How to Use Resource Utilization Views in CrmLeaf
All editions. Requires the Resource Utilization add-on module to be enabled for your account by an Administrator.
Availability: All editions. Requires the Resource Utilization add-on module to be enabled for your account by an Administrator.
Overview
Resource Utilization answers staffing questions: who is free, how much work a team can absorb, who is overloaded, and how commitments sit across a period. It is a reporting layer over data you already maintain, so it needs no separate data entry.
It is a paid add-on module. Until it is enabled for your account, the views do not appear at all.
How It Works
The module reads existing records and presents them through four lenses.
Maintain source data → Enable the module → Choose a lens → Read the picture → Rebalance work
- Availability shows who is free to take work.
- Capacity shows how much work a person or team can take on.
- Workload shows how much is already assigned.
- Timeline shows how commitments sit across a period.
- All four lenses draw on task estimates, logged time, shifts, leaves and holidays, so the quality of the view depends on the quality of those records.
- Because the views are derived, they change as tasks, time logs, rosters and leave records change.
Who Can Use This Feature?
This functionality is available only to Administrators.
Administrator
- Enable the Resource Utilization module for the account.
- Open the Availability, Capacity, Workload and Timeline lenses.
- Use the views to reassign tasks and rebalance workload.
- Confirm the underlying estimates, shifts, holidays and leave records are maintained.
Prerequisites
- The Resource Utilization add-on module must be enabled for the account.
- Tasks must carry estimates, otherwise capacity and workload have nothing planned to compare against.
- Time must be logged, so that actual effort is available.
- Shifts and rosters must be assigned, and holidays and weekly offs configured.
- Leave records must be up to date, so absent people are not shown as available.
For Administrators
Step 1: Confirm the module is enabled
What to do: Confirm the Resource Utilization module is enabled for your account. Add-on modules are gated by your plan, so check that it is included before planning around it.
What to verify: Confirm the utilization views appear in the navigation for an Administrator.
Step 2: Get the source data right first
What to do: Confirm that tasks carry estimates, that time is being logged, and that shifts, holidays and leave are maintained. A utilization view built on empty estimates will look wrong even when the module works correctly.
What to verify: Spot-check one team member: their assigned tasks have estimates, their shift is assigned, and their approved leave appears.
Step 3: Read the Availability and Capacity lenses
What to do: Open the Availability lens to see who is free in the period you are staffing, then the Capacity lens to see how much work each person or team can absorb. Use Filter to narrow to the team you are planning.
What to verify: Confirm people on approved leave or outside their shift are not being shown as available.
Step 4: Read the Workload and Timeline lenses
What to do: Open the Workload lens to find who is over-committed, then the Timeline lens to see how commitments fall across the period. Look for concentrations of work in the same week rather than only at totals.
What to verify: Confirm the figures for one person against their task list.
Step 5: Rebalance the work
What to do: Reassign tasks or move dates to relieve the overloaded people the Workload lens identified, then re-open the view to confirm the change.
What to verify: Confirm the reassigned tasks now show against the new assignee.
Expected Result
The Availability, Capacity, Workload and Timeline lenses show a consistent picture of your team's commitments, derived from task estimates, logged time, shifts, leaves and holidays. Reassigning a task is reflected in the views.
Why This Matters for Service Organisations
Staffing is the constraint in a service organisation. Before a delivery date is promised, someone has to know who is free, how much the team can absorb and who is already over-committed. The Resource Utilization views answer those questions from records the firm already maintains, so the staffing conversation stops depending on a shared spreadsheet and a memory of who is busy.
How It Supports Professional Services
- Four lenses are provided: Availability shows who is free, Capacity how much a person or team can take, Workload what is already assigned, and Timeline how commitments fall across a period.
- All four draw on task estimates, logged time, shifts, leaves and holidays, so a consultant on approved leave is not offered as available and a part-time roster is not treated as a full week.
- Because the views are derived rather than entered, reassigning a task or approving leave changes the picture without a separate planning file being updated.
- Utilisation itself is not published as a single stored figure, and there is no configurable utilisation target. The inputs exist - the Time Log Report gives billable against non-billable hours by person, project and period, and shifts, leave and holidays describe available time - so service organisations typically derive the ratio from exported report data on their own basis.
- For the same reason, treat these views as a capacity and workload picture rather than a margin one. CrmLeaf holds no employee cost rate per hour and ships no project profitability report; the Budget module tracks planned spend against derived actuals, which is a different question.
- The module is a paid add-on, so confirm it is included in the plan before a resourcing process is built around it.
Typical Service Workflow
Deal → Resource planning → Project → Tasks → Time → Reporting
These views sit at the resource planning stage and are refreshed by everything downstream of it. CrmLeaf derives the lenses from live records; comparing them with a target, or turning them into a utilisation percentage, is analysis the organisation performs outside the module.
Other Product-Type Use Cases
The same lenses help Construction and Solar accounts see whether crews and shifts can absorb another site, and any organisation plan around leave and holidays before committing to an internal deadline.
Related PSA Capabilities
- How to Submit and Approve Weekly Timesheets — reviewed hours are what make any derived ratio credible.
- How to Use Time Log and Task Reports — the billable against non-billable split firms export for their own calculations.
- How to Create Shifts and Assign Rosters — defines the available time behind each lens.
- How to Configure Holidays and Weekly Offs — removes non-working days from availability.
- How to Read Budget vs Actual and EVM Analytics — the cost side of a project, kept separate from capacity.
Important Notes
- Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
- Resource Utilization is a paid add-on module. Confirm it is included in your plan before relying on it for planning.
- The views are derived, not entered. To change a number, change the underlying task, time log, roster or leave record.
- Tasks without estimates weaken every lens, because there is no planned effort to compare with.
- These views are about people's capacity. Project budget and cost tracking are handled by the Budget add-on module.
Common Scenarios
Example: staffing a new project. Before committing to a delivery date, the Administrator checks the Availability lens for the weeks in question, then Capacity for the two candidate teams, and assigns work to the team with headroom.
Example: finding the bottleneck. A project is slipping. The Workload lens shows one engineer holding three times the assigned effort of their colleagues, so tasks are reassigned and the Timeline lens confirms the peak has flattened.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| The utilization views do not appear | The Resource Utilization add-on module is not enabled for the account. | Enable the module, and confirm with your provider that it is included in your plan. |
| Capacity or workload figures look empty | Tasks carry no estimates. | Ask project owners to enter estimates on tasks. |
| Someone on leave is shown as available | The leave was not recorded or not approved. | Confirm the leave application exists and has been approved. |
| Working hours look wrong for a team | Shifts or rosters are not assigned, or holidays and weekly offs are not configured. | Assign shifts and configure the holiday calendar and weekly offs. |
| Logged effort seems lower than the time worked | Break time recorded inside a running log is excluded from tracked hours. | This is expected behaviour of time tracking. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to enter data specifically for these views?
No. They draw on estimates, logged time, shifts, leaves and holidays that you already maintain.
Why do two lenses tell different stories?
Each lens answers a different question. Availability is about who is free, Capacity about how much they could take, Workload about what is already assigned, and Timeline about when it falls.
Is Resource Utilization included in every plan?
No. It is a paid add-on module that an Administrator must enable, so confirm it is included in your plan.
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