booking resources; Bookings tab

The Bookings Tab

Create bookings|Create multiple bookings|

Modify Bookings|Delete bookings|

Grid|Chart| Substitute a resource

The Bookings Tab is where you allocate your company's resources to projects according to their available time. There are five ways to do this:

- To enter, edit or delete bookings for a single resource on a single project, use the Booking method
- To enter, edit or delete bookings for multiple individuals across multiple projects and time periods with different booking types, use the Multiple Booking method
- To enter, edit, or delete bookings for multiple users on a single project, use the "booking grid" feature in the Projects module.
- To enter, edit or delete bookings for multiple individuals across multiple projects and time periods, use the Grid method
- To enter, edit or delete bookings for multiple individuals across multiple projects and time periods, use the Chart method

If you have enabled the option to "Send a notification email to assigned resource whenever a booking is added, modified, or deleted" in the "Resource Options" section of the My Account > Company > Settings dialog box, resources will receive an e-mail message whenever a new booking has been created for them, or when any of their existing bookings have been modified or deleted. The e-mail message will state the client and project to which the user has been booked, the date range of the booking, and the number of hours or percentage of the user's time used for the booking. It also will include any text you have entered into the "Notes" field of the "New/Edit Booking" dialog box.
There is also an option to "Notify line manager of booked resource when a booking is added, modified, or deleted" in the "Resource Options" section of the My Account > Company > Settings dialog box.

Bookings > Create a new booking

1. Click on the "Bookings" tab. The associated table shows you a list of resources and their booked, not booked, and scheduled time for a particular time period (shown in the "start date" and "end date" columns) and project.

2. Select "Booking" from the "Create..." drop-down menu. (Note: You can also choose to create multiple bookings at the same time - see "Create multiple bookings" below.)

3. In the "New booking" dialog, select the resource, the project, a start and end date, and the time required, either in hours or as a percentage of the resource's time. (More information about the two methods is provided in the "tips" at the bottom of the form.) If you have set up booking types in your account, which are used for reporting purposes, you can select one from the "Booking type" drop-down list box. You can also add any relevant notes to the booking.
Note: You can require that users select booking types for bookings they create by enabling the "Require booking type when booking resources" check box on the My Account > Company > Settings page.

4. Click on "Save," or on "Save & create another booking."

5. Clicking on "Save" will take you to the bookings tabled listing, and you will see the message, "The booking was successfully saved."

If you want a booking to be repeated over time (for example, when a resource will be working on a specific project every Monday for two months), rather than having to create multiple bookings individually, you can use the "repeat bookings" feature found on the "New/Edit Booking" dialog box. You can create repeat bookings for new or existing bookings.

To create repeat bookings:

1. Click on the Repeat bookings "Create >" button on the New/Edit Booking dialog box.

2. In the "Repeat" pop-up dialog box, select the frequency and the interval for the bookings. (The "Repeat Every" interval will change to reflect the frequency selected.)

3. Select an end date for the repeat bookings or designate a specific number of repetitions.

4. Click "OK."

5. Click "Save" on the New/Edit dialog box.

Multiple related bookings will be created.

Bookings > Create multiple bookings

1. Click on the Bookings tab.

2. Select "Multiple bookings" from the "Create..." drop-down list box.

3. In the "New bookings" dialog box, make your resource, client:project, start and end date, book by (select hours or percentage), and value (time required) selections. If you have set up booking types in your account, which are used for reporting purposes, you can select a booking type for each of the bookings. If need more rows, select the number of rows you need from the "[Add rows]" drop-down list box.

4. When you are done, click on "Save."

The new bookings will be added to the list on the Bookings tab.

Bookings > Modify an existing booking

1. Click on the "Bookings" tab, and then on the edit icon (pencil) adjacent to the booking you want to change.

2. Make your changes to the "Edit booking" dialog.

3. Click on "Save."

Repeat bookings can be modified individually as above, or as a group.

To modify all repeated instances of a booking:

1. Click on the Bookings tab.

2. Click on the edit icon (pencil) adjacent to one of the repeat bookings you want to change.

3. Make your changes in the "Edit Booking" dialog box.

4. Enable the "Update the repeat bookings to match this booking" check box.

All the instances of the booking will be updated with the changes.

Bookings > Modify bookings in bulk

Booking types, start dates and end dates can be changed for multiple bookings in bulk.

1. From the bookings list, click the customize link at the bottom of the screen.

2.Move “Run an action” to the list of selected items on the right, and click OK. 3. This displays a column of checkboxes in the bookings list. Check the boxes for the bookings to be modified. To toggle the entire column of checkboxes on and off, click the icon at the top of the column.

