RB User Guide > Calendar > Resource Availability

Managing resources’ availability

View your resources’ availability for a certain period. Quickly add or remove hours from a resource’s schedule. Track resources’ planned time off, such as vacations or personal days. During these scheduled times off, their names do not appear in the list of available resources when assigning jobs.

The work schedule in Resource Availability is color coded so you can easily track resources’ schedules, including job assignments, available/unavailable times, and time off. When granting time off, you can include reasons for it and any notes or comments about it for your records.

Use the Change Availability option to add time to resources’ schedules when they are willing to work extra hours for a month, or quickly block out time off for a resource if you do not need to keep track of the reason.

1. View availability

   Find the resource(s) to check their availability:

   1. Calendar > Resource Availability

   2. In the Search By pane, change the filters as needed:

      • Date From/Date To

        Default to today. Change date range, if desired (see Date Navigator).

      • Resource

        Default is all resources. To see a single resource’s availability, click and find the resource in the Lookup Resource panel. See Looking up resources.

      • Priority Level

        Order of preference or availability. Default is ALL. To restrict search to one or more levels, click to make selections in the Lookup Priority Level panel. Priority levels, including the default, are defined in Lists > Resources.

      • Resource Type

        Profession, e.g., Reporter, Scopist or Videographer; or other resource, e.g., Conference Room. Default is ALL. To restrict search to one or more types, click to make selections in the Lookup Resource Type panel. Resource types, including the default, are defined in Lists > Resources.

      • Specialty

        Distinguishing trait or unique skill, e.g., RealTime or Spanish. Default is ALL. To restrict search to one or more specialities, click to make selections in the Lookup Specialty panel. Specialties, including the default, are defined in Lists > Resources.

      • Time-Off Remarks

        Comments/notes about time off granted.

   3. Click . RB displays resources’ availability for the specified period and other search criteria in the Resource Availability results grid. The time sheet starts at midnight, with 1-hour increments indicated over a 24-hour period.

      Color-coded bars represent time usage:

      • Yellow – available time
      • White – unavailable time
      • Blue – already-assigned time slots
      • Red – time off

2. Manage availability

   From the results grid, click a resource’s >

   • Change Availability

     To quickly change a resource’s availabilty in a single day without tracking the reason.

     In the Change Availability window, the Resource, Date and Day of the Week selected are listed, and the related Current availability is shown with color-coded bars on a 24-hour scale.

     1. Click and drag the beginning and end dots on the Change To slider to update the resource’s availability for the date displayed.
     2. Click Save. The resource’s revised Available time appears as a yellow bar in the Resource Availability grid.

   • Add Time-Off

     To note a resource’s time off in RB for tracking purposes and so they do not appear in the Assign Resource panel during their time off. See Adding time off.

   • View Time-Off

     In the View Time-Off window, you can review any Remarks about the resource’s time off. Click Edit to change the Time-Off Reason or Remarks. Click Save/Close.

   • Remove Time-Off

     To cancel the resource’s previously scheduled time off, click Yes in the popup. RB removes the time off, restoring the resource’s default availabilty.

Reference

• Date Navigator
• Lists > Resources

Step-by-step instructions

• Assigning and pre-assigning resources
• Searching in RB
• Adding time off
• Adding resources to RB