Resource Usage Profile

What a planner means

Resource Usage Profile is a view. Oracle: "Use the Resource Usage Profile to analyze quantity or cost usage for resources or roles." "You can view a resource's or role's cost and quantity data for a specific project or for all projects across the enterprise (total allocation)." It is not the Resource Usage Spreadsheet (Resource Usage Spreadsheet — timescaled grid; Oracle: with privilege you can type Budgeted or Planned Units and Remaining (Early) Units), not the Activity Usage Spreadsheet (Activity Usage Spreadsheet — Oracle: "You cannot change the data"), not the Activity Usage Profile (Activity Usage Profile — activity units/cost histogram), not typed future-period buckets (Future Period Buckets Are Typed Assignment Units, Not a Curve), not a 21-point resource curve (Resource Curves (Not MSP Work Contours)), not Store Period Performance (Store Period Performance Posts This Period, Then Zeros It), not FINDATES (Financial Periods Are Named Buckets, Not the Data Date), not high-level Planning-page demand (High-Level Planning Assignments Sit on WBS or Project, Not TASK), and not Tracking Resource Analysis (Top Layout / Bottom Layout, Project Explorer / Resource Explorer, Profile Settings).

Professional — Activities window active: View > Show on Bottom > Resource Usage Profile, or Layout Options bar > Show on Bottom, Resource Usage Profile, or the Bottom Layout toolbar. Bottom Layout toolbar: "Shows or hides the Resource Usage Profile in the bottom layout" (enabled when the active window is Activities; corresponding menu: View > Show on Bottom > Resource Usage Profile). Oracle: "The Resource Usage Profile is available only in the bottom layout of the Activities window." The Top Layout toolbar lists Resource Usage Spreadsheet (Resource Assignments) and Activity Usage Spreadsheet (Activities), not this profile. Oracle did not print a Show on Top command for Resource Usage Profile.

Oracle: "Choose to display vertical bars to represent costs or units allocated to your resources for each timeperiod, and include cumulative curves to represent accumulated units and costs over time." Display page: "The numbers on the left side of the Resource Usage Profile correspond to the vertical bars. The numbers on the right side of the Resource Usage Profile correspond to the cumulative curves (these numbers appear only if you include cumulative curves in the profile)."

Use it to "Determine how many hours each resource is scheduled to work"; "Identify overloaded resources"; "Track expenditures per timeperiod"; "Determine resource usage by late dates"; "Display a \"banana\" curve to compare early and late dates"; "Display different colors or patterns on the histogram bars when showing the stacked histogram." Oracle listed banana curve as a use. Oracle did not print which bar/curve checkboxes produce it. Do not invent Remaining Early + Remaining Late as the banana control.

Two panes — Oracle: "The bottom layout window is divided into two panes." "The left pane lists all the resources or roles stored in the hierarchy, depending on your current view. In the stacked histogram view, the left pane lists all the resource or role filter/group names in the hierarchy." "The right pane displays the values for the activities assigned to each resource or role in the histogram, or resource or role filter/group name in the stacked histogram." This is not the Resource Usage Spreadsheet's three-pane Open Projects Only layout.

Regular Histogram vs Stacked Histogram — Display Options bar in the profile > Stacked Histogram. "The options available to define the Resource Usage Profile depend on whether you display the Regular Histogram or the Stacked Histogram." Display Options bar > Resource Usage Profile Options, or right-click in the profile and choose Resource Usage Profile Options. Data tab and Graph tab. Oracle titled the dialog help Resource Usage/Role Profile Options.

By Resource / By Role — left-pane Display Options bar > Select View, By Resource or By Role. Regular Histogram: "You choose the resources to include in the profile by selecting them in the left pane of the Bottom Layout window." Stacked: add resource or role filters (below).

Show All Projects vs a specific project — right-pane Display Options bar > Show All Projects. A check indicates it is selected. Specific project: "make sure Show All Projects is not selected." All projects: choose Show All Projects if it is not already selected. View allocation by resource or by role from the left-pane Select View.

