Project resource management refers to the range of activities required to ensure that the right people are working on projects at the right time. The first step is to complete a rigorous project demand assessment, which may include portfolio management as a way to determine which projects belong in the pipeline. A preliminary project forecast should identify projects in feasibility or initiation phases that will help in identifying required roles in a long-term resource forecast. Resources should be identified by role and project at this phase. Early resource forecasts provide the ability to adjust overall staffing level, and identify any need to hire or shift resources across projects.
The next step is to complete capacity and availability analyses to understand existing ability to meet upcoming project and resource requirements. A resource breakdown structure (an inventory of resources by skill type, location, availability and reporting manager) is a good way to understand existing capacity. Then conduct a variance analysis to understand whether we have enough of the right roles and skill sets, and availability analysis to compare capacity to forecasted demand.
If it is determined that additional resources are required, a resource acquisition process should be initiated. Be sure to obtain authorization-to-staff, and determine whether additional resources will be account-based team members, leveraged resources from other engagements, new hires, or contract resources. Prepare position descriptions, terms, and rates, and route requisitions for approval. Coordinate with talent acquisition experts for resume reviews, interview schedules, selection, & hiring. In large organizations, there may also be an additional resource request process to identify and commit internal resources. It can be important to maintain the ability to secure contract resources from external providers to secure hard-to-find skills, and to staff with short lead times.
The next step is to execute a resource assignment process. For cross-functional or matrixed organizations, weekly in-person meetings with functional managers and Project Managers work best as a way to identify qualified and available team members. Prepare and manage detailed lists of who is working on each project, and forecasted hours for each person by month. Notify team members, Project Managers, and functional managers of commitments, and balance workloads. Then identify and resolve resource conflicts and constraints. It may be necessary to reprioritize – to delay a project in order to focus resources on higher priority work, to propose project start date changes to level resources, or to secure external or leveraged resources to meet a schedule.
Once people are assigned and engaged, it is critical to manage their utilization by ensuring project charge numbers are available and communicated. Check time every week in weekly labor reports to ensure accuracy and timeliness. And compare account-level resource estimates to actual hours expended to be sure that people are fully utilized, and not over-utilized.
It is important to establish and use a tracking and reporting tool for analysis and reporting. Configure the tool, define and maintain the processes, and establish the business rules that support a centralized resource assignment and labor reporting system. Then generate reports to inform leadership about the alignment of resources to business strategy. Update and ensure accuracy of weekly reports that include monthly forecast, actual hours, and variance by person, project, role, and functional organization. Data analysis also enables QA functions such as checking for time not charged, time mis-charged, and project vs. non-project time. Depending on the size and complexity of the engagement, it may make sense to engage a full-time resource manager to lead the phases and steps presented in the preceding paragraphs.