Virtual Members

A virtual member is a named resource, but it is not connected to a real person.  You can create a virtual member via Settings > Members & Access Control > Member List > + Virtual.  

• You can assign tasks to a virtual member, but of course a real workspace member must take responsibility for estimating and logging progress to tasks owned by a virtual member.  
• Timesheets are created for virtual members when you log progress for them, and their logged time is picked up in timesheet exports.    
• Tasks assigned to a virtual member will schedule just the same as tasks assigned to a real member.   
• A virtual member has a profile and an availability setting, which you can access via the Member List.  Just click on the Edit Profile link next to the virtual member.  
• You can easily transfer a virtual member's work to an existing workspace member via the virtual member's profile.  Just click the Transfer All Items To button in the profile.  
•  You can also invite a brand new person into your workspace to replace the virtual member.  In the Member List, just click the link that says "Invite a new workspace member to fill this role".      

Here are some ways that virtual members might play a role in your planning: 

• When getting started in LiquidPlanner, you might want to assign work initially to virtual members, then invite the real users later on when your workspace is built out to a minimal level. This helps avoid confusion and overwhelm that can result when users sign into a workspace that is still under construction.  
• You can use a virtual member to represent an individual external resource, such as a contractor.  Or, our Virtual Team feature allows you to model a team of external resources.   
• You can turn on Overdrive Scheduling for a virtual member in order to gain additional functionality.  Overdrive prevents your schedule from being artificially pushed out by the work assigned to a virtual member such as an external contractor.  It's also a handy way to model wait times that often come into play when working with external resources.    
• You can use virtual members to do advance planning for new projects.  If you're not ready to assign work to the real task owners (maybe you don't even know who they are yet), you can assign tasks to virtual members instead.  If you just want to get a rough idea of the project effort without the effect of resource leveling, you could assign all tasks to one virtual member with overdrive scheduling turned on. 
• Virtual members are not intended to be be a long-term replacement for people who could otherwise be real members.  They are ideal for the situations above, but we don't encourage using them to support centralized project control.  We have designed LiquidPlanner to support our stong belief that direct team engagement is a key to project success!