Managing Resources with Resource Attributes

    Inspire Planner's Resource Attributes feature allows you to add attributes such as skill, certification, region or expertise, to your project resources so that you can easily identify them. 


    Start with the video below to learn more!
     


    This help article covers the following:

     

    Viewing Resource Attributes

    To view Resource Attributes, create new attributes and assign them to resources, you would need to go to the Resource Attributes Tab.

     


     

    You will see two (2) tabs - Attributes and Resources.


    The Attributes Tab displays all existing attributes. 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, System Administrators have the ability to 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 display.




    The Resources Tab displays both users and contacts by default. If you only want to view users, deselect 'contacts' and vice versa. You can search for a resource be entering the resource name in the search box on top. If both users and contacts are selected, then it will search both lists. If only one is selected (i.e. users not not contacts or vice versa), then it will only search whichever list is selected.

     

    You can click on the column headings to sort resources by name, title or account.


     

    Creating Attributes

    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, go to the Attributes tab and 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.


     

    Please note that while attributes are created in the Resource Attributes tab, Resources are created either as users in Setup, or as contacts in the Contact Tab.


    Editing an Attribute

    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 at the top right corner.



    Make your changes and click on Update.


     

    Editing a Resource

    Resources are either users or contacts to whom project tasks have been assigned to. This means that to create a new resource, you must create them either as a user in Setup or as a contact in the Contacts tab.

     

    You can then choose which fields from the contact or user record to display in the Resource Attributes tab.

     

    To edit resource information, simply click on the resource name from the list of users and/or contacts on the left. The resource details will open on the right. Click on Edit at the top right corner.



    Make your changes and click on Update.



    Assigning Attributes to Resources

    Once you've created attributes, you can now assign them to resources. Assigning an attribute to a resource means that you are essentially "flagging" a resource with an attribute so that you can search for resources based on their attributes.

     

    You can assign an attribute to a resource either from the Attribute or from the Resource.

     

    From an Attribute

    You can assign an attribute to 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 assign the attribute to a user, click on Assign to Users. To assign the attribute to a contact, click on Assign to Contacts.



     

    You can search for a user or contact from either lists using the search box on top of the list. 


     

    Select the user(s) or contact(s) and click on Apply. You can assign an attribute to as many users or contacts as needed.


     

    The attribute details will display all the users and/or contacts the attribute has been assigned to.


     

    From a Resource

    You can assign an attribute to users and contacts from the Resources Tab. Simply click on a user or contact from the list on the left. The resource record will be displayed on the right.


     

    To add an attribute to the resource, simply enter the attribute in the search box and a list of attributes that match the text you enter will display. Click on the attribute you want to add.


     

    All the attributes you select for the resource will be displayed at the bottom of the page. Each attribute is color-coded according to its type (i.e. attributes with a type of skill will appear with the same colour, etc).


     

    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.


    Tags

    Resource Management

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