No doubt, every project manager holds optimization in high esteem because it aids them in getting the best value from the resources of their project thereby helping them to achieve the desired milestones.
In reality, there can be no optimization in a project without an effective resource plan. Hence, you must have a project resource plan in every project you want to manage with your team members. With a project resource plan, you can identify all the resources required to undertake your project successfully.
Also, a project resource plan will assist you to know the quantity of labor, equipment, and materials needed to carry out your project. Furthermore, resource planning saves you from over-spending on labor, equipment, and materials thereby assisting you to maximize the profit of your project.
Again, a project resource plan usually aids the project team in optimizing every schedule in a project because they can effectively plan what will be consumed in a schedule and be in the know of the total resources required to complete the project.
Índice
Advantages of a project resources plan
- It helps in identifying the roles and important responsibilities of every type of labor
- You know the required number of workforce to fill each role.
- It assists in the identification of equipment to be used in a project.
The resource planning of every team should be done during the planning phase of the project to have full control over the project. This helps in project budgeting and expenditure forecasting.
Effective resource planning in project management is vital and the use of project resource planning software simplifies this task for the project resource manager. Also, it helps you in handling the task of resource planning for multiple projects to ensure that you stay on top of your game.
During the execution of a project, there can be a need for project resource scheduling, with the right project resource planning software, a process resource manager will be able to do it without any hitch.
A project manager should aim to have a project plan resource allocation to aid them in the process of assigning and scheduling the available resources effectively and economically.
How to create a project resource plan
The following steps will assist you in creating a project resource plan:
Step 1
Make a list of the resources needed: here, you are required to identify the roles involved in the project to have an understanding of the labor needed. Also, identify the equipment and materials needed to carry out the project.
Step 2
Estimate the number of resources needed: in this, you will estimate the number of hours required per role. The number of equipment and the number of needed materials.
Step 3
Construct a resource schedule: here, you will create a resource schedule which details the following:
- The resources required to completely undertake the project
- The timescale for the consumption of each resource
- Quantity of each resource needed per week/month
- The total quantity of resources utilized per week/month.
As a tool, Sinnaps, an online project management tool supports effective project resource planning of every project team. It is a planning tool and will assist you to design the resource planning template of your team for summarizing the resources needed to successfully execute your project and deliver the right value to your clients.
Also, it can be used as a project resource planning software to create a comprehensive resource utilization schedule to enhance effective project management.
Team resource planning
In any project, the most important asset is the team members because they are responsible for transforming the goals of the project into a reality.
However, most project managers always experience difficulties in maximizing the resources of the team at their disposal. In this scenario, the missing link is the team resource planning.
Team resource planning aids the efficiency of the project team by maximizing their potential to the fullest.
Also, team resource planning helps the team members in organizing their schedules and knowing who is responsible for each task in the project. Again, it enhances effective communication among the members of a team thereby ensuring harmony which can help address the constraints that could hinder the positive outcome of the project.
Furthermore, team resource planning assists in planning and predicting the availability of your team members for future projects and helps in guarding them against getting burned out.
Every organization should have a resource ramp-up plan to aid them in describing an increase in its production ahead of the anticipated increase in product demand.
Agile resource planning
Agile projects are embarked upon to develop new software for the use of mankind. It is an exercise that requires continuous improvement which involves the commitment of a huge amount of resources. Hence, agile teams must have a solid agile resource planning to maximize the utilization of the resource of the software development project.
In agile planning, the effective management of resources is paramount to the success of the project. You are assured of responding to any change in the project and thus enhancing the ability of your team to deliver the right value to your clients.
Agile resource planning promotes team collaboration among the team as they collectively share responsibilities among themselves. This usually enhances their productivity in the process.
Agile resource capacity planning helps to plan your workforce and build a skill inventory in the right proportion to the demand that you anticipate for your project. Agile resource planning assists you and your team in leveraging agile principles that optimize the productivity of the team.
Agile resource planning creates a system driven by effective workflow and enhances your capacity to deliver by aiding your understanding of your project activities. It helps in breaking down the tasks of your project to sprint cycles that you can get on with easily.
With Agile resource planning, you can take into account issues like time-off for an individual team member, the role of the individual members, and other crucial planning that can spur the team to success.
In planning your agile resource, you should aim to achieve the following;
- Ensure that you keep your capacity estimate and task list estimate on the same terms
- Always compare your priority list commitment hours with your capacity to ensure that they match.
- You must ensure that you keep your schedules going and forecast accurately while undertaking multiple projects.
Material resource planning is used in the production sector to handle production planning, scheduling, and manage the inventory control system of the manufacturing processes of a manufacturing establishment.
Staff resource plan
The importance of having a staff resource plan cannot be over-emphasized. A staff resource plan is useful during budget cycles because it helps in planning and allocating costs. It assists in making the needed adjustment to the workforce of an establishment to ensure that it is not over-staffed.
A staff resource plan identifies gaps between needs and the existing resources. It aids your organization to have the right people with the right skills required to accomplish your growing business goals.
In reality, the staff resource plan is beyond changes in the headcount to determine the new skills and knowledge required in your business.
How to create a staff resource plan
- Determine your organizational goals: here, you need to address your organizational plan for growth. Also, deduce if your business requires new personnel.
- Know the factors impacting the availability of personnel: in this, you can review the relevant data from the Labor statistics to derive the insight on the job openings, unemployment rates, and labor cost.
- Identify the functional needs of your organization
- Conduct the gap analysis: here, you compare what you presently have with what you need.
- Create a plan: you are required to use the information gathered to develop an actionable talent to address staffing needs.
Sinnaps as a tool will simplify the process of creating the staff resource plan of your organization. It helps you identify the right personnel with the right skills to enhance your growth and achieve your business goals by harnessing their skills and potentials.
