Best Practices for NetSuite OpenAir Resource Management Features

Successful Resource Management strategy is more process than tool. However, having the right tools can significantly improve process. NetSuite OpenAir offers many features for managing resource bookings; but which feature should be used when managing resource schedules?

Here are the most common NetSuite OpenAir features used:

1. Booking List View
2. Booking Chart
3. Booking Worksheet (Grid)
4. Resource Planner

These resource features can be used separately or in conjunction with each other. Here are some feature best practices for each resource action.

Action	Feature
Create Bookings	Booking list view to manually create bookings with repeat option for spreading bookings evenly between dates Resource Booking Worksheet to create bookings where hours vary by period in a spreadsheet type view Resource Planner to manually create bookings with repeat option for spreading bookings evenly between dates
Bulk move start dates	Bookings list view to bulk shift dates forward or backwards when project start dates change
Swap resources	Booking list view to bulk swap named or generic resources
Bulk edit, delete or clone bookings	Booking list view to bulk change booking types, delete or clone bookings from one project to another project using a new feature in the Oct 14 release
View resource over/under utilization	Booking Chart displays overutilization and underutilization in a graphical view. Resources without bookings can optionally be displayed and filters applied. Booking Planner presents booking data in a Gantt view that is color coded and displays utilization percentages.
Update bookings within a specific period	Booking worksheet periods can be set to daily, weekly, and monthly for example and booking amounts can be modified within each period. For worksheet to show all booking data, the setting to ‘consolidate bookings by day totals’ must be enabled.

Organizations will settle into the one or many of these features based on organization resource management goals and tool feature training.

TOP Step can help you develop a successful resource management strategy, help you implement the feature configuration, and give you training for ongoing management your research management strategy. Our Business Efficiency Assessment can focus on your system as a whole or on a particular focus such as Resource Management. Learn more here.