Latest Update: 8-4-2026
In Planera, a labor or equipment resource sits on top of your schedule, and the jobs that use it are nested underneath, just like the schedule itself. Each cell shows how many of that resource a job needs on a given day. Whether that resource is set to shared or dedicated changes how Planera turns those daily numbers into a single total for the period, and mixing the two up is the most common source of confusion when reviewing labor and equipment needs across a portfolio.
Shared resources can work across multiple jobs. Planera looks at the busiest combined day in the period and uses that as the total, since one worker or piece of equipment can cover more than one job.
Dedicated resources are committed to a single job. Planera sizes each job to its own busiest day, then adds those together, since a dedicated resource on one job isn't available to help another.
For instructions on building and filtering multi-project reports, see Resource Planning Dashboard - Multiple Projects.
How Planera Calculates Day-Level Totals
Each day column always adds up the same way, regardless of whether the resource is shared or dedicated: one laborer can't be on two sites the same day, so the combined row for any single day is just the jobs added together.
Shared and dedicated only start to differ once you roll those days up into one number for the week. That's the part worth double-checking whenever your two totals don't match.
Example: Both Jobs Peak on the Same Day
Riverside Tower needs 1 laborer every day this week. Oak Street Garage needs 2, 3, 0, 4, 5 across Monday through Friday, peaking at 5 on Friday.
Combined, Friday needs 1 + 5 = 6, the busiest day of the week. Shared total: 6.
Dedicated total: Riverside's busiest day (1) + Oak Street's busiest day (5) = 6.
Shared and dedicated match here. Both jobs are busiest on the same day, so there's no one free to move, and sharing a crew wouldn't save anything.
Example: The Jobs Peak on Different Days
Riverside Tower peaks Monday at 6 laborers. Oak Street Garage peaks Friday at 3. Combined, the week reads 7, 2, 5, 5, 8, with Friday as the busiest combined day.
Shared total: 8, the busiest combined day.
Dedicated total: Riverside's busiest day (6) + Oak Street's busiest day (3) = 9.
Here the shared number is lower. Because the two jobs peak on different days, one crew moving between sites covers the work with one fewer person than dedicating a separate crew to each job.
Rolling Multiple Weeks Into a Single Number
Shared keeps the single busiest day anywhere in the period; it does not add periods together. If Week 1's busiest day is 6 and Week 2's is 8, the two-week shared total is max(6, 8) = 8, not 6 + 8 = 14.
Dedicated sizes each job to its own busiest week, then adds the jobs together. If Riverside Tower's busiest week is Week 2 (6) and Oak Street Garage's busiest week is Week 1 (5), the two-week dedicated total is 6 + 5 = 11. Since the two jobs can peak in different weeks, you can't read this number off any single week's column.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why don't my dedicated and shared totals match for the same projects?
They will match when every job peaks on the same day; there's no one free to move, so sharing saves nothing. They'll differ when jobs peak on different days: shared drops below dedicated because one resource can cover more than one job's peak, saving headcount that dedicated crews can't.
How do I know if a resource is set to shared or dedicated?
Today, this is set at the resource level in your project setup. Planera is adding a banner and updated tooltips to make this clearer directly in the Resource Planning Dashboard; until then, check your resource configuration if you're unsure which mode applies.
If a resource is shared, does that mean it's double-counted across projects?
No. Shared mode avoids double-counting by taking the busiest combined day in the period, rather than adding every job's requirement together.
Can I switch a resource between shared and dedicated?
Yes, this is configured in your resource setup for each project. Once support for banners and persistent settings ships, switching modes and confirming your current view will be easier to do directly from the dashboard.
Does the shared vs. dedicated calculation apply to both labor and equipment?
Yes. The same maximum-based logic for shared resources and sum-based logic for dedicated resources applies to both labor and equipment resource types.