Entering Resource Vacation Schedules in Project Online

Entering Resource Vacation Schedules in Project Online

The summer vacation season is upon us! With Project Online, a common question is how should organizations without the use of the Project Online timesheet functionality, enter resource vacation schedules to impact capacity planning and project scheduling? The steps detailed below will provide a workaround for updating resource ‘working exceptions’ (i.e., vacation or PTO).

Before you get started, verify that you have sufficient privileges to make the necessary changes. To update resource calendars in Project Online, users must have the following credentials:
1. Permission/access to view Project Online resources in the ‘Resource Center’, via the RBS (if the RBS is enabled)
2. Permissions to ‘Edit Enterprise Resource Data’

Access the ‘Resource Center’ by navigating to your Project Online environment and clicking the Resources link to access the ‘Resource Center.’

To update the calendar of the desired resources, locate and select the desired resources, then click the ‘Open’ (in MS Project) icon in the ‘Resources’ section of the ‘Resources’ tab.

Click ‘Yes’ to launch MS (Micrsoft Project) with the selected resources.

Note – You must have MS Project Professional connected to your Project Online environment in order to open and edit Enterprise Resources from the ‘Resource Center’.

Access the ‘Resource Information’ Screen. In MS Project Professional, right-click on the desired resource and select ‘Information’ to activate the (Resource) ‘Information‘ screen.

Change Working Time. On the ‘Resource Information’ screen, click the ‘Change Working Time…’ button to access the selected resource’s calendar.

Enter the (Work) ‘Exceptions’, then click OK to exit the ‘Change Working Time’ screen.

Click ‘OK’ to exit the (Resource) ‘Information’ screen.

Save Resource Calendar Updates. Once all of the resource calendars have been updated, go to File >> Save in MS Project Professional to save the updates.

Check-In the Checked-Out Enterprise Resources. Click File >> Close to check-in the checked-out enterprise resources.

Verify Resource Capacity Updates in Project Online. Navigate to ‘Capacity Planning’ View. In Project Online’s ‘Resource Center’, with the updated resources selected, click the ‘Capacity Planning’ icon.

Navigate to the ‘Remaining Availability’ view, then update the ‘Set Date Range’ values to reflect the appropriate date range.

a. Review the supporting data table (located below the graph) to verify resource capacity updates.

Need to know more or need the assistance of our consulting team? Don’t hesitate to reach out to your Wicresoft representative!