Filter (Display Activities for Selected) — Oracle, when viewing the profile for a specific project: you can filter the Activity Table, Gantt Chart, Activity Usage Spreadsheet, or Activity Network so they correspond to the resource information in the profile. Left pane select the resource, then in Display Activities for Selected mark Resource (activities assigned to that resource) or Time Period (then click a timeperiod in the profile). Time Period: "the currently selected timeperiod highlights and the cursor changes to a crosshair"; selected timeperiod is highlighted and the top layout is filtered to that timeperiod. Do not copy Resource Usage Spreadsheet's Assignments checkbox onto this view (that checkbox is the spreadsheet's middle pane).

Resource Usage Profile Options — Regular Histogram

Options "differ depending on whether you display the profile in resource or role view, and on whether you choose to display resource allocation for one or more open projects or total allocation for all projects across the enterprise."

Data tab — Display — Cost or Units. "Display Actual using Financial Period data": mark it for past period actual values; do not mark it for actual to date values. Data-tab dialog (stacked page; same option name): "Mark to display past period actuals stored in financial period intervals for the actual bar and curve. When you choose this option, stored financial period actuals are distributed evenly, within each financial period, from the financial period start date to the financial period end date." "If you do not choose this option, the profile spreads actual to date values evenly from the actual start to the data date or actual finish date of the activity or assignment (unless you manually enter non-linear values when planning assignments to activities)." If projects are summarized by financial period (administrative setting), "this option is ignored." Then, with a financial period timescale: "the profile displays past period actual values if performance has been stored for a financial period; for financial periods that do not have stored performance, the profile displays actual to date values in financial period intervals." Tracking specify-regular page: if you mark that option, "the profile displays past period actual values for the Actual bar and curve as well as the Show Overallocation and Show Available Units options."

Data tab — Show Bars/Curves — Oracle: "mark the checkbox to specify which cost/unit categories you want to display and whether to show these data by date or as a curve representing cumulative value. Select the color for each bar/curve." Oracle did not print the category names (Budgeted or Planned / Actual / Remaining Early / Remaining Late or any other catalog) on the Resource Usage Profile pages fetched. Do not invent one. Do not copy Activity Usage Profile's Baseline / Budgeted or Planned / Actual / Remaining Early / Remaining Late / PV / EV / EAC list onto this view.

Data tab — remaining values (all projects / roles) — If the profile displays allocation across the enterprise (all projects), "you can choose how you want to display remaining values: as total values across all projects in the enterprise, or as values in the open projects vs. values in closed projects." Regular Histogram Preferences sentence names Show Remaining Bars As, Total Remaining. All-projects tip: "You can specify whether you want to display remaining units as one value or as separate values for open versus closed projects." If displaying roles: "you can choose to view staffed vs. unstaffed costs/units. Staffed units are those for which resources have been assigned to fill role assignments." Specific-project tip (By Role): "you can include remaining units in the profile and specify whether you want remaining units displayed as a single value for all projects or as separate values for staffed versus unstaffed projects." All-projects By Role tip: "an additional option is available for displaying remaining units as separate values for staffed versus unstaffed projects."

Data tab — Additional Data Options (Regular Histogram) — Oracle printed these names. Quote them; do not collapse them into one checkbox.

• Show Overtime (open projects view only): "Mark to show the resource's overtime units for each time unit in the current layout." Overtime page: "The Show Overtime checkbox displays only when you view resources for a specific project. It is not available when viewing projects across the enterprise." Specific-project tip: "you can include resource overtime."
• Show Limit: "Mark to show the resource's maximum units for each timescale interval in the current layout. This option is available only if you choose to display Units."
• Show Overallocation: "Mark to display overallocated values in the current layout. This option is available only if you choose to display Units and select Show Limit."
• Show Available Units: Regular Histogram define: "Mark to display a horizontal line that indicates the resource's available units. This option is available only if you choose to display Units." Availability page: "The Show Available Units checkbox appears only when you view resource allocation for all projects across the enterprise, that is, when Show All Projects is selected. However, to show resource availability only for open projects, you can edit your user preferences. In the Resource Usage/Role Profile Options dialog box, click Preferences, then click the Resource Analysis tab. In the All Projects section, choose Opened Projects Only." Tracking specify-regular: "This option is available only if you choose to display All Projects." Oracle printed all three. Do not invent which page wins.

