Percent allocation fields

The Percent Allocation fields contain the percentage that represents the total amount of a resource's capacity being allocated to tasks.

There are several categories of Percent Allocation fields.

Data Type    Percentage

Percent Allocation (resource-timephased field)

Entry Type    Calculated

How Calculated    Microsoft Office Project bases the Percent Allocation field on the resource's total work capacity for all assigned tasks for the selected time period. A resource's work capacity is determined by the resource's maximum units and resource calendar. To calculate percent allocation, Project divides the amount of work for all assigned tasks by the resource's total work capacity, for the selected time period, as follows:

Percent Allocation = Assigned Work / Work Capacity * 100

Best Uses    Add the Percent Allocation field to the timephased portion of the Resource Usage view when you want to display how much of a resource's total work capacity is being spent for all assigned tasks for a particular time period. This can help you see whether a resource is being used to full capacity.

Example    Sean has two assignments for Monday, each at 50 percent assignment units. Sean's total percent allocation for Monday is 100 percent. Pat has two assignments for Monday, each at 100 percent assignment units. Pat's total percent allocation for Monday is 200 percent, probably indicating an overallocation and a potential need for resource leveling, depending on the leveling period and other work assigned to Pat.

Remarks    The information in the Percent Allocation field is similar to the information shown in the Resource Graph.

Percent Allocation (assignment-timephased field)

Entry Type    Calculated

How Calculated    Microsoft Office Project bases the Percent Allocation field on the assigned resource's total work capacity on the assigned task. A resource's work capacity is determined by the resource's maximum units and resource calendar. To calculate percent allocation, Project divides the amount of work on an assignment by the resource's total work capacity, for the selected time period, as follows:

Percent Allocation = Assigned Work / Work Capacity * 100

Best Uses    Add the Percent Allocation field to the timephased portion of the Task Usage or Resource Usage view when you want to display how much of a resource's capacity is being spent on a specific assignment in a particular time period.

Example    The "Drafters" resource has a maximum units value of 200 percent. If this resource is working four hours in an eight-hour day, the resource's percent allocation is 25 percent, because the resource is working at 25 percent of its total possible allocation, or work capacity, of 16 hours.