Resource Planning has been rebuilt from the ground up and replaces the previous resource planning. Both versions coexist for a while so that you can switch at your own pace, and only one of them is active in your account at any time. This article describes who receives the new Resource Planning, what changes, and how you transfer your existing plannings.
Access to Resource Planning
Which version you see depends on whether you have been using resource planning so far.
You do not use resource planning yet. As soon as you book or test the module through the self-service tool, you work with the new Resource Planning straight away. No switch is needed because there is no legacy data.
You already work with the previous resource planning. Nothing changes for you at first. You decide when you want to switch and contact support to arrange it. ZEP then activates the new Resource Planning for your account.
Resource Planning is available in ZEP Compact and ZEP Professional. It is not included in ZEP Clock.
Differences from the Previous Resource Planning
The new Resource Planning is not a rebuild of the old one but a new concept. Three points are worth knowing before you switch because they affect the way you have worked so far.
Work Packages Are Discontinued
The new Resource Planning works without work packages. Planning happens directly at project level, meaning per employee and project across a period. This also removes the remaining effort, the status colours of work packages, and the related reports. Before switching, check whether you want to record information from your work packages elsewhere.
Warning: Work packages are not transferred. After the switch, the main menu items "Planning" and "Work packages" of the previous resource planning are no longer available.
Default Planning Is No Longer a Concept
So far there was the default planning from the project assignment plus the specific planning. The new Resource Planning drops this distinction: for an employee and a project there is either a planning or none. You can still bring your existing default plannings along during the transfer, where they are converted into specific plannings.
Planning in Clock Times Is Discontinued
Plannings with specific start and end times no longer exist. You plan either as a percentage of the standard working time per day or in hours per working day. Existing plannings with clock times are converted into hours based on their duration during the transfer, so the planned effort is preserved.
Transferring Your Data
As soon as the new Resource Planning is active for your account, ZEP checks whether your instance holds specific plannings from the last twelve months. If it does, ZEP offers the transfer, and you decide on the period and on which data comes along. If ZEP finds no such plannings, the assistant does not appear, and the new Resource Planning is the leading source from the start.
Note: The transfer assistant is not a separate menu item. It is titled Data migration to the new resource planning and opens automatically as soon as a user with the administrator role opens a planning view, and it keeps doing so for as long as data from the previous resource planning is present. Use Decide later to leave it without making a decision. It appears again the next time you open a planning view.
The Three Transfer Options
In the assistant you first choose the period and then one of three transfer options. It is prefilled with two months back through three months ahead. You can change the period freely, including further back. Plannings outside the selected period are not carried over. Only import confirmed plannings is preselected.
Option | What is transferred |
Do not transfer data | You start with an empty Resource Planning. Nothing is transferred. |
Only import confirmed plannings | All specific plannings from the selected period, without the default plannings from the project assignments. |
Apply specific plannings and default plannings | Additionally the default plannings from the project assignments, converted into percentage plannings per day. |
Before you start, the assistant shows how many planning days and how many default plannings it found in the selected period. This lets you check in advance whether the period fits. If there is nothing to transfer in the selected period, the assistant says so explicitly, and you can widen the period before starting.
Warning: The transfer can be carried out only once and cannot be undone. This also applies to the option "Do not transfer data": it uses up the single attempt as well, so you will not be able to transfer your existing plannings afterwards. Choose this option only if you deliberately want to start with an empty planning. ZEP points this out permanently in the assistant and asks once more before carrying it out.
Scope of the Transfer
The plannings themselves are transferred, split into contiguous bars. ZEP merges consecutive days into one bar only if value, unit, task, and note match and the days follow without a gap. Every gap splits the bar, including a weekend. Percentage values stay percentages and hour values stay hours. If both units meet on the same day, ZEP converts the result into hours.
Note: Your existing data remains unchanged. The transfer only reads it and neither modifies nor deletes anything.
Skipped Records
Some records cannot be transferred meaningfully and are therefore skipped. The assistant counts them so that you can follow the result.
Plannings without a project
Plannings for employees or projects that no longer exist
Plannings whose value is zero or lower after rounding
Plannings that overlap an existing new planning
Default plannings that fall on weekend days only
ZEP also adjusts individual values: a task that does not belong to the project is removed while the planning is kept. Values above the permitted maximum are set to the maximum, and notes longer than 1024 characters are shortened.
Result of the Transfer
After the run, the assistant shows a summary with the number of transferred plannings, transferred default plannings, skipped records, and the time it took. Afterwards, check a sample in the planning view, especially for projects with many short plannings.
Note: With the switch, the reports of the new Resource Planning take the place of the previous ones. Which reports these are and what they show is described in Reports – Resource Planning.
Discontinuation of the Previous Resource Planning
The previous resource planning will be discontinued on 1 January 2027. Until then you can switch at your own pace. If you would like to prepare the switch, please contact ZEP support. We will agree on a suitable date together and accompany the transfer of your data.