---
title: "Managing Working Days and Calendars per Box vs. per Resource"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/SUPPORT/3696361475/Managing%20Working%20Days%20and%20Calendars%20per%20Box%20vs.%20per%20Resource"
format: markdown
---
# Managing Working Days and Calendars per Box vs. per Resource

## Summary

This article addresses the configuration of working days (e.g., Sundays) in BigPicture Cloud, specifically whether they can be defined at the Box/Project level or if they are strictly resource-based. It covers the limitations of the current scheduling engine compared to per-project calendar models (like Microsoft Project) and provides guidance on available workarounds and their impacts on scheduling and capacity.

## Use Case 1: Defining Working Days at the Box Level

**Problem/Context:**  
A user needs a specific Box (Project X) to treat Sunday as a working day for scheduling purposes (Gantt/Resources), while other Boxes should continue to treat Sunday as a non-working day for the same resources.

**Solution/Workaround:**  
Currently, BigPicture **does not support** native per-Box or per-project calendars. All working day configurations (Workload Plans and Holiday Plans) are global and assigned at the **individual resource (user) level** via **Administration > Resources**.

**Key Constraints:**

- **Scheduling Engine:** The BigPicture scheduling engine (e.g., "Auto bottom-up") validates working days against the resource's assigned Workload/Holiday Plan, not the Box settings.
- **Gantt Display:** Days marked as non-working in the Workload Plan will appear greyed out and will be excluded from duration calculations and automatic scheduling, regardless of the Box they are in.

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## Use Case 2: Overriding Availability via Team Membership

**Problem/Context:**  
Attempting to use the "Team Availability" setting within a Box to override the global Workload Plan for specific projects.

**Solution/Workaround:**  
While you can adjust a team member's availability percentage (e.g., setting Sunday to 100% for a specific team), this **only affects capacity calculations** in the Resources module. It does **not** override the scheduling logic.

**Impact Analysis:**

- **Task Scheduling:** If the global Workload Plan marks Sunday as 0h, tasks will **not** be scheduled on Sunday, even if team availability is 100%.
- **Progress Tracking:** Sunday will still be excluded from "% planned vs. % completed" calculations and duration-based progress tracking if it is a non-working day in the Workload Plan.
- **Capacity:** The team availability setting only regulates how much of a resource's global capacity is allocated to that specific Box for workload vs. capacity views.

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## Use Case 3: Recommended Workarounds for Sunday Working Days

**Problem/Context:**  
How to achieve Sunday working days for specific users or projects given the global nature of Workload Plans.

**Solution/Workaround:**

1. **Dedicated Workload Plans:** Create a specific Workload Plan where Sunday is a working day (>0h) and assign it to the users who need to work on Sundays. Note that this will make Sunday a working day for these users across **all** their assigned Boxes.
2. **Holiday Plan Adjustments:** If the Sunday work is a one-time or occasional event, you can add "Extra Working Days" to the Holiday Plan assigned to those specific users.
3. **Manual Absence Management:** For users who should only work Sundays in specific projects, you may need to manually add absences for Sundays in the projects where they are *not* supposed to work, though this is high-maintenance.

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## Comparison with Microsoft Project

For users migrating from Microsoft Project, it is important to note that BigPicture uses a **resource-centric calendar model** rather than a **project-centric calendar model**.

- **Microsoft Project:** Supports per-project base calendars.
- **BigPicture:** Relies on the individual resource's Workload Plan across all projects.

*Note: A feature request (ONE-31489) exists to consider adding per-Box calendar capabilities in future updates.*