A well-configured resource record is the foundation for accurate scheduling, cost reporting, and AI-assisted staffing. These seven fields do most of the work — understanding them helps you get more out of every feature in Maverick.
1. Resource Type
Maverick has three resource types: human, machine, and material. The type controls which fields are available (humans have skills and access rights; machines have hourly rates and maintenance windows; materials have unit costs and quantities) and how the allocation chart displays their usage. Setting the wrong type means some fields won't appear and allocation reporting won't work correctly.
2. Billing Rate
The billing rate defines the cost per hour for human and machine resources, or cost per unit for materials. Maverick multiplies this rate against task assignments to calculate task costs and project budget totals. Standard rates apply by default, but you can set role-specific or project-specific override rates when needed — for example, when a contractor bills at a different rate for different clients.
3. AI Provider Assignment
Each resource can be assigned its own AI provider and model. This field controls which AI engine powers that resource's project-update prompts. Assigning different models to different roles gives you granular control over cost, capability, and data access — an executive might use a frontier model for complex analysis while a team member uses a faster, cheaper model for routine scheduling.
4. Skills
The skills field on a human resource lets you tag individuals with competencies — programming languages, certifications, equipment licenses, or domain expertise. Skills make AI-assisted staffing more accurate: "Assign someone with Python skills to the data pipeline task" works because Maverick's AI can search the resource pool by skill. Without skills data, AI staffing suggestions are limited to names the AI already knows.
5. Availability Schedule
The availability schedule defines when a resource can be assigned to tasks — standard hours, part-time patterns, blackout dates, and planned leave. Maverick uses this schedule when calculating allocation percentages and flagging over-booking in the bar chart. An incorrect availability schedule causes the chart to show false conflicts or miss real ones.
6. Access Rights
Access rights control what a resource can see and do inside Maverick. View-only access, project-level edit rights, and admin-level permissions are all configured here. For AI-powered environments, access rights also control which AI providers a resource can interact with — ensuring that sensitive AI capabilities are restricted to authorized users.
7. Workgroup Membership
Resources are organized into workgroups — teams, departments, or functional groups. The workgroup field determines where a resource appears in the assignment browser and which projects they can be assigned to. Workgroups are also the unit for bulk AI provider assignments, so a well-organized workgroup structure makes team-wide AI configuration dramatically faster.