Think of Resource Attributes as the different characteristics of your resources. You can create attributes such as skills, certifications, region or expertise, and assign them to your project resources so that you can easily search for them when you want to see their utilization and/or availability.
For example, if you would like to assign tasks to a Developer but would like to see who among your developers has capacity or is available, you will go to Resource Utilization and search for "Developer" as an attribute and Inspire Planner will return all resources you've tagged with the "Developer" attribute.
This help article will show you how to:
To view Resource Attributes, create new attributes and assign them to resources, go to the Resource Management Tab.
There are three (3) subtabs within Resource Management - Utilization, Resources and Attributes. Go to Attributes.
The Attributes Tab displays all existing attributes in a list on the left of the page. You can click on a column heading to sort attributes by the attribute name or by type. By default, there are four (4) types of Attributes - Certification, Skill, Region and Expertise. However, Salesforce System Administrators have the ability to create/customize attribute types.
It is best practice to search for an attribute first before you create a new one. This prevents you from creating duplicate attributes. To search for an attribute, enter the attribute in the search box. Attributes that match the text you enter will be displayed.
You are able to create as many attributes as you need and classify them according to their types (i.e. skill, certification, region or expertise).
To add a new attribute, click on Add New Attribute.
Enter an Attribute name and specify the Type. You can also add any other information pertaining to the attribute, such as a description. Click on Create when you are finished populating all attribute information.
The attribute you created should now be displayed within the list of attributes on the left.Please note: If you would like to search for resources in the Resource Utilization component by role, you will need to create your roles as attributes and then assign them to your resources. There is an Inspire Planner system job that the Salesforce System Administrator can run from the Inspire Planner Settings page that will automatically create attributes for each value in the Role picklist. For more information, please see Admin Guide - Resource LWC - BETA - Auto-Create Attributes for Roles.
To edit an attribute, simply click on the attribute name from the list of attributes on the left. The attribute details will open on the right. Click on Edit in the top right corner.
Make your changes, then click on Update.
To delete an attribute, click on the attribute from the list of attributes on the left. The attribute details will open on the right. Click on Delete in the top right corner.
An Attribute Group is a group of attributes. When searching for resources in Resource Utilization, you can choose to search for individual attributes or for an attribute group.
Before creating an attribute group, start by creating each attribute you would like to add to an attribute group. For example, let's say we would like to create an attribute group called "Greater Toronto Area" which would include the different municipalities in and around Toronto. We need to create each city/municipality as its own attribute record.
After you've created each individual attribute, you will then create a new attribute which will be your attribute group. To make an attribute an attribute group, set "Group" to TRUE.
You will also need to choose the operator to apply between attributes in this group. This gives you the flexibility to define how resources are returned for an attribute group.
You can select the attribute type and populate the description. Click on Create to save it.
Then, in the section labeled "Pick attributes to add to this group", search for and select each attribute you would like to add to the attribute group.
The attributes you select will be displayed below the search box. These are the attributes that are now part of this attribute group.
Once you've created attributes, you can now assign them to resources. Assigning an attribute to a resource means that you are essentially "tagging" a resource with the attribute, so that you can search for them in Resource Utilization.
You can assign an attribute to a resource either from the Attributes Tab or from the Resources Tab.
Please note:
You can assign individual attributes or attribute groups to a resource. When you search for attributes or attribute groups in the Utilization tab, Inspire Planner returns resources tagged with the attribute, attribute group, or attributes within the attribute group. For more information on filtering by attributes or attribute groups, please see Resource LWC - BETA - Additional Filters
You can assign an attribute or attribute group to resources (users and contacts) from the Attribute record. Simply click on an attribute or attribute group from the list on the left. The attribute details will be displayed on the right.
To assign the attribute or attribute group to a user, click on Assign to Users. To assign to a contact, click on Assign to Contacts.
You can search for a user or contact from either list using the search box on top of the list. You can search by first name, last name or full name.
Select the user(s) or contact(s), then click on Apply. You can assign the attribute or attribute group to as many users or contacts as needed.
The attribute details will display all the users and/or contacts the attribute or attribute group has been assigned to.
You can also assign an attribute or attribute group to resources (users and contacts) from the Resource record. Simply click on the Resources Tab.
Users are selected and displayed by default. However, you can select the type of resource you would like to see in the list (users only, contacts only or both).
To assign an attribute or attribute group to a resource, start by clicking on the resource's name from the list of users/contacts on the left. This will open the resource's record on the right.
In the box labeled "Pick attributes to add", start typing in the name of the attribute or attribute group. This will return all attributes and/or attribute groups that match the characters you entered. Click on the attribute or attribute group to assign it to the resource.
You can assign more than one attribute or attribute group to the same resource. Simply repeat the step above - search for and select the attribute or attribute group you would like to assign to the resource. The attributes and/or attribute groups you assigned to the resource are displayed below the search box.
Attributes of the same type are displayed in the same color (i.e. attributes of type "skill" will be displayed in the same color, etc.).Please note: If you have custom attribute types, your Salesforce System Administrator will need to assign colors to them. Otherwise, they will display in the same colour. For more information on how to assign colors to custom attribute types, please see Admin Guide - Configure Resource Attributes.
If the attribute or attribute group no longer applies to a resource, you can remove the attribute or attribute group from the resource from either the Attributes Tab or the Resources Tab.
You can unassign an attribute or attribute group from resources (users and contacts) from the Attribute record. Simply click on an attribute from the list on the left. The attribute details will be displayed on the right.
To unassign the attribute or attribute group from a user, click on Assign to Users. To unassign from a contact, click on Assign to Contacts.
Deselect the user/contact and click on Apply.
The user/contact should no longer be listed under Assigned Users or Assigned Contacts.
You can also unassign an attribute or attribute group from resources (users and contacts) from the Resource record. Simply click on the Resources Tab.
To unassign an attribute or attribute group from a resource, start by clicking on the resource's name from the list of users/contacts on the left. This will open the resource's record on the right.
Click on the "X" beside the attribute or attribute group to remove it.
The Resource Attributes feature is configurable, so you are able to customize attribute types, add custom fields or add a lookup to another object. To learn how, see Configuring Resource Attributes.