Resource Management – The Basics for Success
There are three levels of resource awareness and this resource management for most organizations: Allocation, Assignment (Planned), and Actuals. This article is going to explore these levels, show how to track them, and show how to get the highest return from this knowledge.
Before we start, here are some definitions for clarification:
· Actual Hours – The hours a resource actually works on a task or activity (See Actuals).
· Actuals – Another term used to represent Actual Hours (See Actual Hours).
· Allocation – Adding a resource to a project expressed in percentage of time, percentage of capacity, or hours.
· Assigned – The hours or activities appointed to a resource
· Duration – The length of time given to complete a task or activity.
· Effort – The hours used to complete a task or activity in the duration provided (It took 2 hours of effort during the 1 day of duration).
· Planned Hours – The hours of effort a resource is assigned during the task or activity duration.
Level 1 – Resource Allocation
The first level of resource management can be termed resource awareness, since it is the awareness of where your resources are allocated to a project. There is no assignment being tracked at this level. At this level, your leadership team or planning team estimates the amount of time a resource is needed for a project; expressing this need as "We need a half of a PM for the project" or "20% of an Analyst for 2 weeks" or "an Architect for 10 hours a week." These needs can be translated into a table or spreadsheet like table 1-1 below. For many companies, this may be the level of knowledge needed to know if you can take on additional work and if their resources are over-allocated.
WeekProject / Resource Role / Resource Name / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
Project A
Project Manager / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20
Analyst / 30 / 30 / 20 / 20 / 10 / 10
Developer 1 / 10 / 20 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30
Developer 2 / 10 / 20 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 10
Developer 3 / 10 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 10
Project B
Project Manager / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10
Analyst / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20
Tester / 10 / 20 / 30 / 20 / 20 / 20
Project C
Project Manager / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10
Network Engineer / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 15
Available Capacity / Week
Resource Role / Resource Name / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
PM / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80
Tom / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Sue / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Analyst / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80 / 80
Terry / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Amanda / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Developer / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120
Joe / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Julie / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Nancy / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Tester / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Tony / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Network Engineer / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Norm / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Table 1-1 Resource Pool – No Allocations
Once you select which resource is being allocated to the project, your table or spreadsheet will now look like table 1-2 below.
WeekProject / Resource Role / Resource Name / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
Project A
Project Manager / Tom / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20
Analyst / Terry / 30 / 30 / 20 / 20 / 10 / 10
Developer 1 / Joe / 10 / 20 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30
Developer 2 / Julie / 10 / 20 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 10
Developer 3 / Nancy / 10 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 10
Project B
Project Manager / Tom / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10
Analyst / Amanda / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20
Tester / Tony / 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 42 / 20
Project C
Project Manager / Sue / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10
Network Engineer / Norm / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 15
Available Capacity / Week
Resource Role / Resource Name / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
PM / 60 / 50 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 60 / 60 / 70 / 70
Tom / 20 / 20 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 30 / 30 / 40 / 40
Sue / 40 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30
Analyst / 50 / 50 / 40 / 40 / 50 / 50 / 60 / 60 / 80 / 80
Terry / 10 / 10 / 20 / 20 / 30 / 30 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Amanda / 40 / 40 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 40 / 40
Developer / 90 / 60 / 40 / 40 / 50 / 80 / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120
Joe / 30 / 20 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Julie / 30 / 20 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 30 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Nancy / 30 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Tester / 40 / 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 / 0 / -2 / 20 / 40 / 40
Tony / 40 / 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 / 0 / -2 / 20 / 40 / 40
Network Engineer / 40 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 35
Norm / 40 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 35
Table 1-2 Resource Pool – With Allocations
Notice, you will actually have a lot of decision-making information from this level of resource management. At a high level, you will know where your people are working, how long they are working on the project, and what available capacity you have to do more work by resource type. This knowledge can be gained with a small investment of time. All tracking can be done centrally with the collection of resource allocation information as projects resource needs are estimated and projects are selected. If projects shift, the numbers on this table can be shifted. Tracking resources at the allocated level will also allow you to know when additional resources will have to be hired or contracted to take on new work.
