This section describes the steps necessary to start using Planner.
First of all Redmine needs to be up and running with Planner installed. The installation procedure is described in detail in README.md.
Planner is implemented as project module in Redmine. Resource planning is something that is not specific to a single project, but has a larger scope. The reason Planner is a project module is simple. It allows fine grained access control and makes it possible to use it for different departments that have no direct connection.
The basic idea is to set up "resource planning" projects in Redmine. This projects are only meant for resource planning, nothing else. Such a project only has the "Planner" module and perhaps the "Wiki" module activated, everything else is disabled. The Wiki can contain instructions on how to use Planner, how to name tasks, use descriptions etc.
## Setting up Roles
Planner defines different permissions:
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View Resource Plan
This permissions allows viewing of the resource planning. It is required for anyone who should be able to view things. It must be set for all roles that allow interaction with Planner.
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Create Requests
Anyone with this permission is allowed to create resource requests.
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Create Tasks
This permission allows users to create Tasks. Typically, not everyone allowed to create resource requests should be allowed to create tasks to avoid a mess with too many tasks.
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Administer Resource Plan
This permission is for the planner administrator and includes all permissions. Unlike any other permissions, this allows creating teams and groups. Once a team or groups is created, the "leader" of the team can manage the members.
These permissions need to be mapped to roles first. A good start might be to define roles like this:
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Planner Admin
This role is for the administrator that needs to be able to create teams and groups and includes the permission Administer Resource Plan.
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Planner Manager
This role is for project managers and team leaders. It includes the permissions View Resource Plan, Create Tasks, Create Requests.
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Planner User
This role is meant for all the team members. It allows creating resource requests for existing tasks. Permissions: View Resource Plan, Create Requests.
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Planner Viewer
This is meant for people that are not part of the teams but are allowed to view the current planning. It includes only the role View Resource Plan.
Once the roles are set up, it's time to define a resource planning project. For this just create a normal Redmine project and enable the Planner module and maybe the Wiki module, disable everything else.
Once the project is created, users have to be added. Add all the users in the department and give them one of the roles defined above.
For the resource requests to work, each person that can be planned as a resource needs to be assigned to a team with a team leader that approves or denies resource requests.
Select "Teams and Groups" in the "Resource Planner" tab of the previously defined Redmine project. Create the teams with the team leader and assign members to them.
Once teams are defined, groups can be defined too. If a group has a "leader" assigned, it's possible for this person to manage the members of the group.
Before any resource request can be made, at least one task needs to be defined. Defining tasks is easily achieved under "Tasks" in the resource planner. A task also has an owner. The owner can close a task which means it can no longer be used in new resource requests. This allows project leaders to control the tasks belonging to their projects.
With everything set up, it's possible to create a first resource requests. Creating a request can be done in "Resource requests" using the "New Resource Request" link. The first step is to define which person (the resource) and which task.
Once the request is created, it needs some planning. Planning is done on a weekly basic in workload. Planning can be created using the form, deleted using the delete links. To change existing planning, just enter new values in the form to overwrite the existing entries.
Once the planning is complete, the request can be "Sent" to the approver by using the "Send request" form in top right part of the planning. The approver and the resource should get notified by email about the request.
The generated charts can be tweaked. Planner has some settings in the project configuration. Within a planning project, select "Settings -> Resource Planner".
