Resource Capacity - Frequently Asked Questions

Moovila's Resource Capacity functionality is a powerful way to monitor your team's capacity for both current and upcoming work. There are many facets to this interface, and the following are questions that commonly arise:

1. What's the difference between Work Estimate and Work Remaining? Which should I use?
   Work estimate corresponds to the total number of hours that were assigned to a task. Work remaining corresponds to the total number of hours assigned to a task less the percent complete for that task. In the example below, the work estimate for Develop Business Case is 10 hours. The percent complete for that task is 50%, so the calculated work remaining for that task is 5 hours. 
   
   
   The work remaining value is most commonly used, as it corresponds to a more accurate value  for the work needed to complete the task--particularly when the percent complete for all tasks is kept up to date. This gives us a clearer picture of the work that still needs to be finished and the capacity needed to finish it.
    
2. How does a task that spans multiple days/months/weeks get applied to the capacity model?
   For tasks that last longer than a day, the hours associated with the task are amortized over the duration of the task. This means that a task that with a work estimate of 10 hours and a duration of 10 days will be reflected in capacity models as 1 hour of work for each of those 10 days. As the start date for that task passes and the duration decreases, the hours will be spread over fewer days. 
   
   Let's say that a 10 day task had started and 5 days had passed, leaving 5 days remaining to complete the work. If no percent complete had been assigned to this task, those 10 hours spread over 5 days would be reflected in capacity models as two hours of work for each of those 5 days.
   
   Or, let's say that same 10 day task had started and 5 days had passed, leaving 5 days remaining to complete the work, but the task had been marked as 50% complete. Those remaining 5 hours (50% of the original 10 hour estimate) would be spread across 5 days. The capacity model would show 1 hour of work for each of those 5 days.
   
    
3. When I drill down into a column in the dashboard I see a task assigned to this month and when I drill into the column for next month it appears as well. Is it counting this task twice?
   The entirety of the task appears in the drilldown (the full amount of estimated hours for the task), but only the number of hours that would be worked in that month will appear in capacity visualizations. So if a task has a work estimate of 10 hours and a duration of 10 days, 5 of those days falling into November and 5 of them falling into December, 5 of the hours would be reflected in capacity visualizations for November and 5 would be reflected in capacity visualizations for December. 
   
    
4. How are the targets set and applied?
   Targets may be set in the Target Work Hours field at the User, Resource and Enterprise level. 
   
    
5. Can I see a retrospective of my team's workload for last month? The Resource Capacity dashboard is meant to show outstanding, upcoming or forecasted work, so as tasks are marked as complete they are removed from the capacity models. For this reason, a retrospective is not possible.