DPlan's resource manager lets you define your project team members, assign them to tasks, and โ when cost tracking is enabled โ automatically calculate task and project costs based on each resource's day rate. Resources appear on task rows and Gantt bars, giving the plan a clear picture of who is responsible for each piece of work.
DPlan supports three resource types, each with distinct cost calculation and reporting:
| Type | Icon | Cost Basis | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Person | ๐ค | Rate per day ร task duration ร allocation % | Team members, consultants, contractors |
| Equipment | ๐ง | Rate per day ร task duration | Machinery, vehicles, rented tools |
| Material | ๐ฆ | Rate per unit ร quantity assigned | Raw materials, consumables, licensing |
Person and Equipment resources are assigned in the People & Equipment section of the Task Editor. Material resources are assigned separately in the Materials section with a quantity field.
The Cost Summary report and Dashboard break costs down by these three types, giving a clear Labour / Equipment / Material split.
Click VIEW โ Resources in the ribbon (or SCHEDULE โ Resources). The resource manager opens as a modal dialog. Resources are listed with their type icon, name, role/rate line, and working day schedule.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | The person's display name as it will appear on task rows and Gantt tooltips. Use consistent naming (e.g., always "First Last") so the assignee filter works reliably. |
| Role | No | Job title or functional role (e.g., "Senior Developer", "UX Designer", "QA Engineer"). Shown in the resource manager list and in the task assignment panel for context when assigning. |
| No | For reference only โ not used for notifications or integrations. Useful when sharing .dplan files with clients so they can see contact details in the resource list. | |
| Colour | No | A colour swatch assigned to this resource. The colour is used to tint the Gantt bar of any task assigned solely to this resource, and to colour the resource's dot/badge on the task row. Choose distinct colours for team members so the Gantt becomes a visual workload map. |
| Rate Per Day | No (required for cost) | The daily cost of this resource in the project's currency. Used to calculate task cost: rate ร task duration in days. If cost tracking is disabled in Settings, this field has no effect on display but is stored for future use. |
Click the edit icon (pencil) beside any resource in the list. The form at the bottom of the panel populates with that resource's current values. Make changes and click Save Resource. The update propagates immediately to all tasks that reference this resource โ task costs recalculate, and the colour on Gantt bars updates.
Click the delete icon (trash) beside the resource. A confirmation prompt appears: "Remove [name]? They will be unassigned from all tasks." Confirm to proceed. The resource is removed from the manager and unassigned from every task in the project.
rate ร duration ร allocation%.The task row in the table now shows small coloured avatar dots for each assigned resource. On the Gantt bar, the bar takes on the colour of the first assigned resource (or a blended/striped pattern if multiple resources are assigned with distinct colours).
In the task table, the Assignee column shows:
Hover over the assignee cell to see a full list of all assigned resources for that task.
A task can have any number of resources assigned. This is useful when a task requires collaboration โ for example, a "Design Review" task might involve a designer and a product manager together.
When multiple resources are assigned:
Open the Task Editor, click the ร on the resource chip you wish to remove, then Save. The cost for that resource is removed from the task's cost calculation.
Task cost is calculated as:
Task Cost = ฮฃ (resource.ratePerDay ร task.durationDays ร resource.allocation)
Where allocation defaults to 1.0 (100 %) if not explicitly set. This formula runs automatically whenever a resource's rate, a task's duration, or a resource's allocation percentage changes.
Example:
The total project cost shown in the Dashboard and the cost column in the task table is the sum of all task costs across the project.
With the Resource Manager panel open, click the Workload tab at the top of the panel. This switches from the team list to a workload calendar showing each resource's task assignments laid out on a weekly timeline.
Each row is one resource. Each cell shows the tasks assigned to that resource for that week. Over-allocated periods (where the sum of a resource's task durations in a week exceeds their working days) are highlighted in red, indicating a scheduling conflict.
The workload view is read-only โ to adjust assignments, return to the Task Editor for individual tasks. Use the workload view to identify over-allocation and then redistribute tasks to under-allocated team members.
Resource colours have a direct visual impact on the Gantt:
Choose resource colours that are visually distinct and work well in both Light and Dark themes. Avoid very light colours (hard to see in light theme) and very dark colours (hard to see in dark theme).
DPlan has two ways to indicate who is doing a task:
Both can be used simultaneously. If you assign a resource from the manager AND set the free-text assignee field, both are stored. The resource manager assignment drives cost; the assignee field drives filtering. For simplicity, set the free-text assignee to match the resource name so both filters and cost calculations work consistently.
Material resources (๐ฆ) represent physical inputs or one-time purchases โ concrete, licensing, hardware, etc. Unlike Person/Equipment resources which cost per day, materials cost per unit.
To assign a material to a task:
quantity ร rate per unit.The Material Consumption Report provides a procurement schedule โ all material assignments sorted by task start date, ready to share with a purchasing team. See Reports.
Each resource has its own working-day schedule. By default all resources work Monday to Friday. You can customise which days each resource works โ useful for part-time team members, weekend shift workers, or contractors with non-standard schedules.
The resource's working day schedule is used to calculate the number of working days they contribute to a task. When you open the Task Editor for a task assigned to a resource, the Assignment Cost Settings section shows an information line for each resource:
๐ Mo Tu We Th Fr ยท 8 working days on this task
This tells you how many of the task's calendar days are actually working days for that resource. It helps you catch mismatches โ for example, if a task spans a period where the resource is scheduled off.
See also: Cost Tracking, Reports, Dashboard, Filters.