Resource management and capacity planning in action | Step-by-Step Guide

In companies, resource management and project planning are closely linked and play a central role in the success of a project. Especially in complex projects that involve several departments or specialist areas, it is important to plan resources efficiently and to be able to react flexibly to changes. Whether it's people, time or other resources, careful planning and proper coordination between project managers and department heads is crucial to avoid delays and ensure projects are completed on time and on budget.

The challenge is to allocate resources realistically, identify hold-ups at an early stage and react to unforeseen events. Modern project management tools and close collaboration between all parties involved help to make the right decisions at the right time. In this context, the continuous adjustment of resource planning also plays an important role in successfully implementing projects and reacting flexibly to changes.

Here it refers to the management of human resources, i.e. all the people involved in a project. These resources are the least predictable and require particularly careful planning and flexibility.

Most organizations and companies are organized into departments that specialize on certain aspekts of the project, such as a construction departments in mechanical engineering. Accordingly, the employees in the specialist departments specialize in precisely these topics and are interchangeable with each other, at least to a certain extent. However, employees from different specialist departments are generally not interchangeable, as their specialist knowledge is not transferable. This must be taken into account when planning resources.

The department heads of the specialist departments work closely with the project managers. Project management software is required as a common platform to ensure efficient collaboration. In addition, there are internal projects that are initiated by the management, for example. This leads to a large number of stakeholders with different interests. Effective resource management is necessary to ensure that all of them are taken into account.

Resource management includes various phases that extend from the beginning of project planning to the completion of a project.

Once an assignment for a job has been given or the project objectives have been defined, an initial rough estimate of the personnel requirements can be made. This involves determining which resources are likely to be required in which period of time. A rough estimate is particularly useful for longer-term planning. There may also be shifts in personnel that cannot be estimated this far in the future. Flexible rough planning allows adjustments to be made as soon as the framework conditions become more concrete.

There are different approaches to capacity planning depending on the size of the project. For shorter projects, resources are planned precisely a few days or weeks before the start. Here you can determine exactly who is needed when and for how long, as the planning periods are tight and the requirements are easy to predict.

For longer projects that run for several months or even years, however, planning takes place in stages. During the project, the next project phases and work packages are then planned in detail for approximately the next two months. This approach offers sufficient flexibility to be able to react to unforeseen changes and challenges without having to adjust the entire capacity planning. In this way, the project remains dynamic and can be continuously adapted to new circumstances. It is usually inefficient to plan too far into the future and specify too many details, as changes often occur and the planning quickly becomes outdated, leading to duplication of work.

An important aspect of resource management is project controlling. This ensures that the planned resources are actually working on the planned tasks and that the planning is being adhered to.

During the course of the project, the main task is to react flexibly to unforeseen events. This includes, for example, employee absences due to illness or the need to transfer employees to higher-priority projects, which can lead to a veritable personnel carousel. In such cases, short-term but comprehensive adjustments are often necessary to ensure the success of all projects.

Project planning and resource planning use the same data, but in different representations. Project planning shows the project schedule, while resource planning shows the same work packages (bars), only grouped by employees and teams. This enables a cross-project calculation of resources.

If a bar is moved in the project planning, it is automatically moved in the resource planning and vice versa. This reveals a fundamental dilemma in project planning. If a bar is moved in project planning, the resource may not be available at the new time. It is therefore important to use both views in order to avoid and resolve such conflicts.

In project planning, the work packages are organized according to projects and sub-projects, with the focus on the dependencies between the work packages and the due dates.

Resource planning focuses on the utilization of resources with the aim of avoiding under- and overloads.

These two perspectives - project planning and resource planning - therefore complement each other perfectly: while project planning specifies the time structure and sequence of work packages, resource planning ensures that the right resources are available at the right time. Both must be coordinated in order to carry out projects efficiently and successfully.

Good project management software enables the direct synchronization of both aspects and ensures that the project runs smoothly.

