Is it time to consider new resource management software?
When members of our team speak with project managers about their project delivery and their daily pain-points and challenges, the most common issues raised are around resourcing and managing their team's time and skills.
With the pace of organisational change and shifting priorities, the need for effective workforce and resource management is something that is top of mind for those who have to deliver projects on time and on budget. They want a software and system that offers them true visibility of project progress, tracking, resources, capacity and demand and answers questions such as:-
- How do we know what resources we have available?
- How do we see what tasks our teams are working on?
- How do we know how much time someone has spent on a task or activity?
- How can we ensure that we have the best available people working on our projects?
- How can we avoid both under-utilising and overloading our people?
They also want a system that is easy to set up, simple to use and comes with support and help if required.
Hydra understand that one of the biggest factors in a project’s success comes down to how effectively you manage your people both on-site and remotely. In multi-project organisations, resources can get overloaded with work and assigned a number of projects and tasks with very little breathing space in between. Just as they’re getting on top of their work, more arrives, all with demanding delivery dates and schedules and they just can’t cope.
Hydra also appreciate the challenges organisations face in making the management of resources an integrated part of the project planning and scheduling process. The key is to adopt a system that optimises your resources and makes the most of the people and skills you have. What does this mean in practice?
1. Centralising Resources
An effective project manager develops a central resources pool that he can draw from when planning multiple projects. Having a centralised resource pool can help you and your team understand the ‘bigger picture’. By drawing from this giant resource pool, everyone involved will be able to see the limitations on resources and the part they have to play. Developing a clear view of how they fit into the picture can empower and motivate a team to perform their own individual tasks better, and deliver on time.
2. Allocating Resources
Allocating resources in an effective and accurate way is one of the biggest challenges facing every project manager, particularly when there’s no shared location to show how and where resources are being deployed. Without it, resource allocation becomes a guessing game, which is bad for the project and for business.
To solve this issue, you need a system that shows you how every resource is allocated throughout the lifecycle of a project. This level of visibility allows a project manager to steer their team through change requests and the many other obstacles that inevitably crop up, adding and removing resources as required. With complete visibility of their resources, project managers can respond to challenges quickly, make strategic decisions and keep stakeholders updated as soon as risks and certainties become known.
The most effective ways to allocate resources is by using a collaborative resource management tool. This will allow you to allocate resources based on ‘who has the right skills’ rather than ‘who you know’, taking into account their cost and availability.
3. Tracking Project Progress
There’s a wonderful point at the start of every project when the plan is in place, the work has been allocated and everyone is ready to go. Then the project begins and it all goes downhill. Without a way to track the progress of the project tasks that have been completed and the work that’s remaining, resources can be mismanaged, budgets can be broken and projects can be delivered late. Tracking your projects progress as well as capacity and demand ensures that all resources are managed as effectively as possible and that key people aren't 'lost' in between assignments.
Conclusion
With the availability of highly effective, intelligent, resource management software, more widespread, could now be the right time to look at how you manage your people, their time and skills and start a new approach to resource management?
To find out more about resource management best-practice and software, and how it can answer your vital resourcing questions, click here to find out more or download our brochure.