⏳ This feature is currently in Beta release.
✔️ Available on Grow (with limits) and Scale subscriptions. 1
See the "Schedule feature access" section in Schedule Introduction for more information.

What
Allocations are the foundation of capacity management in the Schedule — plan your portfolio of work at a high level.
Why
  • Plan ahead at a high level, allocating blocks of time for different types of work that'll be required (ex. design, review).
  • Get into the detail when assigning tasks in projects by aligning them with corresponding allocations. 
  • Balance client work against available resources for high-level, longer term forecasting. 
  • Identify under (and over) utilization and resolve any resource availability gaps.
Who
Who can access the Schedule:
  • Site admins can access the Schedule and view, create, & manage allocations, unavailable time, and tentative projects.
  • Standard users with the profile permissions: 
    • Access resource scheduling (allows users to view the Schedule and any allocations (for anyone) across projects they're a member of).
    • Manage resource scheduling (allows users to create and edit allocations on projects they're a member of).
Whose data is populated in the Schedule:
  • All projects
  • All standard users
When
Anytime you're taking on new clients or projects and need to assess business capacity & resource allocation. Use allocations to map out required resources and unavailable time to track your team's non-working time.
What
Allocations are the foundation of capacity management in the Schedule — plan your portfolio of work at a high level.
Why
  • Plan ahead at a high level, allocating blocks of time for different types of work that'll be required (ex. design, review).
  • Get into the detail when assigning tasks in projects by aligning them with corresponding allocations. 
  • Balance client work against available resources for high-level, longer term forecasting. 
  • Identify under (and over) utilization and resolve any resource availability gaps
Who
Who can access the Schedule:
  • Site admins can access the Schedule and view, create, & manage allocations, unavailable time, and tentative projects.
  • Standard users with the profile permissions: 
    • Access resource scheduling (allows users to view the Schedule and any allocations (for anyone) across projects they're a member of).
    • Manage resource scheduling (allows users to create and edit allocations on projects they're a member of).
Whose data is populated in the Schedule:
  • All projects
  • All standard users
When
Anytime you're taking on new clients or projects and need to assess business capacity & resource allocation. Use allocations to map out required resources and unavailable time to track your team's non-working time.

Before you start

  • The Schedule provides two resource perspectives:
    • Projects: Timeline showing all projects on your site along with their associated members.
    • People: Timeline of all people on your site and their existing allocations on their projects. (Scale subscriptions)
  • Only projects (or users, depending on the view) with existing allocations within the period being viewed are shown by default in the timeline. Additional projects and project members can be added manually.
  • Client users and collaborators are not shown in the Schedule — they cannot be assigned to allocations, unavailable time, or tentative resources.

Allocations

Allocations are blocks of time reserved for different types of work.
  • Ex. You know you'll need X design hours and X review hours for some newly acquired client work, but it's too early to assign that work out.
  • Allocations enable you to capacity plan your resources at a higher level (before breaking it down into tasks) and get insights into your total budgets and potential profits.

Any time a user logs time, it is displayed on the Schedule as a percentage usage towards their allocation.


📝 If you add an allocation that will bring a user over capacity, a warning is shown. This is only for projects, not tentative projects. 

Create an allocation

  1. Click Planning in Teamwork.com's main navigation menu. Planning might be hidden under the ... More option.
  2. Switch to the Schedule tab.
  3. Click Add allocation in the view's top right.
  4. Enter an allocation name. This would usually be the type of task that will be worked on.
  5. Click the color circle on the name field's left to choose an allocation color. We recommend using the same color for the same allocation type which can help you to quickly scan the Schedule for specific allocations (ex. design hours). 
     
    Image Placeholder
     
  6. Click the User icon (Image Placeholder) and select the user to apply the allocation to. 
  7. Click the project field and select a project. You can only choose from projects that the selected user is a member of. 
  8. Enter a start and end date. 
  9. Enter the allocation's total hours. Alternatively, enter the hours per day. 
    📝 The allocation's total hours are equally divided by the number of days (start to due date), so whichever field you update, the other automatically adjusts accordingly.
  10. Mark the time as billable. You can leave this unchecked if the allocation is not billable time. 
  11. Click Save changes. 

The allocation is added for the selected user on the chosen project. 
  • Hover over the allocation to view the allocation summary (start date, end date, assignee, and who allocated the time).
  • Click the allocation to open a quick view panel (allocation name, assignee, allocator, dates, total time). You can also view the user's assigned tasks and time logs matching the allocation's dates.

Drag and drop

Hover over an available slot within a project's (or user's) row. Click and drag from the first day you want the allocation to fall and drop to the allocation's end date. The allocation window opens where you can update its details.


Edit an allocation

Use drag and drop to reschedule an allocation's dates or adjust the allocation's duration.
  • Allocation duration: Click and hold the left or right edge of the allocation, then drag it to a new day to extend or reduce the allocation's duration.
  • Allocation dates: Click and hold the allocation bar, then drag it to a new position to change its start and end dates while maintaining its duration.


Edit allocation details

  1. Hover over an allocation.
  2. Click the pencil icon in the popup.
  3. Update the allocation's details (name, assignee, project, dates, hours, billable status, description). 
  4. Click Save changes. 
 
 

Delete an allocation

  1. Hover over an allocation. 
  2. Click the trash can icon (Image Placeholder) in the popup. 
  3. Click Confirm. 

Best practices

  • Prepare and forecast: Allocate your team's resources ahead of project kick-off so that capacity is understood from the outset.
  • Plan holistically: Create unavailable time entries in addition to allocations so that your team's time (and downtime) is fully accounted for.
  • Check in regularly: Review the Schedule regularly during each month or quarter, ensuring that you can identify and address resource utilization imbalances as they arise.

Next steps


1. Also available on legacy subscriptions: Premium, Enterprise.