Manage Attributes

Resource Attributes allow defining and assigning unique characteristics, such as skills or specializations. to individuals that manage work in TaskRay. Once set up, Attributes are useful in putting the right resources on project teams, and help to streamline task assignment. They allow project managers to quickly distribute task assignments based on specialized skills of team members according to the work that needs to be completed on projects.

Using Attributes

Attributes and Roles

Before going into the specifics of setting up Attributes, let’s briefly talk about TaskRay Resource configuration. When setting up team member Resources, each Resource is assigned a Role. The Role denotes the team member’s primary job function and/or the department that they are part of. With that said, in reality, every team member also has unique skills or that could be beneficial to successful delivery of projects. This is where the Attributes come in. Specifics around which Attributes to set up will depend on the needs of your organization and the types of projects that are managed out of TaskRay. Furthermore, Attributes should reflect the actual skills and experiences of the team members who manage assignments in TaskRay. It is important to consider these factors at the time of setting up Resource Attributes to make them meaningful to your organization.

Additionally, it is possible to define Attributes at the Role level. This is a good approach for defining shared Attributes associated with certain job functions.

Resource Attributes and Managing Project Teams

To illustrate how it all comes together, we’ll take a look at a sample use case where Resource Attributes are helpful. Let’s say that you have a customer onboarding project that incorporates tasks for Implementation and Customer Success teams. A typical configuration for such projects is to initially distribute tasks using placeholder Role assignments for each type of tasks respectively. Then, when determining actual team members to assign the work to, placeholder Roles can be used to streamline the distribution of tasks to applicable team members.

Now, let’s say that this particular instance of the onboarding project requires some specialized skills to complete the work, such as speaking a different language or performing an advanced technical configuration. This is where Resource Attributes come in. Knowing this requirement to execute work on the project, the project manager can leverage Resource Attributes to identify the team member who has the necessary skills and assign the work accordingly.

Attributes are managed within the Attributes tab of the Configuration Hub. 

Manage Attributes

Create Attribute Types

First and foremost, you will create Attribute Types. Attributes Types represent different categories of attributes. Some common examples are skills, certifications, languages, and regions; however, these are fully customizable to meet your needs. Attributes will be assigned to these types as a way to organize and categorize them. Follow the instructions below to add an Attribute Type.

1. Navigate to the Configuration Hub and select the Attributes tab.
2. Click on the + Attribute Type button in the top right corner.
3. This will open an Attribute Type flyout. Type the name of the Attribute Type in the Name field. 
4. [Optional] Click on the Color Selector to the right of the name to change the Attribute Type color.
5. Click Save.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for every Attribute Type you would like to create.

Create Attributes

Attributes are the individual skills and traits of Resources you'd like to track. You can add Attributes once you have setup at least one Attribute Type. To create attributes:

1. If you're not already on the page, navigate to the Configuration Hub and select the Attributes tab.
2. Next to an Attribute Type name click the + button. This will open a Quick Add input box.
3. Enter the name of the attribute you would like to create.
4. Click Enter.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 for every Attribute you'd like to add.

Editing Attributes and Attribute Types

You can always come back and update your Attributes and Attribute Types at a later point in time. To make updates:

1. Navigate to the Configuration Hub and select the Attributes tab.
2. Click on the Name of the item you'd like to edit to open it.
3. Make your updates.
4. Click Save.

Assigning Attributes

Once Attributes are created, they are able to assigned to Roles and Resources. 

Attributes assigned to a Role will carry through to all Resources with that Role. Therefore, Attributes should be assigned to a Role when everyone with that position share a commonality.

For example, let's say you have a Support team at your organization, and to be a Senior Support Analyst, employees are required to pass an Admin Certification. In this scenario, it would be appropriate to assign an "Admin Certification" attribute to the "Senior Support Analyst" role to easily manage the shared characteristic. Then, any current and future employees that become a Senior Support Analyst, will automatically be denoted as having the Admin Certification.

Attributes assigned directly to a Resource should represent the unique skills and traits of the individual. This is best used to represent differentiators to their peers. 

Assigning Attributes to a Role:

1. Navigate to the Configuration Hub and select the Roles tab.
2. Click on the Name of the Role you'd like to update.
3. In the Role Attributes field, either type to search or scroll to find the attributes you would like to assign.
4. Click on the attribute names you'd like to assign.
5. Once all attributes are selected, click Save.

Assigning Attributes to a Resource:

1. Navigate to the Configuration Hub and select the Resource tab.
2. Click on the Name of the Resource you'd like to update.
3. In the Resource Attributes field, either type to search or scroll to find the attributes you would like to assign. 
   Note: The Role Attribute field will display the attributes the Resource inherits from their Role."
4. Click on the attribute names you'd like to assign.
5. Once all attributes are selected, click Save.

That's it!

Now you can leverage Attributes in the Dynamic Team Builder to identify the best Resources for your your project team.