A separate Activities page titled Show or hide resource limits says Data tab, Additional Data Options: mark or clear Show Limit and Show Allocated Limit. Tip on that page: "The Show Limit and Show Allocation Limit checkboxes are available only when you display units for the histogram. The Show Allocated Limit checkbox is only available if you display open projects only." All-projects tip: you can include "resource limits, planning limits, overallocation, and available units." Oracle printed Show Overallocation, Show Allocated Limit, Show Allocation Limit, and planning limits. Do not invent that they are the same control.

Resource Usage Profile Options — Stacked Histogram

Display Options bar > Stacked Histogram, then Resource Usage Profile Options.

Data tab — Display — At Completion Units or At Completion Cost (not the Regular Histogram's Cost or Units pair). Same Display Actual using Financial Period data option.

Data tab — Show — No cumulative curve; Individual cumulative curves ("a cumulative curve, in the color specified, for each selected resource/role filter/group name"); Total cumulative curve ("a cumulative curve for the total At Completion Units/Cost for all selected resource/role filter/group names"). Stacked define: "choose to show individual curves representing the cumulative value for each filter/group name of resources or choose to show one cumulative curve as a total for all filter/group names of resources."

Data tab — Resource/Role Filter/Group Name — "Add a resource or role filter to view in the profile." Double-click the field to modify; Add for a new filter; Delete to remove. "Create a resource or role filter specification to select an individual resource or role, or a group of resources or roles. For example, you can specify a filter that selects resources with the same resource code value." Pattern and Color per filter/group name. Up/Down arrows: "arrange the filter list in the order it will display in the stacked histogram." "The bars will be stacked in the order they are listed." Left-pane legend "displays a list of the resource filters and their corresponding colors and patterns." Stacked Preferences sentence names Show Remaining For, All Projects.

Oracle did not print Show Limit / Show Overallocation / Show Overtime / Show Available Units on the Stacked Histogram define or stacked Data-tab pages fetched. Do not invent them on stacked.

Graph tab (Regular and Stacked) — Vertical Lines: Major / Minor timescale increments. Horizontal Lines: Dotted, Solid, or None; Line Color. Additional Display Options: 3D Bars ("display the profile's bars in 3D" / dialog: "display resource usage bars in three dimensions"); Show Values ("display the values of each bar in the histogram"); Background Color; Calculate Average; Divide Interval Totals By; Base on Hours Per Timeperiod; Unit of Measure. Regular Histogram also lists Show Legend ("display a legend for the profile's bars/curves"; Tracking specify-regular: "a moveable legend"). Stacked define / stacked Graph tab did not print Show Legend. Do not invent it on stacked.

Base on Hours Per Timeperiod: Regular and Stacked define pages and both Graph-tab dialogs say the increment comes from User Preferences for the date interval ("1h for Hour date interval, 2h for Shift date interval, 8h for Day date interval, 40h for week date interval, and so on"). Oracle did not print an Admin Preferences / Application Settings hours-per-time-period sentence on the Resource Usage Profile pages fetched. Do not copy Activity Usage Profile's Admin vs User disagreement onto this view.

Preferences — Resource Analysis tab (User Preferences) — Regular Histogram: "To specify the interval and dates to use to calculate time-distributed data for the profile, and to specify which projects are included (open only or open and specific closed projects) when you select the Show Remaining Bars As, Total Remaining option, click Preferences. Then, click the Resource Analysis tab." Stacked: same click, named Show Remaining For, All Projects. Oracle: that tab specifies "which projects are included in remaining value calculations and which dates and time interval are used to calculate time-distributed data for resource spreadsheets and profiles."

All Projects: All closed projects (except what-if projects) — "Live data displays for open projects and stored summary data for closed projects"; All closed projects with leveling priority equal/higher than; Opened projects only. Time-Distributed Data: Remaining Early dates ("calculate values based on remaining start/finish dates") or Forecast dates ("calculate values based on forecast start/finish dates"). Interval for time-distributed resource calculations: if the layout timescale is lower than this interval, "the calculated amount displays in the first timescale increment." Display the Role Limit based on: Custom role limit, or Calculated primary resource's limit (default), with optional Exclude inactive resources. Oracle: "Role limits are calculated and displayed in charts and spreadsheets (such as the Resource Usage Profile and Resource Usage Spreadsheet) based on the option you select below." That is a User Preference for how role limits display. It is not an XER column on this view. See roles; do not treat ROLELIMIT as this profile.

