Staffing of Project Roles with Resources

[Former Member]

Hi PPM Gurus,

We have some gaps when designing workflow email to Resource Line manager in cProject (Project Management) in PPM. We working on scenario where,-

1.       1. Project Manager (PM) knows only roles required for project, but not resources

2.       2. Important Question: How PM will inform by SAP workflow to Resource Manager (RM) or Line Manager (LM) to update resource in cProject.

3.       3. Then we can use standard SAP workflow process as mentioned in 1013736 – cProject soft booking and hard booking approval workflow which is,

1) The process of approval of a Soft Booking of a Resource to a Project Role and the subsequent conversion of the booking from 'Soft Booked' to 'Hard Booked' is controlled by means of a workflow.

2) This workflow will be triggered when a Resource is assigned to a Project Role or an old booking is changed and the booking type of a resource is marked as 'Soft Booked' by a Resource Manager. A Resource can be soft booked by checking the 'Res.' checkbox within the staffing table against the resource which is being booked to a role.

3) The Line Manager of the resource which was soft booked will receive a mail containing a link to his SAP Business Workplace from where he/she can approve/reject the booking.

4) In the SAP Business Workplace of the Line Manager a work item would be present which will have the booking details, 'Approve Booking' and 'Reject Booking' buttons which shall be used to make the respective decisions.

5) If the booking is approved then the workflow will try to automatically convert this booking from 'Soft Booked' to 'Hard Booked' in the background. If it succeeds then the process will move forward; if not (say, because of reasons like Project/role being locked) then the Line Manager will get another mail informing him/her about the failure and would have to re-execute the booking through a new work item. Once the booking type is successfully converted from 'Soft Booked' to 'Hard Booked' then the Resource Manager(s), Project Manager(s) and the Resource himself/herself will receive a mail notifying the confirmation of the booking.

6) If the booking is rejected then the booking type will remain unchanged ('Soft Booked') and the Resource Manager(s), Project Manager(s) will receive a mail notifying the rejection of the booking. Bottom of Form

Regards, Diana

[ravi_ekambaram · Accepted solution]

Hi Diana,

Your questions can be answered through staffing type 'Resource manager via responsible organisation' known as extended staffing process in PPM-Project management.

There are many staffing types

1) Project lead

2) Resource manager via authorisation

3) Resource manager via responsible organisation (Extended staffing process)

4) Multi-Resource Scheduling (MRS) (If MRS is integrated).

Except the first one, all other staffing type involves resource managers to staff the project roles and these staffing types are cross-project view for resource managers. The first one is project-centric and it is always staffed by the project lead/Project manager.

Resource manager via authorisation: Here the staffing is carried out based on the authorisation the resource manager has for specific resource pools with staffing/candidate manager authorisation to a single/multiple projects.

Resource manager via responsible organisation: In this process, the responsible staffing/candidate manager is identified through the HR organisation unit assigned by the project manager to a project role. This extended staffing process has 3 steps–

1. 1)     Staffing in preparation (Where the project manager select the suitable department/functions(org. unit) for staffing the resource manager)
2. 2)     Staffing in process ( The responsible staffing manager of the org. unit staff resources from his org. unit)
3. 3)     Staffing closed (The project manager closes the staffing process).

MRS staffing is also similar to the above with its own extra features.

Considering this, I feel that ‘Extended staffing process’ is more suitable for your scenario.

Regards,

Ravi

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Ravi,

Thank you for your valuable advice and agree with you, so just wondering if you can highlight how it should be in PPM system to inform Resource manager (RM)/line Manager (LM) by SAP workflow after Project Manager initial plan?

Very basic steps mentioned below to understand where we coming from,-

1.      1.  Project Manager (PM) will plan by selecting Project Role (Say example Sr. Consultant) in cProj Resource management screen.

2.       2. PM needs to inform RM to allocate resource to Project roles. What’s mechanism can we think of?

Regards, Diana

[ravi_ekambaram · Accepted solution]

Hi Diana,

As I said earlier, 'Extended staffing process' is better suited for your business scenario since the PM does not know the exact resource details.

As far as mail communication for status change in extended staffing process is concerned, you may have develop a custom workflow. And resource staffing manager will be using 'Fast entry screen' in PPM-Resource management to staff the resources.

Regards,

Ravi

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Ravi,

Thank you so much. It works very well for us.

Regards, Diana. Happy to close this call

[ravi_ekambaram · Accepted solution]

Hi Diana,

Happy to hear . Please close the thread.

You can refer the below blog on why & how to close the discussions.

http://scn.sap.com/community/support/blog/2013/04/03/how-to-close-a-discussion-and-why

Regards,

Ravi

[ravi_ekambaram]

Hi Diana,

If your queries are clarified/answered, please close the thread by choosing the correct answer. If you have resolved your query on your own, then share with the community and choose your post as correct answer.

This helps members to know quickly the answers for the post for which they are searching.

You can refer the below blog on why & how to close the discussions.

http://scn.sap.com/community/support/blog/2013/04/03/how-to-close-a-discussion-and-why

Regards,

Ravi