2025R1.2 - New Features

What's Different:

Users can now determine how Resource availability is calculated on both the Allocation (top) and Demand (bottom) sections of the Resource Review page.

Note: In the Allocation section, the "Availability" columns display values for each listed Resource.

Janice has 20 hours of availability remaining for the week of September 21st.
In the Demand section, the "Availability" columns display values for each listed Role.

There are 20 Receptionist hours that are available to assign for the week of September 21st.

Prior to this release, users would only see two tabs on the "Filter Settings" window: "Allocation" and "Demand".

With this update, the window now features an "Availability" tab.

Selecting this tab allows users to determine how "Availability" values will be calculated. The settings will be applied to both sections of the Resource Review page (Allocation and Demand).

Note: None of these settings will change the "Effort" values. Only the displayed values in the "Availability" columns will be affected.

• Calculate Availability on: Determine which data is used to calculate availability for the Allocation and Demand sections.

  

  • Current Allocation Filter: Availability for Resources and Roles is calculated using only Resources and assignments that are currently shown in the Allocation section.

    Note: See Filter the Allocation Section for more information on these filters.

    Note: When this is selected, each Role's availability is calculated using only the Resources and work items that are currently displayed in the Allocation (top) section. An exception occurs if there are no Resources with the Role on their profile displayed in the Allocation section. In this case, the Role's availability will be calculated using all PowerSteering Resources with the Role on their profile. See the example below for more information.

  • Overall Allocation: All Resources and Resource assignments in PowerSteering are used to calculate availability, not just those that satisfy the filters under the “Allocation” tab.

    Tip: This selection ensures that a Resource's "true availability" is displayed. In other words, it displays a Resource's availability after taking all work items and assignments into consideration, not just those that satisfy the "Allocation" tab filters.

  Click here for an example of how these selections affect the Allocation section

  Example: Cristina has been assigned to two separate Projects during the week of September 21^st: "City Park Refurbishment" and "City Bridge Reframing". She is 50% allocated to both, which means she will work 20 hours on each one (40 total hours for the week).
  
  
  On the Resource Review page, there is only one "Allocation" filter in use: the Digital Project Portfolio.
  
  This means that the Allocation section will only display Resource assignments toward work items that belong to the Digital Project Portfolio. In this case, the "City Park Refurbishment" Project belongs to the Portfolio, but the "City Bridge Reframing" Project does not. Therefore, only the 20 hours allocated toward the "City Park Refurbishment" Project will be displayed as Cristina's "Effort".
  
  Her displayed "Availability" for the week will differ based on the "Calculate Availability on" selection. If "Current Allocation Filter" is selected, Resource assignments will only be included in Availability calculations if they satisfy the "Allocation" filters. Cristina's assignment on the "City Park Refurbishment" Project satisfies the filter (because the Project belongs to the selected Portfolio), but her assignment on the "City Bridge Reframing" Project does not. Therefore, her 20 hours toward the "City Bridge Reframing" Project will not be taken into account and her displayed "Availability" for the week will be 20 hours.
  
  If "Overall Allocation" is selected instead, all of Cristina's effort will be taken into account while calculating her weekly Availability, not just effort that satisfies the filters. This means that her assignment on the "City Bridge Reframing" Project will be included in the calculation, leaving her with an "Availability" of 0 hours for the week.
  

  Click here for an example of how these selections affect the Demand section

  Example: Janice and Rodney are the only two Receptionists who work for the company. Each of them has the "Receptionist" Role on their Profile with a Max Capacity of 100% (or 40 hours a week) and no other Roles. This means that there are always 80 total Receptionist hours available to be assigned to work every week.
  For the week of September 21^st, two Projects require 20 hours of Receptionist time each: "City Park Refurbishment" and "City Bridge Reframing". Janice has already been assigned to the "City Park Refurbishment" Project, but no Resources have been assigned to the "City Bridge Reframing" Project, resulting in 20 hours of unstaffed demand for a Receptionist.
  
