Assign workers to tasks manually in a work breakdown structure in AX 2012 R3

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

This topic describes how to assign workers to project tasks in the Work breakdown structure form. You can assign workers who have already been added to the project team and whose time has already been booked for the project. You can also search for other available workers and assign them to the task. When you assign other available workers, they are automatically added to the project team.

How hours for tasks are distributed to workers depends on whether workers have already been added to the project team. Hours are also distributed differently among these groups when workers are removed from a work breakdown structure (WBS) task. For more information, see About redistributing manually assigned hours for a work breakdown structure in AX 2012 R3.

Assign workers who have been added to the project team

1. In the Work breakdown structure form, select the task to which you want to assign workers.

2. Click the arrow in the Workers field, and then select the check box next to each worker’s name that you want to assign.

3. Click OK.

Assign workers who have not been added to the project team

1. In the Work breakdown structure form, select the task to which you want to assign workers.

2. Click the arrow in the Workers field, and then click View more workers to open the Worker assignment form.

3. In the Activity name field, ensure that the activity you want to assign workers to is selected.

4. In the Format for date range view list, select the unit of time for which to view worker availability, such as Weeks.

5. Optional: If you want the search results to indicate how many hours are available in the worker’s calendar for the period that you selected, select the Display remaining capacity check box.

6. Optional: In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 or cumulative update 7 or later for AX 2012 R2, the available capacity of workers is indicated by colored cells in the Work breakdown structure form. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, if you want to display text descriptions, in addition to colors, in the availability grid, select the Display availability descriptions check box.

7. Optional: If you want to include worker qualifications as part of your search criteria, follow these steps:

   1. On the Worker search criteria FastTab, use the Skills, Project experience, Certifications, Education, and Role tabs to add any qualifications that you want to include in your search criteria.

   2. In the Minimum percentage for skills match field, enter a number between 0.01 and 100 to indicate how strongly the worker qualifications that you entered should be factored into your search.

   3. If you want to search only for workers who are employed by the company for which you’re staffing a project, select the Search for workers hired by the current legal entity check box.

   4. In AX 2012 R3 only: If you want to search for workers according to the department they work in, select the Search for workers working in the project department check box.

   5. Click Search.

8. Optional: If you want to filter your search results further, follow these steps:

   • In the Worker field, enter all or part of the name of a specific worker to view.

   • In cumulative update 7 for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2: In the Company field, select the name of the legal entity to which to limit your search.

     –or–

     In AX 2012 R3: In the Legal entity field, click the arrow, select the check boxes of the legal entities to which you want to limit your search, and then click OK.

   • In the Department field, select the name of the department to which to limit your search. The options in this field are derived from the Department dimension for your legal entity.

9. In the search results, review the list of workers who are available to work during the requested period. If you searched for a specific worker, information about that worker is displayed. Otherwise, the list includes all workers who are available to work during the date range that you specified.

   Tip

   To view basic personnel details about a worker, point to the worker’s name.

   Each line in the search results includes information about the worker’s legal entity, hourly price, and current booking hours and also includes a graphical view of the worker’s current availability. The graphical schedule indicates whether a worker is available, partially available, or fully booked by using colors and, optionally in AX 2012 R3, text descriptions.

10. Click the cell of each available period for which to hard book or soft book workers to a project.

    Note

    When you hard book a worker, you make a firm reservation for the worker in the project. The worker’s time cannot be reserved for other project assignments. When you soft book a worker, you make a tentative reservation for the worker in the project. The worker’s time can still be reserved for other projects.

    You can click one or more cells for a worker, and you can click multiple cells for one or more workers.

11. Depending on whether you want to reserve or only tentatively reserve time on each worker’s calendar, select one of the following options at the bottom of the Worker reservation form:

    • Click Hard book to create a hard-booked assignment for the worker.

    • Click Soft book to create a soft-booked, or tentative, assignment for the worker.

    Note

    In the Projects form, on the Project team and scheduling FastTab, you can view a worker’s total hard-booked and soft-booked hours together in a single field. This field indicates the number of hours that the worker is assigned in the WBS.

    In AX 2012 R3, the total is reported in the Hours booked field.

12. On the Hard book or Soft book menu, select an option to specify how much of each worker’s time to book. Use the following table to decide which option to select.

    Option	Consideration
    Remaining capacity	Select this option if a worker’s time is already partially booked and you want to book the rest of the worker’s time in the selected periods.
    Full capacity	Select this option to book all of a worker’s calendar time in the selected periods.
    Capacity percentage	Select this option to open the Worker capacity allocation form, where you can book a percentage of each worker’s capacity, as represented by unreserved time in the worker’s work calendar.
    Specify Hours	Select this option to open the Worker hour allocation form, where you can book workers for a specific number of hours. You can choose to book workers’ first available hours until all hour are assigned, or to distribute hours evenly to workers between their start and end dates.

13. Continue to assign workers to projects until you have completed all the assignments that are required.

To cancel an assignment for a worker, click the colored cell that represents the booked time, and then click Cancel reservation (in cumulative update 7 for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2) or Cancel booking (in AX 2012 R3).

You can select multiple cells for one or more workers to cancel multiple bookings at the same time.

See also

Create a work breakdown structure of tasks for a project

Key tasks: Create a schedule based on a project in AX 2012 R3 or AX 2012 R2 CU7

Work breakdown structure (form)