Overview of hours, FTE, and cost information in the Project and Role views of the Resource Planner

Budgeting your resources for the work they must accomplish on a project is the main function of the Resource Planner. You can view your resources’ available time as well as allocate their time to the projects where they are assigned.

For information about budgeting resources in the Resource Planner, see Budget resources in the Resource Planner using the Project and Role views

This article describes some of the key concepts that you need to know before starting to budget your resources in the Resource Planner.

Budgeting resources overview

Consider the following when budgeting resources using the Resource Planner:

  • You can budget the allocation of your resources by specifying an amount of Hours, FTE, or Cost that your resources can use to complete work on projects. When you budget time or cost for a resource, the Available Hours, FTE, or Cost for the resource decreases by the amount budgeted. As a result the Available Hours, FTE, or Cost amounts for the projects that follow the project for which you are budgeting decreases for those users and roles on those projects.

    note important
    IMPORTANT
    You can budget your resources for a period of 15 years. If you budget resources for a project with a duration longer than 15 years the budgeting information might not be accurate.
  • You can budget Hours, FTE, or Cost for your resources for any time frame displayed in the Resource Planner, independent of the timeline of the project. For example, if you want to indicate that your resources might not be available during the timeline of the project (where they are associated with Planned Hours), but they might be available during another time, you can do so by budgeting them for time frames where the Planned Hours are zero, if that is when they become available to work. You can manually change the timeline of the project to match your resource availability after you do this.

    note note
    NOTE
    We recommend that you manually budget your Hours, FTE, or Cost for job roles or for users first. You can use the automatic options to budget time for your projects and resources only when you are sure that the amount of Planned Hours, FTE, or Cost should always match your Budgeted Hours, FTE, or Cost.
    For information about using the automatic options for budgeting in the Resource Planner, see the section “Budget project and roles automatically” in the article Review resource availability and allocation using the Adobe Workfront Resource Planner.
  • Budgeting FTE or costs is identical with budgeting hours, where Adobe Workfront uses the FTE and cost values instead of hours for the resources you budget.

    For more information about understanding how Costs are calculated in the Resource Planner, see Calculate costs in the Resource Planner.

  • Budgeting allocations for your resources in the Resource Planner is done in the following ways:

    • Manually

      Or

    • Automatically, by using the project and role options in the View by Project and View by Role views.

    For more information, see Budget resources in the Resource Planner using the Project and Role views.

  • When a user changes job roles, is deleted, deactivated, or removed from a Resource Pool, the hours budgeted for the role do not change and they get redistributed to the remaining users in the role. If no user is associated with the job role anymore, the Budgeted Hours for the role become zero.

For more information about the project and role options, see the section Understand the values of Hours, FTE, and Cost in the Resource Planner in this article.

Understand the values of Hours, FTE, and Cost in the Resource Planner understand-the-values-of-hours-fte-and-cost-in-the-resource-planner

Before budgeting your resources, and updating the Budgeted Hours information in the Resource Planner, you must be familiar with the following concepts

  • Planned Hours, FTE, or Cost: The work that needs to be done as defined on tasks and issues.
  • Available Hours, FTE, or Cost: The amount of time that users or job roles are available to work, according to the schedules associated with the users.

This information displays in the Resource Planner for each resource (user or role) and for each project.

For information about what displays in the Project and Role Views of the project, see the article Resource Planner navigation overview.

For information about understanding how Costs are calculated in the Resource Planner, see the article Calculate costs in the Resource Planner.

NOTE
Budgeting by Cost is identical to budgeting by Hours or FTE, but you must understand how Workfront calculates Cost for the Resource Planner.
For information about how costs are calculated in the Resource Planner, see the article Calculate costs in the Resource Planner.

The following tables show the allocation and availability information that displays in the Resource Planner when applying either the Project or the Role view. You can view this information by Hours, FTE, or Cost:

The AVL (Available) column the-avl-available-column

Displayed by
Description
Project
The total of Hours, FTEs, or Cost for which all the users on the project are available to work according to their schedule, for the time frame selected.
Role

The total of Hours, FTEs, or Cost for which all the users associated with this role are available to work according to their schedule and their Percentage of FTE Availability for that specific role, for the time frame selected.

Consider the following:

  • If no user is associated with a job role, then the value for the Available Hours for the job role is zero.
  • If a user is associated with a Primary Job Role, but the Percentage of FTE Availability for the role is 0%, the job role Available Hours value is zero.
  • If the user is associated with Other Roles and the Percentage of FTE Availability for the roles is 0%, the Other Roles are not listed in the Resource Planner and the user displays only under their Primary Role.

For more information about the Percentage of FTE Availability for a job role, see the article Edit a user's profile.

For more information about how the job role availability is calculated in the Resource Planner, see the section "Calculate the Available Hours and FTE for a job role in the Resource Planner" in the article Overview of calculating hours and FTE for users and roles in the Resource Planner.