The aim of capacity planning is to use resources efficiently in order to meet project requirements. Over- and under-utilization should be avoided. It ensures that sufficient resources are available to complete the work packages on time and in high quality, while at the same time not leaving capacities unused. The daily workload is represented visually by a vertical bar. The larger the bar, the more hours are scheduled for the day in question.

A workload of 40 hours, if spread over only 4 days, will result in an overload as the employee will have to work 10 hours on the work package each day (40 hours / 4 days). However, if the same number of hours is spread over 5 days, the employee must work 8 hours per day to complete the work package on time (40 hours / 5 days), which is in line with the usual expectations of most companies. If the 40 hours were spread over 10 days, the employee would only have to work 4 hours per day to complete the work package on time (40 hours / 10 days). In this case, underutilization could occur if no other tasks have to be completed at the same time. These differences can be recognized directly with the help of the workload bar and additional work can be assigned or taken away from the employee.

In addition, good capacity planning helps to identify potential bottlenecks at an early stage and to take proactive countermeasures to avoid delays and resource shortages.

Traditionally, employees are scheduled for 8 hours per day in project planning. This does not correspond to today's working world and is also not realistic. Different working hours or part-time models are common in today's working world. However, vacation times must also be taken into account in order to enable realistic resource planning.

The dotted line shows the available capacity of an employee per day. If the blue bar exceeds the dotted line, there is an overload situation. By integrating this data into project management software, the project manager receives a detailed and immediately understandable representation of resource availability.

If an employee is to be scheduled for 40 hours, there are various ways of distributing this time over the working days. One possibility would be to spread the 40 hours over 5 days so that eight hours are worked on each of these days. However, there is a problem with this distribution: it is rarely possible to work on the same work package for eight hours at a time without interruption. There are often pre-planned meetings or unexpected delays, for example if a decision has to be waited for or external factors influence the work. Such interruptions quickly lead to the originally set daily working time not being met, which in turn increases the risk of the work package not being completed on time and the deadline having to be postponed.

Instead, it is advisable to spread the 40 hours over a longer period of time, for example over 10 working days. This means that only four hours a day are scheduled for the work package, which enables a more realistic way of working. Delays, such as unforeseen meetings or waiting times for decisions, do not throw the entire project plan into disarray. In addition, the employee is not overloaded and does not have to struggle with unrealistic deadlines or work overtime to complete the work package on time. This approach ensures a more even workload and helps to keep the project schedule more realistic and flexible.

If a project is planned several months in advance, for example 3 to 6 months, it is advisable to plan entire specialist departments first. For example, 30 hours can be scheduled for a specific department in a month without specifying in detail which employees are needed at what time. All members of the specialist department are scheduled in advance, but without a precise allocation. This approach makes sense, as the actual personnel requirements may vary in the future and it is often impractical to plan in too much detail at this stage.

The closer the commencement of the project gets, the more precise the planning becomes. Only then are the specific employees who are to be responsible for the effort determined. The total effort within the specialist department remains unchanged, but the hours are allocated to the specific employees at a later date as soon as it is clearer which resources are actually available.

If several work packages with similar due dates are planned within a project, these can be structured in different ways, depending on how the workload and the availability of employees are to be taken into account. One option is to plan the work packages one after the other. In this case, the employee would continue directly with the next work package after completing the first one.

Let's assume that an employee is scheduled for three work packages for different projects that have different workloads: 24 hours for work package 1, 36 hours for work package 2 and 30 hours for work package 3. With a daily working time of six hours, the employee would first work four days on work package 1 (24 hours / 6 hours per day), then six days on project 2 (36 hours / 6 hours per day) and finally five days on project 3 (30 hours / 6 hours per day). The employee would therefore need a total of 15 working days to complete all 90 hours spread over the three work packages. A fixed sequence is therefore adhered to and the time for each work package is strictly distributed over the respective days without overlaps.

