Glossary
Resource Pool
shared resource pool, central resource pool
A resource pool is a shared set of resources that several projects use. You maintain availability, calendars and rates once in a central place, and every project reports its assignments to the pool. This shows whether a person is overallocated across all projects.
Without a pool, every project plans its resources in isolation. Each project manager sees only their own utilization, and the same person appears in five plans with five different hourly rates. The pool is the shared data basis for capacity planning across project boundaries.
Example: overallocation across two projects
Ms Weber works 40 hours per week. In calendar week 12, the office move project plans 24 hours for her, and the customer project plans another 24 hours:
| View | Planned hours week 12 | Available | Utilization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office move project alone | 24 | 40 | 60 % |
| Customer project alone | 24 | 40 | 60 % |
| Resource pool (both projects) | 48 | 40 | 120 % |
Each project manager sees a feasible plan. Only the pool reveals the 8 hours of overallocation. Now you can decide: move an activity within its float, hand the work to another person or settle priorities between the projects.
What are the benefits of a resource pool?
- Reuse: you create resources once and use them in many projects.
- Consistent data: rates and availability live in one place. When a rate changes, all linked projects work with the new value.
- Cross-project utilization: overallocation becomes visible before it delays a project.
- Better basis for leveling: resource leveling takes assignments from other projects into account.
When do you need a resource pool?
As soon as the same people, machines or rooms work in at least two projects at the same time. Typical cases are agencies, engineering firms and internal IT departments that run several customer projects in parallel. If every team works exclusively on one project, resource planning within that project is enough.
A pool is not a master project: a master project combines the activities of several projects in one plan, while the pool shares only the resources and their assignments.
Common mistakes with resource pools
- Creating activities in the pool: the pool holds resources, not project work.
- Not sharing assignments: if a project does not report its assignments to the pool, its workload stays invisible to the others.
- Copying projects in the Finder: the copy registers with the pool under the same identity, and original and copy overwrite each other's data.
How do you set up a resource pool in Merlin Project?
- Create the pool: create a document with File › New, choose New Document › Empty Document and click Create. Click Resources in the toolbar to switch to the Resources view, add all resources with + and save the document.
- Link the pool: in your project, open File › Project Settings (Cmd+;), switch to the Utilization tab and add the pool document with + in the Resource Pools section.
- Use resources and share assignments: drag the resources you need from the pool group of the Resources view into your project. The Publish Assignments column transfers the assignments to the pool. Turn on With pool assignments on the Utilization tab so that utilization and leveling take the other projects' assignments into account.
A pool document may contain only resources and cannot use another pool itself. Create copies of a project with File › Save As…, not in the Finder. The resource pool is part of Merlin Project, not Merlin Project Express. The FAQ How do I create a resource pool and link it to my projects? shows the steps with screenshots for Mac and iPad.
