What, according to you, is the most important step in project management? It is resource scheduling. But do you wonder why this process is so time-consuming and complicated? Resource scheduling means structuring your team and resources. Here, resources mean people, equipment, facilities, finances, or anything you need to complete your projects. Having said that, people are the most precious asset. So, how can you utilize your team members in the best way? Is there a way to ensure that no resource is overburdened or burnt out? Yes, indeed there is. Resource scheduling software comes to the rescue of project managers. With these wonderful resource management tools, you can pick the right person for the right task. You can also plan for future projects efficiently and accurately. Tools with the best resource scheduling features enable to schedule any type of resource and then track their performance to see if all is going as planned.
For any project, you first choose the resources to use and then coordinate the tasks with them. This process is termed resource scheduling, and it is one of the most vital steps of project and resource management. The first step in resource scheduling is to calculate each task's effort and then schedule the timelines. Only then can you determine the type of resources required for the project before checking their availability. The important thing for the project manager is to first check the team's capacity and then hire more resources if needed. In addition, efficient resource scheduling means allocating and scheduling resources according to their interest, capacity, competency, availability, etc. If a project manager does this, he will never face under- and over-allocation challenges. The right resource management software features with the best resource scheduling features can be very beneficial. Read on to find more about this.
Now that you know the importance of resource scheduling let's see what are the 10 best features that a resource scheduling software should have.
A resource scheduling software shows you a larger picture of the resources in the entire organization. You don't need to go through multiple cumbersome spreadsheets or data to find the team members in a particular team. Such a tool shows you which resource is overloaded and who all are under-utilized in one view. You can easily find if any team is reaching the burn-out point due to being overburdened. With a resource scheduling tool like eResource Scheduler, you just need to drag and drop to restructure the workloads and create a balance.
Always lookout for an enterprise resource scheduling software that can replace silos and consolidate all data in one single online platform. This cloud-based tool allows agile and real-time scheduling with simple drag/drop functionality. What does that mean? You can assign resources in some easy steps at a project or task level. If you have to make some bulk scheduling changes, don't fret. It can be done in very little time. What's more? Make recurring schedules or ghost allocations to save time and be on the safe side.
You can see the availability of all resources and on the projects they are assigned on with the Gantt chart view. The project managers can easily find suitable resources who have availability and then schedule them on projects. If you use resource scheduling software, it provides you a visual overview of the complete data. Gantt charts particularly make the data and information very simple to understand. This gives you a quick snapshot of what your team is working on, the status of each task, and if your projects are running as per schedule. You can also view your team's tasks or projects on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
While looking for a tool, check if it has a resource scheduling feature like the drag and drop functionality. This feature helps in making quick amendments to the project plan, resource plan, or tasks. This functionality comes in handy when you're managing multiple projects and resources. It enables project managers to match the available resources who have the right skill set with suitable projects. Thus, you can not only meet your capacity but create a stronger team that has the required competency.
Another important resource scheduling feature is powerful filters that enable finding the best resource for the right project or task. You can use the filters to identify resources using one or more parameters like qualification, experience, role, availability, skill set, etc., and immediately get a list of the resources who qualify that search. This helps in finding the best fit for a role in just a few clicks. The right resource scheduling software also enables scheduling of available global resources to minimize project cost. This feature also helps to reduce over and under-qualified or skilled resources to be assigned on projects. Team members can also keep their competencies or skills up to date on the tool with the self-serving model.
An AI-enabled resource scheduling software such as eResource Scheduler automatically determines if any action of any manager or a user will overbook a resource. So, if any team member is booked more than the capacity, this tool will provide an overload warning. The scheduling chart functionality also displays the resource overload in hours and percentage. This helps project and resource managers to determine whether to go ahead or cancel that action.
Resource scheduling software also acts as a link between the project plan and its budget. It offers better clarity and forecasts accurate resource availability. Because of this feature, you can make long-term plans while forecasting which resources will be busy and any free slots in the near future. You can log into the tool and see how your team is booked for the coming few months. Or who are the people across teams who have some capacity to take on additional tasks? This enables to forecast resource utilization precisely with flexible heat maps. You can do resource capacity planning to optimally use the workforce and reduce the number of people on the bench. Not only this, but a resource scheduling software also offers insights into project revenue, overall cost, and margins too.
Another resource scheduling feature that helps in better resource management is utilization and availability details. The Availability Bar of eResource Scheduler helps to scan for resource availability. The tool also enables maximizing billable hours and preventing hiring contractors or freelancers. The resource capacity planning process becomes very simple with this tool. You can check the utilization and availability for a resource or a team in hours and percentage on the scheduling chart. This helps in finding the resources that have the required availability for the projects
If you are creating a new booking, you can easily determine a flexible recurring pattern to set up multiple bookings on a weekly or monthly basis. This way, you can accurately make a schedule that repeats as per the fixed pattern. For example, weekly meetings, quarterly updates, monthly reporting, etc. The tool with such a resource scheduling feature helps save a lot of time and organizes various processes.
Project schedules can keep changing constantly. A resource scheduling software like eResource Scheduler enables you to just drag, drop, split, duplicate, or extend, and contract in a few seconds. If you want to make some changes in some booking, you can easily edit it using Shorten, Extend, Cut, and Copy. Resource scheduling was never so easy and efficient. Because of such brilliant resource scheduling features, you can save time and focus on more strategic work and decisions.
eResource Scheduler is a top resource scheduling software that assures to improve your resource utilization anywhere between 18 to 30%. You can use this tool as a centralized repository of your global resources and projects. The software offers real-time visibility of the entire resource pool in the organization, their projects, and their productivity. As a project manager, you don't need to fret about the schedules and deliver projects on time and on budget. What's more? eResource Scheduler improves your scheduling estimations and provides insights on the profitability of every single resource and project. In fact, you can complete additional work with the same resources and cut on your overall resource costs. The real-time updates regarding the scheduling changes and the comprehensive reports help to flag any loopholes. So, book a free trial soon and let this tool take care of your resourcing decisions.
