Getting Started
CoPlanner User Guide
Everything you need to start scheduling resources with confidence
What is CoPlanner™?
CoPlanner™ is the agentic AI companion of Planisy — a multi-resource planning platform. Where Planisy is the planning cockpit, CoPlanner™ is the intelligence layer on top: it reads your full resource model and lets you manage scheduling, analysis, and conflict resolution through plain-language commands.
Analyze
CoPlanner™ reads your full resource model — templates, items, allocations, rules, and analytics — to understand the complete picture before acting.
Propose
It surfaces optimized scenarios, flags conflicts, and presents options interactively in plain language — ready for your review.
Execute
With your approval, CoPlanner™ applies changes directly in Planisy — scheduling, reallocating, and resolving in one step.
Human-in-the-loop
You review intermediate results, handle exceptions, and confirm before anything is finalized. AI proposes — you decide.
From a system you operate to a system you collaborate with. CoPlanner™ moves Planisy from structured form input and multi-step workflows to a live, conversational planning session — with full resource model awareness.
Core concepts
These four building blocks are the foundation of Planisy — and what CoPlanner™ operates on. Understanding them helps you get more out of every AI interaction.
Templates
The schema for a type of resource or target. Your admin defines these — for example "Engineer" with fields for name, role, and skills.
e.g. Person · Machine · Project · Site
Items
A concrete instance of a template. "Alice Meier" is an item of type Person. "Project Alpha" is an item of type Project.
e.g. Alice Meier · Crane #4 · Berlin Site
Allocations
An assignment linking a resource item to a target item over a specific time range. This is the core scheduling action.
Alice → Project Alpha, Apr 14–18
Needs
A placeholder for a resource not yet decided. "We need a senior engineer next week" — saved as a need until filled.
Senior engineer, available May 1–5
Mental model: Templates are job descriptions. Items are the people or things that fit those descriptions. Allocations are the shifts or assignments you give them. Needs are open requisitions.
First steps
Here's the recommended path for your first day using CoPlanner.
- 1Explore your resource typesAsk the AI: "What types of resources does our company have?" — it will list all templates configured by your admin (e.g. Engineers, Machines, Projects).
- 2Browse existing resourcesAsk "Show me all engineers" or "List all active projects" to see what's already in the system. You'll see names, attributes, and custom fields.
- 3View the current scheduleAsk "What's scheduled this week?" to get a human-readable overview of who is assigned where right now.💡 Good first insight — often reveals gaps or double-bookings you weren't aware of.
- 4Create your first allocationTry: "Assign Alice to Project Alpha for next week." The AI checks availability, validates against company rules, and creates the assignment — all in one step.
- 5Check for conflictsAsk "Are there any overbooking conflicts this month?" — CoPlanner tracks when a resource is double-assigned and will flag it for you.
Scheduling workflows
The three most common scheduling patterns and how CoPlanner handles each one.
Assign a known resource to a project Most common
→ Find the resource item (e.g. "Alice Meier")
→ Find the target item (e.g. "Project Alpha")
→ Check Alice is available in the desired time range
→ Create the allocation with start and end dates
Find available resources for a slot Availability check
→ Specify the target (e.g. "Berlin Site") and time window
→ Specify the resource type (e.g. "Certified Welder")
→ CoPlanner returns only people/machines not already booked
→ Pick from the list and confirm the allocation
Plan ahead with a Need Forward planning
→ You know you need "a senior Python engineer in May" but haven't decided who
→ Create a Need with those criteria as a placeholder
→ Later, ask CoPlanner to find items matching the Need
→ Convert the Need into a real allocation when ready
Allocation rules: Your admin has configured which resource types can be assigned to which target types. If an assignment isn't allowed, CoPlanner will tell you why — you don't need to memorize the rules yourself.
The AI assistant
CoPlanner includes an AI that can handle scheduling tasks end-to-end. You describe what you need in plain language — it figures out the data operations.
