Want to bring the best out of your projects’ resources? Start improving your resource scheduling practices.
As professional services businesses onboard new clients and add new projects to their portfolios, they ask themselves one common question: How can we keep tabs on everyone's workload and get the best out of our people?
The thing is, as your clientele grows, so does the complexity. People no longer work on one project at a time and can't boast of laser focus. In fact, the exact opposite is true. They spread their attention too thin - so thin that deadlines are looming, but the work is far from getting done. The bottom line? Unhappy clients, teams running at their redline, tiny project margins, or worse, cost overruns.
So how can one prevent a new project from having a domino effect on their business? Enter resource scheduling.
To get you started, we have provided a comprehensive beginner's guide that will help you understand what resource scheduling is and how it is beneficial.
Resource scheduling is identifying and allocating the resources required to complete a specific project within a given time. It helps you assign tasks according to people's skills and availability, so that you avoid under- or over-utilization of team members.
The purpose of resource scheduling is two-fold:
First, it's an opportunity to make sure that work is assigned to the right resources. If you're trying to complete a task as quickly as possible, then you'll want to assign the most efficient resources. If you're looking for the lowest cost option, then you'll need to assign resources that aren't so expensive.
Second, it's an opportunity to make sure that work is assigned to available resources. That means accounting for time off, training and other obligations that might need to be scheduled around your workload.
In essence, resource scheduling is about allocating the right resources (assets) to the right project, at the right time. It's a basic concept, but one that's essential for a company to function effectively. Without it, a company wouldn't be able to manage projects, keep costs in check, or increase profitability.
As the business is growing, it becomes one of the most complex tasks that managers face. And when it is done poorly, it can cause chaos in an organization.
Resource scheduling can help you:
Resource scheduling equips project managers with unlimited flexibility. You can monitor projects from their inception day to their completion dates, with a chance to reshuffle tasks and deadlines to keep the project on track.
Since each project has a definite timeline, a project manager should ensure its timely delivery. This requires scheduling resources before the project starts to avoid delays in task implementation and prevent project stagnation.
Resource scheduling enables project managers to allocate adequate resources per project and schedule those resources in advance for critical tasks.
Each project is a series of various tasks that require specific skills. It’s the duty of resource and project managers to ensure that each task is assigned to the right person. Matching tasks with optimal skills upholds a project's quality and enhances employee productivity.
However, if resource capabilities don't correspond to the tasks assigned, the project's quality can be compromised, leading to employee dissatisfaction. Discontented employees have lower productivity and can resign at any time.
Resource scheduling enables project managers to track resources available for projects at hand and allocate them appropriately. The manager can spot critical resources that are booked for several tasks concurrently and delegate some of their responsibilities to avoid over-utilization or burnout.
After monitoring the resource utilization rates, the manager can take appropriate measures to avail resources needed and avoid a last-minute rush.
Resource scheduling gives an outline of resource utilization, which creates a basis for proper capacity planning. This helps the project manager to draft a systematic and precise work breakdown with a stable structure.
A resource scheduling system enables project managers to assess the types of projects available and shift employees from low-priority to high-priority work to enhance profitability and sustainability.
Resource scheduling tools also help project managers monitor projects' critical financial indicators such as: profit margin, revenue, and resource costs in advance. This makes it easier for managers to correct any discrepancies and control project costs in advance.
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Project managers can collaborate with other departments to share available resources. This ensures that more tasks are accomplished with the available resources, and avoids the costs of hiring additional resources.
All project managers know that too many factors are outside of their control. This has never been as evident since recent supply chain issues have impacted global productivity. Anything that can contribute to delayed completion of a project or the inability to finish it at all is a resource risk.
Managing that risk can be achieved by drafting a resource risk plan. These plans are based on the resource schedule, as they must take into consideration which resources, and how many of them, will be needed to finalize the project on time. Resource risk plans also look at how those resources could be jeopardized, for example by considering tentative projects that might draw on key resources. They also identify whether there is a secondary source from which those resources could be drawn if the primary source is compromised.
Resource risk plans help to set company policy, streamlining the reaction to unexpected events. This is an important job for one document, so it may need to be updated as the business changes or or climate the business operates in evolves.
