Latest Update: 12-24-2025
Labor and Equipment Usage sections allow you to analyze your resource usage over time to help with project planning and estimation. You can view usage for the entire project or use it with filters and custom tags to further analyze the schedule in detail.
Note: To see usage information, you must add labor and equipment to the project. You can read about it here.
You can find Labor Usage and Equipment Usage on the left Nav Bar
On top of the page, you will see a resource usage graph; below that, you will see a table with the same information.
You can switch from a stacked bar graph (showing resources in different colors) to total to see only one bar. Hovering on stacked bar will show you individual breakdown.
You can switch between Units, Hours and Days. Hours shows total hour usage based on 8 hours/day. Unit shows total quantity of resources.
In Hours mode, the last column of the table shows the sum of all hours. In Units mode, last column shows the max quantity of the resource.
To view the graph for a specific resource or a group of resources, you can turn off or on the desired resources from the table using the check boxes on the left of the table. That will update the table as well as the graph.
The table at the bottom of the screen will output either total units or hours of the selected resources depending on the selected option on the top left (Units or Hours). This data can be used to create an accurate labor estimate for the project.
To change the time scale, click on the desired option on top right (Day/Week/Month/Year)
Note: Day time scale is not available for projects longer than 12 weeks.
Drill Down Into Resource Usage
Project-level resource graphs allow you to drill into the underlying activities contributing to labor or equipment usage. This makes it easy to understand what is driving peaks and spikes without setting up complex filters.
Instead of manually filtering your schedule, you can start directly from a resource graph and inspect the connected activities in context.
Navigate to a project-level resource graph (Labor Usage or Equipment Usage)
Hover over a specific resource and time period in the graph
Click the desired resource element
You’ll be prompted to open the results in either Canvas or Table view
Select Canvas or Table to continue.
Planera opens a new tab with a project-wide filter automatically applied
This filter shows only the activities contributing to the selected resource and time scale
Use the filter controls to navigate and inspect the contributing activities as needed
When drilling into a resource from a project-level graph:
Any existing project filters are removed
A new filter is applied automatically based on the selected resource
This ensures you see only the relevant activities and avoids layered or conflicting filters that may hide useful results.
You can view or adjust the applied filter using the filter panel at the top of the Canvas or Table view.
Note: This workflow applies to both labor and equipment resources.
PRO TIP:
When you apply a filter, the resource usage graph and the table will update to reflect the filtered activities. For example, you can see the resource usage of a specific group, or activities running on a specific calendar, and so on. A brief video below: