How to Choose the Best Resource Management Software for You

Why use resource management software?

Resource management software uses smart tools to remove manual processes and seamlessly connect people to work, in real-time. Using resource management software as a part of your project management process lets project managers and stakeholders see all relevant details in one place and provides a centralized location for your team to collaborate.

The right resource management tools should be smart, connected, and agile and it should integrate with your project management software, taking the pain and guesswork out of resource management.

When choosing a resource management software, look for these main capabilities:

1. Insights: Granular insights into what people are working on and how long each task takes.

2. Priorities: Clearly articulated and managed priorities and project expectations shared across the organization.

3. Tracking: Real-time tracking and status updates throughout the entire project life-cycle.

4. Forecasting: Ensure resources are working on the right task at the right time without being overloaded.

5. Collaboration: Keep projects up-to-date and improve communication.

6. Utilization reporting: Prevent burnout and manage workloads.

Ebook: A Better Approach to Resource Scheduling

Whitepaper: Resource Scheduling with Workfront

Benefits of resource management software

Visualize all work

Having a view into your team’s full workload will help prioritize and organize your resources. A resource management tool should allow you to create a centralized capacity view of your team’s workload and available hours. Taking a centralized approach to resource planning allows managers visibility into everyone’s workload and bandwidth and enables quicker turnaround.

Without a consolidated view of all resources and projects within your resource management tool, team members find themselves focused on the wrong project—only to find too late that the deadline for another is tomorrow, causing rushed, lower quality work.

Contouring

Contouring features within a resource management tool allow resource managers the ability to easily see and allocate how many hours your team members should be dedicating to specific tasks. By breaking out the hours based on availability, value, or urgency of the project, your team can become effectively productive in that they know exactly what they need to work on and when. 

Swapping assignments 

The ability to easily and quickly swap resources between projects can add a tremendous amount of value to how your team addresses their workload by providing a quick, efficient way for your resource and project managers to assign work but also pivot resources based on changing task or project requirements.

Maximize efficiency

Effectively harnessing the power of your people through a streamlined resource management software has the potential to save you time, energy, and money.

With accurate information about resource availability, you’re able to accurately scope, prioritize, and track projects from start to finish. The right resource management tools allow you to:

• See who is working on what

• Make real-time adjustments

• Know when projects are at risk

• Respond quickly to shifting priorities

• Take advantage of last-minute opportunities

Improve morale

Increased project efficiency does more than improve your bottom line, it also bolsters morale.

Did you know that most people spend just 39% of their day doing the job they were hired to do? When your team is constantly met with roadblocks and impossible workloads, their job satisfaction plummets and productivity goes down with it. That’s why accurate resource planning and forecasting tools are so critical to a resource management software—no one ends up with too much work and everyone feels valued.

Reports and insights

To remain competitive and prove your team’s value, you need to be able to quickly analyze performance and make improvements. You’ll never be able to streamline processes if you don’t have accurate information about your projects, portfolios, and resources. 

Keep executives in the loop and make sure you’re able to demonstrate your successes or make corrections where projects might be going off-track.

Compare: Workfront vs. Wrike

Compare: Workfront vs. Smartsheet

Resource management with Workfront

Smart resource management requires smart tools. Workfront intelligently distributes and assigns work to teams, groups, or individuals based on priority, availability, and skill requirements, ensuring that the right people are doing the right work.

Resource planning and scheduling

Workfront offers an innovative approach to resource scheduling as part of our resource management toolset―one that allows teams the ability to connect the right work to the right people, every time, in an effective, efficient, and simple way. 

Single view of what matters most 

• One calendar that captures it all: Resource managers can now view an entire team’s bandwidth in a single, easily consumed calendar.

• Customizable filters: Easily filter projects and programs by users or roles so you see what you need in order to effectively assign tasks. Tasks prioritized and assigned.

• Efficient assignments: Resource managers can quickly assign the appropriate resources to the right projects by simply dragging-and-dropping assignments within our intuitive UI.

• Swapping roles and users: Easily swap roles and users across multiple projects in just a few clicks, saving a significant amount of time and effort.

Resources allocated

• Easily contour tasks: Resource managers can now designate the exact number of hours a team member can spend on a task.

• Streamlined work management: Your team can now see the same contoured task breakdown on their calendar, so they know exactly which tasks are on their week’s docket and how much time to spend on those tasks.

Cloud-based software

Work is undergoing a digital transformation with remote work and flextime on the rise. If you want to retain top talent, you need to be able to keep up. It’s no longer enough to just have a centralized location where you can review and manage resources. If it's not in the cloud, it can’t meet the needs of your modern workforce.

AI-Enabled Technology

Speaking of the future of work... email is out and automation is in. Don’t worry, robots aren’t taking over the world—just the busy work. Mundane tasks like inputting data into spreadsheets, updating schedules, tracking time, and calculating KPIs turn people into numbers instead of valuable contributors.

Artificial intelligence doesn’t mean that resource management becomes less human, it actually makes it more human. AI-enabled resource management software intelligently assigns work based on your team’s priority, skillset, and availability—reducing errors and ensuring that you’re using the right data to lead your team. With smart resource management tools, you have more time to be strategic and collaborative, and your team is protected from unnecessary burnout.

Take a product tour

Workfront offers AI-enabled resource management tools that streamline resource capacity planning, allocation, and scheduling, providing leaders and their teams visibility into all aspects of the entire workflow. With your work tools and processes connected in a single location, Workfront will help your team to:

• Unleash your team’s potential while avoiding burnout

• Spend more time on important, innovative work

• Make sure you’re saying yes to the right things

Take a product tour today