Project Management Software helps you manage your team and project schedule. It can be used by anyone in your organization who needs to collaborate on projects, including project managers, team members and executives. Some products are more user-friendly than others—especially if this is your first time using PM software.
In this guide, we review the aspects of Project Resource Management Software, Which software works best for resource management, What are the 3 types of resources in project management, and resource allocation in software project management.
Project Resource Management Software
Project Management Software is an excellent tool to help you manage your team, schedule and budget. It can be used by anyone in the organization who needs to collaborate with others on projects. This includes project managers, team members and executives who are responsible for making sure a project meets its goals. It’s important to choose the right software because some products are more user-friendly than others—especially if this is your first time using PM software.
You can track the budget of your project with software.
Now, you may be wondering: how do I know if I’m spending too much money? The answer is simple. If your project budget has been broken down into tasks, and each task is assigned to a team member, there’s a simple way to keep track of how much money has been spent on each member. Simply look at the amount they were assigned (in hours) and multiply that by their hourly rate. That’s how much they’ve been paid!
Easy as pie.
You can collaborate with your team on a project-management platform.
- You can share files with your team
- You can communicate with your team
- You can track the progress of your project
- You can see what tasks are done, and what tasks are left to do
Your team can easily see all the documents they need to refer to.
Your team can easily see all the documents they need to refer to.
All project documents and information are stored in one place, making them easy to find and reference.
You can monitor the progress of your project, from start-to-finish. See who is working on what at any given time, and keep track of how much time you have left until launch.
You can make sure everyone knows what their assignments are.
You can make sure everyone knows what their assignments are.
We’ve all been there. The deadline is looming, you are doing your best to keep up with the project, but somehow there’s always one person who seems to be out of the loop. With Project Resource Management software, you can put an end to this problem by making sure that everyone involved in the project has access to everything they need: a list of tasks and their descriptions, deadlines for those tasks (and how long it will take them), any resources required from other departments or people in the company. This ensures that everyone has a clear understanding of what they need to do and when they need to do it by—and also makes sure no one leaves anyone else hanging because “they didn’t know.”
Software helps you account for any unexpected changes in the work plan.
Your project plan is a living document that can be updated to reflect changes in scope, budget, or schedule. This can be done manually or by using project management software.
When you have a tool like this at your disposal, it’s easier to track progress and make sure everyone on the team is on the same page when it comes to the work plan. It also helps keep an eye on costs and timelines so that everything stays within budget while still meeting deadlines. These functions help keep everything running smoothly so things go as planned from start to finish – no matter what unexpected events come up along the way.
Project Management Software allows you to hold yourself accountable.
Project Management Software allows you to hold yourself accountable. With Project Management Software, you can:
- Plan and execute your projects
- Keep track of the project budget
- Keep track of the project schedule
- Keep track of the project scope
- Keep track of the project progress
There are some great reasons to use Project-Management Software
The best project-management software will help you track your budget, collaborate with your team, and easily see all the documents you need to refer to.
You’ll be able to make sure everyone knows what their assignments are so that they can stay on task.
Which software works best for resource management
Resource management is not the same as project management — even though some of us get the two mixed up. Project management focuses on delivering projects within a specific time and budget, pulling from available resources to succeed. Resource management supports project management and is used to track resources that are required to complete each task defined under the project management umbrella.
While they may overlap, they are two distinct processes that can get more complicated as businesses share company-wide resources. To help keep track of resources and to manage, plan and allocate their utility, your business should invest in a resource management tool.
A resource management tool will help your business maximize the efficiency of your resources and provide a clear overview of your resource pool, what you have used, and what you have left to offer.
Why Resource Planning Is Vital To Project Management
You never want to hear the words, “I need it by tomorrow,” and when you do, the typical gut reaction is, “do I have time and is it even possible?” The answer to an urgent timeline like this always lies in the availability of resources. While tackling an urgent project can be stressful, a resource management tool can help diffuse the stress by providing you with an immediate snapshot of available resources to complete a job.
Your supervisor, or even you, can set as many due dates for tasks and projects as possible. But, unfortunately, without knowing what resources are available, it can be extremely challenging to get it all done and to carry out proper product planning. Resources are finite, and without knowing what resources you have at your fingertips to complete the job you are assigned to do, your project will never see the light of day or may not be completed by tomorrow. Sorry, boss.
Top Resource Management Software
If you never want to feel the panic of not knowing what resources are available – you need a resource management tool. These tools will help keep track of your business resources from employees that do the job, equipment to get it done, and the time needed to achieve a goal.
