Resource management — what it is and why it’s important for your business

Effective resource management is crucial in any business. Your company needs a process for planning, scheduling, and distributing its many resources — such as people, time, and money — to reach its full potential.

To help you make the most of resource management, we’ll go over:

• What is resource management?
• Benefits of resource management
• Resource management techniques
• Stages of resource management
• How to improve your resource management with Adobe Workfront

What is resource management?

Resource management is the practice of deciding where and how to use your budget, time, and team capacity.

It’s the process of allocating resources to achieve the greatest organizational value. For this, you need total visibility into everything you have to work with — from budgets, to tools, to team members.

Being strategic helps you maximize these resources by assigning the best assets to each task. With resource management in your toolbox, you can successfully fulfill project requirements, boost efficiency, and improve outcomes.

Resource management in project management involves managing and assigning your organization’s resources. To be successful at resource management, you must provide the following:

• Insights: Resource management relies on granular insights into what your team is working on and how long it takes them to complete each task.
• Priorities: Priorities management for the project and expectations must be articulated clearly and shared to the relevant stakeholders and team members.
• Tracking: Status updates need to be tracked throughout the project life cycle.

Resource management gives your team the ability to work on the right work at the right time.

Benefits of project resource management

The benefits of resource management can’t be overstated. Without a resource management plan, you may be dealing with missed deadlines, overworked team members, and frustrated stakeholders.

Resource management ensures your team is efficient, your stakeholders have the proper visibility, and your costs and profitability are managed. While it may seem like a big investment, there are innumerable benefits to resource management.

Resource management allows you to:

• Avoid any bottlenecks or hiccups. There will always be unforeseen complications, but reliable resource management minimizes these as much as possible.
• Reduce burnout. When you manage your resources strategically, you can spread out work, so you don’t overburden any one team member.
• Build in a safety net. Taking stock of your resources gives you a solid view of what’s available and when. This makes the planning process simple and your plans more dependable.
• Foster transparency. Structured visibility helps you make the best possible use of each team member’s time and skills, as well as other resources like money or technology.
• Measure efficiency.  When something goes wrong, you’ll be able to see whether your team did everything they could. And when projects go well, you can accurately quantify your team’s efficiency.

Resource management techniques

Resource management is a big job — and the specific strategies used will vary based on any number of factors, like the size of your organization or your leadership style. But there are multiple techniques that have evolved to help with specific scenarios, such as planning future projects or adjusting in the middle of a project.

Each of these techniques is slightly different, but they all have the same end goal of helping you manage your resources as efficiently as possible.

Resource planning

The resource planning phase of resource management is where you identify the necessary resources for the project. You won’t be assigning tasks to any team members at this stage of the process or allocating budget—just laying the foundation.

Resource allocation

Resource allocation is the process of giving each task on your list the best resources you have available. It’s more than just assigning resources to tasks or projects — it allows you to filter resources by skills and capacity. So not only do you know who’s available, but also which skills are.

Resource utilization

Resource utilization lets you see your team’s capacity over a period. It helps you find any resources that aren’t being used to the best of their abilities, meaning it’s a terrific way for determining which resources are under- or overutilized. When you identify overutilized resources, you can take measures to alleviate to avoid burnout.

Resource forecasting

Resource forecasting lets you plan to ensure resources are balanced and ready for future projects. As you map out a project, you’ll identify the resources you’ll need and what’s available to meet those needs, such as the project’s scope, your budget, and the availability and skills of your team members. This important step helps you anticipate your company’s upcoming needs so you can be prepared to meet those needs.

Forecasting your resources includes considering “what if” scenarios. This will ensure you know how other priorities and project timelines will be affected. When you utilize scenario planning as a part of your resource management plan, you avoid blown budgets, miscommunication, and a lot of frustration across tasks and teams.

Resource leveling

Resource leveling is the process of correcting issues and adjusting timelines or budgets so that you can complete a project with the best available resources. If one team member is overworked, leveling might look like allocating those tasks to another team member with similar skills to avoid investing in new hires or contractors. The goal is to fill in any gaps to minimize resource spending.

Resource scheduling

In the scheduling phase of your resource management plan, you will check your needs against availability. Using the forecasted resources like time, budget, and skills from the planning phase you will now be able to determine where there is overlap with your team’s current projects and workload.

Using the resource forecasts and team availability in your resource management software, you can now assign tasks based on the individual skills and abilities of your team. When team members are working on something they are good at, they are happier and more engaged in their work, which improves project turnaround.

Business intelligence and reports

Your company produces a mountain of data about your resources every day. You can use data analysis to provide actionable insights. Real-time data, individualized reports, and dashboards aid in decision making and enable precise resource management and capacity planning.

Stages of resource management

1. Know what you have and need

The first step is to scope out your available resources and understand which ones are required.

These might include:

• People with certain skills, experience, or expertise
• Tools or software
• Budget dollars

2. Mobilize your team

Once you know what resources are needed to complete the project, it’s time to assemble and assign those resources. You’ll need to decide if you have the necessary resources in-house or need to pull in outside resources, such as agencies or contractors.

Having the right number of team members at the beginning of the project will ensure it gets off to the best possible start.

3. Organize the resources you’ve assembled

At this stage you’ll want to clearly define roles and responsibilities for all team members. For remote teams, this might look like video meetings or digital briefs explaining processes and workflows. Make sure you have all the skills and software you might need.

Then it’s time to allocate and assign specific resources to tasks using a project management tool, such as Adobe Workfront. Ensure you’re providing your team members with everything they need to do their jobs. This is especially important for remote teams because it’s easier for communication to fall through the cracks.

4. Monitor resources

As the project progresses, you’ll want to continue using a resource management platform to measure progress, efficiency, and efficacy. If you find that you have an overallocation of resources or have allocated them incorrectly, start resource leveling as soon as possible.

Having an effective time tracking tool could help ensure you’re maximizing the team’s time against the project’s duration.

Improve your resource management with Adobe Workfront

Resource management helps you optimize the resources at your disposal, allowing you to get high-quality work done more quickly and efficiently. Proper resource management also minimizes disruptions and prevents your team from burning out.

If you’re kicking off a new project soon, remember to start by fully scoping everything you need upfront. Prioritizing the tasks involved before you begin is the best way to set yourself up for success. If you’re worried that your current resource management software isn’t up to task, Adobe Workfront can help.

Take a free interactive product tour or watch an overview video to see how easy it is for you to ensure the right people are working on the right initiatives. Plan your team’s work, streamline processes, and measure your progress to make sure you’re ahead of where you need to be.