The disadvantage of this approach is that delays in one work package can also affect subsequent work packages. For example, if the employee encounters unforeseen problems in the first work package - such as an important meeting where details still need to be approved - the working time required for this work package is extended. This also postpones the planned start times for the subsequent work packages. As the employee works through the work packages one after the other, they can only continue with the next work package once the current one has been completed. This can quickly lead to delays that disrupt the entire resource planning and jeopardize the entire schedule.

If the three work packages are planned simultaneously for the same period, the total effort remains unchanged, as there are still 90 hours to be worked on. The difference is that the hours are now distributed in parallel over the period instead of one after the other. If there are delays, the employee can simply continue working on work package 2 or 3 until the problem in work package 1 is solved.

This approach offers the employee more flexibility, as they can decide for themselves which work package they want to work on and when. They can divide the work between the different work packages according to need and priority. This enables a more efficient use of resources and helps to bridge delays in one work package without affecting the overall schedule for all work packages.

Staff absences, whether due to illness, short-term vacation or other unforeseen absences, can have a significant impact on resource planning due to domino effects. In such cases, it is important to be able to react quickly and flexibly so that the project does not come to a standstill.

Resource management is a complex process that is characterized by numerous interdependencies between the individual factors. If the plan has to be changed, working solutions are not always immediately apparent. An effective approach to solving this problem is the use of planning simulations.

With project management software that supports planning simulations, it is first possible to recognize how seriously the loss of personnel will affect planning. Various scenarios can then be simulated in order to find a solution. For example, the work can be distributed to other resources and the effects on other projects can be visualized. There may also be other projects that can be postponed. The best alternative can then be selected from these scenarios and become the new project plan.

When working with sales, the question often arises as to whether there is sufficient capacity to accept a new order. Especially with new customers with high potential, such discussions can be characterized by misunderstandings.

In this context, planning simulation is the key to data- and fact-based decisions. Project planning software with planning simulation provides precise figures and reliable information instead of gut feelings.

The simulation can be used to determine exactly what impact the new project will have. For example, other projects may have to be postponed and resources redistributed. It may only be possible to realize the new project by working overtime or hiring new employees. Here it can be weighed up whether the benefits from a monetary and strategic perspective are sufficient to justify this.

Regular coordination between project managers and department heads is crucial in order to make optimum use of resources and achieve project goals. These meetings provide an opportunity to review progress, identify problems at an early stage and find solutions. However, they should not only be based on discussions, but also on solid, fact-based data.

Close cooperation is necessary because the project manager needs the employees of the specialist department for the project and requires the approval of the head of the specialist department. At the same time, the head of the specialist department must also assign his employees to other tasks. In such cases, the project manager can determine the number of employees required and the schedule, while the head of department assigns specific people to the respective tasks.

Here too, a planning simulation makes it possible to run through various scenarios and visualize the effects of changes or additional requirements on resource planning. In this way, both parties can jointly determine how resources can be optimally distributed. Regular and fact-based coordination ensures the success of the project and minimizes the risk of misunderstandings or delays due to unclear priorities or resource shortages.

Octaved Flow takes resource management to a new level of quality. With our software, you not only have a detailed overview of the availability of resources, but can also react flexibly to changes - without losing track. A clear advantage over other project management tools is the planning simulation.

While many tools only offer the option of creating a fixed plan, Octaved Flow allows you to run through various scenarios. What happens if a team member is absent or a new high-priority project suddenly appears on the agenda? With the planning simulation, you can see exactly what happens when such cases occur and find realistic solutions in advance without upsetting the entire real project plan. Octaved Flow helps to make the right decisions at the right time, ensuring that projects stay on track at all times, even in difficult or fast-moving situations.

By combining project planning and resource management in one tool, you can keep control of the workload at all times, identify bottlenecks early on and avoid them. Octaved Flow makes it easy to make the right decisions and ensure that projects always stay on track. And all with a user-friendly interface that keeps everyone involved up to date at all times. This ensures transparent communication and efficient collaboration at all times.