Availability

The Availability function in the Planning and Budgeting > Departments module allows a department to evaluate its employee and equipment needs by comparing resource availability to planned use.

To do so, departments create Availability records that set the number of hours a classification of its employee or equipment resources is available each month. (For example, employees in the Water Department's Water Treatment Operators classification might work 168 hours in January, 152 hours in February, etc.)

The Work > Planning and Budgeting > Departments > Availability grid displays availability and planned use data for a department's Employee and Equipment resource Classifications.

There are two methods for defining the availability of Employee and Equipment Resources. Choose Method 1 if you have yet to assign Resources to Planned Tasks. If you have already assigned Resources to Planned Tasks, use Method 2, which is much faster.

Method 1: Define Availability for individual resource Classifications you choose

Open the Work > Planning and Budgeting > Departments module.
Click the to expand the Department record for which you want you want to create an Availability record.
In the Availability grid, click Add . A new record appears.
Select the desired Classification/Class Type (required). Each classification option is associated with a particular group of Employees or Equipment.
Continue to Completing the record (below):

Method 2: Allow Lucity to create Availability records based on the Resources listed on Planned Tasks linked to the Department

Open the Work > Planning and Budgeting > Departments module.
Select the Departments record for which you want to create Availability records.
Click the Toolkit , then select Populate Classifications | Selected Record. A pop-up appears asking you to confirm that you want to run the tool for the selected record.
Click OK. Lucity creates Availability records for any Classifications of Employees or Equipment that are listed as Resources on a Planning Task linked to this Department.
- Note: This tool only adds Classifications to a Department; it does not remove previously added Classifications.
Click Open to edit the new Department > Availability record(s). You'll notice that the Classification/Class Type is already populated.
Continue to Completing the record (below):

Completing the record

Enter the number of hours the selected resource Classification is available for use in each [Month] Available field.
Lucity Nightly Tasks will automatically populate the monthly Planned-use fields using data from Planned Tasks related to this Classification, Department and Fiscal Year.
Enter the Total Available hours for the resource Classification.
Save and close the record. The new or updated Classification appears in the Department's Availability grid.

Classification/Class Type*	Identifies a grouping of Employee or Equipment resources associated with this department and fiscal year. Options in this picklist come from the Employee Classification Setup and Equipment Classification Setup modules.
Available (monthly fields)	Indicate the hours each month this resource classification is available to be scheduled for work.
Total Available	Indicates the total number of hours in this fiscal year that this resource classification is available to be scheduled for work.
Planned (monthly fields)	Calculate the number of hours each month this resource classification is scheduled to work on Planned Tasks. Lucity produces these values using data These fields populate from Work Orders in the system that have scheduled this Classification of employee. These fields are updated regularly by Lucity Nightly Tasks. You can also update the numbers on-demand by running one of the Perform Cost Update Toolkits.
Total Planned	Calculates the total number of hours in this fiscal year that this resource classification is scheduled to work on Work Orders in the system. This field is updated regularly by Lucity Nightly Services. You can also update the total on-demand by running one of the Perform Cost Update Toolkits.