Resource Planning Software - Best Practices for Managing Project Resources

Resource planning software is one of the emerging trends in project management practices. A majority of the best practices and industry standards use some type of resource management or allocation software. The primary benefit of these tools is the efficiency and streamlining of the resources. 

6 best practices of project resource management

1. Centralize resource scheduling and planning - Managing the resources of a project is a massive and complex task. 71% of companies in the US are now using Agile for project management. Centralizing resource planning and scheduling will help all members of the team, especially remote teams to access the schedule. Furthermore, different stakeholders will also be able to track the resources, their availability and their capacity. Hence, decision-making will also be efficient and easier.   
2. Forecast strategic resource allocation - Forecasting ongoing project demands and pipeline projects are some of the most important features of resource management software. Using this feature, you can create an allocation and management strategy that will utilize the available resources effectively. Furthermore, the overload indication feature will also alert you in case any particular resource is at its full capacity. 
3. Universal approach - The project manager needs to ensure the team agrees on adopting a universal approach that prioritizes the goals as a team. They need to develop a decision-making process to ensure a seamless process without any barriers to maintain efficiency. And they also need to monitor any unplanned work that the resources are doing and its ability to clog the original schedule. In Agile project methodology, this type of flexibility is required. 
4. Planning for uncertainty - In Agile Methodology often the project is often more important than the project itself. Hence, there is no specific end date for the task. In such cases, it can be difficult for you to allocate and manage the resources. However, resource management tools can forecast the estimated time to complete a task, based on previous experience and data. Hence, you’ll be able to plan for uncertainties and contingency. 
5. Identifying needs - One of the most important best practices includes identifying the future needs of a project as early as possible. Identifying project needs will give you ample time to plan for them and allocate them. Hence, you can use the forecasting feature of resource planning tools to make data-driven decisions regarding scheduling. 
6. Understanding team strengths - Various resource planning software available in the market also offers an in-depth insight into the employees. Based on employee performance, productivity, and efficiency you can develop a better understanding of your team. This will help you to assign relevant resources for different projects, tasks and more. 

Bottom Line

In addition to the above-mentioned best practices, there are several others that can help you enhance the efficiency of project resource management. For example, finance tracking, management report development, decision-making from data, and more. In finance tracking these tools will provide a timeline view showing the historical changes to the wages or charges. 

Resource management tools can significantly make project management easier. However, don’t just take our word for it. Take a 14-day free trial of any resource management software to see if it is worth the investment for project resource management.