As you start going through the roundup below and you think to yourself – “self, I’ve seen some of these programs before, but they are also used as project management tools,” you are not wrong. While some of these programs may be advertised for “project management”, they can also be used as a great resource management tool. Some of these tools are strictly for resources, and others can be an all-in-one option.
What you use to manage your resources and your project is strictly up to you and what works in your business flow. So let’s take a look at some of the top resource management tools to keep your projects staffed well and within budget.
1. Hive
As one of the only tools on the market built for users, by users — you can guarantee that the folks at Hive have been told to “complete projects by tomorrow.” Fortunately for them, Hive provides excellent resource management functionality with slick project management features.
This comprehensive, intuitive, all-in-one project resource tool offers time-tracking and resourcing planning functionality. Resources can be planned, tasked and even laid out with over 6 different layouts from Gantt, Calendar, Kanban, Portfolio and Table, and Label view.
Want to see what resources you have available for the entire month? Use the Calendar view. Want to know exactly how long it is going to take your writer to complete their next ebook? Check your time-tracking history. It is easy, seamless and it also offers a native chat and e-mail function so the team can immediately reach out to the most important resources in the business — each other.
2. Float
If you’re looking for a tool that can make the “most of your team’s time,” check out Float. Built with teams in mind, Float is a resource management tool that helps employees set individual work hours, track time for scheduled tasks and even schedule their own personal time off.
It has the functionality to plan projects while adding in both budget and custom time constraints. This program can also get very granular with projects and present them in individual phases, taking into account every step of a project and all available resources needed to complete it.
Floats robust reporting tools provide data directly pulled from completed or ongoing projects, so your business can make any resource data-derived decisions for your business. Built with the ability to integrate with the market’s best agile project management tools like Slack or Teamwork, Float is a simple integration with a big return.
3. Saviom
If I could describe Saviom as a person, I would say that they are your business professional older cousin who always comes to family barbeques wearing a suit. Saviom is a sleek, serious data-driven resource management tool built for enterprise businesses.
Saviom provides real-time insights with data analytics tools and dashboards with highly flexible reports. Available in a variety of views, from a Gant chart that makes it simple for everyone to get a snapshot of resource utilization to a scheduler that the whole business has access to and can see who is working on which project.
Savioms functionality provides excellent visibility in areas that need focus in terms of resource shortages and can help your business adjust its priorities with real-time solutions. Saviom can also pinpoint available skills within the program and help deploy the right resources for the job. These resource predictions can help streamline your business and create additional efficiencies.
4. Resource Guru
Already have a project management tool that you love but want a robust resource management tool that could be its best friend? Let me introduce you both to Resource Guru.
Resource Guru is a fast and simple resource management tool that can help you schedule people, equipment, and other resources. With a drag and drop scheduler and a unique “clash management system” that helps you prevent resource over-bookings, the Guru will manage your resources and keep you in control.
Want some more in-depth reporting? With Resource Guru, you can monitor your resource utilization rates and pull reporting data from other key metrics like billable vs. non-billable time, time off, or even overtime work. Keep track of the resources that matter in your business, and introduce yourself to the Guru.
5. Mosaic
If you are feeling techy, then you might want to check out Mosaic. Mosaic is the first of its kind, an AI-powered workforce management software that offers its users visibility into their business and provides an opportunity to improve how they manage their resources.
Aimed towards boosting profitability and productivity, this tool integrates with both project and financial management software to gather intelligent data and provide reports and insights about specific resources.
Mosaic uses its AI functionality to optimize resources around priorities. If someone in your business has free time, Mosaic suggests projects to work on. If you assign employees to a project together, it can suggest project members who can work on specific tasks based on the resources they provide to the company. Mosaic helps take the guesswork out of resources with its AI-powered tool.
6. Teamdeck
Teamdeck is a team and project resource management software and a child of Apptension, a Polish software development company that cooperates with Netflix, Universal Studios, Heineken, and Uber. Teamdeck aims to make resourcing easier for HR teams and managers, with important functionality like scheduling, time tracking and timesheets, and leave management. Resource calendars and reports give you the much-needed visibility into your team’s current, past, and future workload. All of your employees are listed there, together with their allocated projects.
In addition to being a tool for managers, Teamdeck helps employees manage their own availability, request vacation days and track their time. This is useful for all types of employees, whether they are full-time, part-time, or contract workers.
What are the 3 types of resources in project management
A resource is defined as any person or item that is required for the execution of a project. There are generally seven types of resources in project management. In this article, we define and discuss these different resource categories and provide relevant examples.