Level 2 – Resource Assignment (Planned Hours)
This next level of resource management requires someone to make a project schedule at any level of detail such as phase, deliverable, activity, or task. Once the schedule is made, resources allocated to the project can be assigned at the phase, deliverable, or task, or activity level. The assignment can be made at an even amount of effort over duration (8 hours per day) or varying effort over duration (“We will give them 3 days to complete the 8 hours of work”).
At the Resource Assignment level, the assigned team members or project manager can mark the activity as completed when done and does not have to provide actual hours. No timesheet is needed for the Resource Assignment level. For tracking, you can use the same table as in 1-1 or 1-2, but now you will be able to get more granular because you will be able to substitute Planned or Assigned hours for Allocated hours on your table and your assigned hours may vary by the level of assignment over time on an activity.
Your project scheduling tool or solution should be able to provide a listing of the assigned hours over a time period by project and by resource. Allocation to Assigned variances are now available to help you fine tune your resource needs. If the resource was allocated for 20 hours a week but only assigned 10 hours, adjustments will need to be made on the table. More detailed information is available at this level because more detailed tracking activity has taken place.
Week (Allocated/Assigned)Project / Resource Role / Resource Name / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
Project A
Project Manager / Tom / 20/20 / 20/20 / 20/15 / 20/25 / 20/25 / 20/20
Analyst / Terry / 30/30 / 30/30 / 20/15 / 20/25 / 10/20 / 10/10
Developer 1 / Joe / 10/10 / 20/20 / 30/25 / 30/35 / 30/30 / 30/30
Developer 2 / Julie / 10/10 / 20/20 / 30/25 / 30/35 / 30/35 / 10/10
Developer 3 / Nancy / 10/10 / 20/20 / 20/15 / 20/25 / 20/20 / 10/10
Project B
Project Manager / Tom / 10/15 / 10/15 / 10/20 / 10/10 / 10/10 / 10/10
Analyst / Amanda / 20/25 / 20/20 / 20/20 / 20/20 / 20/20 / 20/20
Tester / Tony / 10/10 / 20/20 / 30/30 / 40/35 / 35/42 / 20/20
Project C
Project Manager / Sue / 10/10 / 10/10 / 10/15 / 10/10 / 10/10 / 10/10 / 10/12 / 10/10 / 10/10
Network Engineer / Norm / 20/20 / 20/20 / 20/25 / 20/20 / 20/20 / 20/20 / 20/24 / 20/20 / 15/15
Available Capacityat Assigned Level / Week
Resource Role / Resource Name / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
PM / 60 / 50 / 40 / 25 / 25 / 40 / 60 / 58 / 70 / 70
Tom / 20 / 20 / 10 / 0 / -5 / 10 / 30 / 30 / 40 / 40
Sue / 40 / 30 / 30 / 25 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 28 / 30 / 30
Analyst / 50 / 50 / 40 / 35 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 60 / 80 / 80
Terry / 10 / 10 / 25 / 15 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Amanda / 40 / 40 / 15 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 40 / 40
Developer / 90 / 80 / 55 / 25 / 35 / 70 / 120 / 120 / 120 / 120
Joe / 30 / 20 / 15 / 5 / 10 / 10 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Julie / 30 / 20 / 15 / 5 / 5 / 30 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Nancy / 30 / 20 / 25 / 15 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
Tester / 40 / 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 / 0 / -2 / 20 / 40 / 40
Tony / 40 / 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 / 5 / -2 / 20 / 40 / 40
Network Engineer / 40 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 35
Norm / 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 16 / 20 / 35
Table 1-3 Resource Pool – With Allocations, Assignments, and Variances
Level 3 – Actuals
The final level of resource management will call for a timesheet or some way to communicate the actual hours spent on the activity. This level of resource management can entail a lot of effort and I would not advise a company to try to go from level 1 to level 3.
To start the planning, you will follow the steps in Levels 1 and 2 and notify your resources of the assignments. As the resource completes the assignment, they will communicate actual hours spent on the activity and they system will provide variances. When the level 3 system is in operation, you should be able to compare allocated to assigned to actual for variances at all levels. At level 3, the return you will gain from all the activity expended is knowledge of how your actual expenses are flowing compared to your planned expenses in detail. Many organizations don’t track expenses to this level of detail, so this level of activity would not provide a positive return.