---
title: "Using Teams as Proxies for Non-Person Resource Management in BigPicture"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/SUPPORT/3707207760/Using%20Teams%20as%20Proxies%20for%20Non-Person%20Resource%20Management%20in%20BigPicture"
format: markdown
---
This guide helps support agents handle questions about planning and assigning work to non-person resources, such as equipment, laboratories, facilities, or machines, in **BigPicture – Portfolio & Resource Management for Jira Cloud**.

> ℹ️ **Support outcome:** BigPicture does not currently provide a dedicated artificial-resource type for equipment or facilities. Teams can be used as a practical workaround for assignment and task visibility, but capacity, workload, and availability calculations require individual resources.

## 🤔 Problem

A customer wants to model non-person resources—such as a computer, laboratory, machine, room, or other facility—and assign work to them while viewing their availability, capacity, workload, and utilization.

The key distinction is between **assignment visibility** and **resource-based planning calculations**:

- Tasks can be assigned to a team used as an artificial resource.
- Task assignment, time tracking, work visibility, and task-level metrics remain available.
- Capacity, workload, and availability are calculated from individual resources and their configured information.
- An empty team cannot produce meaningful capacity or availability calculations because it has no individual members whose data can be aggregated.

## 🌱 Recommended workaround

Represent each non-person resource as a separate team. For example, create a team named **“Laboratory 1”**, **“Testing Machine A”**, or **“Conference Room 2”**, and assign relevant tasks to that team.

> ⚠️ **Set expectations clearly:** This workaround supports assignment and visibility, but it does not turn the team into a fully calculable artificial resource. If the team remains empty, BigPicture cannot calculate its workload, capacity, or availability.

### How to configure the workaround

1. Create a team representing the equipment, facility, or other non-person resource.
2. Use a clear, unique name that identifies the resource and, where useful, its location or function.
3. Assign the relevant Jira work items to the team.
4. Use task views and related metrics to track assignments, planned work, time spent, and task progress.
5. Explain that team-level capacity and availability will not represent the actual resource unless the required individual resource data exists.

## What the workaround supports

| Capability | Expected behavior |
| --- | --- |
| Assign work to a named resource proxy | Supported by creating and using a team as the proxy. |
| View which tasks are assigned | Supported through the team and its assigned work items. |
| Track task progress and time | Available through the Jira task and related reporting features. |
| Calculate workload for an empty team | Not supported because there are no individual resource records to aggregate. |
| Calculate capacity or availability for equipment | Not supported as a dedicated non-person-resource calculation. |

## Support troubleshooting flow

1. **Clarify the requested outcome.** Determine whether the customer needs simple assignment and visibility, or calculated capacity, workload, and availability.
2. **Confirm the resource model.** Ask whether the resource is equipment, a facility, a room, or another non-person entity.
3. **Check whether the customer is using an empty team.** If so, explain that an empty team cannot provide individual-resource-based calculations.
4. **Recommend the team workaround.** Use one clearly named team per artificial resource when assignment visibility is the primary requirement.
5. **Set the limitation explicitly.** Do not promise capacity or availability reporting for a team that has no individual members.
6. **Escalate or link product feedback when needed.** If dedicated artificial-resource planning is required, record the use case and associate it with the relevant product backlog request.
7. **Link to the product backlog ticket.** For every case requesting *calculated* capacity/availability for non-person resources, **link the support ticket to the single dedicated backlog item** [ONE-2837: Virtual resources (non-user, dummy resources)Open](https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/ONE-2837)  so the request is counted toward customer rank and tracking.

## Suggested customer response

> BigPicture does not currently have a dedicated artificial-resource type for equipment or facilities. As a workaround, you can create a team representing the resource—for example, “Testing Machine A”—and assign tasks to that team. This provides assignment and task visibility, along with task-level tracking and metrics.
> 
> However, capacity, workload, and availability are calculated from individual resources. An empty team cannot provide those calculations because it has no individual members whose availability can be aggregated. If you need dedicated non-person-resource planning, we can record the use case as product feedback and follow up through the appropriate product channel.

## Common pitfalls

- **Do not describe a team as a fully supported equipment resource.** Call it a workaround or resource proxy.
- **Do not promise team capacity for an empty team.** The calculations depend on individual resource data.
- **Do not imply that adding arbitrary users solves the use case.** Users represent people, not necessarily the true availability of equipment or facilities.
- **Separate task assignment from capacity planning.** These are different capabilities with different data requirements.
- **Capture the business requirement.** Note the resource type, scheduling rules, operating hours, simultaneous-use constraints, maintenance periods, and reporting expectations.

## Case reference

This guidance is based on [SUPPORT-272481](https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/SUPPORT-272481), concerning resource planning for computers, laboratories, and other non-person resources. The request was resolved as answered after the team workaround and its calculation limitations were explained.

> ✅ **Resolution summary:** Use teams as artificial resource proxies for assignment and visibility. Explain that workload, capacity, and availability remain based on individual resources and cannot be calculated for an empty team.

## Agent checklist

- [ ] Confirm whether the customer needs assignment visibility or calculated capacity.
- [ ] Identify the non-person resource type and scheduling requirement.
- [ ] Recommend a clearly named team as the resource proxy where appropriate.
- [ ] Explain the limitation for empty teams and individual-resource calculations.
- [ ] Record product feedback when dedicated artificial-resource planning is required.
- [ ] **Link the support ticket to the dedicated backlog ticket**