  
  On the Resource Review page, there is only one filter selected for both sections: the Digital Project Portfolio. This Portfolio contains both Projects.
  
  Currently, Janice's allocation to the "City Park Refurbishment" Project is the only assignment displayed in the Allocation section because the "City Bridge Reframing" Project does not have any Resource assignments.
  
  The 20 hours of unstaffed demand for a Receptionist on the "City Bridge Reframing" Project is displayed in the Demand section.
  
  If "Total Allocation" is selected, all Resource allocations and availability will be taken into account. Janice and Rodney both have 40 allocatable hours each week. Janice has 20 hours already allocated, so her remaining availability is 20 hours. Added to Rodney's current availability of 40 hours, there are 60 hours of remaining Receptionist availability for the week.
  
  If "Current Allocation Filter" is selected, however, Resources and Resource assignments that do not appear in the Allocation section will not factor into Availability calculations. Rodney is not displayed in the Allocation section because he is not assigned to any work in the Portfolio, so his 40 hours of availability for the week do not count toward the Role's availability. Only Janice is displayed, so her 20 hours of availability are the only hours that count.
  
  An exception occurs when no Resources with the Receptionist Role on their profile are displayed in the Allocation section. In these cases, the total availability of Receptionists is displayed. For example, if the "City Park Refurbishment" Project is removed from the Portfolio, Janice will no longer be displayed in the Allocation section because the work item she is allocated to is filtered out.
  In the Demand section, the Receptionist Role will display the total availability of every Resource with the Receptionist Role on their profile because it cannot draw from any displayed Resources.
  
  Please note that this also includes any Project Owners or any other Resources that are displayed in the Allocation section without any allocations. For example, Jack owns a Project in the selected Portfolio and is displayed in the Allocation section even though he is not allocated to any work (notice that there is no Expand icon next to his name).
  
  Now, imagine he has the "Receptionist" Role added to his profile with a 25% Maximum Capacity (10 hours per week). Janice and Rodney are not displayed in the Allocation section, so Jack's availability is the only Receptionist availability used to calculate the Role's availability in the Demand section.
  

• Exclude Status: Works items with any of the selected work statuses will not count toward availability calculations in the Allocation and Demand sections.

  Note: The “Canceled” and “Archived” checkboxes are selected by default. Unselecting them could increase loading times.

  Example: Cristina has been assigned to two separate Projects during the week of September 21^st: "City Park Refurbishment" and "City Bridge Reframing". She is 50% allocated to both, which means she will work 20 hours on each one (40 hours total for the week).
  
  
  In the Allocation (top) section of the Resource Review page, both of these work items are listed. Her work week consists of 40 hours, so she does not have any availability left.
  
  However, the "City Park Refurbishment" Project currently has a "Proposed" work status.
  
  The Resource Manager decides that allocations toward "Proposed" Projects should not count toward availability calculations because they are not confirmed, so he selects "Proposed" from the "Exclude Status" list.
  
  This means that any Resource assignments toward work items with a "Proposed" status will not be included in availability calculations, including the "City Park Refurbishment" Project. The 20 hours of Cristina's time that are allocated to this Project for the week will not be reduced from her weekly availability of 40 hours, so her availability is now displayed as 20 hours.
  
  Notice that the "Effort" values stay the same; only "Availability" values will be affected.

Benefit:

The new "Availability" tab adds flexibility and accuracy to Resource Review availability calculations.

Prior to this release, Resource and Role availability was always calculated using the Resources and work items that were displayed in the Allocation section. The Resource Review behaved as if the "Current Allocation Filter" selection from the "Calculate Availability On" menu was always selected (with one exception regarding Role availability: when "Current Allocation Filter" is selected and the Allocation section does not display any Resources with the Role on their profile, the Role's availability will be calculated using every PowerSteering Resource with the Role. Prior to this release, the Role's availability would be displayed as "0" in this scenario). This prevented Resource Review users from viewing a Resource or Role's "true availability". In other words, work items and assignments external to the Allocation section were never taken into account. For example, a Resource with 20 displayed hours of availability for the week might be allocated to other work items that do not meet the Allocation filter criteria. Selecting "Overall Allocation" and calculating availability without Allocation filter restrictions ensures that all work items are accounted for, preventing misleading and inaccurate availability figures.

