9 Reasons To Use Resource Management Software

Through ProSymmetry's blog, I often talk about the most important reasons to use resource management software — from reducing the length of projects to improving the productivity of staff to making the business more money.

To put all that information in one place, I thought I’d accumulate 9 of the biggest reasons to use resource management software. Making this a good list to convince your project manager, PMO, or the board to invest the time and effort in the effective managing of resources.

1. It works for organizations of all sizes

As a small business, every project means a lot—for your reputation, the morale of your team, and the bottom line. Ensuring projects are completed efficiently, on time and to the budget can be the difference between growing the company and standing still.

For large organizations that might be dealing with multiple projects, project managers or even multiple PMOs stretched across locations (and even across the globe), resource management can help unify resource planning, capacity, and how workers are managed.

Whether you have 10 resources or 10,000, resource management software can meld to the datasets you have to provide ultimate value.

2. Save money

By cutting down on costs. Resource management lets you structure your data to take better advantage of it. Resources can be managed from a centralized pool with custom-created or standard views for ultimate resource visibility.

Effective resource allocation means fewer resources are expended in producing the desired outcome, which frees up other resources for other tasks or projects. Resource allocation also lets you assign tasks to the best people for the job, saving costs associated with rehiring and changing the makeup of teams.

3. Boost productivity

Resource allocation also concerns the productivity of the workforce — more specifically, each worker making the best use of their skills to complete tasks and overall project aims as efficiently as possible. Allocating resources without taking into account their skill sets will therefore reduce efficiency, and can also lead to confusion and frustration for workers.

4. Improve time management

Knowing exactly how long it takes workers to complete tasks is a crucial aspect to running projects efficiently. Workers sometimes round-out actual working hours. These may be small oversights individually, but in large teams can add up to considerable discrepancies. Timesheets provide users with more control to paint a more accurate picture of the actual number of hours it takes workers to complete set tasks.

5. Improve staff morale

The over or under-allocation of resources can occur from oversights by the PMO, changes to project goals, or projects being added at the last minute, as well as other unforeseen changes. Increasing or reducing the number of hours employees are expected to work damages morale and causes the efficiency and quality of work to suffer.

Resource management tools containing heat and cool maps can give project and resource management better visibility into the allocation of resources, meaning workers aren’t given too much or too little work to improve morale and avoid lapses in productivity.

6. Predict the future of projects

‘What-if’ scenario planning enables the PMO to run complex data across projects to visualize the predicted outcome on costs and labor. Where the real value comes into play here is that this allows you to test hypothetical scenarios without having to commit the time, money and resources. Decisions like hiring more contractors are based on up-to-the-minute information, using ‘what-if’ analysis to see the outcomes of their decisions before they press any buttons.

7. Replace spreadsheets

Project managers using spreadsheets for resource management spend too much time moving data around, making the management of projects more difficult and leaving less time for analyzing the data to make informed decisions. Excel is a prime culprit, yet remains the tool of choice for many project managers.

If a lack of resource planning is the problem, then the solution should be to replace spreadsheets. Resource modeling and forecasting, allows you to make more informed decisions based on the data you have. Project and resource managers can explore the impact of changing project elements — from extending timelines to reducing costs to modifying resource allocation.

8. Integrate with PPM software

Some organizations will have moved on from spreadsheet tools like Excel to project portfolio management (PPM) tools like Microsoft Project or Smartsheet. These tools are powerful and versatile, helping users plan and oversee projects from start to finish.

Resource management software like Tempus Resource can seamlessly integrate with PPM tools like Microsoft Project and Smartsheet, allowing organizations to marry the versatility, power, and range of capabilities featured in their PPM tool of choice with intelligent resource management through Tempus Resource.

9. Replace PPM software

As beneficial as PPM tools like Microsoft Project and Smartsheet can be, they can also let organizations down when it comes to managing resources, especially for large-scale projects with multiple ‘moving parts’. This is because they do not provide the ability to forecast resources or provide adequate reporting features. This becomes a problem when inevitable project changes happen, often while projects are underway, which require rapid reaction times to mitigate risk and save on costs.

The last thing you need to decide is which resource management software is right for you?

For more information on how resource management software can benefit your business, don’t hesitate to contact me.