Resources are essential elements for project execution and comprise tools, raw materials, supplies and people. Having the right resources for your business is crucial; however, project resource management is an entirely different ball game. Organizing resources to achieve effective project management requires a meticulous approach.

Compare Top Project Management Software Leaders

Effective project resource management necessitates an in-depth understanding and transparency of your business capabilities and objectives. Establishing thorough processes can maximize efficiency while controlling utilization across your project portfolio tools.

Article Roadmap:

• What Is Project Resource Management?
• Types of Project Resources
• Project Resource Management Processes
• Challenges
• Best Practices
• Last Thoughts

What Is Project Resource Management?

Project resource management is a set of unified processes that help managers obtain, determine, allocate, monitor and develop resources while maximizing organizational value. It entails planning, scheduling and assigning people, money and technology to a particular initiative or program. Efficient management makes appropriate resources available at the right time.

Its focus is on doing more with less. Efficiency and optimization are the key components here since nobody likes wasteful expenditure. You can plan your resources optimally once you know your project requirements.

According to a Gartner report, successful initiative completion is contingent on balancing available resources against demand. “Leaders must enable careful initiative prioritization, avoid resource overload, and promote flexible completion timing to maximize value delivery,” it states.

It clarifies who’s doing what and how long it will take to complete the task. You get visibility into underutilized resources to reallocate them to suitable vacancies. It is a continuous process that helps you answer whether you have sufficient resources to finish jobs or how you can reduce project costs while pacing delivery.

Optimizing the use of shared and limited resources requires visibility into demand, capacity and available skills versus what’s needed for the job. You can prioritize resources across portfolios while maximizing their value by considering budgets, project schedules and corporate strategy alignment.

Successful project resource management:

• Ensures organizations allocate resources to initiatives aligned to corporate strategy and maximize value.
• Minimizes duplication and waste by automating processes.
• Responds promptly to changed customer requirements while boosting project delivery.
• Simplifies the shift from a static approach to an Agile planning methodology while reshaping the workforce to incorporate business changes.
• Ensures availability of appropriate resources and funding for project completion.

Compare Top Project Management Software Leaders

Types of Project Resources

For successful project completion, you need people, technology and processes. Labor is the backbone of all projects that comprise full-time, part-time and contingent employees with required skills.

Employees require materials, equipment and a worksite to perform project tasks efficiently. Materials can include consumables like soil, cement or blinders to generate the final product.

Equipment includes tangible assets like machinery and intangible assets like software or processes to carry out tasks. Facilities or worksites include office spaces, conference rooms, land and factories to execute projects.

Project Resource Management Processes

Project managers have to deliver projects on time and within budget. Efficient project resource management helps meet commitments while enhancing client satisfaction. It also maximizes billable resource utilization for project success and profitability.

Strategic planning and processes help you achieve your project goals. PMI’s Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) lays down six core project resource management processes followed by professionals worldwide.

Plan Resource Management

This process entails determining the number and type of resources required to accomplish the deliverables. It also involves deciding on strategies to obtain, utilize and manage those resources.

Estimate Activity Resources

This step involves estimating resource types and the number of facilities, materials, supplies, tools, technologies and equipment needed to work. It also defines selection criteria, including experience, qualifications and employee pay structures.

Acquire Resources

Next, determine how and when to acquire human and non-human resources to complete project work. You can formulate a procurement plan to purchase tools and equipment while publishing team positions to fulfill staff requirements.

Develop Teams

Once you have the human resources, you need to ensure they have the right skills. This process also involves improving employee interaction and competence to boost project progress and success.

Manage Teams

Team management includes monitoring team and individual employee performance to gauge productivity. You should provide periodical training, coaching and guidance to enhance employee and team performance.

Control Resources

This step ensures that you adhere to plans while assigning skilled employees to projects. You can analyze variances between actual and planned resource usage while taking corrective actions. Controlling procedures and assigning a skilled workforce help tackle modified project scope and client expectations.

Compare Top Project Management Software Leaders

Challenges

Project resource management goes beyond allocating resources to projects. The process is crucial for establishing project expectations, optimizing project flow and maximizing success. Despite its numerous advantages, many businesses fail to manage their resources efficiently. Let’s look at some underlying reasons.

Poor Resource Visibility

Enterprise-wide visibility is necessary for identifying competent employees. It is difficult to achieve as many project managers continue to rely on antiquated systems. According to a recent Wellingtone study, poor resource management is the third biggest project management challenge for organizations.

