Flux Forecast Dashboards

 

This article helps a Salesforce User use the Flux Forecast Dashboard and understand the underlying source report calculations.

3 Different Flavors of Forecasting

The Flux Capacity reporting package provides three unique dashboards to suit your resource forecasting needs and preferences. These dashboards each provide a forward-looking view into Flux Team and individual Flux Resource forecast utilization on a week-by-week basis.

You may find one or more of these dashboards useful at your company.

Flux Forecast - Standard
This is our simplest, most straightforward dashboard making it perfect for those just getting started with Flux Capacity. This dashboard provides a simple, side-by-side view of individual Resource and Team forecasting with utilization based on all open Tasks.

Flux Forecast - Billable
For those that track both Billable and Non-Billable Tasks and measure Billable Utilization, this dashboard is for you. Here, you can compare billable work against total capacity and billable targets.

Flux Forecast - Advanced Allocation
This dashboard is purpose-built to support the Flux Capacity Advanced Resource Allocation Model. If you need ultimate flexibility to set project-specific resource allocations and keep track of work assignments within those allocations, this dashboard is a powerful option.

If you have an older version of the Flux Capacity reporting package installed (prior to version 1.13) and would like to take advantage of our latest reporting capabilities, please contact your CSM or submit a case to engage with our support team.

 

Flux Forecast Dashboard Filters

Dashboard filters provide a quick and easy way to focus your view of the Flux Forecast. Three filters are included with the Flux Forecast Dashboards. Each is described below.

NOTE: TaskRay Projects where the “Exclude from Flux Forecasts” checkbox field = True are excluded from all forecast views by default, regardless of any filters below. Think of this as a global filter.

Filter: Flux Forecast Category
Flux Forecast Category is a filter applied to your Forecast Projects based on where the sales Opportunity sits in the sales process. This gives you the ability to look at “what-if” scenarios such as “What if all Best Case Opportunities close?”.

This filter can be customized to work with your Opportunity format and sales process, but for most customers, this filter is aligned with the standard Opportunity Forecast Category field.

• All: All TaskRay Projects (includes all Forecast Projects AND all active onboarding projects).
• Pipeline: All active onboarding projects + Forecast Projects ≥ Pipeline (ie. Pipeline AND Best Case AND Commit).
• Best Case: All active onboarding projects + Forecast Projects ≥ Best Case (ie. Best Case AND Commit).
• Commit: All active onboarding projects + Forecast Projects = Commit.
• Closed: All active onboarding projects ONLY (no Forecast Projects).

Filter: Flux Team

The Flux Team filter narrows the results to only include Flux Schedules for Tasks owned by Flux Resource Team Members.

This filter will be customized based on your specific implementation of Flux Teams. In general, a value should be present for each of your Flux Teams.

All: All Tasks, regardless of owner
Team: Returns ONLY Tasks owned by the selected Flux Team (ie. the Flux Team Member associated with the Task’s Flux Schedules).

Filter: Forecast Timeframe

The Forecast Timeframe filter shrinks the results to only include Flux Schedules for Tasks in the upcoming time period.

• All: All Flux Schedules with a date greater or equal THIS WEEK
  This filter is generally not recommended for use, especially for organizations with large volumes of Task data.
• 2 Weeks: Flux Schedules with a date = THIS WEEK + NEXT WEEK
• 4 Weeks: Flux Schedules with a date = THIS WEEK + NEXT 3 WEEKS (4 weeks total)
• 6 Weeks: Flux Schedules with a date = THIS WEEK + NEXT 5 WEEKS (6 weeks total)
• 8 Weeks: Flux Schedules with a date = THIS WEEK + NEXT 7 WEEKS (8 weeks total)

Flux Forecast Source Reports and Metrics

The Flux Forecast dashboard’s source reports are based on the Flux Utilization object which is a real-time daily summary of:

1. Estimated hours of work assigned (via TaskRay Tasks distributed across Flux Schedules)
2. Daily utilization targets (via Flux Resource settings)
3. Capacity deductions (via Flux Time Away)

A collection of Flux Utilization records, grouped by calendar week, make up the Flux Forecast dashboard.

NOTE: While the Flux dashboard source reports are grouped by calendar week, if you are building your own reports or variations of the Flux reports, you can group by any date increment - grouping does not have to be set to weekly.

