Resource Assignments - Allocation Type

Julie21 · a month ago

Hi.

We have recently started to use Resource Assignments instead of the old Resource Plans. We have run into the issue that when we create a new Resource Assignment and set the Allocation Type (distribution) to "Monthly", only one related resource allocation is created for the entire planned duration, and not one resource allocation per month like I would have expected.

I can see that the allocation distribution is based on the resource plan's allocation type (distribution) via the business rule "Set distribution type". But in the script include "AttributeTypeResourcePlanSNC", the resource plan's distribution is hard-coded to "plan_duration" (see attached screenshot of the script include).

So from this, it seems that no matter what I choose as allocation type / distribution on my resource assignment, the actual allocation will always be planned duration, because this is hard-coded to be set on the related resource plan?

Did anyone find a good solution to this that doesn't involve changing and OOB read-only script include?

Thanks!

Kieran Anson · a month ago

Hi,

How much effort is allocated to the assignment?

The allocation will spread based on a minimum allocation unit (controlled by a property, defaults to 1hr) and will spread for as many months as it can fill.

If your assignment has a 20 hour effort, it would only populate the first month as those hours would be exhausted on a 9-5 schedule.

Could you share details of the duration of your assignment, and how much effort is allocated?

Julie21 · 4 weeks ago

Hi Kieran. Thanks for replying.

Let me give you an example:

1. I create a new Resource Assignment on a project with the following data:
- Group: HR team
- Role: HR Specialist
- Effort Type: Hours
- Effort: 100
- Start date: 2026-05-01
- End date: 2026-12-31
- Allocation type: Monthly

2. As soon as I save the Resource Assignment, a Resource Plan and a Resource Allocation is also created.
- The related resource plan has the Allocation type set to "Plan duration".
- Only ONE resource allocation is created with the start date 2026-05-01 and end date 2026-12-31 (same as the resource assignment). The Resource Allocations Daily records on this Resource Allocation are spread across the entire duration, meaning some hours each of the months between May and December.

When I choose "Monthly" as the allocation type on the resource assignment, I would like the same allocation type to be set on the resource plan, as this apparently decides the distribution type (according to the BR I referred to in my original post). But for some reason, the allocation type is hard coded on resource plans created based on resource assignments?

Kieran Anson · 4 weeks ago

Hi @Namita Mishra, hope you don't mind tagging you in this. Are you able to help with this question?

Namita Mishra · 2 weeks ago

Hi @Kieran Anson ,

Hope you are doing fine... Sorry for the late response.

Hi @Julie21 ,

Thanks for raising the query.

Let's quickly revisit the resource assignment, resource allocation, and resource plan.

	It Represents	Business Question, it Answers
Resource assignment	A request for the capacity raised for a demand, project or any work item. It defines who, when, and how much effort is required.	What resources do I need to perform this work?
Resource allocation	The actual reservation of the capacity against a specific user over a period of time. System generated. There is always 1:1 mapping between resource assignment and resource allocation.	How much of resource A capacity is committed?
Resource plan	Supporting planning record that stores the overall resource demand and act as a parent record for allocations. System generated.	What is the total planned resource effort for this work?

Resource assignment can be created with the allocation type as monthly or weekly. However the associated resource plan will always be of the planned duration. This is intentional because in current design, the resource plan is a supporting record; it is not designed to view the monthly or weekly breakdown of the resource effort. In fact, in the current design, the resource plans are not visible on the UI and are not meant to be used by the business users. Creation of multiple resource allocations (by month or week) is not required.

Hence as you rightly observed - the resource plan is always set as plan duration. This is working as designed.

Now user can view the effort distribution by month or week from the resource allocation workbench or from the project workbench - please refer below screenshots.

Hope this answers the query and if it does, please mark the response as correct to help me and other community members.

Thank You!

Namita Mishra