Seven Category Types of Resources in Project Management:
(1) Services
A project may benefit from, and often require, hiring third-parties for certain tasks. Making the right choice requires careful consideration from the project manager. Forbes explains:
One of the best ways to decide whether or not to outsource a task is to perform a cost/time calculation. You may have tasks that you could conceivably do in-house with the right amount of time and money – for example, perhaps you eventually plan to hire in-house developers to increase your software design flexibility. But in the meantime, you still need to update your website and your back-end systems. In the short-term, you can outsource this work to a contractor, with the long-term goal of recruiting in-house developers.
This outsourcing falls under the services type of resource in project management.
Along with the cost/time consideration, the in-house team may lack the expertise and practical capacity for certain tasks. For example, a construction company may hire a cartage company for disposing debris. Or a florist will outsource deliveries to a reputable courier firm. In software project management, data storage and backups can be contracted to a cloud services provider such as Amazon Web Services or the Google Cloud Platform. Human-computer interaction experts can be procured to conduct user testing and heuristic evaluations. Hiring an external IT company for help desk support is another example of a services resource type in project management.
(2) Labor
The labor resource concerns the staff involved in a project.
Every staff member will not necessarily be engaged for the entire duration of a project. Whilst the project manager will be engaged from start to finish, the involvement of others can vary. Staff availability is also a factor. An individual might be involved in another project at the organization or an earlier activity may have taken longer than planned.
(3) Equipment
As a resource, equipment covers a range items of varying uses. There are computers, monitors, servers, keyboards, telephones, interactive whiteboards and a number of other mundane computing and office items. Desks, chairs, filing cabinets, office furniture and vehicles are also in the equipment resource category.
Equipment is generally purchased once and used over multiple projects. However, as a company expands, the need for more staff and space necessitates more monetary allocation to this resource. Equipment also has an effective life-span. Is the current hardware too old for efficiently completing this project? Is it worthwhile to invest in purchasing new servers to improve render times?
(4) Materials
Materials are a consumed resource. They are used up in the completion of a project and may also form part of deliverables.
Office stationery is common example of this type of resource in project management. Nails, cement and screws are materials in the construction industry; Fuel is a primary material for courier and transport companies.
Concerning the material resource type in software project development, Software Project Management notes that:
[Material resources] are of little consequence in most software projects but can be important for some – software that is to be widely distributed might, for example, require supplies of disks to be specially obtained.
(5) Money
Money is a secondary resource type in project management. It is used to purchase, acquire, and maintain all other resources in a project. This is usually in the form of investment and business capital.
(6) Space
Space should be already available for projects that do not require hiring new staff. More space may be required when adding new staff (permanent or temporary) to the team.
Space requirements may also vary during different stages of the project. For example, developers for Quality Assurance may only needed at a later stage of development. Similarly, user testing and user interviews (which may require special facilities) are not done continuously. Management should plan and adjust for space as required for each stage of the project.
resource allocation in software project management
Resources are varied. Everything from the people you’re working with and the equipment they’re using, to the materials and other supplies you need, to even the site where you’re working: it all falls under the umbrella of resources. That’s a lot to allocate! Let’s define resource allocation and then run through some allocation tips.
What Is Resource Allocation?
Resource allocation is an important part of and resource scheduling, which is the scheduling of tasks and the associated resources that those tasks require to be completed. Part of resource allocation is knowing the availability of your resources and scheduling them to coincide with your project timeline.
When allocating resources, it can be for the project or non-project activities, such as administration, support, operations, etc. These resources can be either fully or partially available, which has to be taken into account when scheduling resources. When the project scope changes or project requirements change, resource allocation must also pivot to accommodate these changes.
As difficult as it might be to allocate resources correctly over the life cycle of a project, it’s an essential part of any thorough project management plan and should be done in the planning stage of a project. This helps keep costs down, maximizes productivity and helps with team morale, as well as facilitates client satisfaction by achieving the best outcome and successfully delivering the project.
Once you’ve identified your resources and you’re ready to allocate them to tasks, add them to your project management software. That way you can coordinate them with your project schedule and distribute them across your team. In ProjectManager for instance, you can manage your project schedule, your team and your non-human resources in one place. Build your schedule on a Gantt and track your resource distribution, progress and labor costs in one software. Try it free today!
How to Allocate Resources on a Project
Resource allocation is a plan that you develop with the aim of making the most of the available resources at your disposal in a project, which makes it a critical resource planning activity. This is mostly a short-term plan set in place to achieve goals in the future.
