Planning
Resource allocation, capacity planning, and demand forecasting — connected to Projects, People, and Time.
The Planning module is the bridge between your people and your projects. See who is working on what, when capacity gaps will appear, and how your pipeline will translate into resource demand — all in one view.
What the Planning Module Does
Workestra's Planning module helps you:
- Allocate resources visually — Drag-and-drop board showing who works on what project and when
- Compare capacity vs. demand — Available hours (from People) against booked hours (from Projects) in a single chart
- Forecast demand from the pipeline — CRM closed-won deals can auto-create resource requests before a project even starts
- Model what-if scenarios — Simulate hiring or adding a project without touching the live plan
- Match skills to projects — Find available people by skill, role, or department
- Report on utilization — Billable vs. non-billable breakdown per person, team, and project
How to Enable Planning
- Navigate to Settings > Modules
- Find the Planning card
- Toggle it On
- Planning appears in your sidebar
Planning is available as an add-on on all plans. It works best when People (for working patterns and availability) and Projects (for task assignments and hour estimates) are also enabled.
Planning Navigation
| Page | URL | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule | /planning | Resource allocation board |
| Demand | /planning/demand | Demand forecast from the project pipeline |
| Reports | /planning/reports | Utilization and profitability reports |
| Forecast | /planning/forecast | Capacity gap forecasting |
| Scenarios | /planning/scenarios | What-if scenario modeling |
| Settings | /planning/settings | Rates, roles, and configuration |
Core Concepts
Allocation
Assigning a specific person to a project for a defined time period with an estimated number of hours. Allocations are the building blocks of the schedule board and drive all capacity and utilization calculations.
→ Resource Schedule Documentation
Capacity
The available hours for a team member in a given period. Calculated from their working pattern in People, minus approved time off, minus already-allocated hours. Capacity is what you have to offer.
→ Capacity Planning Documentation
Demand
The hours needed by active and upcoming projects. Sourced from allocations on the schedule board, project hour budgets, and (optionally) CRM pipeline deals. Demand is what your projects require.
Utilization
Booked hours divided by available hours, expressed as a percentage. The schedule board color-codes utilization: green (under 80%), amber (80–99%), red (over 100%). The workspace target is configurable in Planning Settings.
Integration Hooks
Planning connects to other Workestra modules automatically:
- People — Working patterns and approved time off determine available capacity per person
- Projects — Task assignments and hour estimates create demand; Planning reads project status in real time
- Time — Actual time entries overlay on planned allocations for variance analysis
- CRM — Closed-won deals at a configured stage auto-create resource requests in Planning
- Finance — Planned and actual hours feed project profitability calculations
Getting Started with Planning
Quick Setup Checklist
- Enable Planning module in Settings > Modules
- Confirm People and Projects are also enabled
- Review working patterns for each employee (People > Employee record)
- Configure hourly rates if you want profitability tracking (Planning > Settings > Roles)
- Create your first allocation on the Schedule board
Next Steps
- Resource Schedule — Visual allocation board
- Capacity Planning — Compare supply vs. demand
- Planning Settings — Roles, rates, and configuration