What are Placeholders?
Placeholders are used when you have a project to plan out but don't yet know who to assign to it. They are used to represent demand - work to be done. They are also the draft state of a Resource Request. A Project Manager can plan out the workload before submitting a Resource Request to the Resource Manager.
Benefits of using Placeholders
Better Planning and Forecasting
Assess all the work that is required to complete this project
Determine an approximate cost based on default role costs
Estimate revenue based on default role rates
Long-term forecast of workload
In the report below, I can forecast the demand by role and drill down to see which project is requesting this role:
Finding the Most Suitable Person for the Job
When you fill out all the criteria for the role in the Placeholder, Runn can help you find the best available person based on the criteria listed in the Placeholder details:
Roles
Skills
Team
People Tags
Custom fields - e.g. location, education, preference, seniority
Most Availability
In the example below, we are looking for a person from the Analytics Teams with SQL skills. Run can then search for the best people matching the criteria listed and rank them based on their availability:
When should I use Placeholders?
There are different scenarios where placeholders can help with project planning:
Sales/ Delivery team can map out the project allocation, estimate the cost and revenue and present it to the client (Adding Placeholders to a Project)
Before the project kickoff, the Delivery team can start transferring the workload from the placeholders to the people to confirm the project team (Transferring Placeholder Assignments to the Most Suitable Person)
When a person leaves a project team/ goes on a vacation, but you don't know who can fill the role yet, you can transfer the work to a placeholder first (Transferring Assignments to a Placeholder when the Person is Unavailable)
When you need to forecast your unmet demand periodically for resource planning
Create a report for senior leadership who would like to see all the unmet demand for resources, so they know where the current skill gaps are
Using Placeholders
Add Placeholders to a Project
You can add placeholders to projects and schedule assignments, just as you would schedule people on projects.
Learn more about how to add placeholders to a project here.
Transfer Placeholder Assignments to the Most Suitable Person
Use the Find Person button to easily transfer the assignment to the most suitable person:
Learn more about transferring placeholder assignments to a person here.
Transfer Assignments to a Placeholder when the Person is Unavailable
When an employee leaves, you can also use placeholders to reschedule the remaining assignments. Simply transfer the assignments to a placeholder and then use the Find Person button to find the right person!
Learn more about transferring assignments from a person to a placeholder here.
Forecast Your Unmet Demand with Placeholders
Once Placeholders are added to your account, you can quickly consolidate your unmet demand on Runn's People Planner:
Learn more about viewing your unmet demand through organizing placeholders here.