Timescale — Oracle: "You can change the timescale for a Gantt Chart, profile, or spreadsheet." Layout Options bar > Timescale. When top and bottom both show a timescaled layout, changing the timescale (or zooming) affects both windows. Zoom in/out applies to a "timescaled layout (Gantt Chart, spreadsheet, or profile)."

Financial-period timescale + all projects — Oracle: "When you display a financial period timescale and display data for all projects (rather than for open projects only), activity and resource data must be summarized by financial period to accurately display data for closed projects." Professional database: Admin, Admin Preferences, Options tab, 'By financial periods'. EPPM database (Professional connected to EPPM): Application Settings, General link in P6, same checkbox. All-projects tip: "When viewing past period actual values across all projects, the profile displays summary past period actual values for closed projects."

Curves, typed buckets, and this view — Oracle: "If you are displaying actual to date values (rather than past period actual values) and you do not want the resource unit/cost values spread evenly, use resource curves to distribute those values nonlinearly, or manually enter values for assignments in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet. The Resource Usage Profile reflects the resource curves and manual values." You do not type buckets here. See Future Period Buckets Are Typed Assignment Units, Not a Curve and Resource Usage Spreadsheet. Oracle: you can "compare the planned future period resource distribution to actual units and costs in the Resource Usage Profile, Resource Usage Spreadsheet, Activity Usage Profile, Activity Usage Spreadsheet, time-distributed reports, and the Tracking window."

Negative values and profile details — Oracle: "Bars and cumulative curves with negative values do not display in the profile. You can view the negative values in the profile details. Double-click in the profile area to view the profile details." "When displaying units, bars do not display for summary rows if your selection contains mixed units of measure or a mixture of labor/ nonlabor and material type resources." Allocation pages: "Bars do not display for summary rows if your selection contains a mixture of labor/ nonlabor and material resources. Dashes display in the Total and Cumulative columns in the profile details."

Print — Oracle: "When you print a layout which includes the Resource Usage Profile, you can choose to print the resources included in that profile in the header or footer. Where there are ten or fewer resources in the profile, the Resource IDs of all resources included in the profile are included in the footer." "Where there are 11 or more resources in the profile, the filter selected for resources is printed instead."

This is not Activity Usage Profile (Show on Bottom histogram of activity units/cost; Labor / Nonlabor / Material / Expenses / Total; PV / EV / EAC). Oracle on Activity Usage Profile: "Use the Activity Usage Profile to view cost or unit values for activities in the open project over time."

This is not Resource Usage Spreadsheet (timescaled grid; Activities Show on Bottom or Resource Assignments Show on Top; you can type Planned / Remaining Early Units).

This is not Tracking Resource Analysis. Tracking pages use Top Layout / Bottom Layout, Project Explorer / Resource Explorer, and Display Options bar > Top Layout Options or Bottom Layout Options, Profile Settings (or Stacked Histogram). Oracle: Tracking Bottom Layout profile "shows one or more selected resources' total allocation across the enterprise." Do not treat Tracking Project Gantt/Profile as this Activities Show on Bottom view.

The Professional pages fetched do not print an EPPM web Resource Usage Profile. The "When connected to a P6 EPPM database" sentences are Professional connected to EPPM (where the By financial periods checkbox lives). Do not invent a web view.

XER

The view is a layout (Professional bottom layout on Activities). Oracle's project XER data map TOC lists no RESOURCEUSAGE, RSRCUSAGE, USAGE, PROFILE, HISTOGRAM, or LAYOUT table. Do not invent one. Profile Options (Cost vs Units vs At Completion Units/Cost, Regular vs Stacked, bar/curve picks, colors, filters, Show All Projects, Show Limit / Overallocation / Available Units / Overtime), timescale, and selected resource/role are not columns on the cited TASK or TASKRSRC maps. Oracle did not name an XER table or column for this view.

ROLELIMIT is on the TOC (Role Limits). That is not this view. Do not invent that the histogram stores in ROLELIMIT.

