A simple guide to resource planning

Learn how to design a resource plan using practical strategies and tools, so that your team knows exactly which task to carry out and when.

The resource planning process helps you answer two of the most important questions a project or resource manager can ask: 

• How can we deliver this project on time and on budget?
• How can I guarantee project completion without overloading my team?

In this introductory guide, you’ll learn what resource planning is, why it’s important, what to look for in a resource planner and where to start creating your resource plan. 

We have produced and updated this guide based on prolific exchanges with our Teambook customers, who work as resource managers, project coordinators and operations managers in companies of all sizes, ranging from 10 employees to over 100. Based on our findings, we’ve included a summary of how to draw up your resource plan.

What is resource planning?

Resource planning is the process of determining the resources needed to complete projects, then allocating and scheduling work according to team capacity. 

Planning your resources involves:  

• Understanding who needs to work on which project and when  
• Determine who is available to do the job  
• Deciding the best use of your team’s time  
• Finding compromises between competing priorities

For example, one of our customers, a marketing agency, organizes weekly resource planning meetings, attended by all project managers. During these meetings, Teambook’s planning screen is the central tool, enabling us to view everyone’s availability, filtering by skills in particular, and thus make staffing decisions. Teambook is then updated in real time and the information transmitted to all team members, whether by automatic synchronization of agendas or even by e-mail notification.

Why is resource planning important?

Resource planning provides a reliable basis for starting projects and improves the chances of delivering them on time and on budget..

Creating a complete resource plan before starting a project helps you: 

• Increase your efficiency, because you know what resources you need and how they are allocated to project tasks. 
• Improve project success rates by matching the right skill sets to the right tasks. 
• Keep track of capacity and availability so you’re ready to respond to unforeseen resource needs. 
• Monitor progress to keep projects on budget and work on track. You can see what each person has to work on and for how long. 
• Plan and forecast the availability of your resources for future projects, enabling your team to better organize itself in the long term. 
• Improve job satisfaction and retention within your team – fewer burnouts or team members overwhelmed by events. 

What happens when your resource planning is neglected?

Leaving resource planning to one side often leads to unnecessary hiring and under-utilization of existing resources. We still remember this former recruiter for a digital behemoth who revealed to us that she, along with many of her associates, were unoccupied despite spending several months with the company. A few months later, a series of large-scale redundancies and a suspension of recruitment began!

On the other hand, rigorous resource planning ensures that hiring only takes place when necessary. When tasks are correctly assigned and executed, they not only provide your team with opportunities for professional development, they also save your company money. In short, it increases the effectiveness of your actions tenfold, which is bound to have a positive influence on the bottom line.

Define project tasks and available resources

Describe your project tasks. Are some tasks higher priority than others? Should some be concentrated at the beginning or end of the project?

In parallel, take stock of your current resources. Who’s available to take on the job? Quelle ressource est en double emploi ? 

For example, if you use Teambook, you would probably start by looking at your schedule for the next few months to determine availability: 

Allocating work based on availability, skills and interests 

Assemble tasks to team members who can take on the work using your resource management tool.  When assigning tasks, take into account the skills and interests of team members.
The assignments in your resource management tool should be the only source of truth so that everyone knows what they need to do and when.  

You can find out more in this article about resource allocation. 

Taking into account future resource requirements

An important (but difficult) step is to anticipate the work that lies ahead, and ensure that you have the right people in place to carry it out. You need to anticipate unexpected tasks that may arise in the future, and allocate extra time or resources to make sure you have the people you need to complete them.

Obtain feedback from stakeholders on proposed allocations

Even if a team member is assigned exclusively to your project, you need to keep in touch with other project or functional managers to keep an eye on the demands placed on the resource.

Teambook, for example, offers the use of several “teams”, which allow you to view the workload of team members, even if they are busy in another team, to avoid scheduling conflicts and overbooking.  

Make adjustments to your resource plan if necessary

You’ll need to update the resource plan regularly (we recommend at least once a week) as the project progresses due to unexpected changes, slow approvals, unforeseen scope adjustments, etc.  

Do you need resource planning tools?

Yes. Even if Excel is great, it can’t do everything. Especially if information has to be shared, in real time and schedules move around a lot!

And meven for small teams of less than 10 people, spreadsheets aren’t the easiest or most accurate tools to use (and it often takes someone who’s an Excel pro to tame them).  

With resource planning software, you can track all these elements and more to get an overview of capacity whenever you need it.  

5 key features to look for in a resource planning tool .

If you’re considering using a free resource planning tool, there are some must-haves and some nice-to-haves to consider.  

1. Characteristics of a multi-project organization

You should be able to plan different projects in a single tool and have a central view of how the allocations look as a whole. Ideally, the tool should offer the option of color-coding projects to make it easier to distinguish them from one another.