METRIC: All Work % of Total Capacity

This metric is available on the Flux Forecast - Standard and Flux Forecast - Billable dashboards.

Flux Forecast - Standard

Flux Forecast - Billable

For these components, the workload is comprised of all TaskRay Tasks, billable and non-billable.

Forecast Utilization % is calculated as follows:

For example, if we drill into the “Flux Forecast - Individual Level” component and look at Ruth Testington’s forecast for the week of 10/20/2019 - 10/26/2019, we see:

In this example, Ruth Testington’s Forecast Utilization % is calculated as follows:

NOTE: If a resource has Sum of Total Capacity (hrs) = 0, the Forecast Utilization % will be 100%. Zero capacity is typically the result of Time Away or a Resource that is set with 0 hr Daily Utilization Target.

METRIC: Billable Work % of Total Capacity

This metric is available on the Flux Forecast - Billable dashboard.

For these 2 components (circled above), the workload is comprised of only TaskRay Tasks where the Default Time Type = Billable. All other Tasks are excluded from these components.

Forecast Utilization % is calculated as follows:

Here, we are comparing just the billable Tasks to the resource’s total availability.

METRIC: Billable Work % of Billable Target

This metric is available on the Flux Forecast - Billable dashboard.

For these 2 components (circled above), the workload is comprised of only TaskRay Tasks where the Default Time Type = Billable. All other Tasks are excluded from these components.

Forecast Utilization % is calculated as follows:

Here, we are comparing just the billable Tasks to the resource’s billable utilization target (factoring any time away).

METRIC: Allocation % of Total Capacity

This metric is available on the Flux Forecast - Advanced Allocation dashboard.

For these 2 components (circled above), the workload is comprised of only TaskRay Tasks where the Allocation = True. All other Tasks are excluded from these components.

Forecast Utilization % is calculated as follows:

Here, we are comparing just the Allocation Tasks to the resource’s total utilization target (factoring any time away). This gives us a clear picture of committed resource allocation on projects (via Allocation Tasks), even if granular project work plans are incomplete.

METRIC: Work Task % of Total Capacity

This metric is available on the Flux Forecast - Advanced Allocation dashboard.

For these 2 components (circled above), the workload is comprised of only TaskRay Tasks where the Allocation = False. All other Tasks are excluded from these components.

Forecast Utilization % is calculated as follows:

Here, we are comparing just the Work Tasks to the resource’s total utilization target (factoring any time away). This is a helpful indicator of how much actual work (Work Tasks) has been assigned compared to resource capacity, regardless of project-specific allocation.

 

METRIC: Allocation minus Work Hours

This metric is available on the Flux Forecast - Advanced Allocation dashboard.

For these 2 components (circled above), we compare TaskRay Tasks where Allocation = True (ie. Allocation Tasks) to TaskRay Tasks where Allocation = False (ie. Work Tasks).

Remaining Hours is calculated as follows:

Total Hours Assigned on Allocation Tasks - Total Hours Assigned on Work Tasks

Here, we provide an actionable figure that tells if work has been assigned to allocated resources.

• A positive number indicates that there is surplus allocation; more Work Task hours can be assigned.
• A negative number indicates that there is an allocation shortage; too many Work Task hours have been assigned or Allocation Tasks are not sufficiently reflecting project commitments.

Dashboard Access and Data Visibility

All Flux Capacity Users (Flux Resource Users and Flux Manager Users) may access the Flux Actual Utilization dashboards and underlying source reports; a Flux Capacity license is required to view these reporting elements.

However, only active Flux Resources (which each require a Flux Resource User license) will have data to view. Non-licensed users will not show up in these reports.

Having Trouble with Access or Missing Data?

Dashboard and Report access is controlled at the folder level. If you are unable to find the “Flux Capacity Dashboards” folder, it may not be shared with you.

If you can access Flux Dashboards and Reports but feel that data is missing (ie. active Flux Resources do not show up in results), this might be due to your Salesforce security model. Data visibility can be restricted based on the sharing model implemented by your Salesforce System Administrator.

In either of the above situations, please see your Salesforce System Administrator to understand how these security settings may be impacting you.

 

Other Helpful Articles

What is Forecast Utilization?

What is the Advanced Resource Allocation Model?

Flux Actual Utilization Dashboard

Customize Flux Dashboard Filters