What you can display as bars or curves is not a dedicated profile table:

• Typed future-period buckets: no dedicated table. See Future Period Buckets Are Typed Assignment Units, Not a Curve.
• Named curves: RSRCCURV / TASKRSRC.curv_id. See Resource Curves (Not MSP Work Contours).
• Stored past-period actuals: TASKFIN / TRSRCFIN. See Store Period Performance Posts This Period, Then Zeros It.
• Named financial-period calendar: FINDATES. See Financial Periods Are Named Buckets, Not the Data Date.

A Viewer parse of one XER cannot reconstruct whether the planner had Show on Bottom set to Resource Usage Profile, Regular vs Stacked, which resources/roles or filters were selected, Show All Projects, which bars/curves or Additional Data Options were on, or the last timescale.

Microsoft Project

Desktop Project has Resource Graph. Microsoft: "View resource allocation, cost, or work over time for a single resource or group of resources at a time. Information is displayed in a column graph format." "The Resource Graph view displays a bar chart view of an individual resource's workload and availability." Resource tab > Resource Graph. "If the resource name is listed in red, then the resource is overallocated. Resources listed in black are allocated either exactly at or under their full capacity." Blue bars (default) are at or below max units; red bars are overallocation. Format > Graph can show Work Availability. Peak units are listed at the bottom of the graph. Closer to this resource/role histogram than to Activity Usage Profile.

Desktop Project has Resource Usage. Microsoft: "Review, enter, and edit assignments by resource." Usage views "list task or resource data in rows and columns on the leftmost side of the view, and show timephased data across rows and columns on the rightmost side of the view." Closer to Resource Usage Spreadsheet than to this profile.

They are not the same object as Resource Usage Profile. Oracle's profile is resource/role units/cost as vertical bars and cumulative curves on Activities Show on Bottom (regular or stacked; limits / overallocation / availability / overtime as printed). Microsoft's Resource Graph is a column graph of one resource at a time. Microsoft's Resource Usage is a timescaled assignment grid you can edit.

Do not map Resource Graph or Resource Usage as the same command as Resource Usage Profile. Do not claim MPXJ can write a real MPP.

Don't

• Treat Resource Usage Profile as Resource Usage Spreadsheet, Activity Usage Spreadsheet, or the place you type future-period buckets.
• Treat it as Activity Usage Profile (activity histogram; Labor / Nonlabor / Material / Expenses / Total; PV / EV / EAC).
• Treat it as a 21-point RSRCCURV, as FINDATES, as TASKFIN / TRSRCFIN, as Planning-page WBSRSRC_QTY, or as ROLELIMIT.
• Treat it as Tracking Resource Analysis / Project Gantt/Profile (Top Layout Options / Bottom Layout Options, Profile Settings, Resource Explorer).
• Invent a RESOURCEUSAGE / RSRCUSAGE / USAGE / PROFILE / HISTOGRAM / LAYOUT XER table.
• Invent a Regular Histogram bar/curve catalog (Budgeted or Planned / Actual / Remaining Early / Remaining Late or any other list). Oracle only printed "cost/unit categories" and by-date vs cumulative.
• Invent which checkboxes draw the banana curve (Oracle only printed the use sentence).
• Invent Show Limit = Show Allocated Limit = Show Allocation Limit = planning limits = Show Overallocation.
• Invent Show Available Units rules beyond the three sentences Oracle printed (Units vs All Projects vs Show All Projects + Opened Projects Only preference).
• Copy Activity Usage Profile's Labor / Nonlabor / Material / Expenses / Total or PV / EV / EAC onto this view.
• Copy Resource Usage Spreadsheet's Assignments checkbox, three-pane Open Projects Only layout, gray cells, or Range Paste onto this view.
• Invent Show Limit / Overallocation / Overtime / Available Units or Show Legend on Stacked Histogram (Oracle did not print them there).
• Invent a Show on Top command, or an EPPM web Resource Usage Profile from the Professional-connected-to-EPPM admin sentence.
• Map this object to MSP Resource Graph or Resource Usage and call them the same.
• Claim MPXJ writes a real MPP.
• Claim a Viewer reconstructed the planner's last Resource Usage Profile bars, Regular vs Stacked, selected resources, Show All Projects, or timescale from an XER.