Lesson #8
Calendar – Resource Availability function
When a resource wants to take a vacation or a personal day — or if they want to pick up extra hours of work outside their normal schedule — use Resource Availability to view their schedule, then quickly add or remove time for specific days.
The default view in Resource Availability is all resources’ work schedules for today. (Resources’ regular work schedules are set up in their individual listings.) Work schedules are color coded so you can track resources’ schedules in a glance by assigned periods, available/unavailable times, and time off.
Search for a resource
Use any of the search criteria to narrow your search to find a particular resource/resources:
- Date range
- A resource’s name
- One or more Priority Levels
- One or more Resource Types
- One or more Specialties
- Text in time-off notes/comments
You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order but when you exit the function RB will revert back to the default order. Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet to save, share, use in other applications, or print as a report.
Include notes about time off
When granting time off you can include reasons for it and any notes or comments about it for your records. Resource Availability will display this information in the search results.
Quickly change a resource’s schedule
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.
During a resource’s scheduled time off — whether it’s their regularly scheduled time off or time off added here — the resource’s name will not appear in the list of available resources when assigning tasks. If you try to assign a resource in Quick Assignments who is not available, it will alert you so you can pick a different resource or override the resource’s time off.
TL;DR: Set up resources’ regular work schedules in their individual records in RB, then use Resource Availability for one-off changes — such as vacations or availability outside of their normal working hours.
RB concepts in this lesson
Priority Level: Order of selection preference for resources. For example resources on staff vs. affiliates.
Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.
Resource Type: Professions and other categories of resources.
Specialty: Skill or specific expertise required for some jobs. — such as medical reporting, Spanish, or realtime.
Task: Service requested with a job — such as reporting, interpreting, or video, that requires a separate resource (person, company, thing) to accomplish. More >
