actual hours (time registered) on tasks vs what the planned time on the allocation of the project, that the task belonged to, was. For example, an allocation can be created to last for an entire week (40 hours) but the hours spent on the actual tasks might differ. The report makes it easier to view that information and helps with planning more accurately for the future by allowing the user to view both project allocation and task information.
The data points, which are exclusive to project allocation, that shows this information in the report can be found in the eye icon and they are:
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- Planned allocations vs Tasks - This will indicate what the planned hours on a project allocation are vs planned hours (estimate) on tasks of that project by the assignee.
- Remaining Allocations vs Tasks - This will show the remaining time on allocations vs tasks by taking into account all future planned allocation time vs all future planned task time. Both billable and non-billable.
Breakdown of Utilization Report
The report itself is broken down into three components. Those are:
- General Settings
- Gauge meter and Graph chart
- Details Table
Each of these components can assist with delivering an extensive utilization report of the company's resources. Below we go over these components.
General Settings
The general settings of the report give anyone with access to the report the ability to ensure that the information displayed on that report is correct. There are multiple settings, those are:
| Setting | Function |
| Naming the report | It is possible to name or change the name of the report by clicking on the space where the name already exists in the upper left-hand corner of the report. |
| Period / Month by Month | This setting determines what period the report should cover. If the Period is chosen then it is going to cover certain months that can be determined from the date selector. If Month by Month is chosen then the report will display the entire fiscal year. |
| Date Selector |
If the report is set to Period then the date selector will be available. From there it is possible to change the months that the report is covering. This setting can be found on the right of data selection. |
| Gauge meter and graph chart data selection | Just above the gauge meter is the data selection dropdown. From here it is possible to select which data will be displayed on the gauge meter and the graph chart. |
| Save Report |
The first setting on the right side of the report allows for any changes made to the report like a new name, new periods, and new data, to be saved. To the left of the save report button, it is possible to view who last edited the report and saved it. |
| Export as CSV |
To the right of the 'save report' button is the export as CSV button. Clicking this will download the report in a CSV format. Important to note here that the CSV will NOT download the nested information but only the first layer of information. Warning: Users may export up to 50k rows of data at one time.
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| Eye Icon |
The eye icon can be found next to the download as CSV button. From the eye icon, it is possible to enable or disable all of the information that can be displayed on the project portfolio report. If the month-by-month option is chosen then it is not possible to use the eye icon. |
| Filters |
Next to the eye icon is the filters button. It is possible to apply filters to narrow the view of projects that should be displayed in the report. |
Gauge meter and Graph chart
The Utilization Report shows two summary data visualizations in addition to the full data table. These summary graphics can be used to see the expected percentage of resources’ capacity spent on billable work (by selecting Billable Utilization in the dropdown) or the expected percentage of resources’ capacity booked for any work (by selecting Resource Utilization in the dropdown).
The two visualizations are a dial and a timeline line graph. The dial shows the overall figure for either Billable Utilization or Resource Utilization for the date range selected in the date picker. The line graph shows the figure selected week over week.
Use filters to narrow down to a specific group of resources, or to exclude certain categories of time. Filters applied will impact the data shown
Billable Utilization selected in dropdown
If Billable Utilization is selected the Billable Utilization Target shows up for comparison.
Both the dial and the line chart will show the data category Forecasted Billable Utilization. This is the percentage of resources’ capacity that is expected to be spent on billable work and it is a category that is meaningful whether we are looking at the past, the future or a current period that spans from the past into the future.
Within the selected time period, the system is looking the expected total billable time (past billable time regs plus any future planned billable time) and calculating the utilization percentage of that time over the total capacity hours of the resources in that time period (working hours minus time off).
Forecasted Billable Utilization is calculated as Forecasted Billable Time / Available Time x 100. Available time is Working hours - Time off.
- In project allocation mode
Forecasted Billable Time is Actual Billable Time (past billable time registrations) + Remaining Billable Time (future billable allocations)
-
In task mode
Forecasted Billable Time is Actual billable time (past billable time registrations) + Remaining billable time (remaining estimated hours on unfinished billable tasks)
Resource Utilization selected in dropdown
Both the dial and the line chart will show the data category Forecasted Resource Utilization. This is the percentage of resources’ capacity that is booked whether billable, non-billable or internal time. It is a category that is meaningful whether we are looking at the past, the future or a current period that spans from the past into the future.
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In project allocation mode
Forecasted Resource Utilization is calculated as Forecasted Allocations Total Time / Available Time x 100.
Available time is Working hours - Time off.
Forecasted Allocations Total Time is Actual Total Time (past time registrations) + Remaining Total Time (future allocations). -
In task mode
Forecasted Resource Utilization is calculated as Forecasted Total Time / Available Time x 100.
Forecasted Total Time is Actual Total Time (past time registrations) + Remaining Total Time (remaining estimated hours on unfinished tasks).
Available time is Working hours - Time off.
Within the selected time period, the system is looking the expected time booked on any work in Forecast (past billable time regs plus any future planned billable time) and calculating the utilization percentage of that time over the total capacity hours of the resources in that time period (working hours minus time off).
Details Table
Just below the graph is the details table. The details table will present all of the data that has been enabled for display in the report. The way that the details table is structured is as follows:
- First layer will show the resources totals for the period that the report is looking into and for the categories (data) that have been enabled through the eye icon.
- Nested layer goes into more detail by presenting the numbers per allocation. This means that the nested layer will show exactly where and for how long a resource was assigned during the period that the report is looking into.
Managing the data displayed
The data that is displayed on the project portfolio report may vary as one project manager might be interested in actuals while another might be interested in forecasted information. To that end, it is possible to decide what data is displayed through the eye icon feature.
To disable/enable information from the report
- Click on Reports.
- Select All reports.
- Click on an existing Utilization Report or, for a new report, click on New Reports and select Utilization Report.
- Click on the eye icon.
- Select any of the available options or just any of their nested options.
It is important to note that the data which is chosen for display from the eye icon will also be brought over into the CSV export of the report.
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