Resource Planner Creating a Booking

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Add Booking
• Adding an Asignee
• More Options 
• Smart Resourcing

Creating bookings in the Resource Planner is vital for enhancing efficiency, improving communication, supporting campaign and project management, and ensuring that resources are used optimally within the organization.

Bookings allow you to allocate and manage resources effectively, ensuring that personnel, equipment, and studio time are utilized efficiently. This helps prevent scheduling conflicts and overlaps.

Add Booking

1. From the Resource Planner Tab, navigate to the top right corner of the screen.
2. Click Add Booking. 
   
   
3. From the dropdown menu, click, Add a new booking to table. This enables you to create ad hoc project work.
   
   
4. Click Select Project and choose the new booking name.
   
   
5. Enter a Title. This is the name of the booking or task you will assign.
   
   
6. Enter the Start Date of the booking/task and the End Date.
   
   
7. Click Set Booking Times. This lets you define the new booking's specific start and end times. You can accurately detail the schedule in 15-minute increments and allocate resources for tasks, projects, or events to the exact time you need them. 
   
   
8. Clicking the Pencil checkbox enables you to use the booking times as placeholders. By "penciling them in," you ensure that resources are correctly reserved and that schedules reflect the intended availability for the specified booking period.
   
9. Click Save.

Adding an Assignee

Making bookings and assigning them to individuals, groups, or roles establishes a record of commitments. This can be necessary for tracking resource usage, evaluating performance, and ensuring accountability within the team.

1. Click Add New Asignee here.
   
   
2. From the list, click the name of the individual you want to assign to the role. 
   
   
3. You can also enter a name in the Filter here to search for a specific person to assign.
   
   
4. Click the name to assign them the booking.
   
   
5. Under Total, you see the number of hours allocated to the assignee. Click the box to change the number or the arrows to toggle and add or remove hours. 
   
   
6. The Billable Role drop-down displays the user's default role. You can adjust this by clicking the drop-down and selecting a different role.
   
   

You can indicate that the assignee is billable with the Billable Status toggle. Turning it off will make the assignee non-billable.

More Options 

The More Options feature is a powerful booking tool that facilitates seamless scheduling by enabling you to make precise bookings essential for maintaining project timelines. It offers a clear overview of resource availability, allowing for realistic scheduling and efficient planning for upcoming work. This functionality ensures that your projects stay on track and that resources are allocated effectively.

Smart Resourcing

Smart Resourcing and assigning help balance team members' workloads by indicating who is available for new assignments and who is already committed to existing projects.

1. Click the Assign Resource icon.
   
   
2. In the Suggested Resources box, you see the name of the person you assigned. Additionally, you may notice a "Top Suggestion" listed. This individual may better fit the role based on various criteria, such as skills, experience, and availability. 
   
   
3. If you prefer the top suggestion to the original assignee, click the Take Top Selection icon.  Then click Save.
   
   
4. This instantly assigns the Top Suggestion individual to the booking and removes the original assignee. 
   
   
5. Clicking the email toggle allows you to send an email to notify the user they have been assigned to the task.
   
   
6. If you did not set specific booking times for the assignment, you can allocate hours for the task instead. This allows you to assign hours based on the individual's availability. 

   
   For example, if you know an employee is busy at the beginning of the week but has a lighter workload towards the end, you can adjust the hours accordingly. Assign fewer hours at the start of the week and increase the hours as the week progresses. This approach ensures the workload is manageable and respects the employee's availability.

    

Once you are satisfied with the booking, click Save.