Manage resource allocation with the Capacity Planning app in airfocus

Benefits

• Simple capacity management: Manage resource allocation across planning segments (e.g., quarters, releases) in one view, even as plans shift or priorities change mid-flight.
• Understand trade-offs with scenario planning: Simulate and compare scenarios to understand trade-offs, helping you make decisions based on actual capacity.
• Prioritize with the big picture in mind: Prioritization comes down to capacity. Make sure your plans fit available resources across teams and workspaces, keeping efforts aligned and efficient.

How to set up the Capacity Planning app

Activate the app

The Capacity Planning app can work across multiple workspaces, for example if you want to manage resources that are shared between products and teams. More on this here.

To activate the app, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the workspace where you want to plan capacity. 
2. Click Extensions from the top-right corner of your workspace.
3. Under "Apps", select Capacity Planning.
4. Select a planning segment based on a time-period field (eg. sprints, releases, or quarters).
   • You may need to create a new time period field if you don’t have one yet. Learn how to do this here.
   • If you create a new time period field, and you want to use in other workspace, make sure you check the box to make this a team field.
   • For simplicity, the initial installation process only allows to set up the resources for one planning segment. Once the initial setup is complete, you can add as many as you want.
5. Select an existing resource or add a new one. 
   • A resource is a capacity field (e.g., cost, story points) measured over the planning segment.
   • You can have unlimited resources per planning segment. You can add more resources now or later.
     
6. Optionally, add a “Capacity” view for efficient resource management. This view can also be created later. Learn how here.

You’ve successfully installed the Capacity Planning app.

How to use the Capacity Planning app

If you’re using a new time period field, you’ll likely want to move some items into the respective planning segment you envision them occurring in. You may also need to assign values to your capacity field if it is also new.

Set default capacities

To set default capacities, follow these steps:

1. Under the capacity field you want to set a default for, click the circle icon to the right of one of the values.
   
2. Under "Default capacity", type the capacity you want as a default for all fields.
   • If you want different capacities for different time periods, click Set capacity next to each time period at the bottom of the panel. If you've already set a default, click the default value instead of Set capacity.

If you want to set different capacities for each time period, you can do so in basic mode or advanced mode:

Basic mode
For a known capacity, set it directly. For example, if you have a capacity field called Cost, and a strict budget of 100 EUR per quarter, then you can enter this right away.

Advanced mode
For fluctuating capacities, use the Advanced mode to calculate values based on factors like team size, available workdays, and a buffer for contingencies.

In the example below, for Q4 2024, we have entered Advanced mode to help us figure out our number of days to budget. We enter the following:

• Daily person capacity: 1 (i.e., each team member works a full work day)
• Weekdays: 66 (this is calculated by default, based on the date range configured for Q4)
• Number of people: 5 (there are 5 people on my team)

The calculator here suggests to set a default capacity of 330 days for this quarter.

Unexpected situations, like team members falling ill, can impact capacity. To account for this, a 10% buffer is added for a more conservative estimate.

The 10% buffer reduces the suggested capacity from 330 days to 297 days, ensuring the work planned for the quarter isn't overestimated. Any leftover capacity can be used for additional tasks, but this approach avoids overcommitting the team's workload.

Scenario planning

Scenarios can be adjusted under the "Scenarios" column by toggling off specific items to exclude their capacity values. Once satisfied with the scenario, click Apply to save the changes and reassign the toggled-off item to another time period.

Capacity overview for the workspace

You can access the Capacity Planning app settings anytime via the Extensions menu.

Here, you'll find a summary of forecasted capacity for each planning segment. More details are covered in the next section.

Manage resources

Click a resource in the Capacity Planning app settings to open the "Manage resource" panel, where a graphical breakdown shows the resource's consumption compared to the set capacity for each time period in the planning segment.

Cross-workspace capacity planning

At scale, resources are often shared across teams. You can use capacity planning across multiple workspaces in these instances.

Initial setup for the first workspace (Workspace A)

1. Set up a planning segment (e.g., Quarters, Sprints) with the necessary time period field.
2. Define the resource capacity unit (e.g., Days, Cost) and add the corresponding field to the workspace settings.
3. Install the capacity planning application in Workspace A.
4. Within the app, create the initial resource using the defined planning segment and capacity field. This resource is now available to be shared.

Configure the second workspace for sharing (Workspace B)

1. Before installing the app, ensure the following fields are added to Workspace B's settings:
   • The time period field for the planning segment (e.g., Quarter).
   • The Capacity field (e.g., Cost, Days) that was used for the existing resource in Workspace A.
2. Install the capacity planning application in Workspace B.
3. Select the same time period field used for the existing resource's planning segment in Workspace A.
4. When adding a new resource, select the same capacity field used to create the existing resource in Workspace A.
5. Select the option to select an existing resource already used in another workspace (Workspace A) rather than creating a new, separate resource.
6. Review the resource preview to confirm it will be shared across both workspaces.
7. Complete the resource setup and add a dedicated Capacity View to Workspace B.

Share capacity planning
The shared resource is now installed and configured in Workspace B.

Any resource allocation made in Workspace A (e.g., 5 days used) will be reflected as used capacity in Workspace B's views, showing the real-time shared capacity across teams.

Create your own Capacity view

You can create a Capacity view at any time using one of the following methods:

Use the prompt

1. Navigate to the Capacity Planning app settings.
2. Select the planning segment you want to create a view for.
3. Click + Create View.

Create from scratch

1. Navigate to a workspace where the Capacity Planning app is installed.
2. Click All views from the tabs across the top of the workspace.
3. Click the plus sign icon to the right of "Views".
4. Select Table.
5. Click Continue.
6. Customize the details for your custom view.
7. Click Add view.

Using the Capacity Planning app for sprints

The Capacity Planning app is also ideal for lightweight sprint planning. Here's how to configure it:

Configure sprints

1. Open the Capacity Planning app settings.
2. Click + Add field.
3. Select an option from the available presets.
4. Enter the information in each text entry for the new field.
5. Add more time periods as needed.
   • Ensure "Enable Iterations" is checked. This helps manage active and upcoming sprints and allows items to move seamlessly between iterations.
6. Configure sprint durations (default is two weeks, but this can be customized).
7. Click Add field.

Add a resource to the new field by clicking + Add resource.

Create a view

Navigate back to the Capacity Planning app settings and generate a dedicated view by following these steps:

1. Select a planning segment.
2. Click + Create view.

Complete a sprint

When a sprint is over, open the three-dot menu next to the sprint name, and click Complete.

A prompt will appear to move any open items—those not yet marked as "Done"—to the next iteration, or to create a new iteration if none exists.

After clicking Yes, the following updates are visible:

• Story points completed in Sprint 1: 21/30
• Story points planned for Sprint 2: 30/30
• Sprint 1: Marked as Completed
• Sprint 2: Set to Active

Uninstalling the Capacity Planning app

The Capacity Planning app can be installed across multiple workspaces and share resources, making the uninstallation process more complex.

Before uninstalling, ensure the following:

• You are an airfocus admin/editor.
• You have full permissions for all workspaces sharing the app's resources.

Note: Uninstalling the app from a workspace removes shared resources from all other workspaces where they are used.

How to uninstall

1. Navigate to a workspace where the Capacity Planning app is installed.
2. Open the Capacity Planning app settings.
3. Click Uninstall app at the bottom of the panel.

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