Hi CA PPM practitioners! Do you have certain types of resources that you always have more demand than capacity to fill? Did you know you can add constrained resource roles to your Portfolio Waterlines view for a quick check and balance against capacity target?
How it Works
Select Roles
Add the critical resource roles to the portfolio Target view. In the example below, our portfolio tracks architect, business analyst, developer, and project manager roles. Note - beginning with 15.1 the number of roles that can be added to a portfolio increased from 25 to 75.
Check Capacity
A glance at the portfolio’s Capacity view quickly highlights several issues between April and June (in red) for 4 of the roles.
Resolve Constraints
Next, we want to examine these roles in further detail as primary constraints by adding them to the Waterlines view.
- Click Configure in the upper right corner of the Waterlines view; select the specific roles to be tracked (they will appear in Selection List as “Role: Architect, Role: Project Manager”, etc.); add them to the List column (can be relabeled).
The selected role’s total demand per investment will display in the Waterlines list (above), as well as the control gauge section at the bottom of Waterlines view (below).
At first glance all looks well (green); the role demand is well within the overall target capacity. Based on the Capacity view, however, we know we have an issue during certain periods.
- In the Aggregate section of Waterline view at top right, select a constrained role (e.g., project manager) to review in further detail.
- Click the “123 icon" in the top left section (see above) to display aggregate amounts by investment by period. In the example below, April and June have a significant variance between demand and target capacity for project managers. The portfolio manager may utilize the Plans Tab feature to conduct a what-if analysis and work with the investment and resource managers to determine the best course of action. If you are using the new 15.2 Resource Management UI it's easier now then ever.
Readers interested in more detail about CA PPM Portfolio Planning and Resource Management can check out DocOps. I encourage you to participate in the best-in-class site, where you have access to your peers, events and support. You can also reach out to CA Services for information about CA PPM and individualized business outcome references and analysis. Feel free to post in the comments section of this blog or contact me directly via email and Twitter @kdobsonppm.