Resource Capacity Planner – Excel Template – Support
This page will host supporting information for the Resource Capacity Planner Excel Template which can be used to plan resource capacity, compare versus demand and identify over-utilization and under-utilization.
To know the features of this template, please visit the product page.
The latest version (v2) was published in July 2018.
The following are the support articles to help you get started with using the template. If there are any questions not addressed here, please drop a comment and I will add article/video demo about that topic.
- Please see this article on Important Tips before using the template
- Do not edit calculated cells
- Input Data is always visible & can be edited easily
- Backup by saving file regularly
- Refresh Calculations when Pivot Tables are used
- This template uses Excel tables for data entry. If you are not very familiar with Excel tables, please see this article on How to enter data using Excel Tables?
- What is a Table?
- Why do we use Tables?
- Components of a Table
- 3 Basic Data Entry Operations
- 5 Essential Tips to avoid mistakes
- Step by Step User Guide
- Step by step user guide to Resource Capacity Planner Excel template.
- Learn how to enter input data on capacity and demand.
- Find how to use the Capacity planning Dashboard and Calendar to identify over-utilization and under-utilization.
- Learn how to address over-utilization and under-utilization to improve the plan
If you have any questions on the template, please post them in the comments section below. I will respond as soon as I can. If it will benefit others, I will also publish a blog post and video answering your question.
175 Comments
3. When the same resource tag to multiple project; it is counted as (2) Resources in my Report.
Louise Chew (ResourceName) = Project A
Louise CHew(ResourceName) = Project B
Dashboard will output as 2 Resources instead of 1
Can you help to amend the .XLS for me so I can accomodate the Same Resource to (more than 1) Projects?
Thanks. An update is coming soon (before March 4th) that will address assigning resource to multiple projects/skills.
Thanks for your patience.
Best wishes.
Any way you could expedite the process would be much appreciated.
Thank you so much for your kind help!
Blessings,
Louise Chew
What’s the meaning of selected column in Demand sub tab?
Hello,
The selected column is used for calculation. It supplies the data to the pivot tables in the subsequent tabs.
Best wishes
Hi Again
Seems like i have purchased the wrong template, Order #130162, my mail problem is that i will have the same resources being required to work on multiple projects and i need to see where the clashes are. Do you have a template that would help me solve this problem
Thanks
Thanks.
Please try Project Planner https://indzara.com/2013/02/project-planner-basic-excel-template/
If it meets your needs, please email support@indzara.com and I will send a copy of the Project Planner (Advanced) template. https://indzara.com/product/project-planner-advanced-excel-template/
Best wishes.
Hi
I purchased the Capacity planner on February 1st 2019 Order #130162. Can I have a UK version of this, spelling and Currency formatting
Thanks
Kevin
Thanks for purchasing. There is no UK version, but you can edit using the password indzara.
Best wishes.
Hi
I purchased the Capacity planner on February 1st 2019 Order #130162. Can you advise me how i can change the formatting and spelling to let me use the template in the UK please, eg, Utilised rather than Utilised, £ rather the $
Thanks
Kevin
Thanks for purchasing.
You can edit the spelling by unprotecting sheet with indzara as password.
To change currency, steps are outlined in https://indzara.com/2018/07/resource-capacity-planner-excel-template-step-by-step-user-guide/
Best wishes.
How do I increase the project count. I plan for 160-180 projects per year.
Thank you.
Please email support@indzara.com and I will send a version that supports 300 projects.
Best wishes.
Hi Indzara!
I would like a refund on my purchase for the resource planner. I instead will be purchasing the project planner as it better suits my needs. Apologies! Order number: 129478
Thank you. I have issued a refund and replied to your email.
I am glad that the Project Planner template meets your needs.
Best wishes.
I have purchased this template Order #129036. But I wanted to perform following:
1. Multiple resources for multiple projects
2. One resource working with multiple roles across multiple projects
3. Multiple location teams with different weekly hours
4. Multiple location teams different holidays
5. I don’t want to use dummy resources as it causes wrong resources count and additional rework
6. I also want to track planned capacity Vs Actual final capacity used tracking to ensure the accuracy of resource planning
But with this template I am not able to achieve many things so I would like to request refund of the order.
Thanks for purchasing and providing your feedback.
1,2. For scenarios where skill group or role does not factor, Project Planner template will be suited more as it allows tasks/projects to be assigned directly to resources. https://indzara.com/2013/02/project-planner-basic-excel-template/
3. Location is not accounted for in the template specifically. However, each resource’s availability is entered individually. Assuming each resource belongs to only one location, will this address?
4. Holidays in multiple locations: Sorry, this feature is not supported yet. All employees will have same holidays. However, we can add overtime/vacation to specific employees to ensure the correct availability is represented. It is more manual work to enter data though.
5. Project Planner template will be suited more as it allows resources to be assigned to multiple projects. https://indzara.com/2013/02/project-planner-basic-excel-template/
6. For plan vs actual tracking, Project Manager template is designed to do that for one project at a time. https://indzara.com/product/project-manager-excel-template/
I have issued a full refund of the order. Please let me know if there are any questions.
I appreciate your feedback. It will help improve the product.
Best wishes.
Hello,
I need to assign resource work hours to skill groups on a weekly basis vs. per day basis. Is there a way I can change the “standard work hours for each weekday” in the resources tab to “standard work hours for each week?
Thanks in advance,
Thanks for your message.
The unit for calculation is hours. In case you add hours to reflect a week’s requirement, you would not be able to account for the holidays in between.
Best wishes
Hello, How can I assign the same resource to multiple skill groups and multiple projects.? I have a infrastructure team that work on multiple projects, with multiple skills groups. Also the version looks different then from you tutorial video on youtube
Hello
A single resource can be assigned to multiple projects. They have to be entered separately. To assign a resource to 2 projects, we have to enter two entries in Resources sheet. Resource A – Project One, Resource A – Project Two. We have to treat them as two resources. The available time will have to be separately given in the Resources sheet. For example, Resource A – Project One works 6 hours a day while Resource A – Project Two works 2 hours a day. Overall, the person works 8 hours 6 hours for Project One and 2 hours for Project Two.
This is explained in Step 7 in the user guide: https://indzara.com/2018/07/resource-capacity-planner-excel-template-step-by-step-user-guide/ where we illustrate how a resource can be assigned to multiple skills. We use a similar approach to assign to multiple projects.
Best wishes
Hi,
I just purchased the planner and also have an issue with this process of allocating resources to multiple projects. Over the course of 2 years, we could have a resource working on 20 or 30 projects. To add a new resource line for each and every one of these projects as you’ve suggested would be extremely labour intensive and reduce the value of the output results as the data will get quite messy.
Could there be a solution/update in the future which allows single resource lines be allocated to multiple projects?
Thanks
Thanks for your feedback.
Please take a look at the Project Planner template https://indzara.com/2013/02/project-planner-basic-excel-template/ which allows assigning tasks in multiple projects to same resource. In that template, the template itself will schedule the tasks according to availability.
Please let me know if that helps.
Best wishes.
I just purchased this – it’s disappointing to learn that you have to duplicate resources in order to assign them to multiple projects. I’ll give this a shot, but I too may be requesting a refund as this is a fundamental requirement for resource allocation. Showing that someone is underutilized because they are only assigned to 1 project isn’t that helpful. I’ll try this workaround, but wanted to provide that feedback as I am disappointed to learn about this limitation.
Thanks, Susan, for the feedback.
The Project Planner template might be more suited if assigning a single resource to multiple projects is the primary requirement. I have sent that template to you by e-mail.
Thanks & Best wishes.