Using the Schedule Heatmap

Please note: Heatmap is included with the Blackbelt and Master plans. If you’re a Grasshopper subscriber, upgrade now to gain instant access.

The Schedule Heatmap is a visual tool that helps you quickly assess your team’s availability and workload. With a color-coded view, you can instantly spot overutilization, underutilization, and free capacity, making it easier to balance workloads and improve scheduling decisions. 

To activate the heatmap, click on the Heatmap Toggle in the toolbar at the top of the Schedule, next to your availability bar settings. Once enabled, the heatmap overlays onto the Schedule, giving you instant visibility into team utilization.

You can choose from three different heatmap views:

• Total Utilization – Shows overall workload based on all scheduled bookings.

• Billable Utilization – Highlights time allocated to billable work.

• Hours Available – Displays remaining availability for each team member.

The colors on the heatmap indicate:

• Neutral areas – Completely free time, showing no bookings scheduled.

• Lighter Green – Indicates available capacity and a lower workload.

• Darker Green – Signals increasing utilization as workload intensifies.

• Orange – Higher workload levels, signalling heavy workload.

When a heatmap option is enabled, click on the relevant day and resource row to expand the column and view that day's bookings.

If you notice an imbalance in workload, you'll see a warning sign on the day in question as shown above, you can then reassign bookings to team members with more availability, adjust booking durations to align with realistic working hours, or move bookings to the Waiting List if they don't currently fit into the schedule.

Please note: Bookings on the Waiting List and tentative bookings are unconfirmed and do not affect the hours or utilization shown on the heatmap. However, pending approval bookings do impact utilization calculations.

This person has 8 hours of availability on the selected day but has been booked for 10 hours.

The booker chose to add 2 hours as overtime, meaning the person is fully utilized at 100% of their available capacity, with an additional 2 hours recorded as overtime.

This person has 9 hours of availability on the selected day, with 6 hours remaining. However, a 6 hour and 30 minute booking was created, exceeding their available time. As a result, the booking was placed on the Waiting List due to a scheduling clash and requires resolution.

This person has 7 hours of availability on the selected day, with 4h 40 min remaining. However, a 1 hour and 10 min booking was created awaiting approval. As a result, the booking is currently placed as pending until approved. Please note that bookings which are pending approval will still impact utilization calculations. The warning sign simply indicates that a decision is required.

This person was originally booked for 6 hours and 30 minutes, but they added a "Sick Leave" time-off booking for the same day and chose to move the existing booking to the Waiting List. As a result, the booking was placed on the Waiting List due to a scheduling clash and now requires resolution.

• Regularly monitor the heatmap to ensure an even workload across your team.

• Use it for proactive planning to prevent scheduling conflicts before they arise.

• Combine it with filters and different zoom levels to gain deeper insights into project and team capacity.

• Review utilization trends in Reports alongside the heatmap for a more comprehensive resource planning strategy.

Capacity Planning
Creating, Editing and Deleting Custom Fields
Filtering the Schedule