What is project resource planning?
Resource planning in project management helps you to determine the resources you have available to complete a particular project. Think of it like a captain charting a new course on the open seas, who must calculate the necessary resources that will guide the crew to reach their destination. As a project manager, you are the captain, and it’s your job to:
Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your teammates
Assign appropriate tasks that play to each teammate’s strengths
Decide the most efficient use of your team’s time to achieve the common goal
Let’s say you’re coordinating a manufacturing project, and your team members are preparing products for shipment. By planning your resources strategically and making the planning process transparent, you empower your team to:
Operate in more time and cost-efficient ways
Repurpose certain resources to increase productivity
Deliver more goods for shipment at faster rates
When to use the project resource planning template?
With a project resource planning template, you effectively manage the time, labor, and financial costs of your projects in one convenient location. This resource planning template is helpful when managing projects with multiple moving parts, such as large construction or manufacturing projects. Such projects might include tasks like:
Inspecting all conveyor belts on current equipment for wear and tear
Checking safety protocols for how to confirm wear and tear
Ordering replacement parts to upgrade the malfunctioned equipment
Repairing any faulty wiring that could compromise the equipment’s safety
Assisting with the physical installation of any new equipment
Testing the emergency shutdown system to ensure it functions correctly
However, this template isn’t just a helpful tool for manufacturers. You can adapt it to suit your use case and specific project needs. The template can easily be repurposed to manage government-funded construction projects, healthcare R&D projects, or for coordinating teams, budgets, and timelines for multinational banks.
How to use the project resource planning template
Step 1: List your team members on the template
To get started, assign each section to one of your team members. This organizes your project and ensures all team members have a designated section to which you can assign tasks, resources, and deadlines.
Step 2: Add your task details
Create and assign tasks for each team member within their designated section. To assign a task, simply click the task to open it and click “Assign”. Select the team member you want to assign it to from the dropdown.
Include brief descriptions about the task’s impact on the overall project to help prioritize and appropriately plan your resources.
Provide your team members with as much relevant information as possible to ensure the tasks are completed on time and using the correct resources.
Step 3: Assign start dates and end dates
Next, schedule your tasks. To do this, open your task and click the timeline icon. Then simply select the task’s start and end date. This is the period in which the task will be worked on.
All scheduled tasks can be viewed in Timeline view, MeisterTask’s Gantt chart. Timeline gives you a quick overview of what is happening, when, making it easy to identify overlaps or periods of low activity. As such, you can adjust your resource plan to avoid overstretching your team. On the other hand, you can also identify when your team has the capacity to take on more work to maximize efficiency.
Step 4: Monitor your team’s capacity
As tasks are completed, use the Reports feature to track project performance. You can share those reports with other project stakeholders and use the current performance to make appropriate changes to the work schedule.
