Resource management - the right way

Project Management and Resources Management Hand in Hand

Work in companies is becoming increasingly project-oriented. The projects themselves are becoming more and more complex and interdisciplinary. Resource management as part of project management is therefore a central success factor for the entire company. Only those who are able to plan, implement and complete projects "in time, budget and quality"  in short, medium and long term can be successful.

The right way of using resources is one of the prerequisites for successful projects. Conversely, the wrong use of resources - insufficient or even the wrong resources - is one of the most common reasons why projects fail. Many studies and textbooks describe resource management as the supreme discipline in project management.

What does the reality look like today?

When planning future projects, people usually rely on statements made by employees or managers. "Can you still manage the project in two months?"  is a frequently asked question in the demand phase. But does it lead to a reliable statement? Probably not. In which projects are the employees today involved and will the project be finished in time? Are the employees already scheduled for future projects? Do I need specific employees or can I do skill- or department-based planning? How much time do the individual staff members have for the project work? How high is the share of line functions and administrative activities? What about vacations of the individual employee?

All these questions have to be answered in a planning and fact-based manner in order to successfully manage a project and to plan new projects.

What are therefore the most important aspects in resource management?

Central resource pool

Only if all employees, if possible, all external employees as well, are registered in a central resource pool and their capacities are distributed in it, planning of resource management is complete. Working with several isolated solutions is doomed to fail when several interdisciplinary projects must be implemented simultaneously with the same employees and their capacities.

Always up-to-date project plans

In the rarest of cases, projects run exactly as planned. A certain dynamic is inherent and completely normal. It is important that the project plan always reflects the current state of knowledge and thus will consider all actual values such as feedback about timing or project progress.

Lack of attention to line activities

If employees from individual departments are involved in overarching projects, it is important to consider to what extent the capacity of the individual specialists is available for the project and what percentage of the line activities they are associated. Therefore, it is important to immediately recognise what capacities the individual employee has.

Department- or skill-based resource management

Thinking about demand management differently can solve some resource bottlenecks. In the classic case, a project is always planned based on the availability of individual specific employees. It makes more sense to plan with required departments, because you have a variety of options that were not apparent in the old schemes (e.g. instead of one resource at 100%, two at 50%). As an additional measure, the staffing process can also be carried out based on skills. By selecting upstream which specific skills are needed for the project, a selection takes place completely across departments. Ideally, a tool is used that offers all three options.

Joint planning of projects

If projects are only considered individually - and not in interaction with other projects - many risks, bottlenecks and overlaps in resource management remain undiscovered in planning. Conflicts only arise during the project. A solution is usually costly or influences other projects negatively. Therefore, comprehensive multi-project planning is indispensable during planning.

Knowing the costs and deadlines

At the beginning of a project, all the details are rarely known. Statements such as "effort 30 - 40 hours" or "end of 3rd quarter 2020"  are the rule rather than the exception. Sham accuracy leads to a lack of acceptance of the system and to a high maintenance effort. Therefore, planning with realistic, imprecise values will be a good alternative.

Consideration of basic workloads

Answering e-mails and accounting for travel expenses are activities which are referred as the basic load in resource management. Realistic models assume that employees spend about 20% of their time / capacity neither with activities in their departments nor with project work. Holistic capacity planning in resource management should take this into account such as vacations and other absences such as training. Without effective resource management, a "surprise"  absence of an employee has jeopardised entire projects.

Resource management and skills management as the basic of digitalisation

The development or further development and implementation of a digitisation strategy is the core task of every company. Innovation topics should be managed centrally that the organisational change of a company can be completed seamlessly. To achieve this, the respective business model must be aligned on one hand with the market and the prevailing customer wishes.

On the other hand, implementation depends on the availability and skills of a sufficient number of qualified employees. The essential basis for this is effective skills and resource management.

Intelligent resource planning with Can Do

Can all these criteria be controlled analogously?

No, which is why the basic prerequisite for a smooth and successful implementation of resource management processes is the choice of the right tool. After an intensive evaluation process, the choice fell on the tool Can Do.

By using the Can Do Enterprise Software, resource and project management can be further standardised and professionalised. In addition to optimise personnel deployment via the high-performance resource management, a uniform, resilient data and information basis is obtained, which considerably simplifies communication and coordination processes. By using realistic key data - exact statements for the near future, inaccurate statements for the distant future - projects can be planned more easily and reliably.

Due to the self-developed algorithm Watermodel®, Can Do offers a unique, dynamic capacity matching procedure which enables optimal staff deployment by given capacities when planning. Part-time work relationships or vacations are also taken into account and planned as a so-called base load for the staff in Can Do's resource management software. With the Staffer®, Can Do offers another useful feature, as the line organisation is integrated into the project management software. The coordination process on capacities in resource planning between project and line is significantly simplified.

Can Do's intelligent risk management system facilitates the work of project managers. Artificial intelligence in risk management shows current as well as future problems and provides prioritised recommendations for action to ensure the success of the project. By analysing millions of scenarios and possibilities, the AI recognises potential risks and provides a sound basis for decisions about the feasibility of projects - much more precisely and quickly than a human could ever do. This decisively increases the success rate of the company, the department and the team. Another positive fact is the analyses and notifications reflect in real time save time-consuming coordination, enquiries and meetings.