Staff Projects with Team Builder

 
Access Groups: Resource Management
Default Account Permissions: Account Administrator

Overview

When you use unnamed resources and Resource Recommendations are enabled, you can use Team Builder in Resourcing areas to help you staff an entire project or staff all projects with openings for a specific role. Team Builder looks at open demand across roles in projects that need to be filled and finds candidates that may be a good fit based on their role, skills, availability, and other criteria.

You can determine which aspects of Criteria Weighting and Match Requirements are most important to you and make adjustments to the default settings to better fit a project’s specific needs. Select the Settings (“   ”) icon to adjust this criteria.

Depending on your permissions, you can see and complete actions for the following in Team Builder:

• Project Resources—A list of unnamed resources associated with the project. Checking the box next to it lets you allocate all the resources on that page. Selecting the box next to each row lets you allocate just that resource. For large projects, Team Builder displays 25 recommendations per page, and you can allocate 25 at a time by checking the box next to Project Resources.
• Recommended Resource—An automated list of suggested resources, based on your Criteria Weighting and Match Requirements. You can also select a different resource from the drop-down menu.
  
• Lock—Locking a resource lets you keep the current selection in place when re-running Team Builder. When you manually select a different resource, they are locked by default. To lock a recommended resource, hover over the column with your mouse, and then click the Lock (“   ”) icon.
• Role Match—Based on your Recommendation Settings, a green checkmark appears if the role of the unnamed resource matches your criteria.
• Availability—The Availability field displays availability to work on the project as a percent. Depending on your account settings—under Settings > Resource Management—availability is calculated based on a resource’s scheduled hours, allocated hours (both soft and hard allocations), or hard allocated hours only. Select the field to view information on a resource’s current assignments and determine which projects have conflicting availability in the next 52 weeks. You can look at these conflicts in a day, week, or month view and use the arrows to move forward and backward.
  NOTE: For a percentage to display in the Availability field for a resource, they must have a workweek assigned to them. Depending on how availability is calculated, the unnamed resource you are trying to staff must also have either allocated hours added to the project or scheduled hours added to tasks.
  
• Skill Match—Shows you how many skills a recommended resource has relative to what you have requested. Select the field to see which specific skills the recommended resource has and which skill requirements they do not meet.
  
• Custom Fields Match—If you are using Custom Fields and have User Set text or choice fields that are made available to resources, you can see which ones a recommendation meets relative to what you requested. Select the field to see which specific requirements the resource has and which requirements they do not meet.
  
  
  Note: Multi-choice fields are not currently supported for Team Builder. For choice fields to display, they must be single-choice.
  
• Cost Impact—Visible if you have permission to see cost. Indicates whether a resource has a positive or negative impact on the project relative to the average cost rate of that role across your account.
• Allocation Type—By default, it is set to Soft. When you select resources, you can choose to commit them to the project by selecting Hard.
• Allocate X Resources—Select when ready to staff unnamed resources.
  

Keep in mind that these are suggestions to help get you started. You can select a different resource or adjust your criteria and rerun recommendations. Alternatively, if you know who you want, you can search for or select them from the drop-down.

How to Use Team Builder to Staff a Project

Using Team Builder in the Projects tab allows you to focus your staffing efforts on a project-by-project basis.

1. Navigate to one of the following Resourcing areas:
   • Projects > select a project > Resourcing
   • Resourcing > Resource Center > Projects
     
2. From the respective Resourcing page, locate the project you want to staff resources for.
3. If you want to add specific skills or fill out custom fields for unnamed resources before seeing recommendations, expand the project, and add skills and custom field values to the unnamed resource as you normally would.
   Note: All required custom fields for a resource must be filled out before they can be staffed.
   
4. Select the Team Builder (“   ”) icon next to the project to open Team Builder. Team Builder displays the best matches for each role, with up to 25 roles displaying per page.
   
   Note: This icon only appears when Resource Recommendations are enabled and unnamed resources are added to the project.
   
5. If you need to change Criteria Weighting, and/or Match Requirements for the project, select the Settings (“  ”) icon, make the adjustments needed, and run recommendations again.
   
6. In the Recommended Resource column, select the resource to open the drop-down menu—where you can view or choose other recommendations.
   Tip: Hover over the top 3 recommended resources to see more information. These details can help you determine if another resource may be a better fit.
   
7. Select the numbers in the Availability, Skills Match, and Custom Fields Match columns to view more information about the resource.
   NOTE: The Availability pop-up allows you to see a resource's hours on other projects—or tasks, if this field is being calculated by scheduled hours—and determine if the assignments in the same time frame might be problematic. You can review availability in a day, week, or month view and use the arrows to move forward and backward.
8. To keep a specific recommendation and re-run the recommendations, select the Lock (“   ”) icon next to the resource you want to lock.
9. Select the box next to each resource you want to add to the project, or check the box next to Project Resources to select all resources on the page.
   
10. Select if these are Soft or Hard allocations, and then click Allocate Resources. The unnamed resources are now staffed with the recommended resources.
    

How to Use Team Builder to Staff Projects by Role

Using Team Builder in the Team Members tab allows you to focus your staffing efforts on a role-by-role basis.

1. In the left navigation, hover over Resourcing and select Resource Center.
2. In the Team Members tab, select Unnamed to view all unnamed resources. Note that unnamed resources only appear in Resource Center when they are added to projects.
   
   To learn about selecting the resource type from the toolbar, see our Resource Center Filters article.
3. If you want to add specific skills or custom fields for unnamed resources before seeing recommendations, expand the Role, and add skills and custom fields values to the unnamed resource as you normally would.
   Note: All required custom fields for a resource must be filled out before they can be staffed.
   
4. Select the Team Builder (“   ”) icon next to the unnamed resource to open Team Builder. Team Builder displays the best matches for each role, with up to 25 roles displaying per page.
   Note: This icon only appears when Resource Recommendations are enabled. If you are in the early access Team Members tab, this icon appears in the Team Member column.
   
5. If you need to change Criteria Weighting, and/or Match Requirements for the project, select the Settings (“   ”) icon, make the adjustments needed, and run recommendations again.
   
6. In the Recommended Resource column, select the resource to open the drop-down menu—where you can view or choose other recommendations.
   Tip: Hover over the top 3 recommended resources to see more information. These details can help you determine if another resource may be a better fit.
   
7. Select the numbers in the Availability, Skills Match, and Custom Fields Match columns to view more information about the resource.
   NOTE: The Availability pop-up allows you to see a resource's hours on other projects—or tasks, if this field is being calculated by scheduled hours—and determine if the assignments in the same time frame might be problematic. You can review availability in a day, week, or month view and use the arrows to move forward and backward.
8. To keep a specific recommendation and re-run the recommendations, select the Lock (“   ”) icon next to the resource you want to lock.
9. Select the box next to each resource you want to add to a project, or check the box next to Project Resources to select all resources on the page.
   
10. Select if these are Soft or Hard allocations, and then click Allocate Resources. The unnamed resources are now staffed with the recommended resources.