A Perfect Problem To Solve

Continuing with our discussion on internal projects, let me take you on a deep dive to swoop down on a problem that is begging to be solved.?

Whether they are for developing a new drug, setting up a new plant, or leveraging a new technology, internal projects shape your company’s future. The impact of your actions today and tomorrow will be visible a few years later.?

Availability of the right resources at the right time is crucial to earn big prizes from your strategic initiatives.

A 50,000 ft view of resource demand-supply gaps is not enough.

Let’s say that you have multiple internal projects in progress. Every project places a demand on resources. Your resource pool must supply as per the demand.?

The first demand-supply picture shows the ‘before’ situation. The demand exceeds the supply in December 2024, and February and March 2025.?

There are two ways to manage the shortage of resources. Either hire new people or drop one of the projects. The second picture shows the ‘after’ situation when one of the projects is dropped. The demand for resources will be met as in the ‘after’ picture.

A third approach can be to reschedule specific tasks that place demand for the resources in short supply. To this will need a deeper knowledge of the project’s work breakdown structure.?

The above problem and its technology solution needs a clearer understanding.

It’s not that simple, though.

Typical resource management software can probably show the above pictures to you.? You can also use spreadsheets to generate such views. But what happens when projects’ timelines shift, as they often do? The demand will shift too. How will you manage that?

So, the first part of the problem is recalculating the demand forecast dynamically.

But the aggregate demand-supply graphs aren’t actionable because you don’t have data about specific areas of demand shortages.?

Therefore, the second part of the problem is to break down the demand to department levels. If you do that, you find that the formulations department ( in a new drug NPD project) has a significant demand problem. The information is still not actionable because you still don’t know enough about the project(s) and tasks that need the resources in short supply..?

The third part of the problem is to know which role is likely to come under strain. After breaking down the data further, you find that the shortage is in the scientist role, while you have just enough senior scientists. But you still don’t know their requirements along the timelines.

The fourth part of the problem is to find the timelines and hours per day when you need more resources (scientists).

It might seem now that you are ready to act - hire scientists. But you would really like to consider a few options. The fifth and the final part of the problem is to develop what-if scenarios that might give you data-based options. In the case under discussion, the what-if scenarios could be?

-drop or postpone a project ( needs management approval)

-postpone the tasks that cause overloading while minimizing the projects’ end dates (needs consultation with project managers)

-reallocate a few tasks among the available resources (needs consultation with project managers)

Once you have the above or other what-if scenarios you can make more informed and rational decisions of hiring proactively.

You need a technology based solution that takes and processes data from project plans, work breakdown structures, and resource management and lets you do all the above.

Despite its immense potential, AI isn’t a magic wand

The above challenges are significant. Despite advancements in AI, organizations still struggle to finish internal projects and reap their intended benefits. Using AI as a standalone tool won’t help here. AI must be integrated in executives’ workflows for predictions or automation.?

Executive accountability

Without equipping your executives with the above visibility and actionable analytics, it's impossible to demand accountability for completing your internal projects per their charters.

The perfect problem and the big prizes

The perfect problem to solve is to dynamically forecast the need for resources at a fine granular level, adjust it dynamically as projects progress and plans change, find projected demand supply gaps, paint what-if scenarios, and make proactive, data-backed hiring or project planning decisions.

The big prizes for solving the perfect problem are improved strategy implementation for growth, market share, cost efficiencies, superior quality, and executive accountability.

The above problem is not restricted to human resources alone. Non-human resources like machinery or test equipment can potentially delay your strategically important projects. Human resources can be hired in a few months time or obtained on contracts. But equipment like stability chambers needed in pharma drug development, can’t be acquired quickly. I shall delve into the non-human resource management in a future edition of PSA Insights.?

Kytes, powered by AI, helps you solve the above perfect problem and earn the big prizes.

Contact us at [email protected] for more information or a demo.