Resource Capacity Definition

First, the activity calendar to be associated to the resource has to be defined, with the corresponding periodic coefficients and periodic percentage admissible overcapacity.

When the resource capacity is independent from any calendar (as for inventory resources), the check box Calendar is not selected. In this case, the Calendar cell remains empty and dummy capacity coefficients equal to 1 are recorded.

When the resource capacity depends on time, the check box Calendar is to be selected and a calendar has to be chosen. If necessary a new calendar can be defined via the Calendar button.  For example, for a resource corresponding to the labor hours for an assembly line, the activity calendar of the assembly line is associated to the resource. Furthermore, for each period, the number of available workers is entered as capacity coefficient. If necessary, the capacity coefficient can change from one period to the next. Along this line, the periodic capacity variation is displayed.  The initial capacity coefficient has to be entered.

The periodic percentage overcapacity has to be entered in the table (only if the check box Max. % of overcapacity has been selected in the Resource Item maintenance window.

The data entered in the Resource Capacity Definition maintenance window are checked, w.r.t. the options selected in the Resource Item maintenance window.

By clicking on the Constraints button, the active constraints are displayed. It is then possible to modify the constraints if necessary.

The available periodic capacity is estimated as the product of the periodic number of hours (defined in the active calendar) by the capacity coefficient (and the percentage overcapacity). This capacity is then compared with the planned workloads.

The available periodic capacity or the capacity coefficients are graphically displayed below the definition table, according to the option selected in the Display check box.

 Several costs are also estimated and displayed:

•      normal capacity cost : defined as the number of hours (corresponding to the nominal capacity) multiplied by the unit capacity cost

•      variation cost: defined as the number of positive (or negative) periodic capacity variations multiplied by the unit variation (positive or negative) cost.

•      over capacity cost: defined as the number of overcapacity hours (w.r.t. to the nominal capacity) multiplied by the unit overcapacity cost.