What is Resource Planning and its Importance for Project Managers?

Before starting the project, the project manager should develop a plan by highlighting where he will start the project, how many team members he requires and can afford too. The manager also needs to look at what is the budget of stakeholders, what resources, including the salaries of employees, transportation, and the material used for the project he needs. In simple words, it is necessary to understand what is resource planning. 

Resource Planning: An insight into what it is

When learning about what is resource planning and resource allocation, you will come to know about the identification, estimation, and allocation of different resources you need for the project. Resource planning is not quite a simple task, but it needs time, healthy mental creation, and leadership skills so that you can better handle everything by leading your team proactively.

By going through this task, a project manager not only plans the resources but decides how he will be using the defined resources effectively.

In resource planning, the project managers use software to categorize the team according to the skill set and resources they will be using. Timeline is also a big hurdle if not set before starting the project. By doing this, he can easily assign work to every team member as per his skill set.

What elements are parts of resource planning?

For a clear understanding of what is resource management, a new project manager must know about important components of resource planning. The major elements without which completion of the project is impossible are a skilled and responding team, time record, accurate data about resources, accurate predictions, categorizing team as per their skill set, and budget management.

Here, we will learn to tackle all these components more effectively to make the project effect successful.

Team building for a project

Without a team, only one person cannot handle and deliver the project on time. It is not possible that a project manager has too wide a skill set. The skill sets are limited, and a person's capacity to work is also limited. So, a project manager needs to build a response team for his project.

He must develop a mind map about the tasks he assign different team members and define the skills needed for task completion. The project manager will screen out the organization's employees and hire new ones if he feels the need. So, team-building is the necessary, time taking, and expensive component of resource planning.

Record of time

Time is also a major element of resource planning as it allows you to decide the expected time for specific tasks, their deadlines, and deliverance as well. By doing so, the project manager can easily track the work of his team and the progress of the project by matching with the expected extent he set in the beginning. Time record helps to arrange a time to time meetings with the team and stakeholders. The project manager can tackle the timeline earlier if he finds some extra hours or minutes so he will never be late for the delivery of the project.

Right data

Data from previous projects also helps the project manager to forecast the better use of resources and time. As data is an important part of resource planning so, it must be right and understandable.

Correct anticipation

When you are doing resource planning, you cannot tell the exact amount of the material you will be using, the time you will be utilizing, and the team members who will be assisting you. You cannot tell the exact numbers, but you can predict the nearest.

So, make sure you know about the work, time, and labor for the completion of a project. Create an estimated list of all these important things and plan accordingly. If you make a correct anticipation, you will have much time to compete the hurdles coming your way to your project.

Designing groups of employees according to their skillset and availability.

Organization is the best key to tackling your team and tasks easily. As a project manager, you should know the profile of every team member so that you can identify the skillset. If you know the skillset of all team members, you can better assign the tasks as per their specialties. Y

ou should also know about the availability of employees as some of them are available for extra hours while some are available for only some specific hours.

Budget management

The last but not least important part of resource planning is the budget, without which a company cannot even start its project. For budget setting, the project manager can take help from the previous project. 

Steps involved in resource planning you need to know about

To understand the sole meaning of what is resource planning, you must know its core steps. Every step is of great importance, and you need to plan it carefully so that the execution is straightforward. Resource planning includes the following important steps.

·  Prepare a To-Do list to make a clear end in mind.

Do you think if you do not know what to do today, tomorrow, and the whole week, or a month you can complete a project? It is impossible. The title of the project is not enough for its completion. Every simple-looking project has many complex parts.

 You need to identify those tasks and develop their lists. When you know about the tasks, you know very well to whom you will assign these tasks and can develop a proper strategy.

·  Taking team members in the loop by arranging an introductory meeting

It is necessary to develop a loop with your team by having a meeting at the beginning in which you will not only assign them their tasks but also know more about them. By having this meeting, you will share all important points about the project and the deadline as well.

This meeting is necessary to make your team understand the right way of working by following the right track that you will be sharing.

·  Grab the resources as per the project's nature and need

While learning what is resource planning, you must know the tricks to compare the resources and the needs of the project. If you choose the wrong resource or you have not created a blueprint for the project resource, you will face many hurdles.

So, during the first meeting with your team, you should ask them what material or resource they need to complete the tasks you are assigning them. By having a discussion, you can choose the right resource. Otherwise, your time and money will go waste.

·  Define the budget of the project

For hiring a team, buying resource, and delivering it, you need money. The finance manager can help you to decide the budget for your project as per the company's financial condition and policy. So, you should define the budget in the early stages of the project.

·  Monthly planning for different resources and teams

Leaders show their team the right path to follow and help them to track it to know whether they are going in the right direction or not. So, make sure you are becoming a leader and helping your team to develop a plan for the month. Developing a Gantt chart would be a plus point as it helps us to set the frequency of little tasks in a week that we do to achieve a goal. The goal of every team member will be different as per the nature of the task assigned by the project manager.

·  Time management and tracking

Now, you can divide your every week into days and then hours, like in a day how much time you will be spending in

·   Site observation

·   Meeting arrangements

·   Project briefing

·   Analysis etc.

Gantt Chart Software for the time setting and tracking will help you to see whether you have done the tasks you set for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

·  Keep checking and updating the resource plan as per the need of a project

Resource planning also includes developing strategies for keeping track of the resource used and its remaining part. If you keep its check and balance, you will better know that you need to add more or remove from your plan.

·  Result analysis of the project

So, you know what is resource planning, but it does not end with just planning. It further leads to its result analysis. They help you to develop a final report where you measure your success rate and find the major gaps you and your team leave that need to fill with more proficiency.

·  Keeping stakeholders up to date

From planning to execution, you should keep updating the stakeholders so that could know what you are doing and how much investment is needed. They can add or subtract the steps or elements where they feel the need. By doing so, they won't be able to blame you if any inconvenient situation appears. 

Reasons we need to use resource planning.

Resource planning is as necessary as the oxygen for breathing otherwise every effort and money will go waste. We need to understand what is resource planning and why we need it.

·   A project manager can better handle the resources

·   He will follow the deadline and be on time

·   He does not exceed the budget limit

·   He can design and follow the timeline

·   He can cope with capacity differences

Final Remarks:

If you want to know what is resource planning, you must know what is its major component, and how a project manager can plan and execute it. and why we need it.