User

Hours, FTEs, or Cost that the user is available to work, according to their schedule, for the time frame selected. This number subtracts the hours associated with the following:

  • schedule exceptions
  • time off of the user
  • hours budgeted for other projects.

The Available Hours, FTEs, or Cost for a user change according the following:

  • the Project Planning Priority, if the user is budgeted for work.
    For more information about how Project Planning Priority affects the Available Hours of a user, see Resource Planner navigation overview.

If the user is scheduled for deactivation, the Available Hours, FTEs, or Cost for the days after the deactivation date are zero.
For more information about deactivating users, see the article Deactivate or reactivate a user.

The PLN (Planned) column the-pln-planned-column

Displayed by
Description
Project

The total of the Planned Hours, FTEs, or Cost from all the job roles or users listed under the project, including in the No Role or No User sections, for the time frame selected, and as displayed in the Project Details tab of the project.

NOTE

Manual adjustments of daily user allocations could change the weekly, monthly, or quarterly Planned Hours value in the Resource Planner. You can manually adjust daily user allocations for tasks and issues using the Workload Balancer. For more information, see Manage user allocations in the Workload Balancer.

Role

The total of the Planned Hours from all the tasks assigned to the role, during the time frame selected.

The No Role section will show the Planned Hours associated with tasks that are either unassigned, assigned to teams (whose hours are listed in the No User section), or assigned to users who are not associated with a job role.

User

The Planned Hours from all the tasks assigned to the user in a specific role, during the time frame selected.

The No User section will show the Planned Hours associated with tasks that are either unassigned or assigned to teams.

Consider the following when viewing Planned Hours:

  • Although you cannot see information about task allocations in the Resource Planner in the Project and Role views, the amount of Planned Hours comes from the Planned Hours on the tasks in the projects.

  • Planned Hours are equally distributed to each day within the Duration of tasks, for each resource assigned to them. The task Duration is based on the task Planned Start and Completion Dates and includes every calendar day within that period of time.
    Workfront takes into account the schedule of the user or of the project when distributing Planned Hours to users or projects. In this case, Planned Hours are equally distributed to each day within the Duration of tasks excluding weekends, time-off days, and schedule exceptions.
    If you display the Resource Planner by Week, for example, and you have tasks that span multiple weeks on projects, the number of Planned Hours per week depends on how many days within that week are part of the task Duration. This works similarly when displaying the Resource Planner by Month or Quarter and when tasks span multiple months or quarters.
    Weekend days, schedule exceptions, and time-off days are excluded from this distribution.

  • The following categories of tasks are included in calculating the Planned Hours for each resource:

    • tasks assigned to users in Resource Pools, job roles, or teams on the project
      If tasks are assigned to teams, their allocation will appear under No Role and No User sections. You can see the Planned Hours associated with teams, but you cannot budget the hours, because no roles nor users are associated with the tasks.

    • unassigned tasks

  • Planned Hours in the Resource Planner do not include Planned Hours associated with the following:

    • parent tasks
    • tasks assigned to users with no Resource Pools
    • issues, when the Include hours from Issues setting is disabled.
  • Planned Hours do not display in the Resource Planner if the task Duration is zero.

  • Planned Hours associated with deactivated users do not display.

The BDG (Budgeted) column the-bdg-budgeted-column

Displayed by
Description
Project

A manual entry to estimate how many hours, FTE, or Cost you budget for a project, for a selected time frame.

In the Project view, the hours you budget for the project are distributed to the job roles listed under the project. The amount of Planned Hours for each role determines how the Budgeted Hours are distributed to the roles. The Budgeted Hours are distributed to the roles with higher Planned Hours values.

In the Role view, the hours you budget for the project are not distributed to the roles or the users on the project.

Role

A manual entry to estimate how many hours you budget for a role, for a selected time frame.

If no user is associated with the job role, you cannot estimate the Budgeted Hours for the job role.

In the Role view, the hours you budget for the role are distributed to the projects listed under the role. The amount of Planned Hours for each project determines how the Budgeted Hours are distributed to the projects. The Budgeted Hours are distributed to the projects with higher Planned Hours values.

In the Project view, the hours you budget for the role are not distributed to the projects or the users associated with the role.

User

A manual entry to estimate how many hours you budget for a user, for a selected time frame.

NOTE You can estimate the Budgeted Hours for users who are not assigned to tasks, but are associated with a Resource Pool on a project because these users also appear in the Resource Planner. Their Planned Hours should be zero, however, if they are not assigned to tasks.

Consider the following when working with Budgeted Hours:

  • You can budget resources only when you have Edit access to Resource Management and Financial Data and Manage Finance permissions on the projects.

    For information about the access needed for budgeting resources, see the article Access needed to budget resources in Adobe Workfront.

  • By default, the Budgeted Hours in the Resource Planner are zero for all resources and for all the projects.

  • You can manually estimate the Budgeted Hours for users and roles, or you can use one of the links in the Project or Job Role More menus to update them according to the number of Planned Hours.
    For more information about project and role options, see the section Overview of hours, FTE, and cost information in the Project and Role views of the Resource Planner in this article.