Traditional solutions and numerous spreadsheets cannot offer enterprise-level visibility into resources or identify suitable employees for projects. They are prone to errors and redundancies while causing double bookings.

Incorrect Capacity Evaluation

Evaluating resource capacity and allocation is crucial while assigning tasks. Since employee availability, capacity and ability are intricately linked, managers should have complete visibility into resource schedules.

However, many organizations use spreadsheets that don’t update resource calendars in real time. This lag causes inconsistencies and last-minute confusion due to an incorrect understanding of employee availability and leaves. Fallacious estimations delay projects while causing budget overruns.

Limited Expertise

Lack of expertise in a multi-project environment is another cause of ineffective project resource management. Sudden project scope or client requirement modifications can exacerbate skilled resource availability.

Without the right people, you will have to assign more employees than necessary or invest more time than required to complete tasks.

Both of these scenarios result in losses for your business. Additionally, there are instances when you assign the wrong tasks to skilled employees, causing undesirable outcomes.

You can start new initiatives by implementing backfill or out-rotation strategies without disrupting current workflows. This method is especially useful in muti-project environments, where resource shortages can affect several initiatives across portfolios.

Traditional Approach

Your business has the potential to grow leaps and bounds if you are adaptable. Many leaders fail to respond to change while sticking to their old-school ways of using emails for task management.

You can evolve your processes using workflow software and save time. Manual techniques stifle team creativity while burying employees in paperwork. Sticking to traditional methods harms your business and efficiency in the long run.

Poor project resource management can lead to a decline in employee productivity, high turnover, high job dissatisfaction and financial losses.

Get our Requirements Template for Project Management Software

Best Practices

Ineffective project resource management doesn’t lead to a disaster at once. However, it causes minor inaccuracies that build into a catastrophe over time. Here are some best practices to avert impending disasters.

Ascertain Problem Sources

The first step in addressing poorly managed resources is to determine the root cause of the problem. Find out whether a manager cannot allocate resources, plan sufficiently or set realistic expectations.

An effective way to find the underlying issue is by having an open and honest conversation with your team. You must include all employees and give them space to open up. Once you locate the root cause, you can devise a plan to mitigate the problem.

Use Technology

Using appropriate technology can overcome resource allocation and management challenges. Software helps create customized roles and add users while granting them limited access. Additionally, you can add and delegate tasks for transparency.

Switching to technology automates processes and clarifies deadlines and project expectations while keeping everyone in the loop.

You can implement PMO software to ensure your initiatives have the right people and funding. Our project management requirements template can help you get started.

Create Workflows

The easiest way to manage resources is by designing workflows with task stages. Stages can denote how task completion takes place. You can assign these steps to individuals while offering clarity. Workflows also instill a sense of stability within teams by keeping micromanagement at bay.

Using a work breakdown structure (WBS) offers you a project activity hierarchy. It splits work packages into smaller chunks for individuals to handle efficiently. Since WBS is deliverables-based, it identifies jobs to complete projects successfully.

Manage Expectations

Setting unrealistic expectations is a common reason for poor project resource management. You can’t expect your teams to perform tasks beyond their expertise.

Assigning tasks to individuals based on their abilities, expertise and experience while setting realistic expectations is crucial. You should also document these expectations and communicate them to assigned team members.

Avoid planning fallacies by relying on data-based task completion estimations rather than guesswork or assumptions.

Embrace Workplace Diversity

Embracing workplace diversity helps you understand that your employees are distinct individuals with different skills and work ethics. You can’t expect them to be identical to you. Allowing them space to find their comfort zones helps them thrive and innovate.

Micromanagement can restrict employee participation and severely hamper their talent and confidence levels.

Focus on Employee Happiness

In the post-COVID era, focusing on employee happiness is crucial if you want them to perform at their best. Fostering a collaborative culture and continuously recognizing their efforts keeps employee motivation levels high.

If your employees are happy, they will eventually start trusting you. Trust building is crucial for your staff’s willingness to step outside their comfort zone and accomplish objectives.

Compare Top Project Management Software Leaders

Last Thoughts

Effective project resource management is crucial to building successful businesses. You need to have a thorough understanding of your organizational processes and the ability to locate and plug loopholes. Transparency is essential as it offers visibility into all resources and their allocation across projects.

Rather than agreeing to every initiative that comes your way, you can manage project resources to avoid delays, increased costs and failed delivery. Managing resources is a continuous process that requires modifying your efforts according to evolving business needs.

How has your organization benefited from project resource management? Let us know by leaving a message below!