Are you overwhelmed by the abundance of resource scheduling software available? We've whittled the list down to six best resource scheduling tools.
There is no such thing as unlimited resources and as a project manager, you are well aware of this. While it can be tedious, resource scheduling is one of the most important parts of project management. Without properly monitoring your organization's resources, you will not be able to utilize them effectively, ultimately wasting resources and money.
Spreadsheets were one of the earliest, most common resource scheduling tools used by project managers. But are they still relevant today to get ahead with resource management? According to FP&A, as many as 88% of spreadsheets contain errors from manual encoding of figures and formulas. They also make it more difficult to keep track of each area, as they are not easily updated in real-time. As the world of project management software has expanded, there are now some top resource scheduling tools available that take the manual work out of resource planning.
In this article, we've whittled down a huge list of resource scheduling apps to the six best ones out there so that you can let go of your spreadsheets and discover the tool that would improve your project’s resource scheduling.
Resource scheduling software is a tool for managing all sorts of resources needed for a given project, including people, equipment, location, cost, and time. It allows you to allocate resources, measure resource utilization, monitor availability, and optimize resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Resource scheduling software also aims to avoid under-performance and misaligned tasks, frequent schedule and overtime issues, loss of control over project costs, and ultimately, project failure.
Most resource scheduling tools are designed to work alongside your project management tools, such as MS Project, Asana, or other tools. The project management tool handles the details of what needs doing in each task, while the resource scheduling software ensures you have the right resources at the right time.
Before we look at some of the best resource scheduling software tools out there, let's run through the main benefits. There are a range of advantages of using resource scheduling software.
Runn is resource scheduling software which provides you with a complete suite of resource management tools to help you see the big picture and allocate people to projects in the most efficient way. By balancing people's skills, availability, and capacity against the workload, our platform empowers managers to make people-positive and bottom-line friendly decisions at the same time.
What makes Runn stand out is that its resource scheduling features are powerful, easy-to-use, and visual. All-in-all, it empowers you to:
Note: You can plan people's effort in days, hours, or FTEs, making sure you don't become hostage to a specific way of working and tracking things.
The People Planner offers you the view of your entire resource pool and everyone's booking on projects, highlighting any conflicts or workload opportunities to optimize. You can also switch on capacity charts for more strategic capacity planning. Check out how Cindy Tan from TPG streamlined capacity planning from two weeks to two days with Runn.
Runn resource scheduling software can also support complex projects that need to be updated in actual time, with real-time scheduling features available across multiple projects.
Built with the purpose to make resource planning easier, Runn is constantly releasing new features. You can check the roadmap here. Recently, Runn has introduced Public Holidays, levelled up its security with SOC2, and rolled out Project Templates.
Another resource scheduling software to consider is Float. This resource management tool lets you quickly check and monitor your team’s schedule, create a resource schedule for your team members, and monitor your team’s workload. It's one of our favorite among resource scheduling tools for managing creative agency work.
Float also allows for a seamless scheduling process for your resources. Just add in your project schedule and team and you are good to go. The resource and time tracking features keep you informed of your team's capacity so you can get a bird's eye view of all the changes and movements in your project as they occur.
Float is a great tool for scheduling resources on the go with one-click reassignment, redistribution, and replacement of tasks.
Not sure which tool to try first? Read our comparison guide here: Runn vs Float - Putting the Best in Resource Planning to Test
As the founders at Resource Guru say: It's about knowing who is doing what, where, and when. Resource Guru is resource scheduling software that focuses on your most qualified resources: your employees! You won't be able to cross your team's schedules and overbook them with tasks, as everything that is beyond schedule will go into the waiting list.
The search and filter button provides an overview of what's keeping each team member busy. An easy to use interface allows you to monitor tasks, set custom work hours and vacation days, schedule and remove project work tasks all while you're at home or traveling.
The Resource Guru tool also integrates easily with your emails and control panel so you are kept up to date not only with historical data but with valuable insights on cost control as well.
Rebranded as Resource Management by Smartsheet in 2019, 10,000 ft by Smartsheet is an enterprise resource scheduler that provides solutions to resource utilization and allocation problems.
Integrated with Smartsheet’s resource management tool, you can easily track the project from end-to-end including contracts and project request workflows. 10,000 ft has a helpful matching tool for efficient resource and staffing allocations based on field of expertise, skill set, seniority, and other criteria. This results in a healthy utilization rate, and a more balanced workload.
With 10,000 ft’s time tracking and assignment change features, you also get to track your team real-time.
If you want your project resources to be protected against market volatility, here's a resource scheduling software that's perfect for all your resource availability, planning, utilization, and scheduling needs. It has a powerful forecasting tool that shows you your team’s projected utilization, your resource capacity vs demand and if they are in shortage or in excess.
Saviom empowers project managers by initiating preventive, control, and corrective measures to help restrain costs, improve utilization, and provide both a broader and closer look at the resource schedule.
The viewing interface lets all users navigate, depending on the tag options and filters necessary for their role, and allows strategic closure of capacity gaps, only tapping prepared contingency resources and workforce when they are needed. Saviom also allows for enterprise-wide visibility for all departments to better gauge and plan their resources.
Birdview PSA is a full-cycle platform that helps professional services organizations plan, manage, and forecast resources, projects, and finances in one place. Birdview PSA offers robust resource scheduling functionality to deliver valuable insights and 100% visibility into your team’s workload, availability, and performance, and make adjustments as required to achieve desired goals.
Birdview PSA introduces the Activity Center as a single view for managing your resources at all stages of your service delivery cycle, from project initiation to final delivery. Your managers can also use the in-built Resource Loading Module to accurately identify whether they have enough resources to complete multiple active projects and forecast future resource demand for new tasks. Birdview PSA also offers 2,000+ pre-built integrations to ensure it’s seamlessly introduced into your company’s existing IT environment.
Having resource scheduling software is not an end-all solution to all your project management problems. For it to even have a chance at impact, it must be applied and executed in a manner that will not disrupt any other schedules, tasks, or tools, and must also be adopted by each member of the team. Consider the key features and other PM recommendations, so that you know you are getting the software with the maximum benefits. Select tools that tailor-fit your needs.
After choosing your 'weapon', it's time to test it out. Check out our resource scheduling guide to help you optimize the use of your resource scheduling tool and enhance your overall resource management process.
Want more information on how to optimize resource management for your workforce? Make planning, tracking, and forecasting beautifully in sync real-time! Book a demo with Runn now or start a free trial!
