Planning with Generic Resources

In TimePlanner, Generic Resources are placeholders used in project planning, especially during the early stages when specific team members haven't been assigned yet. They can represent either non-physical entities (e.g., virtual team members) or physical assets (e.g., equipment).

Permissions for Generic Resources

Permissions define what actions different roles can take with Generic Resources. This ensures the right people have the right level of access:

Use Case 1: Generic Resource as a non-physical entity

A Generic Resource can serve as a placeholder for a task, representing roles or responsibilities that have not yet been assigned to a specific team member.

Planning from the Work Item Box

1. Go to the Schedules from the left-hand menu.

2. Click in the upper-right corner. The Work items panel opens on the right side of the Schedule:

a. Searching for a Work Item

Enter the work item summary or key in the search bar.

b. Filtering Work Items

You can use the Basic filters to narrow the list. You can combine multiple filters to make the results more specific.

c. Filtering with JQL

For more advanced searches, switch to the JQL tab.

Enter a Jira Query Language (JQL) query to define more specific conditions than those available in the Basic filters.

3. Select after setting your criteria to update the work item list.

4. Once the work item appears in the list, drag and drop it onto the Generic Resource row to create the plan.

Planning via the Planning Dialog

The Planning Dialog is a pop-up window that lets you quickly plan tasks onto the board. You can open this dialog in two ways:

Option 1: Using the “Create plan” button

1. Go to the Schedules from the left-hand menu.

2. Click in the toolbar to open the Planning Dialog

3. In the Planning Dialog, you can:

• Search for an existing work item by entering the summary or work item key in the search bar.

• Create a new work item by clicking the button

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Tip: Use the Basic Filter (Project, Assignee, Status) or the JQL Filter for advanced search to quickly locate the issue you want to plan.

4. Complete the task planning by filling in the Work details:

Required fields

• Assignee: Select the Generic Resource you want to plan the work for.

• Start Date – End Date: Set the period when the task is planned.

• Time spent: Enter the planned hours, then choose how they are allocated:

  • Per day: Apply the entered hours to each working day in the selected period.

  • Total: Distribute the entered hours across the selected period.

Additional options

• Repeat: Set a recurrence for the plan, or keep Never for a one-time plan.

You can also expand Other plans for this work to review any existing plans for the selected work item.

When using the Planning Dialog:

• The  Assignee  is automatically set to the user creating the task.

• The  Start date  and  End date  are based on the dates you selected while planning.

• The  Hours/Day  field defaults to 8 hours.

You can adjust these fields as needed.

5. Click to add the task to the board.

Option 2: Clicking on a date or date range

You can create a plan directly from the Schedule Board by selecting a date or range of dates on a member’s row.

Steps:

1. Go to the Schedules from the left-hand menu.

2. Click on a specific date or drag across a range of dates to open the Planning Dialog.

3. In the Planning Dialog, you can:

• Search for an existing work item by entering the summary or work item key in the search bar.

• Create a new work item by clicking the button

💡

Tip: Use the Basic Filter (Project, Assignee, Status) or the JQL Filter for advanced search to quickly locate the issue you want to plan.

4. Complete the task planning by filling in the Work details:

Required fields

• Assignee: Select the member who will work on the task.

• Start Date – End Date: Set the period when the task is planned.

• Time spent: Enter the planned hours, then choose how they are allocated:

  • Per day: Apply the entered hours to each working day in the selected period.

  • Total: Distribute the entered hours across the selected period.

Additional options

• Repeat: Set a recurrence for the plan, or keep Never for a one-time plan.

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Tip: You can open the Planning Dialog from the Calendar Board and plan tasks using the same process as on the Schedule Board.

Planning via the Jira Work Item Detail Panel

TeamBoard TimePlanner allows users to plan tasks directly within the Work Item Detail panel without needing to switch to the TimePlanner app. Here is how to do it:

1. Open the Jira Work Item for the task you want to plan.

2. In the right-hand panel, click Open TeamBoard TimePlanner. This will open the planning section for the selected task.

3. In the planning section, click to start planning.

4. Complete the task planning by filling in the following fields:

Required fields

• Assignee: Select the Generic Resource you want to plan the work for.

• Start Date – End Date: Set the period when the task is planned.

• Time spent: Enter the planned hours, then choose how they are allocated:

  • Per day: Apply the entered hours to each working day in the selected period.

  • Total: Distribute the entered hours across the selected period.

Additional options

• Repeat: Set a recurrence for the plan, or keep Never for a one-time plan.

Reassigning tasks

When your team identifies a suitable person to take over a task, you can reassign the Generic Resource to that individual.

Here's how to do it:

1. Click the Reassign icon to open the 'Reassign tasks' Modal.

2. Choose the assignee to whom you want to transfer the task.

3. Select one of the following plan options:

All tasks : Reassign all tasks to the selected person.

Tasks within a date period : Only tasks that fall within the chosen date range will be reassigned.

For example, you are planning 2 tasks for Virtual Resource as below:

• Task A: 10th June, 2025 to 15th June, 2025

• Task B: 12th June, 2025 to 15th June, 2025

→ If you select a date range from June 12 to June 15 and try to reassign the tasks, only Task B can be reassigned, as Task A starts on June 10th, which is outside of the selected period.

Tasks after a specific date : Only tasks starting on or after the selected date can be reassigned.

4. Click to finalize the task reassignment.

Use case 2: Generic resources serve as a physical asset.

If your team works with physical assets such as hardware, system devices, or laboratory equipment, a Generic Resource can be used to manage their booking. It helps track usage and scheduling, but does not contribute to workload calculations. This makes it ideal for tracking shared assets without impacting individual workload metrics.

Planning Tasks for Generic Resources used as Physical Assets

Planning tasks for Generic Resources used as physical assets follows the same process as planning tasks for non-physical resources.

EXAMPLE: Meeting Room as a Generic Resource

Your team frequently books a meeting room for project meetings and brainstorming sessions. To ensure smooth scheduling and avoid conflicts, you want to:

• Schedule the meeting room for specific time slots

• Prevent double-booking of the room

• Ensure availability when needed

• Track usage without affecting the workload of team members

How a Generic Resource helps:

• Set up the meeting room as a Generic Resource.

• For instance, if the meeting room is reserved from September 9 to 10, it will be marked as unavailable during that time.

• Anyone viewing the Schedule Board will be able to see the room's booking, preventing overlapping reservations.

Important Note:

When viewing the meeting room’s schedule, you’ll notice it shows 0 hours of workload. This means the room’s usage won’t affect any team member’s workload, allowing you to track its availability without impacting performance metrics.