Difference Between Unused Allocation and Remaining Allocation

[Robert_Ensinger]

Hi all.

    In a meeting and I'm being stumped by a Q that I can't find in the Clarity Help. What's the difference between unused allocation and remaining allocation? Appreciate if someone can shed some light on this as well as point me to a good spot in the help or documents.

 

Thanks!

[Legacy User]

Hi Rob,

 

Remaining Allocation = Allocation - Actuals, according to CA Clarity PPM Release 13.1.00 Bookshelf.

 

"Unused Allocation," I cannot find, but I can find "Unused Capacity."

 

Where "Remaining Allocation" is investment based (I'm looking at what is left over within my investments from what I've allocated to my investments), Unused Capacity is looking at one's total available resource capacity vs. what one has allocated to investments.

Again from Bookshelf:  Unused Capacity = Total Capacity - Total Allocation Demand.  If negative, one has over-allocated beyond one's available capacity.

 

Are you seeing "Unused Allocation" somewhere?  If yes, where?  Context may be helpful to understanding.  If you are seeing "Unused Allocation" and since I can't find a reference either, I can only suggest two possible definitions:

 

1. "Unused Allocation" = "Remaining Allocation"  (made an allocation, used some, the rest is unused)
2. "Unused Allocation" = Allocation - Actuals where Actuals is zero (made an allocation, used none, its unused)

 

Hopefully, you are seeing "Unused Capacity" and not "Unused Allocation."  Otherwise, will need another voice to reply or will need to run an SQL trace.

 

Dale

[Robert_Ensinger]

Thanks Dale for digging in and trying to help. Unused Allocation is on the Team Object - the screen shot below is from the Project Team in Clarity 13.2.

 

 

FCAI (For CA's Information...) - the meeting I was in the middle of was one with our PMO director as we're discussing hiring a centralized resource planner. Her belief is this person needs to be a super clarity guru. My belief is that they don't need to be a super clarity guru - they just need to be able to use the tools at their disposal to get to the answers when they need them and build their knowledge as they go. I explained how my two tools for questions like this are the online help and the community. In this example, the online help failed - but Dale, you responded within the hour. Good news here is this speaks volumes about our community. Thank you again. I'll post an idea to address the opportunity.

[Anon Anon]

Hi Robert

 

When looking at a specific investment or resource, the term "unused allocation" appears to be the standard lable used by CA. It is similar to the "capacity-allocation" in the resource portlets with a couple of key differences.

 

"Capacity - Allocation"

• "Capacity - Allocation" = "Availability Rate" - "Allocation" where availability rate = total hours the resource is available in a month, and allocation = total allocations across all investments
• Appears on the summary screens within the resource management module
• When the "Capacity - Allocation" is red it means that the resource is overallocated in total across all investments

 

"Unused Allocation"

• "Unused Allocation" = "Allocations" - ("ETCs" + "Actuals") where allocations are specifc to the project you are viewing, and ETCs and actuals are also specific to that project
• Appears on any screen where you are looking at resource detail - typically within a specific investment, but can also be on the Resource Allocation screen
• When the  "Unused Allocation" is red it means that the resource is overallocated on the specific investment

[Robert_Ensinger]

Kim.Iversen wrote:

 

"Unused Allocation" = "Allocations" - ("ETCs" + "Actuals") where allocations are specifc to the project you are viewing, and ETCs and actuals are also specific to that project

 

Awesome Kim - there it is. Where did you get the definition above?

[Anon Anon]

Rob,

 

I've not found this defiition anywhere other than our internal training material at my company. I use both unused allocation and capacity - allocaiton on a daily basis in my role, and have validated the definition many times while onboarding new resource managers (it's a nice calculator exercise...).

 

...BTW - it sounds like you are implementing a role similar to mine. From experience it is best if the person has some foundational knowledge of Clarity and resource management, but most of what they need to know can be learned on the job.

[Robert_Ensinger]

Thank you Kim for your insight. If you don't mind, we'd love to chat to learn more about what you think makes this role successful. I'll look for you on LinkedIn. I'll also shamelessly plug that if anyone else wants to share their thoughts about their Centralized Resource Planner role with us, please reach out to me directly. We love to learn and benefit from the wisdom in our community.

 

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