Viewing the schedule
"What's the schedule for Project Alpha next week?"
Checking availability
"Who's available to work on the Berlin site from April 21 to 25?"
Creating allocations
"Assign all available senior engineers to Project Beta for the next two weeks."
Conflict detection
"Are there any resources double-booked in May?"
Planning ahead with needs
"Create a need for a certified electrician for Project Gamma, starting June 1."
Analytics
"What's the utilization rate of our engineering team this quarter?"
Good to know: The AI always confirms before making changes. It will tell you what it's about to do — you can review and approve, or ask it to adjust. You're always in control.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Template | The schema / type definition for a resource (configured by admin) |
| Item | A specific resource or target — a person, machine, or project |
| Allocation | An assignment of a resource to a target over a time window |
| Need | A placeholder for a resource not yet decided |
| Leaf / Root | In an allocation, the resource is the "leaf" and the target is the "root" |
| Overbooked | A resource assigned to more targets than the rules allow simultaneously |
Planning workflows
Three real-world planning scenarios you can handle with the AI assistant — from single-site staffing to complex multi-site capacity planning and shift management.
Use case 1 · Single site planning Most common
1 Discover needs: Ask "There is a construction site named Müller in Geneva. It has needs allocated from 02.03.2026. What needs do you see?"
2 Get a proposal: Reply "Make a planning proposal" — the AI matches available resources to each need and presents a draft schedule.
3 Confirm: Reply "Make the allocations" to commit the proposal. All assignments are created instantly.
Use case 2 · Multi-site capacity planning Capacity
1 Scope the period: Ask "For the period 05.10.2026 to 02.11.2026, there are needs across 5 construction sites. What needs do you see?"
2 Get a cross-site proposal: The AI aggregates all open needs, checks availability across your entire resource pool, and flags where you'll need to outsource.
3 Act on gaps: Gaps the AI can't fill internally are highlighted so you know exactly how many external resources to procure.
Use case 3 · Shift management Shift planning
1 Share the context: Ask "For weeks of 11.05.2026 and 18.05.2026, I have morning/afternoon/night shift needs, worker shift wishes, and absences (holidays, sick leave). What do you see?"
2 Request a balanced proposal: Ask "Make a proposal — balance it against wishes, tell me if I need to outsource and how many, and give me a detailed table."
3 Review the output: The AI produces a full shift table respecting hard constraints (absences), strong constraints (needs), and soft preferences (wishes) — in priority order.
Constraint hierarchy: The AI always respects constraints in this order — Absent (hard block) → Need (strong requirement) → Wish (soft preference). Wishes are honoured as much as possible but never override hard constraints.
Corporate rules
Corporate rules tell the AI how your organisation works — its constraints, preferences, and policies. The AI uses them automatically on every planning request.
- 1What are corporate rules?Rules are plain-language instructions that shape the AI's behaviour. Examples: "Never assign the same person to two sites on the same day", or "Prefer workers with a Geneva certification for Geneva sites", or "Outsourcing is only allowed if internal capacity is below 20%."
- 2Who can set them?Only admins can add or modify corporate rules. They are stored in company settings and applied globally — every AI planning session for every user will follow them.
- 3How to add a rule (admin only)Ask the AI: "Add a corporate rule: always prioritise internal resources before outsourcing." The AI will confirm the rule and save it. You can add multiple rules in one go.💡 Write rules in plain language — no coding required.
- 4Typical rule categoriesEligibility — which workers can do which roles or sites.
Limits — max hours, max consecutive days, min rest time.
Priority — prefer internal over external, senior over junior.
Outsourcing thresholds — when to flag external staffing needs.
Compliance — certifications required for specific tasks. - 5Reviewing active rulesAsk the AI: "What corporate rules are currently active?" — it will list all rules and you can ask it to update or remove any of them.
Best practice: Start with 2–3 critical rules (e.g. certification requirements and outsourcing policy) and add more gradually. Too many rules at once can be hard to debug if a proposal looks unexpected.
