In today’s environment, companies are under increasing pressure to deliver innovative, technologically advanced products and services with shrinking budgets. As a result, resources must be fully utilized and focused on the highest priorities at any given time. Of course the term resources can refer to a number of different types of assets, but here we’re focused on the most important type, your people. Show
Unfortunately, ineffective or suboptimal resource management will certainly lead to negative consequences such as poor productivity, delays, decreased quality, increased costs, missed opportunities, and low morale. But how can we improve resource management? My teams are already at capacity, what more can we do? A key part of the challenge is recognizing that high resource utilization is not an indication of good resource management. The key is ensuring that your resources are working on projects aligned to strategic corporate goals, that match their skill sets and where they have adequate bandwidth. Indeed, organizations continually overcommit their people resources¹, limiting growth and innovation. Determining what work or demand to undertake next and when resources will be available are huge challenges as well. We should also mention that a part of the resource management challenge involves the various methodologies that disparate teams employ including milestone-driven, iterative, and collaborative methodologies. All have benefits when applied to the appropriate type of work, but each has its own nuances complicating the resource management process. By combining disparate methodologies across a range of organizational maturities, companies find that there is no singular answer to these challenges. The Benefits of Enterprise Resource ManagementWe certainly recognize that resource management is a complex process, especially in an enterprise with shared, geographically dispersed resources. According to The 2017 Project and Portfolio Management Landscape report, almost half of organizations report they are stuck in silos. With so many approaches to work, it should make sense that resource management approaches can also vary. Regardless, there are three capabilities every resource management software should include:
Using an effective enterprise resource management system that delivers these three capabilities will enable your organization to:
Where to Start with Resource Management ToolsUsing the right resource management tools for your organization is essential. Organizations often rely on spreadsheets for resource management because of their ease of use, simplicity, and ability to set up a file quickly. However, keeping multiple or even shared spreadsheets up to date doesn’t scale well and often becomes infeasible. Using a manual, ad-hoc approach to resource management is labor intensive, leads to inaccurate and stale data, inhibits organizational agility, and produces unrealistic views of demand and capacity. It also fails to account for smaller work items on the demand side during the traditional intake process. For example, having to make a small tweak to something already implemented or helping others on (potentially lower priority) work. As a result, when starting new work, you may already be behind without knowing it! Regardless of the approach and tools used, organizations must determine how to balance their resources’ capacity and demand. Here’s a curated list of the top 12 resource management best practices to consider. Top 12 Resource Management Best Practices1. Understand which resources are in short supply and focus on them
2. Agree on a common approach to prioritizing work across shared resources
3. Embrace different ways of working across the organization and resources
4. Realize resource management is an ongoing process
5. Manage work and resources uses a blend of granularities
6. Plan work
7. Manage resource assignments
8. Report time
9. Apply assignment types that align to your business needs
10. Account for non-project time
11. Avoid or limit multi-tasking
12. Keep your most valuable assets and resources productive and happy
The Rewards of Good Resource ManagementGreat resource management software and following these best practices can lead to significant improvements in your resource management. This will ideally translate to higher productivity and satisfaction levels across your teams and individuals. As a result, you’ll be able to:
The Planview SolutionWhether you are just getting started or are continuing along a resource management journey and advancing to the next level, Planview can help with a data-driven, enterprise-wide solution. Based on our 29 years of experience partnering with global customers, we can help your organization optimize your resource management to create capacity for innovation and transformation. Today’s organizations are under pressure to drive innovation and transformation, given the reality of constrained people and financial resources. By integrating strategy, planning and delivery, Planview’s Work and Resource Management solution for Portfolio and Resource Management enables PMOs to optimize their portfolios, balance capacity against demand, link plans and resources to projects, and manage the underlying financials. Stakeholders can visualize portfolio performance against plans and make decisions that ensure resources deliver the highest value projects for the business. More resourcesCitationsWhat can managers do to improve a company's cost competitiveness quizlet?How can a company improve cost competitiveness on the distribution side of its value chain? Collaborate with distributors to find win-win cost reduction strategies. Encourage forward channel allies to reduce their costs and markups. Change to a more cost-effective distribution strategy.
Which of the following involves an assessment that considers the resources capabilities and competencies of a business?a SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis is a simple but powerful tool for: sizing up a company's resources and capabilities, strengths and deficiencies, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being.
Why is it important for managers to understand a company's resources and capabilities?It is essential that managers be able to identify the company's resources and capabilities in order to craft strategy. Resource and capability analysis is a powerful tool for sizing up a company's competitive assets and determining if they can support a sustainable competitive advantage over market rivals.
What are the resources and capabilities of a company?Resources are the organization's assets, knowledge and skills. Capabilities can be defined as the organization's ability to effectively make use of its resources.
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