Resource group planning

Question

I would like to be able to plan resource types, e.g. programmers or testers. With this kind of planning, I am less interested in who specifically performs a given task, but I would like to be able to assign resource types within the total number. For example, a team of testers is 3 FTEs, a team of developers is 6 FTEs, a team of business analysts is 4 FTEs. I would like to plan at an overall (strategic) level the project workloads in each team controlling in the medium and long planning horizon the availability of resources in the teams. I would appreciate suggestions on how to realize such my need.

Yuliia Hushcha _Reliex_ · Answer

Hi  @Krzysztof Bielewicz

You can easily do it using Functional teams feature in the ActivityTimeline plugin.

Functional (Dynamic) team is a group of people that is formed automatically based on either its position or skillset.

When you have your Positions and Skills assigned to users:

You can try to setup a Functional team based on one of these criteria, for this go to Configuration→Teams→Functional (Dynamic) teams→Create a new team→Choose skill/position you want to form a team based on:

After you click 'Create' system will search for every user that has this skill/position and add him/her to this new team:

So you can create programmers or testers teams and track everything in an easy-to-use timeline.

Feel free to text me or book the the demo to get answers on how we can improve your workflow.

Mary from Planyway · Answer

Hi @Krzysztof Bielewicz

Implementing a resource planning strategy in JIRA that focuses on resource types (like programmers or testers) rather than specific individuals can be quite effective for strategic, medium, and long-term planning. This approach requires leveraging JIRA’s flexibility and possibly integrating with other tools or plugins that enhance its resource management capabilities.

1. Custom Fields for Resource Types

* Create Custom Fields: Start by creating custom fields for your issues that represent the resource types you need, such as Programmers, Testers, Business Analysts, etc. These fields can be numeric to represent the Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) required for each task or project phase.

2. Workflows and Schemes

* Customize Workflows: Tailor your workflows to include steps that require planning and review of these resource types. For example, add a planning step where the required FTEs for each resource type are confirmed.

* Permission Schemes: Ensure that only authorized users can edit or assign resources to maintain control over your strategic planning.

3. Dashboards and Reports

* Create Dashboards: Use JIRA dashboards to visualize the allocation of resources across different projects. This could involve creating gadgets that show the number of FTEs used per resource type and comparing this with the total available FTEs.

* Reporting: Leverage JIRA’s reporting tools to track the availability and utilization of your resource types over time. Custom reports can help identify bottlenecks and forecast future resource needs.

4. JIRA Plugins

* Consider using JIRA plugins that are specifically designed for resource planning and portfolio management. Plugins such as Planyway allow for more nuanced resource management, including planning by resource type, capacity planning, and long-term forecasting.