FAQ: Effort Rules & Plan Templates

Published on April 23, 2026 QuoteX

Understanding how Resourcing Plan Templates can automatically calculate and allocate role effort in QuoteX.

When creating project scopes and timelines, one of the common challenges is determining how many hours should be assigned to each role involved in the project.

A Resourcing Plan Template helps simplify this process. Instead of manually entering effort for every role each time you create a scope or timeline, you can define reusable rules that calculate the effort of other roles based on the hours assigned to a core resource.

In simple terms A Resourcing Plan Template tells QuoteX: "If this core role has a certain number of hours, automatically calculate the required hours for the other roles using these percentages."

1. What is a Resourcing Plan Template?

A Resourcing Plan Template is a predefined template used to help allocate resources efficiently across project scopes and timelines.

The template uses the hours assigned to a core resource in Scope Details as the reference point. Based on the effort rules configured in the template, QuoteX can then derive the effort required for other roles.

This means that you do not have to manually calculate and enter the effort for every role each time. Instead, you define the relationship between roles once in the template and reuse that logic when creating quotes.

Example Suppose the Developer is the core resource for a project. If the project requires 100 hours of Developer effort and your template defines a Senior Business Analyst at 50% of the Developer's effort, the rule establishes the relationship between those two roles.

2. How Does a Resourcing Plan Template Improve Efficiency?

Without a Resourcing Plan Template, users may need to manually enter role effort in both Scope Details and Timelines.

This can become repetitive, especially when similar project structures are used across multiple quotes.

Resourcing Plan Templates allow you to define the effort relationships once and reuse them. This provides a more consistent way to calculate and allocate effort.

3. How Do I Create a New Resourcing Plan Template?

To create a new Resourcing Plan Template:

1. Go to the Resourcing Plan Templates tab.
2. Click + New Resourcing Plan Template.
3. Enter a clear and meaningful Name for the template.
4. Add a Description explaining the purpose of the template.
5. Mark the template as Active if you want it to be available for use.
6. Click Save.

4. How Do I Add Effort Rules to a Resourcing Plan Template?

After you save the Resourcing Plan Template, QuoteX takes you to the template's detail summary page.

To start defining the effort rules:

1. Open the template's detail summary page.
2. Go to the Decision Rules tab.
3. Click Add.
4. Define the roles, phases, levels, and allocation percentage for the rule.
5. Save the rule.

Each effort rule establishes how one role's effort should be calculated in relation to another role's effort.

5. What Details Are Required When Adding an Effort Rule?

When creating an effort rule, you define the relationship between the role being calculated and the core resource that acts as the reference.

Example of an effort ruleSuppose you want the Senior Business Analyst to have effort equal to 50% of the Developer's effort during the Design phase.

You would define the allocation as 50, select Developer in the OF ROLE field, and select Design in the OF PHASE field.

6. What Does Allocation % Mean?

Allocation % defines how much effort the selected role should receive compared with the effort of the reference, or core, resource.

For example, if you enter 50 as the Allocation %, the role is defined as requiring 50% of the effort of the role selected in the OF ROLE field for the selected phase.

In this example, the rule establishes the Senior Business Analyst's effort as 50% of the Developer's effort for the applicable phase.

7. What Should I Select in the "Include When" Field?

In the current version, select Always in the Include When dropdown.

This ensures that the configured effort rule is consistently applied according to the rule definition.

8. How Can I Add Multiple Roles and Phases?

A single Resourcing Plan Template can contain multiple effort rules. This allows you to define the complete resourcing relationship for a project structure.

To add additional rules:

1. Open the template's Decision Rules tab.
2. Click Add.
3. Define the additional role, phase, level, allocation percentage, and reference role/phase.
4. Continue adding rules as required.
5. When all required roles and phases have been configured, click Save.

Think of the template as a reusable resourcing blueprint.Each effort rule adds another relationship to that blueprint, allowing QuoteX to derive the required role effort from the defined core resource.

9. Where Can I Find My Saved Resourcing Plan Templates?

All saved Resourcing Plan Templates are available from the Resourcing Plan Templates tab.

This tab serves as the template library where you can view the templates that have been created for your organization.

10. How Can I View or Edit an Existing Resourcing Plan Template?

To view or modify an existing template:

1. Go to the Resourcing Plan Templates tab.
2. Click the template name you want to review.
3. Review the template's summary details.
4. Select the Decision Rules tab.
5. Review or edit the configured effort rules.

End-to-End Example

The following example shows how the different pieces work together.

Imagine that your project uses a Developer as the core resource during the Design phase.

1. The Developer's effort is defined in the scope.
2. The Resourcing Plan Template contains an effort rule for the Senior Business Analyst.
3. The rule specifies an Allocation % of 50.
4. OF ROLE is set to Developer.
5. OF PHASE is set to Design.
6. QuoteX uses this relationship to derive the Senior Business Analyst's effort relative to the Developer's effort.

Quick Reference

Resourcing Plan Templates provide a reusable way to define how different roles contribute effort relative to a core resource. By configuring effort rules with roles, phases, levels, and Allocation %, you can establish consistent resourcing relationships that QuoteX can use when building project scopes and timelines.

Knowledge Article Number: KA-00042