Resource allocation
Resource allocation is the assignment of named people to specific project work for a set period, with the hours each person should spend on it. In project management it turns a plan's skill needs into a schedule: who works on what, in which week, for how many hours a day.
Allocation is where a capacity plan meets real names. Capacity planning asks whether your team has enough hours at all. Allocation answers who gives them, and that's where double bookings surface, because every row now belongs to someone.
Start from available hours, not contracted ones. Take out approved leave and holidays first, then plan against what's left. If you book someone for a full week they'll partly spend on leave, you've planned work that can't happen.
Leave room in every day. Booking a person to their last hour looks tidy on the grid and breaks on the first sick day or urgent fix. Plan a little under a full day and meetings, reviews and support still fit around the project work.
Keep slices whole where you can. Splitting one day across four projects looks balanced, yet every switch costs time nobody logs. Whole or half days on a single project are easier to deliver and far easier to check.
Then compare the plan with what gets logged. An allocation is an intention. Put it beside the hours your people actually recorded and you'll see which estimates hold, and which kind of work keeps running over.
Where this shows up in PeopleMuster
PeopleMuster allocates on a person-by-day grid, grouped by users or by projects, with leave and holidays marked L and H, a billable filter and a monthly total per person.
Questions people ask
What are the steps in resource allocation?
Five steps cover most projects. List the work and the hours it needs, check each person's available hours after leave, assign named people week by week, and leave slack in each day. Then compare the plan with logged hours every week and adjust.
Should allocations be made in whole days?
Whole and half days suit most project work. A day sliced across three projects rarely survives the actual day, because the switching eats the hours. Keep smaller slices for support rotas and short reviews.
What happens when allocation and logged hours disagree?
You've found the most useful number in the plan. A one-off gap is an ordinary week. A gap that repeats on the same kind of work means the estimate behind it is wrong, so fix the estimate before the next allocation.