  • The smallest period of time you can budget hours, FTE, or Cost for is a week. You cannot budget hours, FTE, or Cost for a day.

  • Budgeted Hours are equally distributed to each day within the Duration of tasks, for each resource assigned to them. The task Duration is based on the task Planned Start and Completion Dates and includes every calendar day within that period of time.
    Workfront takes into account the schedule of the user or of the project when distributing Budgeted Hours to users or projects. In this case, Budgeted Hours are equally distributed to each day within the Duration of tasks excluding weekends, but including time-off and schedule exceptions.
    If you display the Resource Planner by Week, for example, and you have tasks that span multiple weeks, the number of Budgeted Hours per week depends on how many days within that week are part of the task Duration. Weekend days are excluded from this distribution. This works similarly when displaying the Resource Planner by Month or Quarter and when tasks span multiple months or quarters.

  • You can report on Budgeted Hours, by selecting Budgeted Hour as your report object for a new report.
    For information about what objects you can report on in Workfront, see the section “Report on objects” in the article Understand objects in Adobe Workfront.
    For information about building a Budgeted Hour report, see the article Report: Budgeted Hour.

  • Hours previously budgeted for users who were later deactivated do not display.

The VAR (Variance) column the-var-variance-column

Displayed by
Description
Project

The Hour, FTE, or Cost Variance shows whether you have enough Budgeted Hours for the project to accomplish all the Planned Hours for the project.

The Project Hour, FTE, or Cost Variance is calculated using the following formula:

Project Hour, FTE, or Cost Variance = Project Budgeted Hours, FTE, or Cost - Project Planned Hours, FTE, or Cost

Role

The Hour, FTE, or Cost Variance shows whether you have enough Budgeted Hours, FTE, or Cost for the role to accomplish the Planned Hours assigned to it.

The Role Hour, FTE, or Cost Variance is calculated using the following formula:

Role Hour, FTE, or Cost Variance = Role Budgeted Hours, FTE, or Cost - Role Planned Hours, FTE, or Cost

User

The Hours, FTE, or Cost Variance shows whether you have enough Budgeted Hours for the user to accomplish the Planned Hours assigned to them.

The User Hours, FTE, or Cost Variance is calculated using the following formula:

User Hours, FTE, or Cost Variance = User Budgeted Hours, FTE, or Cost - User Planned Hours, FTE, or Cost

NOTE
When the Hours, FTE, or Cost Variance displays in red, you have estimated less Budgeted Hours than the Planned Hours of the actual work that needs to be completed. In this case, the Budgeted Hours might not be enough to complete the work.

The NET column the-net-column

Displayed by
Description
Project

The project Net Hours, FTE, or Cost may show one of the following:

  • The difference between the Available time or cost and the Budgeted time or cost for the project:

    Project Net Hours, FTE, or Cost = Project Available Hours, FTE, or Cost - Project Budgeted Hours, FTE, or Cost

  • The difference between the Available time or cost and the Planned time or cost for the project, when the Use Planned (PLN) values in NET calculations setting is enabled:

    Project Net Hours, FTE, or Cost = Project Available Hours, FTE, or Cost - Project Planned Hours, FTE, or Cost

    TIP

    This option is applied only when you customize the view in the Display selected items section.

    For more information, see Review resource availability and allocation using the Adobe Workfront Resource Planner

Role

The role Net Hours, FTE, or Cost may show one of the following:

  • The difference between the Available time or cost and the Budgeted time or cost for the role:

    Role Net Hours, FTE, or Cost = Role Available Hours, FTE, or Cost - Role Budgeted Hours, FTE, or Cost

  • The difference between the Available time or cost and the Planned time or cost for the role, when the Use Planned (PLN) values in NET calculations setting is enabled:

    Role Net Hours, FTE, or Cost = Role Available Hours, FTE, or Cost - Role Planned Hours, FTE, or Cost

    TIP

    This option is applied only when you customize the view in the Display selected items section.

    For more information, see Review resource availability and allocation using the Adobe Workfront Resource Planner

User

The user Net Hours, FTE, or Cost may show one of the following:

  • The difference between the Available time or cost and the Budgeted time or cost for the user:

    User Net Hours, FTE, or Cost = USer Available Hours, FTE, or Cost - User Budgeted Hours, FTE, or Cost

  • The difference between the Available time or cost and the Planned time or cost for the user, when the Use Planned (PLN) values in NET calculations setting is enabled:

    User Net Hours, FTE, or Cost = User Available Hours, FTE, or Cost - User Planned Hours, FTE, or Cost

    TIP

    This option is applied only when you customize the view in the Display selected items section.

    For more information, see Review resource availability and allocation using the Adobe Workfront Resource Planner

NOTE
When the NET Hours, FTE, or Cost display in red, there is not enough Available time or budget to cover either the Budgeted or the Planned time or cost associated with the work. In this case, the resources are overallocated.
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