2. Real-time updates

Updates must be made in real time, so that team members are informed of the new resource plan as soon as something changes (such as a team member calling in sick) and deadlines are modified.

For example, e-mail or chat notifications will be sent to team members when you modify allocations in Teambook. Best of all, Teambook’s calendar synchronization means you’ll always have the latest information, in the right place!

3. Overview of teamwork schedules and resource availability

4. Budget forecasting and monitoring

The resource planning tool you choose should help you track a project’s performance along with the billable hours of its resources. If you exceed this number, the tool should clearly indicate that you have exceeded the time budget in your project budget report, so that you can take prompt corrective action.

5. Project reporting tools for smarter decision-making

Another essential feature is a reporting dashboard that gives you an accurate analysis of vital project elements, such as budgets, utilization rates and scheduled hours.

Optimized resource planning with Teambook: a practical guide

We’ve suggested (rather strongly suggested 😉 ) that you use Teambook for your resource planning, and at this point you’re probably wondering how it works.  

Let’s find out together:

Create a data repository for your staff (resources)

Create a centralized repository of your employees to get at a glance information on their skills, roles, capabilities and work locations. This inventory will help you track resources, organize your planning, detect staffing gaps, and quickly determine the best person to work with.   

Implement capacity management systems

For example, the 40-hour work week. These hours are rarely devoted solely to work. There are meetings, administrative tasks, ad hoc duties and, of course too, vacations and other sick leave.  

There are various systems you can set up to manage your team’s capacity.  

• Create leave policies. Determine in advance the specific conditions under which leave can be taken. This could be paid leave for a limited number of days, or mandatory annual leave to be taken each year, or sick leave when the team member falls ill.
• Import public holidays automatically into your resource planning tool. At Teambook, we have more customers with employees spread over different countries/continents. It’s common for team members to have a different public holiday during the course of a project. To avoid missing deadlines, we plan around public holidays and don’t assign tasks on their days off. Each team member’s public holiday is defined in Teambook, so managers know when they’ll be late.
• Manage leave requests. Ensure that leave requests are reviewed before they are approved. This process should involve the team member’s manager, as he or she has a good idea of the person’s workload and can approve or reject the request.
• Encourage your team to synchronize its calendar with your resource planning tool. Meetings often take up a large part of the team’s time without project managers realizing it. Stay on top of upcoming and recurring meetings to get a realistic idea of your team’s capacity.  

Anticipate the resources needed and their availability

Determine the people you need for your project, based on the project requirements. What functions are required? What skills are required? Now’s a good time to consult your resource repository.

Then determine whether these people are available to work on your project. Are they already assigned to another project? Are they available during your project?

Matching resources to tasks

Research shows that job satisfaction increases when individuals’ job roles closely match their assigned tasks. Matching resources to tasks is an important step in your resource plan, as it influences your team’s performance and commitment.  

For example, Daniela F. of Aspediens, is careful to give her employees tasks that complement their skills and help them develop:.

“Everyone has a basic set of skills that can range from the remarkable to the adequate. There are also aspects of everyone’s work that they love, appreciate or hate. I try to build on these and get to know each team member’s preferences and priorities.” 

 She also keeps track of her interests by using “tags” in Teambook:  

“I also use tags for certain people to note particular skills or interests. I’m often surprised by the number of people who have skills that nobody else knows about. I once worked with a project manager who was a food stylist in a previous job – needless to say, that fact was good to know and came in handy when the going got tough.”

Examine available data over the life of the project

Read data on previous projects to understand how time was spent on them. This retrospective approach is particularly useful when planning resources for projects with similar tasks. It will show you whether your previous plans were accurate or far from reality. You’ll also be able to pinpoint areas for improvement.  

If you’re already tracking your team’s time on Teambook, you can find useful information in your project and people reports.  

Regularly review project reports

The best-laid plans may not go according to plan, and that’s fine. That’s why you need to review project reports to monitor the health of your project. Are you over budget or under budget? Do you need to call in a contractor to help you complete certain tasks? Are certain resources under-utilized?

For Teambook users, project and people reports will be very useful to see the health of your project. The dashboard displays project information such as planned hours, recorded hours, estimated budget and actual costs.

Resource planning made easy

We recommend you try resource planning software like Teambook. We have several features designed to help you plan better: 

• Use tags to add skills, grades and departments to each resource.  
• Gauge your team’s bandwidth with working hours and overtime indicators 
• Drag and drop an allocation to move it to another person.  
• Budget estimated times and compare them with actual time spent   
• Use a medium-term planning tool to manage the capacity of your teams and draw up a recruitment plan based on upcoming projects.

With a tool like Teambook, planning your team’s time and scheduling your resources can save you several thousand euros a month! 

But the real benefit lies in the fact that all team members are on the same wavelength. They’ll know what projects they’re working on, when they’re due for completion, and what the whole project pipeline looks like.