Compare reserved capacity and recorded hours without treating empty calendars as availability or time entries as forecasts.
Index
Reserving a specialist does not prove an activity happened. The dashboard must separate planned capacity, recorded work and time-entry coverage so coordinators can negotiate new commitments.
The unit of analysis determines the result
Grain may be person, project and period if execution records support that comparison. Provisional and confirmed reservations must remain different. Missing time entries do not mean the professional was idle; they can indicate collection gaps.
Planning software may supply allocation data. The analytical layer combines it with execution and internal activities while preserving calendar rules. Before commissioning automatic forecasting, check whether historical data consistently distinguish travel, customer service and supporting work well enough for the intended decision.
Requirements for comparing BI proposals
- Define available capacity under the agreed calendar, including internal commitments occupying specialist time.
- Keep reservation versions to explain priority changes across competing projects.
- Show time-entry coverage and the records supporting each planned-versus-actual comparison.
A check before using the measure
In a hypothetical example, a reservation moves to another project before execution. Check the earlier forecast, final commitment and recorded work without double-counting the person's capacity. Add a period with no time entries: the view should indicate incomplete information instead of classifying the entire interval as spare time.
Reference for assessing scope
Microsoft Learn: facts, dimensions and analytical model grain
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