Have you ever planned an extended vacation? Before going on a trip, you’ll make lists of what you need. You may already have some stuff at home and need to plan for whatever you don’t. Resource management, an integral part of project management, is similar but more extensive.
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Resource Management guarantees that you have the skills, time, money, knowledge, physical space and other required elements to fulfill customer demands. Without resource management, fulfilling client requirements becomes a considerable problem and productivity dips.
In this article, we’ll discuss:
Jump ahead if you’re just looking for different resource management tips.
What is Resource Management?
Resource management involves planning, scheduling and allocating resources as part of a project. Managers primarily use it during project management. The main goal of resource management is to use available assets, satisfy requirements and accomplish business goals. It ensures that the allocation of available resources is taking place in a systematized way that’s aligned with the defined corporate plan. Resources can be tangible or intangible and include anything from the staff to finance and equipment to time.
A company needs to understand its objectives and capacity to ensure a successful and smooth resource management process. Use resources cleverly and systematically to increase revenue and profit. Most workplaces hire a resource manager to use available resources intelligently, thus reducing the chances of waste or unnecessary excess.
Primary Benefits
Resource management plays a major role in boosting productivity, increasing profitability and reducing wastage of resources and money.
Listed below are some of the most significant benefits that can improve your firm’s performance and profits:
Prevent Unforeseen Setbacks
Fix potential problems before they occur with a good understanding of all the resources. By using resource management, the entire team gets a clearer picture of the materials available for the project and can come up with the best ways to use them. This way, any possible shortage can be identified well in advance. This gives project managers a heads up to either arrange for more resources or allocate them to projects on a priority basis, thus avoiding any hiccups.
Inclusive View
A comprehensive view of all the materials helps team members attain better visibility and examines overall project efficiency. It gives you more control over the process and lets you achieve goals more quickly.
Better Transparency
Resource management allows all users — especially managers — to view tasks and keep an eye on efficiency, thus maintaining optimum transparency.
Make Informed Decisions
Track progress seamlessly for more enhanced control and management. Use the required tools that effectively recognize the benefits of organization and planning. You can decide whether there’s enough machinery, workforce and assets to realize the task at hand.
Avoid Burnout and Boredom
Overwork leads to burnout among your team members. On the other hand, your staff needs sufficient challenges, ensuring they are productive or they’ll get bored. According to a Gallup report, 51% of employees are disengaged or psychologically unattached to their workplace. Resource management supports striking a delicate balance between boredom and burnout.
Reduce Project Cost
Identifying the resources and assigning them to a particular project during the initial stage helps the team understand the approximate budget and schedule. This way, you don’t overallocated or waste resources and can reduce the cost. According to PMI, less than 60% of projects stick to the original budgets. Different resource management software keenly monitors costs, profit, and revenue indicators to track the actual money spent against the allocated budget. If there is a discrepancy in the same, it can be tackled well in time. Project managers can scout for different ways to reduce project management costs without cutting down on the quality.
Increase Revenue
By carefully tracking and managing staff and materials, you can better understand what every team member is doing. This data helps resource managers know if they need to cut down supplies for higher profits.
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Resource Management Techniques
You can’t apply a single approach to every type of work. The ideal method for controlling assets depends on various factors.
However, these four resource management methods all share the similar goal of attaining maximum control over projects.
Here are some techniques you can use for maximum resource efficiency:
Resource Allocation
According to a study by Wellingtone, resource allocation is the third-biggest project management challenge for businesses. This process involves tackling the available resources in the most efficient manner possible. It presents a clear picture of the work accomplished in a stipulated time frame, thus helping team members schedule and allocate realistically. Supplies are identified and assigned to different activities. It also monitors supplies throughout the project and reassigns them if needed. For instance, if a manager has to deliver several projects with few resources, he has to decide whether or not to shelve the low-priority projects for the time being or allocate resources differently so high-priority projects can benefit more.
Resource Leveling
According to the, PMBOK Guide resource leveling is, “A technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints to balance the demand for resources with the available supply.” The technique resolves issues related to overallocation to ensure they can complete the project with the resources in hand. It aims at making the most of the resources available for a particular project and distributing them fairly. Resource leveling is a method that helps prevent shortages or excess inventory. Additionally, it resolves conflicts, such as the same resources required for two tasks simultaneously.
