Resource allocation when adding a team member is not zero?!
When I add a new team member to a project area or team area the resource allocation function automatically calculates a non-zero percentage and assigns it to the newly added team member. This is too presumptive. Is there a way to force the system to either not do this (or, equivalently, do this with zero percent allocation)? If not, is there a way we can install a "post add trigger" (operation behavior) that immediately zeros out the allocation?
I believe this only happens when the user is initially added - is that true? IOW, if I zero out the users allocation after adding them to the team and subsequently assign the same user some work items *and* set estimation data on those work items the allocation percentage for that user on the team remains at zero (that's good) - just checking if that's expected; I suspect the work load scheduler/calculator might not be happy in that since the user has no allocation *and* assigned work the plan should show no ability to complete the assigned tasks (no time left) -- is this true (I haven't tested).
Bottom line Q - the only time that the system assigns a percentage allocation when the user is initially added to the team - true / false (please circle one ;-)
I believe this only happens when the user is initially added - is that true? IOW, if I zero out the users allocation after adding them to the team and subsequently assign the same user some work items *and* set estimation data on those work items the allocation percentage for that user on the team remains at zero (that's good) - just checking if that's expected; I suspect the work load scheduler/calculator might not be happy in that since the user has no allocation *and* assigned work the plan should show no ability to complete the assigned tasks (no time left) -- is this true (I haven't tested).
Bottom line Q - the only time that the system assigns a percentage allocation when the user is initially added to the team - true / false (please circle one ;-)
Accepted answer
One thing to understand about the RTC work allocation model is that there are two kinds of work allocations: I'll call them "tentative" and "confirmed" (note: those are just names I made up). When you add a user as a member of a team/project, that user is given a "tentative" work allocation. In order to convert the users tentative work allocations to confirmed work allocations, go to the work allocation tab in web user editor for that user. If the user has any tentative work allocations, those allocations will be marked with an "asterisk". Modify those work allocations to reflect the right relative effort, and hit "save". Now all of the allocations with become "confirmed".
OK, with all that understood, now we can talk about the "auto-adjustment" you are seeing with work allocations. Auto-adjustment is only applied to tentative work allocations ... the confirmed work allocations are never auto-adjusted. So to prevent an allocation for a given user from being auto-adjusted, just go to the work allocation tab in the user editor, and confirm the current work allocations.
Now as to when auto-adjustment occurs: Whenever you add or remove a user as a member of a team, all of the tentative work allocations of that user are adjusted so that they are equal and when added to the confirmed work allocations of the user, will result in the user being 100% allocated.
Then for the question of how to ensure that when a user is added to a team, that the user is given 0% initial allocation ... one workaround is to make sure that user's confirmed work allocations add up to 100%, by creating a dummy project area to absorb every user's "unallocated time".
OK, with all that understood, now we can talk about the "auto-adjustment" you are seeing with work allocations. Auto-adjustment is only applied to tentative work allocations ... the confirmed work allocations are never auto-adjusted. So to prevent an allocation for a given user from being auto-adjusted, just go to the work allocation tab in the user editor, and confirm the current work allocations.
Now as to when auto-adjustment occurs: Whenever you add or remove a user as a member of a team, all of the tentative work allocations of that user are adjusted so that they are equal and when added to the confirmed work allocations of the user, will result in the user being 100% allocated.
Then for the question of how to ensure that when a user is added to a team, that the user is given 0% initial allocation ... one workaround is to make sure that user's confirmed work allocations add up to 100%, by creating a dummy project area to absorb every user's "unallocated time".
Comments
Thanks for sharing Geoff, I did not know that.
I've also noticed that when a Resource has (ever) had an allocation to a Team, you can't go back to "tentative" allocation for that team (at least, in 5.0).
For example, If I add Sally to a team, set her ("confirmed") allocation to 50%, then remove her from the team, the allocation line disappears from her Work Environment. If I add her back to the team, her allocation is back, "confirmed" and 50%. This is true even if you first assign Sally to three other teams (@ 33% "tentative") before re-assigning her to the first team; i.e., Sally's now 50% allocated to the old team, and 16% to each of the new teams.
Is that expected behavior?
1 vote
Comments
Guido Schneider
Mar 07 '13, 3:57 a.m.I think this behaviour, that the system is distributing the work allocation over all teams a user is member off, is a bad behaviour. A user should have 0% allocated to a team per default. And only manual added work allocations should be counted.
Maybe this should give a Enhancemet Request
Erik anderson
Mar 11 '13, 10:29 a.m.I agree with Guido - we have a hard enough time managing accurate work allocation without the system automatically re-balancing.
Question for Rational - are their any plans to change the behavior (if not, I'll create a work item)
Erik anderson
Mar 11 '13, 10:41 a.m.Nevermind - I found an request for enhancement @ https://jazz.net/jazz/web/projects/Rational%20Team%20Concert#action=com.ibm.team.workitem.viewWorkItem&id=68648
Ralph Schoon
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER Mar 11 '13, 10:47 a.m.If you want a different behavior, I would suggest to look for work items or create an enhancement request. This search shows some hits, but probably not exactly what you want:
https://jazz.net/jazz/web/projects/Rational%20Team%20Concert#action=com.ibm.team.workitem.search&q=allocation%20adding%20a%20team%20member
It is sometimes not trivial to find a work item that matches what you want. In that case, feel free to create an enhancement request using the available RTC menus from the link above. In case they find it being a duplicate, he team will deal with the duplicate and subscribe you to the main one.