This sounds challenging, but don’t worry we’ve got your back. The following are some general tips to help you with your resource allocation when managing a project.
1. Know Your Scope
Before you can allocate your resources or manage them, you have to determine the scope of the project you’re working on. Is it a big or small project, long or short?
Once you have those questions answered, then you can make the right decision on what resources you’ll need and how many of them are necessary to complete the project.
The clearer the project scope is, the better you’ll be able to figure out how to allocate your resources. Therefore, take the time to get the full picture of the project prior to doing any resource allocation.
2. Identify Resources
You know the scope, objective and tasks for your project needed to be on time and within the budget approved, now you have to get your resources together.
But that doesn’t mean you have an unlimited pool from which to pull. So, you have to see who’s currently available, what equipment you’re going to need or purchase and where are you going to perform the tasks for this project, and is that space available.
Before you can allocate resources, you have to have them. So, make a list using the criteria above and then make sure it fits within the budget allotted for the project.
3. Don’t Procrastinate
You’re a project manager. You live and die by your planning. Resource allocation is no different. Waiting until something has gone awry means you have to scramble to get it back on track if that’s even possible.
It’s inevitable that resources will need reallocation. What plan have you ever created that was set in stone? Therefore, in the planning process, you should take some time to research where and when you might have a blocked team member or task dependencies.
By setting up a resource plan and noting these red-flag warnings, and more importantly figuring out how you’ll respond to them, beforehand, you’re prepared to handle them when they arise. And they’ll always arise.
4. Think Holistically
It’s a problem when you’re so focused on the process that you neglect to lift your head up from the project plan to note what is actually happening. This isn’t merely checking your estimates against actual progress in the project, though that is important, too.
What you must always be aware of is the state of your resources. For example, what is the schedule for your team, are any taking vacation time, are they sick, etc.? Also, what is the duration of the lease for the site or equipment? These are important questions to ask when scheduling resources.
Don’t let any of these details get past you because of tunnel vision. Look at the whole project, not just the various pieces, as captivating as it can be to lose oneself in project metrics.
5. Know Your Resource Dependencies
One way to allocate resources is by not having to allocate them at all. This isn’t as mystical as it might sound. It involves something far less magical and more practical, planning.
By planning beforehand, you can avoid bottlenecks that trap your resources when you need them most in the course of the project execution. Planning also helps you keep your resources from falling short. This doesn’t mean you won’t have a bottleneck or resource shortage, but it’s less likely if you know your resource dependencies.
Part of planning for dependencies is having a contingency plan in place in case team members are blocked or you run low on needed resources. Keep your plans from being over-dependent on one resource to avoid trouble down the line.
6. Track Time
You always want to keep a close eye on the time, how your team is working and if they’re being efficient. It’s your job to make sure that a task that can be completed in a day doesn’t take a week. There are ways to improve time tracking.
To do this you must keep track of your team’s workload. That requires the right tools to give you real-time data collected on one page where you can both see and schedule ahead when needed.
7. Use Tools
Project management software, like ProjectManager, is a great asset to managing your resources more productively. With an online tool, you get project data instantly updated.
You can see where your resources are allocated across a calendar that is color-coded to note whether they’re on- or off-task, on vacation or sick. Rescheduling to help a team member who is overtasked is a simple click of the keyboard.
To see exactly how much project and resource management software can help you allocate resources, watch the short video below. It illustrates all of the benefits of our scheduling features, real-time dashboards, team management tools and more. When there are so many resources to manage, and so many stakeholders to satisfy, do yourself a favor and invest in a tool that will make your life a little bit easier.
8. Don’t Over-allocate
Many managers over-allocate, whether because of poor planning or an inability to say no, which doesn’t help. Instead of bringing in the project on time and within budget, over-allocation threatens team burnout.
Be honest. Do you suffer from this bad habit? If so, stay vigilant and avoid it. If you don’t, there’s a good chance you’ll tarnish team morale and the quality of their project work.
It’s unfair to expect so much from your resources that they break. Re-examine your resource plan and make use of it to allocate the resources you have for the project evenly.
9. Be Realistic
While it’s good practice to be prepared for issues that might arise in your project, you don’t want to hog resources by adding too many people or days to your schedule.
When you do this, you’re skewing the project estimate and messing with the effectiveness of long-term planning. It’s going to take from your bottom line.
Remember when we mentioned comparing your estimated to actual utilization? This is where that process helps keep you properly allocated. Using a tool, as we noted above, is also key to getting an accurate sense of how the project is going.