4. Click the circling arrows icon to run the action. Available options are to delete the selected bookings, change the booking type of the selected bookings, or change start and end dates of the selected bookings. Select the desired action and click OK.

Bookings > Delete an existing booking

1. Click on the "Bookings" tab, and then on the edit icon (pencil) adjacent to the booking you want to delete.

2. Click on the "Delete" button in the "Edit booking" dialog.

Repeat bookings can be deleted individually as above, or as a group.

To delete repeat bookings:

1. Click on the "Bookings" tab.

2. Click on the edit icon (pencil) adjacent to one of the repeat bookings.

3. Enable the "Delete the repeat bookings" check box.
Note: The repeat booking you have selected will not be deleted. All other instances of the booking will be deleted.

4. Click on "Save."

All other instances of the booking will be deleted. The current booking will remain.

Bookings > Delete bookings in bulk

1. From the bookings list, click the customize link at the bottom of the screen.

4. Click the circling arrows icon to run the action. Choose the option to delete the selected bookings and click OK.

Bookings > Grid

1. Click on the Bookings tab, then "Grid," then "Settings" to set the parameters for the booking grid. (Note: settings are on a per user basis, so other users will not be affected by changes.)

2. Select the time period by which you want to book and the number of periods to display.

3. Select the number of blank lines you want to appear.

4. Choose the order in which you want columns to appear.

5. Choose a default resource, project and booking type, if desired. These can be overwritten in the grid.

6. Indicate whether to book resources by percentage of their time or by total hours.

7. Apply resource filters by resource, department or job code to limit the resources displayed on the grid.

8. Check the box if you want to show only your own bookings on the grid.

9. Click on "Save" and then on "Grid" to start booking resources.

10. Enter the desired bookings and click "Save."

Note: You can shift the dates displayed in the grid by clicking on the arrows at the top. The single arrow moves the grid by one time period, and the double arrow moves the grid by the number of displayed periods. You can also jump to a specific date by clicking the calendar icon and clicking on the desired start date.

Note: The grid will display only bookings that exactly match the time period in the grid.

Bookings > Chart

1. Use the customize link at the bottom of the chart to select fields to be displayed and order of display. Options are resource, chart and details.

2. Click on the Bookings tab, then "Chart," then "Settings" to set the parameters for the booking chart. (Note: settings are on a per user basis, so other users will not be affected by changes.)

3. Select the detail level (daily/weekly/monthly) of the time period by which you want to book and the number of periods to display.

4. Indicate whether to book resources by percentage of their time or by total hours.

5. Filter on resource, department and/or job code, if desired.

6. Use the checkboxes to indicate whether to include active resources without bookings and/or inactive resources with bookings.

7. Select the maximum number of resources to be displayed.

8. Select resource details to be displayed. Options include calendar, profile, engagement history, job code. Note: If the detail column is not visible on the chart, use the 'customize' link at the bottom of the chart form to include the detail column.

9. Select color coding for booking types. Up to seven color codes are supported, and the order of the colors can be changed. At the top of the chart, a dropdown letsyou toggle between the standard view (bookings vs. overage) and the new "color-coded by booking type" view. If there are bookings that do not have a booking type, or if a particular booking type has not been assigned a color in the settings form, the bookings will be displayed as gray

10. Click on "Save" and then on "Chart" to start booking resources.

11. Enter the desired bookings:
a) To create a booking or multiple bookings for any resource, go to the "Create ... " dropdown list box.
b) To create a booking for a resource listed on the chart, click on the hyperlinked resource name. (Note: hovering the mouse over the resource name displays a screen tip: "Create booking for [Resource name]".) A new booking form, prepopulated for the selected user opens. Enter booking information and click "Save" to return to the chart. The new booking will be displayed on the chart (provided the booking meets the criteria defined in the chart settings).

12. Click on a bar in the chart to view bookings for that resource within the time range indicated by the bar. (Note: hovering the mouse over the resource name displays a screen tip: "Bookings during period for this resource".)
13. Click the Booked link, under the resource name, to view all of the bookings for that resource. (Note: hovering the mouse over the resource name displays a screen tip: "Bookings for this resource".)
14. To move through the chart, either click the booking start/end date links for any resource, or click the moving arrows above the bar charts. The single arrow moves the chart one day for daily charts, one month for monthly charts. The double arrows move the chart one week for daily charts, one year for monthly charts. (Note: hover the mouse over the date links or arrows to display screen tips.)
15. Click the Calendar icon to view the resource's schedule. This brings up the graphical calendar, with access to project task assignments, schedule requests and bookings for the selected user, in daily, weekly or monthly format.