Resource Smoothing
This technique reconciles limited resources and time. It works within the scope of an already decided project duration without changing the project’s critical path. The primary objective of resource smoothing is to accomplish the given task(s) within a specified time and date. It states or adjusts time schedules to manage the available resources, mainly because most resources are limited. The approach is adopted when a project is dealing with time constraints, thus avoiding major peaks and dips regarding resource demand.
Resource Forecasting
Resource forecasting allows you to predict the organization’s resources before the project begins. This is done by giving you information such as how much of the current resources you require on the upcoming project, how many hours you will use it, and the costs involved. Usually, resource forecasting is carried out by using data from previous projects or other current projects, which helps determine various factors like how many people are needed, whether they possess the required skills and whether they will carry out the work successfully. It’s imperative to consider the project’s scope, constraints, risks and more during planning. This method is incredibly viable for growing companies as it allocates resources and plans out hiring.
Efficiency Tips
An effective strategy coupled with the right approach and tools can result in effective resource management.
Here are some crucial tips for avoiding hiccups during the process and further increase productivity:
Prepare For The Worst
Even the most carefully curated project plans can fail or not go as planned. There are unprecedented changes that shift the course of the task. It’s essential to mentally prepare your team for such transitions to face any possible curveballs. Make sure there is a way you can outsource resources if you fall short or don’t have all the required materials.
Ensure Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction depends on if your company meets the expectations by delivering the project on time, consistently and working well within the means of the allocated budget. Additionally, it keeps customers updated with the help of realistic estimates.
Inform customers systematically. First, take out time to plan the project according to your resources or budget. Next, assign an approximate number of hours to complete the project taking into consideration workforce and materials. Lastly, leave aside a little extra time for possible errors, illnesses, supply delays, or equipment repairs.
Prioritize Resources
You and your team may face a situation that involves choosing from a wide array of resources. It’s imperative to prioritize ahead of time to determine what you have to pick and what phase of the project requires them.
Identify Requirements
Make a list in advance of all the support you’ll need during the project, giving sufficient time for team members to identify the appropriate resources. Identifying future needs also helps determine the overall budget and the cost of every project dimension.
Stick to the Schedule
It’s vital to set realistic timelines to ensure that there are fewer employee conflicts and increased consistency. Updating the schedule from time to time keeps all members on the same page. It makes it easy to determine the number of resources exhausted and the amount required quickly. You can help team members by providing them with helpful tips and techniques to manage time, such as planning work in advance, minimizing interruptions and setting several shorter deadlines instead of a single deadline.
Unify the Resources
It makes things easier when you consolidate all the required resources. Project managers can access and allocate them at their convenience. You can determine the limitations of resources and prevent them from going to waste.
Set Realistic Expectations
Resource management ensures that project managers can set realistic goals. This helps in reassuring the stakeholders and clients about project completion dates. A resource management plan includes thorough information of the entire timeline and details about when the deliverables can be expected, eliminating the need for any guesswork. This way calculating the estimates becomes easier.
Look at Your Staff’s Skills
Identify your employee’s skill levels and note any additional competencies they need to ensure effective management of resources. You can recognize employees’ skills by holding interactive sessions, engaging employees in team-building activities and conducting workshops. If you feel the team is lacking, train them. A learning management system or talent management software can help you keep everyone up to date on their competencies.
Reduced Waste
Resource management is a process that involves constant juggling of resources to make sure that they are following the schedule and allocating materials correctly. However, there are chances that the allocated resources remain under-utilized due to planning inconsistencies. This may lead to wasting resources, creating losses for the company. In such a situation it’s best to resort to using the resource leveling technique.
Wrapping Up
Resources shouldn’t be over-allocated or underutilized while guaranteeing maximum productivity and competency. Resources are finite, which makes optimizing them essential. Misusing materials can lead to a colossal waste of time and energy, lack of customer satisfaction and fewer profits. Efficient resource management is a stepping stone towards achieving a successful project. Once this process is taken care of, it becomes easier to understand the growth of the team and the overall business.
Does this article answer all your questions about resource management? If not, what further questions do you have? Please let us know in the comments section.