Table of Contents
Overview
To get set up with BigTime Resource Management, you’ll need your designated customer support person to turn it on. From there, you can expect a few standard things to happen with your data as it syncs to Resource Management from BigTime. This article will explain, piece by piece, exactly what happens to your BigTime account when you first integrate with Resource Management. These changes streamline processes, centralize key data, and enhance oversight of staff, projects, and contracts.
Activating Resource Management in BigTime
To begin using BigTime Resource Management, a BigTime representative must enable it. Once activated, you will see a new tab labeled Resourcing in your main navigation. This tab gives you access to the people calendar, project calendar, skills list, and other Resource Management features.
Navigation in BigTime
With Resource Management activated, the Resourcing tab becomes a central area for resource planning and oversight. It includes the following sections:
My Settings: Personalize your Resource Management experience, such as setting calendar colors, configuring substitute managers, and adjusting utilization settings.
Demand Calendar: Forecast future projects and resource needs.
Team Member Calendar: View your team’s scheduled work hours and time-off requests.
Project Calendar: Track project timelines and workload distribution.
Skills List: Manage employee skills, seniority levels, and time-off types.
Analytics Tools: Access key reports such as availability, project finances, and utilization.
Tabs prefixed with “My” (for example, “My Time Off” or “My Skills”) are designed for individual staff members and display personal information only.
Some of these areas are described in more detail later in this article, while others have dedicated articles with step-by-step instructions.
Projects & Staff
After Resource Management is activated, it becomes the system of record for project teams. All project team assignments are managed in Resource Management, and the resulting team structure syncs back to BigTime.
All projects and staff set up in BigTime automatically sync with Resource Management. You’ll notice a new View Project Calendar button on your project list, which redirects you to the Resource Management project calendar.
After Resource Management is activated, it becomes the system of record for project teams. All project team assignments are managed in Resource Management, and the resulting team structure syncs back to BigTime.
All projects and staff set up in BigTime automatically sync with Resource Management. You’ll notice a new View Project Calendar button on your project list, which redirects you to the Resource Management project calendar.
How Team Members are Added to Projects
After Resource Management is activated, team members are associated with projects through actions taken in Resource Management or through recorded work activity. A team member can be added to a project in the following ways:
- When a manager manually adds a staff member to a project in Resource Management. Learn more:
How to Add a Team Member from the Calendar
- When a manager creates an assignment for a staff member on a project in Resource Management. Learn more:
Creating An Assignment | For Manager Role
Creating an Assignment Using Compact Form
Manage Assignments in BigTime Resource Management
- When a staff member logs time to a project. Learn more:
Entering and Submitting Time with BigTime Mobile
Once a team member is added to a project using any of these methods, the team membership syncs back to BigTime. Resource Management remains the primary place for managing project teams, while BigTime continues to reflect the synced team structure.
For step-by-step instructions, see the related articles on manually adding team members, creating assignments, and managing project teams.
Contracts and Managing Costs
In Resource Management, contracts are the foundation for managing staff periods and costs. Once synced, a contract is automatically created for each staff member based on the employment dates and cost fields in BigTime.
Employee Cost Rates: These rates are pulled from the staff profile in BigTime. If a staff member has no cost rate set, the contract will default to a zero (0.00) cost rate in Resource Management.
Contract Period: The start and end dates of contracts are derived from the staffer’s employment dates.
Capacity: Staff capacity (e.g., 160 hours per month) is automatically calculated based on the standard 8 hours daily, 5 days a week. After the initial sync, contract, and capacity management moves to Resource Management, where changes can be made directly.
After the integration, Resource Management becomes the central source for contract details. A new Manage Contract button will appear under the Capacity and Cost Rates sections of each staffer’s profile in BigTime, allowing direct access to their Resource Management contract for updates.
Changes in Staffers' Profiles
Although the staffer profile in BigTime remains unchanged mainly, Resource Management enhances it by adding additional details, such as contract information and skills. Any staff-related costs and capacities will be managed exclusively in Resource Management.
User Permissions
With Resource Management enabled, new user permissions are added under the BigTime Resource Management section in the user rights window. By default, these permissions are disabled for all users except system administrators. Managers and higher-level users will have more extensive access compared to regular staff.
Skills Management
Skills management is now fully handled within Resource Management, and the Skills option will be removed from the My Company dropdown menu in BigTime. Skills from BigTime do not automatically transfer into Resource Management, so technical support is required to import any existing skills data.
Time and Expense Tab
In Resource Management, managers and administrators gain new capabilities within the Time and Expense tab, including approving or rejecting time-off requests. Staff can manage their personal time-off submissions through the My Time Off tab.
What to Expect with Synced Time Data
When using Resource Management alongside BigTime, time and time-off data continues to sync between the two systems. Because each system stores and processes time differently, you may notice small differences in how time values appear after synchronization.
Below are the most common differences you may encounter.
Time rounding differences between BigTime and Resource Management
BigTime and Resource Management store and calculate time differently, which can result in small discrepancies after synchronization. Resource Management rounds time worked to the nearest full minute, while BigTime stores time entries as decimal hours.
For example, a time entry of 2.2 hours in BigTime represents 2 hours and 12 minutes, which is converted and rounded when synced to Resource Management.
When similar entries are logged multiple times, these small rounding differences can add up across a full workweek, causing total reported time to be a few minutes higher or lower between the two systems. This is expected behavior and does not indicate a sync issue.
Negative time entries
BigTime allows negative time entries in specific scenarios, such as adjustments made after a time period has been closed. Resource Management does not sync negative time values.
When negative time entries exist in BigTime, Resource Management treats them as zero and excludes them from synced time data. This behavior is intentional and ensures consistent capacity, availability, and utilization calculations in Resource Management.
The integration of BigTime Resource Management introduces significant changes aimed at enhancing the efficiency of resource, time, and cost management. By centralizing project teams, contracts, and skills management within Resource Management, firms can achieve better visibility into workload distribution, resource planning, and overall project profitability.