On the other hand, some Resource managers prefer to view availability through a specific scope of responsibility or testing scenario. While viewing Roles in the Demand section, it often makes sense to only display the availability of Resources that belong to a particular group; availability that includes all Resources might cause managers to assume there is enough capacity and ignore the gaps in their own team. For example, if a manager must fill a Role's unstaffed demand using only Resources from a single Resource Pool, the Role availability values may be misleading if they are calculated using every Resource in PowerSteering. Restricting the results to this Resource Pool and selecting "Current Allocation Filter" prevents the "Availability" columns in the Demand section from including hours that might not actually be available.

Additionally, Resource managers may wish to use the Resource Review page to create and test certain scenarios. For example, if a large group of Projects is expected to be canceled, Resource managers can use the "Allocation" tab to filter them out and then select "Current Allocation Filter" to see how much Resource effort will become available if this scenario comes to fruition. This allows Resource managers to answer any "what-ifs" and take advantage of upcoming opportunities.

Finally, excluding work items from availability calculations based on their statuses helps keep Resource Review data accurate and strategically aligned. Resource managers may decide that inactive work items (with statuses such as "Proposed" or "Deferred") should not be included in availability calculations because they do not actually consume Resource time. On the other hand, managers might decide to include these work items because they can become active at any moment and prevent Resources from being assigned to coinciding work. This gives managers the ability to test scenarios and prevent irrelevant work from distorting Resource availability.

What's Different:

Users can now maintain their Resource Review Layouts from a centralized page in PowerSteering.

A new Manage Resource Review option is available when Review is selected from the Navigation Menu.

Selecting this option will open up the new "Manage Resource Review" page, which features a data grid listing Resource Review Layouts that have been saved to PowerSteering.

Note: Users can only view publicly shared Resource Review Layouts or their own private ones.

From here, users can review information about each Resource Review Layout. Similar to other data grids, the Select Columns button can be used to add and remove columns that display specific information about each layout.

Additionally, each layout's Options button provides management options.

• Edit: Update the name, description, and privacy settings of the Resource Review Layout.

  

  Note: Only administrators can select the Edit button on publicly shared layouts.

• Copy: Create a new Resource Review Layout using the same details as the existing one. Users have the option to change the name, description, and privacy settings of this new layout before saving.

  

  Note: Copying a layout like this will also copy all of its data from the Resource Review page, including filter and display settings. If you would like to alter some of these settings before saving the new layout, you may prefer to copy it by editing it from the Resource Review page and selecting the Save As button. See Save a Resource Review Layout for more information.

• Delete: Remove the Resource Review Layout from PowerSteering. Users will no longer be able to apply it to the Resource Review page.

  

  Note: Only administrators can select the Delete button on publicly shared layouts.

  Note: With this update, this is now the only way to delete Resource Review Layouts. The Delete Current Layout icon has been removed from the Resource Review page.
  

Benefit:

The new "Manage Resource Review" page provides a centralized location in PowerSteering to monitor and maintain Resource Review Layouts. Prior to this release, users had to navigate to each individual layout on the Resource Review page to make any changes. With this update, users can easily make updates to multiple layouts without having to tediously open up each one. Additionally, it allows users to easily delete all unused or outdated layouts at once, keeping the "Layout" menu organized and relevant.

What's Different:

Descriptions can now be added to Resource Review Layouts in PowerSteering. Users will see these new descriptions under each Resource Review Layout when they open up the "Layout" menu on the Resource Review page.

Note: Layout descriptions are only available for layouts on the new Resource Review user interface. Layouts on the legacy interface cannot contain descriptions.

Users can add descriptions while editing Resource Review Layouts on the new "Manage Resource Review" page.

