Resource Scheduling Software – Utilization and Availability on Scheduling Chart

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Resource Scheduling Software

Do you know how bad staffing can have a huge impact on your projects? Imagine if you hire resources with incorrect competencies or you have a smaller number of people; what would happen? Not only can your project schedule go haywire, but you will not deliver quality output. So, what’s the solution? Of course, planning resources efficiently is one solution, but another important factor is to calculate your resource availability for a few months in advance. Thus, if you can get a clear and realistic view of the available resources, tools, technology, or finances needed to complete a project, then half the battle is won. The first step to doing this is creating a precise resource plan, which is based on utilization and availability data. Using resource scheduling software be a game-changer. You can pull out accurate utilization and availability reports by using a web-based resource scheduling tool.

Resource Utilization and its Importance

Resource utilization is a metric to measure how well are the available resources being used. By resources, we mainly mean your team members, as that largely impacts the success of the project. Resource utilization rate helps you to assess and track your team’s productivity and come up with ways to improve it. It also enables you to ensure that you are optimally utilizing all the resources at hand. Resource utilization acts as a checkpoint to monitor your existing resources and see how they are performing, how their skills and time are being used, and if your allocation is correct. It also provides you with the flexibility to align your resources to multiple projects simultaneously.

Importance of Monitoring Utilization

Imagine if you could monitor the performance of your team members and see how well they are using their time. This enables you to plan efficiently and then execute the project seamlessly. Project managers can also use resource utilization to assess how effectively are their resources used and ensure that people are not over or under-utilized. Resource utilization is a critical metric especially for service-oriented businesses like IT, consulting, or engineering organizations. You can say that your resources are fully utilized if they have been given a full workload with regard to hours per week but they are not over-burdened. Overall resource utilization means the total time that a team member spends doing all work activities in total. An enterprise resource scheduling tool can provide accurate utilization data, which can help in monitoring a team’s productivity and performance.

What is Resource Availability?

If your renewable resources such as human resources, tools, equipment, or facility are available for upcoming projects on a certain timeline, then you have resource availability. Renewable resources mean those particular assets which require to be replenished on a regular basis. When talking of employees, project or resource managers should check their availability on a continuous basis, like weekly or monthly. The right resource planning software provides precise availability reports, which can be a boon when you are creating project plans.

Importance of Resource Availability in Project Planning

Do you wonder where can resource availability reports help you and why are they so important? Resource availability data gives you a clear view of your resource schedule and which team members are available for which tasks or projects. A resource could be partially or fully available, however, as a project manager, your goal should be to determine how to utilize each person optimally. Knowing this is important to do efficient resource planning and allocation. If you don’t have clear insights into resource availability, then you may overbook some resources. Resource scheduling tool provides detailed resource availability reports, which help draft proper project and resource plans.

How can a Top-rated Resource Scheduling Software like eResource Scheduler Help?

Utilization and Availability Data on the Tool’s Scheduling Chart

You can easily view both the utilization and availability data in hours and percentages on the tool’s scheduling chart. This helps you to find the right resources who have the needed availability for your project work. Project and resource managers can easily monitor the resource utilization of all team members to ensure that they are spending their time and effort in the best possible way on billable work. Calculating the utilization percentage from time to time helps to evaluate the status of your projects and conduct feasibility studies for projects in the pipeline. The reports from this web-based resource scheduling tool help you decide if your team members are utilized productively and if the deliverables will meet the client’s expectations. In case you notice any gaps in estimated and actual resource utilization, then maybe some people are over-or under-utilized, for which you should take remedial measures.

2.       Gantt Charts of this Scheduling Software Enables Efficient Resource Scheduling

Gantt chart view of eResource Scheduler displays scheduled time and availability of each team member on different projects for a specific time. You can easily find those resources that have available slots as per your schedule and assign them to your project. This way, it’s easy to build a team as per the skill sets needed for the project. In case, an appropriate number of full-time employees with the needed competencies are not available, contractors or freelancers can be hired. The Gantt chart of this resource scheduling software helps in doing efficient resource planning. At this stage, you can determine various roles, contracts, policies, and guidelines, finalize budgets, etc. You should also make sure that the people you choose have the required availability as per the project schedule. Implementing resource scheduling software provides precise resource availability and utilization reports.

3.       Track Resource Availability in Real-Time

With resource planning software like eResource Scheduler, project managers can calculate exact resource availability and then accordingly schedule people on various projects. The tool’s scheduling chart displays the real-time availability of all team members on an hourly, daily, or monthly basis. In addition, when a new booking is done in this resource scheduling software, or some booking is deleted, or updated, the resource availability data automatically gets updated in the tool. You can just log in and check the updated resource availability and find the best fit and qualified resources for your projects.

4.       Resource Overload Notification

eResource Scheduler is a resource scheduling software that automatically tracks and measures if any resource is overloaded or booked more than their resource capacity. If such a scenario happens, the tool displays an overload warning. The software’s scheduling chart also displays overload data in hours and percentages. Accordingly, the project managers can determine if they want to continue with that booking or cancel that action. With such a feature, it’s easy to track booking and resource utilization data to identify if your team members are under or overbooked. You can also monitor your team’s effort and time spent on each task and then can use that data to plan future projects.

Precise resource forecasting

Project managers need to have a clear insight into the team’s capacity before they start doing resource planning. It’s also a good idea to assess your past projects and analyse if any resources were over or under-booked or utilized. However, that doesn’t assure you of accurate data. But using enterprise resource scheduling software can be a solution. Such a tool tracks all information regarding resourcing, saves all important files, forms, along with any important communication with stakeholders or clients. This makes it easy to analyse each project very accurately. Hence, resource forecasting is an important step in project and resource management and in drafting hiring plans for the future. For this, resource scheduling software is your best bet.

How can eResource Scheduler Help with Resource Utilization and Availability Data?

If you want to optimally use your resources while ensuring efficient staffing for your projects and find the most suitable people for the right job, eResource Scheduler can be of great help. This resource scheduling software offers real-time visibility of your team members work, the status of projects, and helps to enhance resource utilization by almost 18 to 30%. You can also easily share resources across multiple teams and improve coordination and communication. Additionally, this tool helps in load levelling across various resources and offers precise scheduling estimations that are based on historic actuals. eResource Scheduler also helps in drafting hiring plans that are based on forecasted shortages and excesses. The tool also enables to reduce bench-time and increase the revenue as you can get real-time updates for any scheduling changes. Want to nail a perfect resource plan? Book a free trial today and rest assured of the best resourcing decisions.