Choosing how to assign work

Learning path
Go further in Learning path: Plan and release your first project.

Applies to

Property	Value
Product	LYNX-X
Version	28.10.9809.0
Required permissions	None (this article explains a concept)
Last updated	2026-10-12
Owner	Support

Definition

A task's resource requirement can be assigned four ways: by skill, by skill and property together, by virtual skill, or by naming a resource directly. The first three leave LYNX free to recommend or confirm who does the work; naming a resource commits to a person from the start.

Purpose

This article looks at assignments from the planning side, inside one project. Once the project is released, you move between the assignments in the project plan and Focus > My activities, which shows the same assignments from the perspective of your role. Once the project is in execution, My activities is the better place: resource and team managers settle who does the work there, with the resource load and their group's other assignments in view, instead of opening each project.

Committing to a named resource early can feel more certain, but it also removes flexibility the plan may need later: a resource could become unavailable, or a better match could exist. Assigning by skill keeps that decision open as long as possible, which is the approach CCPM generally favours: specify what the work needs first, and let the resource management process settle who does it.

Key concepts

Assignment type	What it commits to
Skill	Any resource who holds the skill; LYNX recommends one (a soft assignment)
Skill and property	A resource matching both the skill and additional properties (for example, seniority or location)
Virtual skill	A pool of capacity not tied to one named resource, for example a supplier or an external department
Resource	One named person, decided upfront

How to tell them apart on screen

The Gantt label gives you a first indication: a resource named in brackets means the assignment is settled.

Hard, soft and virtual assignments in one project plan

The Gantt label does not show whether a skill is normal or virtual, so unless you know your skill pool well, open the task's Assignments tab to understand the choice. The Skill column carries a one-letter prefix, and the Resource column carries the state:

On the Assignments tab	Means
S: before the skill name	The task asks for a skill
V: before the skill name	The task asks for a virtual skill
An asterisk before the resource, `*Sven Cramer`	Soft: LYNX-X proposes this person, nobody has confirmed it
No asterisk, `Sven Cramer`	Hard: the assignment is settled
No skill assigned, greyed, with a resource beside it	The resource was attached directly, without a skill

A virtual skill with nobody attached shows No resource assigned, which is the expected state rather than a fault.

Examples

Assigning by skill lets LYNX-X automatically propose a resource as a soft assignment, which someone can later confirm into a hard assignment. See Converting a soft assignment to a hard assignment.

In D01, Develop Testplan and Documentation both ask for System Tester. The first names Jack Morgan in brackets and the second names nobody: the same skill, one settled and one still open.

Adding a property narrows the choice further. A property definition narrows the short list of resources who can perform the task to those who meet it. In this space the Mechanical Engineering skill carries an Experience property, and the skill's Properties tab states the purpose in one line: Properties define the requirements resources must meet to be selected for a task.

Assigning by resource skips that step entirely: the named person is committed from the moment the task is planned.

Revision history

Version	Date	Author	Changes
1.2	2026-10-12	Support	Points readers to the Assignments tab to tell normal and virtual skills apart, and notes that resource and team managers commit named resources from My activities once a project is released.
1.1	2026-10-01	Support	The example now says that a property definition narrows the short list of resources, with the Mechanical Engineering / Experience property as the case.
1.0	2026-09-01	Support	New article.

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