From here, the "Description" field can be used to briefly describe the purpose of the Resource Review Layout.

Note: Only administrators can select the Edit button on publicly shared layouts. Non-admin users can only edit their own private layouts.

Benefit:

Descriptions make Resource Review Layouts easier to maintain and understand. They can help explain which type of data the layout is configured to display, which makes it easier for users to understand its intent without guessing from the name alone. Descriptions promote effective collaboration and keep Resource Review Layouts organized and efficient.

What's Different:

Users can now edit Scorecard Metric views while creating new work in PowerSteering.

Note: A Metric View is a single Metric table that is accessed by selecting a tab at the top of the Metric. Only one view from a Scorecard Metric can be added to an Object Type's Create Work wizard.

While creating or editing Scorecard Metric Templates, administrators can configure a view to appear in the Create Work wizard for work items created using an automatically associated Object Type.

In this example, all new work items created using the "Projects" Object Type will feature the Metric view on the Create Work wizard.

Note: Work created using a template with one of the automatically associated Object Types as the "Root work object" will also feature the Metric view in the Create Work wizard.

Note: Users require the "Metric Template Administration" Context permission to create and edit Metric Templates. To edit Metric Templates that they did not create, they will need to be selected as an Administrator on the template's Basic Info tab.

Note: This feature will only be active when the criteria for a Scorecard Metric are met on the Basic Info tab. Specifically, the "Frequency Is" field must be set to "No Frequency" and the "Tag" field must be set to "No Tag Breakdown".

If the Scorecard Metric features multiple views, administrators can use the new "Display on Project Creation" checkboxes on the View tab to select the Metric View that will be featured.

Note: These checkboxes (as well as the entire View tab) will only be displayed when "Views" are enabled from the the Basic Info tab.

If the Scorecard Metric does not feature multiple views, administrators can simply enable "Display on Project Creation" from the Basic Info tab.

Note: This option will only be displayed when "Views" are disabled from the the Basic Info tab.

Once the Metric Template is saved, the Scorecard Metric View will be added to the Create Work wizard. The name of the Metric Template will appear as an additional step in the creation process when one of the automatically associated Object Types is selected as the "Work Type".

Note: The Metric will also appear if the "Work Type" field contains a Work Template with one of the automatically associated Object Types as the "Root work object".

Users can enter data into the Scorecard Metric view once they reach the step in the Create Work wizard.

Tip: See Enter Data into a Scorecard Metric for information on editing Scorecard Metrics.

Once the work item is created, the Scorecard Metric View will immediately contain the inputted data.

Note: When Scorecard Metrics are attached to the Create Work wizard, any user with the "Create Root Work" Context permission will have the opportunity to edit them. This includes users that may not have permission to edit Metrics on the work item. In these cases, a user that can edit the Scorecard Metric during creation may not be able to edit the Metric once the work item has been created.

Benefit:

Scorecard Metrics provide a structured and measurable way to evaluate PowerSteering work items at any point in the life cycle, including before they start. Evaluating a work item at the point of creation helps prevent errors and gives stakeholders confidence that the work is correctly configured before it gets underway. Additionally, it allows managers to assess whether certain work is worth pursuing before significant time and Resources are invested.

Example: Marilyn's organization has an Object Type called "Project Task", which represents any significant tasks that must be completed for a large Project. To ensure these tasks run smoothly, she has created a "Task Review" Scorecard Metric Template that is used to evaluate the task on clarity, strategic alignment, and Resource availability. The Metric is associated with the "Project Task" Object Type, which means it will automatically appear on all work items created from it.

Each task is expected to undergo three separate evaluations that match up with the Metric's three views: Task Initiation (before the task begins), Mid-Progress Review (halfway through the task), and Wrap-up (once the task has concluded).
To ensure that the Task Initiation view receives an evaluation before the task begins, Marilyn decides to add it to the Create Work wizard.

This way, work creators will not forget to complete their Task Initiation evaluations before starting their Project Tasks.