Preparing a resource schedule can be a time-consuming process, but long-term, it’s worth the time. Depending on the scope of the project, it may take various forms, but the framework needs to include the following:
Because resource scheduling incorporates decisions based on multiple sources of information, it is important to follow a detailed process to ensure nothing is missed out. Here are six steps to resource scheduling for your project.
The manual process of scheduling resources can be exhausting and inaccurate, but choosing the right resource scheduling tool can help you manage your resources efficiently.
The Runn resource scheduling tool is one of the best and simplest resource scheduling software solutions on the market. You only have to click, drag, and drop to assign a time schedule to each of your team members. The software gives you a bird's eye view of everyone's schedules and real-time scheduling insights to keep you updated about evolving plans and milestones.
A good resource scheduling solution like Runn will allow you to:
To schedule resources effectively, you first need to break down your project into smaller parts. Forming a strong work breakdown structure (WBS) is a key step. This includes creating phases and milestones for each project to help you estimate how many resources and skills are required. Using the task list, managers can schedule resources in line with each team's capacity.
The most common resources for most projects are equipment and human resources. Your project might need specific software, hardware, or tools through purchase or leasing.
As for human resources, it is essential to assign tasks to the right person with the required skill set – a process known as resource planning. It is beneficial to invest in a database showing the skills of each of your team members for easy matching of tasks with members' schedules. For instance, using Runn for resource scheduling can help you allocate resources to projects intelligently.
You can check each employee's availability on your resource calendar and can allocate a corresponding schedule to their available hours. It’s crucial to know how long the work would take up to completion, so as to adjust your project team size appropriately. You can get an accurate estimate of the time and resources needed by checking previously completed projects with a similar scope.
Employees' holidays, sick leaves, or days off may come as the deadline approaches, forcing you to reassign tasks or change deadlines. Resource scheduling software can save the day in such instances and give you peace of mind.
It is essential to monitor progress of each team member's tasks to keep the overall project on track. As well as forming part of your actual costs review, the actual time spent will have an impact on the future scheduling process. Identifying critical resources and developing a coverage and contingency plan to keep your project going is essential.
Good business performance depends on the proper utilization of resources. Every project requires specific skills and time to be accomplished, but these resources are scarce and you need to optimize what you have available to you.
Now that we've covered the basics and you know how to create a resource schedule, here are some best practices. Stick to these five golden rules, and your resource schedule will be worth the effort.
It may seem counterproductive, but when scheduling resources, leaving buffer room is extremely important. This way, you'll make sure you don't run teams at their redline and they have the capacity for usual admin tasks.
Do not allow employees to have more than 80% of their day full of scheduled tasks, the other 20% fill in automatically. If an employee’s schedule is at 100% capacity, then you can assume things are falling through the cracks, recommends Nate Moeller, COO at The Penguin Group.
There are many blind spots when it comes to resource scheduling. You've got to pay attention to skills, seniority, cost, and availability. Combine them correctly and you’ll be able to balance your budget, schedule, and deliverables.
One thing to remember is - you can't schedule resources by virtue of the situation. And if you do, your resource scheduling practices won't be cost-effective.
Consider the hourly rate of the resources available to you, alongside their skill set and level of expertise. You may need to splash the cash to get the skilled resources you need to deliver project objectives. Or you may still be able to deliver your project using lower-cost resources.
It's a fact that your project won't always proceed as planned; there will always be ad hoc requests or cases of force majeure. This is why creating what-if strategies and modeling various project scenarios can help you avoid unanticipated hazards. And for resource management, this is especially helpful. Learn how to do it in our recent guide on tentative scheduling.
The best way to prioritize projects when you're understaffed is to analyze what client work brings the most value to the business. In other words, you can start spending more time on activities that add value and less time on net drainers. To do so, you can identify the 20% of your time that generates 80% of the results for your organization.
After allocating the people you know will be available, you might be left with some shortages where there’s either no availability with someone of the right role or skill, or you simply haven’t decided yet who on the team you'll want to take the work. In that case, you can create placeholders using Runn's Project Planner to indicate demand for a person of a specific role and continue building your project schedule.
An effective resource scheduling tool allows you to maximize resources which in turn can promote employee retention, reduce hiring costs, and boost productivity. So put your manual Gantt chart and spreadsheets away, and let resource scheduling software bring you more accuracy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.
You can try free resource scheduling software today to experience the convenience of resource management.
