PeopleMuster

Capacity planning template

Capacity planning compares the hours your team really has with the hours already promised. Start from each person's expected week, take out leave and holidays, then set booked work against what's left. The band in the last column tells you who can take the next job.

Run it before you say yes to new work, at the start of each month, and whenever a long leave request lands. A sales call that promises a start date next Monday should never happen before someone has read this sheet.

TEAM CAPACITY PLAN
Team: [TEAM NAME]
Month: [MONTH AND YEAR]
Standard day: [STANDARD DAY HOURS] hours
Working days this month: [WORKING DAYS]
Prepared by: [PREPARED BY]

BANDS (measured against each person's expected hours for the period)
Under = below half of expected hours
Partial = half or more, but short of expected
Full = at expected hours, give or take a quarter hour a day
Over = above expected hours

WEEK OF [WEEK START DATE]
Person | Expected hours | Leave hours | Holiday hours | Available | Booked | Free | Band
[PERSON NAME] | [EXPECTED HOURS] | [LEAVE HOURS] | [HOLIDAY HOURS] | [AVAILABLE HOURS] | [BOOKED HOURS] | [FREE HOURS] | [BAND]
[PERSON NAME] | [EXPECTED HOURS] | [LEAVE HOURS] | [HOLIDAY HOURS] | [AVAILABLE HOURS] | [BOOKED HOURS] | [FREE HOURS] | [BAND]
[PERSON NAME] | [EXPECTED HOURS] | [LEAVE HOURS] | [HOLIDAY HOURS] | [AVAILABLE HOURS] | [BOOKED HOURS] | [FREE HOURS] | [BAND]
[PERSON NAME] | [EXPECTED HOURS] | [LEAVE HOURS] | [HOLIDAY HOURS] | [AVAILABLE HOURS] | [BOOKED HOURS] | [FREE HOURS] | [BAND]
Team total | [TEAM EXPECTED] | [TEAM LEAVE] | [TEAM HOLIDAY] | [TEAM AVAILABLE] | [TEAM BOOKED] | [TEAM FREE] |

(Copy the week block once for each week of the month.)

MONTH SUMMARY
Week | Team available | Team booked | Team free | People Over | People Under
[WEEK START DATE] | [TEAM AVAILABLE] | [TEAM BOOKED] | [TEAM FREE] | [COUNT OVER] | [COUNT UNDER]
[WEEK START DATE] | [TEAM AVAILABLE] | [TEAM BOOKED] | [TEAM FREE] | [COUNT OVER] | [COUNT UNDER]
[WEEK START DATE] | [TEAM AVAILABLE] | [TEAM BOOKED] | [TEAM FREE] | [COUNT OVER] | [COUNT UNDER]
[WEEK START DATE] | [TEAM AVAILABLE] | [TEAM BOOKED] | [TEAM FREE] | [COUNT OVER] | [COUNT UNDER]

PIPELINE WORK NOT YET BOOKED
Project | Hours needed | Earliest start | Who could take it | Decision
[PIPELINE PROJECT] | [HOURS NEEDED] | [EARLIEST START] | [PERSON NAME] | [DECISION]

What to put in each blank

[EXPECTED HOURS]
Multiply the person's standard day by their working days that week. A four-day part-timer gets four days, not five.
[LEAVE HOURS]
Count approved leave only, turned into hours with the standard day. Pending requests go in a note until they're decided.
[HOLIDAY HOURS]
Count company holidays that fall on the person's working days, in hours.
[AVAILABLE HOURS]
Expected hours minus leave hours minus holiday hours.
[BOOKED HOURS]
Add every hour already planned for that person: client projects, internal work and recurring meetings you treat as fixed.
[FREE HOURS]
Available hours minus booked hours. A negative figure is overtime nobody has agreed to yet.
[BAND]
Compare booked hours with available hours and write Under, Partial, Full or Over using the key at the top.
[DECISION]
Write accept, accept from a later date, or decline. A dated decision beats a maybe that blocks the sheet for weeks.

Before you send it

  • Subtract leave and holidays before you band anyone. A person who looks Full in a week with two days off is really Over.
  • Aim for most of the team at Full with one or two people at Partial. That spare slack absorbs sick days and urgent client requests.
  • Read the Under rows as carefully as the Over rows. Two people Under for a whole month usually means work is stuck with someone else.
  • Keep pipeline work out of the booked column until it's signed. Mixing the two makes every week look full and every sales call a guess.

PeopleMuster bands every person's day as Under, Partial, Full or Over against your expected working day, and approved leave and company holidays show on the same capacity grid the moment they're set.

Questions people ask about this letter

How do you calculate team capacity?

Multiply each person's standard day by their working days, then subtract approved leave and company holidays. The result is available hours. For a 40-hour week with one day of leave on an 8-hour day, available capacity is 32 hours.

What is a good capacity utilisation target?

Set booked hours a little below available hours, so meetings, support and surprises still fit. For a published benchmark, Deltek's Clarity study of architecture and engineering firms, published 12 May 2026, put staff utilisation just under 60 percent.

How often should a capacity plan be updated?

Update it weekly, and also on the day any leave over two days is approved. A monthly-only plan is out of date by its second week.

Should a capacity plan include part-time staff and contractors?

Yes. Give each their real expected hours instead of a full week, and mark contractors so you can see how much delivery depends on people outside the team.

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