How is the Total Score for a request calculated?:
The total score lets you compare the priority of requests, by combining their value, investment, and risk scores into a single number:
Total Score = Return on investment (ROI) * Adjustment for risk
ROI = (Value - Investment) / Investment * 100
Adjustment for risk:
Risk score
% to adjust ROI
Adjustment value in formula – if...
New features in Polaris:
This topic gives an overview of all the new features added to Polaris in the past nine months.
Resourcing
Ability to assign hours to each task resource
Resource Request and Allocation import template
Show Projects filter on the Quick Allocation page
More options when allocating resources directly to projects
Resource skil...
Does Polaris record an audit trail of changes?:
Yes, Replicon offers an Timesheet Audit Trail report and a Time Off Audit Trail report that show changes made to timesheets and the status of time off bookings.
Refer to Using Polaris reports for more information.
For information about the user profile audit log, refer to Viewing who made changes to user profiles. Polaris can also help sup...
Can project managers allocate resources to projects directly?:
Some smaller organizations don’t have a dedicated resource manager. In these companies, project managers (PMs) may be allowed to pick their own resources for projects directly.
To allow this in Polaris, you must assign these managers PM permissions AND resource manager (RM) permissions, so they can both access projects and allocate resources.
W...
Using Quick Allocation to add, edit, and view resource allocations:
Sometimes, small- to medium-sized organizations don’t want to follow the formal back and forth request process when allocating resources, due to its high overhead.
At these sorts of companies, the resource manager might know the skillset of each resource, and may want to use that knowledge to make allocation decisions, instead of relying on Smar...
Setting up project and client codes:
Project codes and client codes are optional alphanumeric fields that can be used as identifiers for projects and clients, respectively.
If desired, you can make one or both of these types of codes a unique identifier of projects/clients.
You can also specify whether codes should be automatically assigned when you create a new project, and set a s...
Configuring auto-generation of bill, credit memo, and payment reference numbers:
Billing managers need to enter a unique reference number on each bill, credit memo, or payment they create.
But, it can be difficult to manually add a unique number each time you add an item.
So, administrators and billing managers can be allowed to set reference numbers used on these items to auto-generate when the item is created. They can al...
How do I prevent All Users from being automatically assigned to new projects?:
When you add a new project, an All Users assignment will be added on the Resourcing > Timesheet Access tab. This is the system-wide default, and allows all users to record time against the project, without you having to add them one by one.
You can change this default, so All Users is never automatically added when you create a new project.
To...
Setting up rates for a project:
Rates are used to calculate billing amounts if the project uses a Time Billing plan; you don’t need to assign rates if the project’s bill plan isn’t Time-based.
There are three types of rates:
Project rate - default rate, used if no other rates are assigned to a resource
Role rate - associated with roles that resources can be assigned
R...
Handling availability limitations when allocating resources to a project:
As you fulfill resource requests, you may face availability limitations caused by a resource’s other allocations, variable work schedules, part-time employment, and time off.
Polaris offers time off aware allocation, also known as SmartFit, to help you work around availability limitations. SmartFit will automatically account for time off when al...
