Resource planning for your project? What is a resource plan and how do you create one?
A resource plan is a project management tool to understand the people and other resources you need on your project, and the times you will need them in the project.
It gives you an overview of who will be involved and when they will be involved throughout the project lifecycle.
Before you create a resource plan be sure to thoroughly understand the project scope, the resources available and your organisation's processes. Once you have a good understanding of those you’re good to go.
Let’s Dive In
Step 1: Create the document & format
You don’t need any fancy Project Management software here, just create an Excel document, with a list of the roles and/or people you know have specific roles in column A titled ‘Resource’.
Set their day rates or hourly charges in column B titled ‘Rates’.
Then label columns C onwards as months you’re working in. ‘Sept 23’, ‘Oct 23’ etc.
Step 2: Add Roles
Typical roles in an IT project are:
· Project Manager
· Business Analyst
· Technical SME
· Business Change Manager
· 3rd party Partner organisation/s.
· Quality Assurance
Other roles may be:
· Service Design & Transition Lead
· Deployment Engineers
· Architect
· Security Consultant
· Programme Managers
Lastly, include other types of resources:
· Licencing and application costs
· Outsourced penetration testing
· Application review
Step 3: Add Rates & Capacity
Set the rates, and then set the capacity/month that they will be needed.
Step 4: Tidy the document, and make it more useful
Last, add total columns for financial years and months.
This immediately gives you an overview of the cost of a particular project.
Top Tips for Resource Management Planning
Take into account the lead time you need to fill a particular role. It’s typically 2 to 4 months, depending on the speciality and recruitment process in your organisation.
Take into account procurement processes. In larger organisations, depending on the value of a contract you may need to go through an RFQ or RFP process. This can take months.
Take into account legal discussions around T’s & C’s for contracts. Some organisations have particular requirements that require them to make changes to standard Terms and conditions and contracts issued by suppliers. This may rule some suppliers out, as they won’t be comfortable changing their terms.
Be sure to include Change Freezes
Be sure to include mandatory holiday periods. E.g. The Christmas break, or August in particular.
Always ensure you have a contingency (10-20%). However, be mindful that some companies don’t issue contingency funds without approval. You may also be asked to shrink your initial resource plan, once submitted, as it exceeds the given budget. Much fun can be had here if you try and forecast the potential shrinkage before submitting your plan for approval.
Take into account individuals' planned holiday.
Discuss with individuals, and team leads what other projects are underway whilst yours is. There are almost certainly dependencies between projects, particularly if people are shared across projects. If they are, what are the priorities of the different projects? One project is almost certainly a higher priority than the other, which may lead to delays in the lower-priority project if someone is not available.
Last but not least, ensure that you understand the BUDGET process. Do resources need to be fully allocated to your project, or can they be spread across multiple projects? Can they work part-time or are they full-time only?
Step 6: Trade!
Make sure other project managers and programme managers are aware of your project, and share people appropriately. It’s always good to be slightly flexible rather than being completely rigid and not working with others!
Step 7: Review monthly
There is one more point. Bear in mind this resource plan is a forecast of effort.
Revisit it each month, and be sure to communicate with your steering committee, sponsors and stakeholders if any material changes occur.