Using Resource Manager in NANO

Resource Manager allows managers to visually see and manage the workload and allocation of tasks to people and teams they are responsible for managing.

Before you start

Your system must be using the Alemba API. This is installed by default for all systems running versions higher than 9.7.

You must have View Resource Manager selected in the Shared tab of your Workflow Management security role.

You must be identified as a Resource Manager for the relevant workflow group(s) in the Workflow Management Groups window.

From the main menu, select View, and then Resource Manager. The Resource Manager window consists of three panes:

  • Resource Allocations Pane lists your resource managed teams and analysts, and a calendar view of all of the analysts' currently allocated tasks

  • Unallocated Tasks Pane shows the resource managed tasks that have been allocated to your team(s) and are awaiting allocation

  • Task Details Pane shows the details of the task currently selected in either the Unallocated Tasks or the Resource Allocations pane

Updates to information in any of the panes will be reflected in the other two.

Resource Allocations Pane

This pane lists your resource managed teams and analysts down the left hand side, and a calendar view of all of the analysts' currently allocated tasks.

The calendar view displays the current month by default, with the current day/time in the middle, and indicated by a vertical blue line. Saturdays and Sundays are grayed out (but can still be used).

In this version of Resource Manager, working hours and calendars are not in use. One week is considered to be 168 hours, and tasks can be allocated for all of those hours.

You can click on any column header to center this date/time in the display.

Resource Allocations Toolbar

You will see a number of buttons and controls at the top of the Resource Allocations pane.

They perform the following functions:

Save
saves all of the changes to resource allocation

Refresh

cancels all of the changes made to task details or allocations since the last time you saved

Auto Scroll

Select to ensure that the optimum time frame for the task allocation is always displayed in the window when you start to allocate a task.

You may choose to deselect this option and manually choose the date display if, say, you want to allocate tasks in a different timeframe.

Group by Team

Select to group the displayed analysts in their resource managed workflow groups. If an analyst is a member of several workflow groups, they will appear in each group. Their task allocations will be displayed in each entry.

Deselect to display the analysts independent of their workflow groups. They will be displayed in alphabetical order.

Skill Filter

Select to show which analysts have the appropriate skill set to complete a selected task.

See Allocating Tasks According to Skills for more details.

Month/Week/Day View

You can change the granularity of the calendar, choosing between Month, Week and Day.

  • In Month view, you can view the calendar in half day time slots, grouped by day.

  • In Week view, you can view the calendar in one hour slots, grouped by half day.

  • In Day view, you can view the calendar in 15 minute slots, grouped by hour.

Today

Select to return the display to show today's date, if the current date is not displayed.

Use the left and right arrows to display the month/week/day before or after the current one, depending on the granularity of the display

(current date range)

Select to display a calendar drop down, from which you can choose a date (range) in the normal way

Analysts

All teams for which you are identified as a Resource Manager are displayed, broken down by analyst. The Resource Managed tasks that are allocated to each of the analysts are also displayed.

Allocated Tasks

When the task is allocated, it is represented by a colored bar in the analyst's calendar row. You can view a summary of the task details by hovering over it, or click on it to see more details in the Task Details pane. You can also double click on it to open the Task Details window in a separate tab.

Hover over the Info icon in the top toolbar to see a key to the different pattern styles used in the calendar.

Unallocated Tasks Pane

The bottom pane in the window shows tasks that:

  • have been identified as resource managed in the Task Details, either at workflow template level or within the specific request

  • have been assigned or forwarded to the resource manager's team(s)

  • have not been allocated to an analyst

  • are not yet complete

It shows the following details, ordered by the task's Planned Start date. The information shown reflects details held on the Task Details window. Scroll across if all of the columns are not visible on your screen.

Task
Task Number

Title

Task Title

From

Planned Start

To

Target Date

Length

Planned Time

Authorized

Status of the task. If this is not selected, the task may be suspended

Active

Active Task

Type

Task Type

Phase

Task Phase

Request

Request Number

Workflow

Request Screen Set

  1. You can manipulate the information that is displayed in the columns by clicking on the column headers and selecting from the drop down options.

  2. You can also group the details by the details in a particular column by dragging the column header to the space between the Unallocated Tasks heading, and the top of the browse table - This can be useful if you want to, say, group all of the tasks in the same request.

  3. You can group by multiple columns, and sort the information within the groups by clicking the small arrows to the left of the name in the group tile -

  4. To cancel the grouping, just click the x in the tile.

Task Details Pane

When a task is selected in the Unallocated Tasks or Resource Allocations pane, the Task Details pane shows the task details.

The following information is shown:

Task Details
The upper section contains the task details. You can use the scroll bar to the right of the section to scroll up and down if all of the details are not visible on your screen.

Request

Request Number and Description. Click on the request number to open the request in a new tab

Task

Task Number. Click on the number to open the task details in a new tab

Type

Task type

Authorized

Indicator whether the task is authorized

Active

Indicator whether the task is active

Window

Planned time for the task

From

Planned Start date/time

To

Target Date

Length

Planned time

Allocation

The lower section of the Task Details pane shows allocation information, as described below.

Team

The workflow group to whom the task is assigned

Work Start

The date on which the analyst is expected to start the task. This field is completed by either dropping the task on the calendar in the Resource Allocations pane, using the calendar keys, or keying in a date/time.

See Allocating tasks in Resource Manager for more details.

Work End

The date/time when the task is expected to be complete. This is automatically completed based on the Work Start and Duration details and is read only.

Duration

The length of time that the task is expected to take. This is an editable field, and the details are updated in the Task Details window accordingly.