As the entire world is facing the crisis caused by the pandemic, working remotely is proving to bean effective way to counterbalanceits economic impacts. However, this poses a challenge for some organizations for whom working remotely was difficult to manage and they had to adapt with various working styles. It also added to the woes of project managers and supervisors as they had to manage the distributed teams virtually. That's not all. They had to juggle between handling client requirements, chasing deadlines, and ensuring that they meet their organizational goals. Imagine if there was a tool to overcome these obstacles. Yes, you can solve all your challenges of resource management by using a single Cloud-based resource planningtool. Sounds unbelievable? Resource management software is truly a blessing in this crisis.It helps in resource planning, scheduling, project management, and a lot more in a few simple steps.
So, what do you think is needed for successfully handling projects and resource management remotely? The most important factor is having clear communication between the teams and storing data at a centralized platform.Other than that, efficient monitoring of all operations and effective resource planning and management is important. But first, let's discusswhat is meant by a resource scheduler tool.
Resource management is the process of planning and scheduling resources on various tasks to reach their optimal efficiency. This process involves details on questions such as who is doing which task, who will be the best fit for a particular task, when will it be done, and what is the status of all projects, etc. In a small organization, resource management can be handled by working with Excel spreadsheets. But, as the number of people grows, the need for resource planning and management software arises. Using the right resource management tool makes working remotely easier and helps you control a lot of issues. Resource management software enables a smooth transition in these times of crisis. With this resource planning and management software, you can manage resource scheduling, allocation, track the performance, utilization, and productivity of your team, and handle reporting while working remotely.
So, are you wondering what benefits you can gain by using resource management software in pandemic times? Let's see how such a tool increases your efficiency while resolving the challenges of remote working.
With technological development and advancementin the past decade, many business-related activities have been automated. For organizations that haven't done it yet, now, the time has come to automate various tasksfor increasing operational efficiency. Similarly, even for resources, your organization would need a configurable tool that can update itself automatically on a regular basis. An automated project management resources allocation software can continuously monitor your resource supply and demand chain. Itcan alsooffer you valuable insights into your exact resource requirement in the future. The tool will also help you to identify any skill shortages or training needs. That, in turn, will give you a real-time viewof your resource capacity and competency to deliver on various projects.
Most large or multinational organizations have distributed teams operating across locations and geographies. In such cases, most resources may have more than one reporting line. This poses a problem when you need to manage multidimensional scheduling capabilities. For that, you require 360-degree visibility of the entire business and your organization. Anorganizational resource managementSoftware acts as a centralized repository or pool of all the data and provides a consolidated list of all the employees in the organization. This helps you to stay informed about the availability of people and all resource allocations happening at the organizational level. Hence, even while working virtually, resource and project managers can easily handle complex resource planning in a few simple steps. This visibility also helps you to find the best and cost-effective resources in various locations and offer accurate data.
How do experienced project managers tackle resource planning? They know that they need an effective resource planning strategy so that they don't overbook their resources, or their people remain under-utilized. Efficient resource planning is a must, as it encourages better and more robust standards of work. Resource management tools such as eResource Scheduler have such features that help you to identifyany resource bottlenecks while also providing insights into any hiring needs. Such resource allocation software also provide a heatmap that gives you a visibility into the workload of all your resources, which helps you plan better and manage multiple projects successfully.
The biggest advantage of usinga resourcesmanagement software is time sheet management as it helps to reduce the overall costs for the company. Resource planning and management tools help in time-tracking of all employees and calculating their utilization and productivity numbers on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.It also helps to processall the payroll data more effectively.Such a tool will highlight all types of human costs that a company is incurring, which you may not be aware of. What's more? The project managerscan plan efficiently and easilywork to reduce such costs to gain higher returns. A resource management tool also helps in automating the invoicing and billing system.
Resource conflicts are a common challenge that project managers face and that takesimpacts revenue too. Imagine if there are unresolved conflicts, that can lead to missed revenue opportunities and lower customer satisfaction. Having a resource management toolhelps in spottingif any resources are over or double booked, a project timeline is not on track, or how to fix it with hiring the people with the right skills.Such a tool provides real-time visibility, which helps in resolving any probable resource conflicts. Configurable resource planning programs helps to accurately predict any future resource requirements much ahead of schedule. The resource tracking software also saves all the important details of your resources, which enables you to quickly fix all the issues that may arise.
Isn't it complicated when a big team with multiple peoplework on a project and that too virtually? Imagine how cumbersome it is for a project manager to monitor who is working on which task, which resources are completely occupied, and who have some idle time. And how doteam members access or review each other's work? Therefore, it's very important to establish a streamlined communication system through multiple channels. A leadingresource management toollike eResource Scheduler has features to support file sharing, work with multiple calendars, and contact lists. This way, anyone can save datainto the tooland others can quickly access it whenever and wherever they require.This tool also enables you to create comprehensive dashboards with visuals, charts, metrics in a graphical form, and any key performance indicators (KPIs). Everyone including the client and all stakeholders can easily access the tool to see these dashboards.
Managing data for payroll, people's time sheets, and keeping a tab on labor costs – all this can get verytiresome and time-consuming. But if you have a big picture view of all the employees, you can work on enhancing accountability and boosting your organization's bottom line. A resource management tool helps to ensure that all resource and time information is accurately recorded.It also enables project managers to easily access, evaluate, and analyze this important data.Resource manager Software like eResource Scheduler also offers integrated accounting features that help to automate a variety of payroll procedures. This way, all resource costs are accounted for, and it becomes easy to process payroll data and invoices.
While project managers or team leadswould mainlyneed to use the resource management tool, even the team members can hugely benefit from it. For instance, theycan check their project plan, work schedule, record their timesheets, and even manage their availability. That's not all. Even your clients and stakeholders can login to this system andcheck the project plans, dashboards, or reports.Resource planning software offer different permission levels and roles, which helps to create a specific structure of users suitable for your project. So, imagine how much time can be saved – as you don't need to keep passing the information and the team members or various stakeholders can check it out for themselves
One of the most important factors to keep your projects in control is the budget. The progress of any business relies on how they deliver their projects within the budget established. A good resource management tool helps inensuring that the budget stays on track – right from the initial stage of signing a statement of work to the final stage of project delivery. If you are using a tool such as eResource Scheduler, it will provide you an accurate financial picture of all your projects across important financial metrics. This enables you to track planned vs. actual spend and find where you are making profits and where the project budgets are off-track.
eResource Scheduler, Enbraun's award-winning product, not only helps you to manage your resources, project and time efficiently, but alsoset yourself up for success. By using this leading resource management tool, you can automate your resource management process while maximizing resource utilization at each level of your company. You can go for the best-suited plan as per your specific business requirements. eResource Scheduler is cost effective and technologically advanced tool helps in bringing efficiency and streamlines processes for you especially in crisis time when people have to operate virtually. It also boosts productivity and ensures overall business growth. So, don't wait any longer! Check out the benefits of eResource Scheduler yourself by signing up for a free trial today.
