Shape resources

Shape resources - Exercise

What is resource shaping

All resources in Flow Generative Scheduling can be shaped. Shaping occurs for one resource class at a time.

For each resource class, resource shaping allows you to adjust:

• Timeline parameters, including start and end dates and peak usage
• Shaping settings, including minimum resources and easing in and out
• Capacity settings, including total capacity

How to shape resources

To shape resources:

1. Open the Resources tab.
2. Select a resource class from the overview graph or resource table to expand the detail graph.
3. Shape resources in the detail graph and the Edit tab of the detail graph panel.

Timeline parameters

Earliest start

The earliest available start date for a resource class will be the Schedule from date that was chosen when creating your playground. All dates prior to that will appear greyed out and will not be selectable.

In this scenario, the project start date is November 15th. Based on the duration of the upstream dependencies, the soonest there will be FX tasks that can start will be November 20th. FX cannot start earlier than this date.

Peak start

The peak start date represents the beginning of the peak of utilization of the resource class. This date can be modified.

The earliest start date for FX is November 20th. However, the peak start for FX is also November 20. You may want to choose a later date than what was initially generated, to give the FX team time to ramp up on the project.

In the example below, the Peak start date can be pushed from November 20th to January 20th. This new date will be reflected in the Timeline parameters, and in the custom date indicator on the detail graph for ideal usage. This schedule has not yet been generated.

Peak finish

The peak finish date represents the finish of the peak of utilization of the resource class. This date can also be modified, either by setting the Peak finish date under Timeline Parameters, or by dragging the custom date indicator in the detail graph.

Latest finish

The latest available finish date for a resource class will be based on the Schedule from date that was chosen when creating your playground, in addition to any start dates and constraints that have been set.

Shaping settings

Minimum resources

You can choose to set a minimum number of resources for a resource class.

For example, you may want to maintain a minimum team of 2 artists. In this case, put 2 under minimum resources. You will see this number reflected and in the custom date indicator on the detail graph, reflecting the minimum number of resources in ideal usage. This schedule has not yet been generated.

Ease in/out

Use the Ease in/out toggle to turn on the gradual increase and decrease of resources between resource start and end and resource peaks.

Capacity settings

Enable capacity toggle

Capacity limits are disabled by default. To use capacity, switch the Enable capacity toggle to the on position.

Capacity

Enter a number in the Capacity field to indicate the max number of resources.

In the example below, the capacity is 0.

When adding a number to the Capacity field, a red line is drawn across the detail graph, indicating the ideal usage. Here, we can set a capacity of 6.

When you select Generate, Flow Generative Scheduling will do its best to adhere to the shaping limitations that have been set, while adhering to the constraints and priorities that have also been added. Below is an example of the generated schedule.