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The past two articles introduced the resource management model and provided step-by-step instructions to build the model. If you’ve built the model for the organization, you have a powerful tool to help forecast future resource availability and measure the current organization’s capacity to process work. However, the model is only as good as the data within it and needs to be updated on a periodic basis. The organization may elect to update the model on a weekly or a monthly basis. Based on past experience, a monthly forecasting process is manageable and doesn’t overwhelm the project teams with administrative tasks. The steps to update the resource model are similar to the steps in the previous resource management article . Each month, the individual teams should forecast their hours across the different projects. Some resources will reduce their hours and new resources will be added. The following five steps are used to update the model: Step 1: Identify New Resources Step 2: Identify New Projects Step 3: Identify New Team Assignments Step 4: Update Project Team Assignments, Project Duration and Effort Step 5: Review Resource Management Graph
Step 1-3: Identify New Resources, Projects and Team Assignments
Project teams and resources can change between model updates. New resources join the organization and others leave. New projects enter the portfolio and different team members are assigned to new and existing projects. The steps are the same as in the previous article. The resource manager or PMO will request updates to the Project Resource Assignment Matrix (Figure 1) and these values are entered into the model. Figure 1: Project Resource Assignment Matrix Adding new projects and assigning resources follows the same process from the previous article. Additional steps need to be followed to adjust each resource’s forecast on current projects. Step 4: Update Project Team Assignments, Project Duration and Effort If resources are added to existing projects, MS-Project assumes the resource start and finishes on the same dates as the Start and Finish columns. This isn’t necessarily true since resources may leave or join projects after the projects have started. The Task Usage view is used to distribute work for new and existing resources. Figure 2 displays the tasks and assigned resources on the left window pane. The right window pane is a resource timeline for each of the assigned resources. Figure 2: Task Usage View To add a new resource to an existing project: Follow the same steps to add a resource when building a new model. In the Task Usage view, double click on the resource name and adjust the resource start and finish dates. The work will adjust within the right task usage pane with the appropriate date ranges Review the right Task Usage pane and adjust the hours for each week accordingly
To reduce a resource’s hours during a project: Hours can be allocated and changed by simply entering the data in the right Task Usage pane for each resource. Step 5: Review the Resource Management Graph Follow the same steps as in the previous article to view over allocations. Since the model is already built, the resource manager won’t need to reconfigure the graph options. Project managers need to investigate the cause for the over-allocation and take action as necessary. Some resources will remain over-allocated and others need to readjust their work. Project teams may work more than the model’s 40-hour work week. The project manager needs to asses the over-allocation and determine if the additional work is sustainable. Additional Considerations Depending on the level of tracking, the model can be updated with actual time commitments. Some organizations will want to compare time study data against the resource model to identify potential constraints. Actual hours can be entered into the tool using the Task Usage view by inserting an Actual Work row. Time tracking is often an organizational cultural issue. Some organizations require extensive time tracking for employees and contingent resources. Other organizations only track time for resources billing the company. The spectrum varies from active effort tracking to non-existent effort tracking. The resource management model can track both and report effort variances, but requires updating on a periodic basis. If there are significant variances, the effort-estimation process should be examined. Without a resource management model, these metrics would not be available. Advanced Resource Management Model Advanced MS-Project users are encouraged to use MS-Project’s resource pool and resource sharing functions. The approach requires integrating individual MS-Project files and requires a higher level of MS-Project proficiency. When implementing the advanced approach, it is helpful to have a project manager work with each team lead to develop the team’s resource file. Advanced Model Steps: Create a MS-Project file as a Resource Pool Create separate MS-Project files for each project team Link the individual resource pool to each team project file using the Resource Sharing option. Add projects to the team project file. Assign resources from the resource pool Save the individual team file. Create a new MS-Project file and insert each team project as a sub-project Modify the Resource Sheet and configure the Resource Graph Save integrated file as your resource management model Each month the project team updates the team MS-Project file and the updates are automatically cascaded through the tool
The resource model is an effective tool to quantify work and measure a project, program or organization’s capacity. The model is only as valid as the data entered into the model. Updating the model frequently will ensure resource decisions are based on relevant data. This technique is just one effective approach to manage the resource pipeline. As organizations adopt central project management systems, the resource pipeline will be just one metric available to managers for decision making. The next article will provide guidelines to use the model in every day portfolio decision making.
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