When you’re working on a complex project with different phases and dependencies, resource management can be a major challenge. Different phases have different resource needs, and supply chain issues can be difficult to predict. But proper resource scheduling using a solid strategy or the right project management software helps ensure that you have exactly what you need when you need it.

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So, how do you schedule resources? Is it scheduling the same as resource planning? How can it support your project success? We’ll answer these questions and more in our comprehensive guide. Let’s dive in!

Article Roadmap

• What Is Resource Scheduling?
• Importance
• Primary Benefits
• Factors to Consider
• Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Resource Schedule
• Popular Software Solutions
• Next Steps

What Is Resource Scheduling?

Resource scheduling is a component of resource management. More precisely, resource scheduling ensures that the right resources are made available for different parts of a project at the right times. Resources can include skilled employees, raw materials, equipment, real estate facilities like offices and warehouses, and things that address other material and non-material needs.

Resource Scheduling vs. Resource Planning

Imagine you’re baking a cake. What’s the first thing you do? You check the recipe, and make a list of ingredients and the quantities you’ll need of each. Then you cross-check that with what’s available in your pantry, so you know what you have and what you’ll need to buy. That’s resource planning.

Now it comes time to bake the cake. The ingredients need to go into the mixer in a specific order — dry ingredients can’t go in with wet ingredients until they’re thoroughly mixed. Then, when the batter’s ready, the cake has to be baked for the right amount of time and at the right temperature. These steps in the process involve resource scheduling.

Resource scheduling is a part of resource planning, but it’s not the entirety of resource planning itself. There are other components to resource planning, including but not limited to identifying and procuring the resources themselves, cost estimation, timeline estimation, change management and demand forecasting.

Resource scheduling deals with the actual allocation of resources to different parts of the project at different times. For resources scheduling, you may need to decide things like which employees are assigned to a particular task, depending on their skills and availability, what equipment and materials will be made available to them, and the timelines in which they’ll be completing their individual tasks within the project.

Importance

A study conducted by Wellingtone found that inefficient use of resources was one of the top three challenges faced by project management leaders. Inefficiency can lead to issues such as budget overruns, project delays and failure to meet goals.

Resource scheduling ensures that you use resources efficiently and meet necessary timelines. By properly scheduling the procurement, allocation and use of resources, you guard your projects against unexpected expenses and wasted time or materials.

Resource scheduling also helps organizations take time constraints and resource availability or scarcity into account in their planning. Scarcer resources require more caution during the allocation phase. Additionally, if certain parts of the project are time-sensitive, you need to ensure that the required resources are available on time for project completion.

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Primary Benefits

Efficient Resource Utilization

The Project Management Institute found that around 48% of projects overrun their budgets. A major cause of these budget overruns are inefficient usage of resources. Wasted resources, surpluses, operational inefficiencies and other issues can lead to your project bleeding money.

By scheduling both the procurement and distribution of resources, you can optimize resource utilization and prevent shortages and surpluses.

Timely Delivery

McKinsey found that projects in industries such as mining, real estate, transport and power often face completion delays ranging from 1.8 to 2.8 years. Unexpected delays on this level can cause major revenue losses. Project delays also increase the risk of budget overruns and wasted resources.

Resource scheduling prevents project delays due to inefficiencies in the supply chain or resource distribution. By supporting project completion and the delivery of project deliverables, it helps protect your revenue.

Better Risk Management

Risk management is easier when you have a plan in place — when you know what resources you need and the timelines in which you need them. A proper resource schedule in place helps you forecast resource requirements and predict bottlenecks or other issues that may arise.

Risk management is critical to the success of any project. Proper strategizing and resource planning is the first step towards better risk management.

Factors to Consider

Let’s look at some important factors to consider during resources scheduling.

Project Type

Different projects need different resources. For a construction project, you’ll need to procure building materials, scope out real estate, hire contractors and laborers, look after licensing and permissions, among a host of other variables. On the other hand, for a software development project, the main resource you’ll need are human resources. The type of project can greatly affect the scope and type of resources needed.

Project Phases

For complex projects, you’re unlikely to need all of your resources at once. Different phases of the project will need different resources at different times. They’ll also need employees with different kinds of expertise. A major part of resource scheduling and project management

is figuring out how to optimize the distribution of resources based on timelines and project start and finish dates.

Dependencies

Some project phases or components are dependent on others. For example, in a construction project, you can’t start building the frame of the house until the foundation is laid. It’s important to keep various dependencies in mind when scheduling resources. Don’t start placing orders for carpeting before you’ve started laying down floors.

Employee Capacity

Human resources are finite — your employees can only handle so much work in a given time period. It’s important to keep these capacities in mind when distributing and scheduling resources. You want to make sure that each employee has enough work for them to be fully engaged but not overworked or burnt out. Capacity planning ensures proper workforce management and optimization.

Real-Time Adjustments

Despite our best efforts, not everything can be planned in advance. It’s important to leave space to adjust for potential problems like operational issues, miscalculations and other unforeseen circumstances. While you want to follow your resource schedule as much as possible, you also need to be flexible and adapt to situations as they occur.

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Creating a Resource Schedule

1. Identify Deliverables

The first step is to identify the deliverables of your project. Deliverables are the quantifiable goods or services that you provide upon the completion of a project or project phase. Your project can have one deliverable or multiple. This step will also help you in identifying the basic objectives of your project, the various expectations and milestones that you need to fulfill.

Identifying your deliverables gives you a basic strategic outline for your project. Once you’ve done that, you can start assessing what resources you’ll need for different phases of the project, which employees to assign to what duties and other important factors.

2. Estimate Resources Required

Having an accurate estimate of the resources required is critical to the success of any project. Resources don’t just include tangible assets like raw materials and equipment — they’re also intangible things like time. Skilled employees are also a resource, and need to be given responsibilities appropriately for maximum productivity.

Make a rough estimate of all the resources you’ll need, the different quantities of them, and when and how you’ll need them. For human resources, capacity planning will help you allocate work based on the working capacity of each employee.

3. Conduct Risk Analysis

Risk analysis is an integral part of resource planning. All projects come with certain risks, so understanding and outlining those risks before you start work is extremely important. Identify the parts of the project where delays are possible, where things might go wrong and how that can affect various dependencies.

As you create your schedule, take these risks into account and make allowances for them accordingly. For example, if you think you might run into delays during specific phases of the project, make sure you give yourself a time buffer to deal with them.

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4. Outline Timelines

The next step is to outline the timeline of the project, the resources required for different phases, and how time, effort and resources need to be distributed. Creating a timeline not only helps you estimate how long the project will take but also creates accountability. You can set milestones and schedule the procurement of resources according to them. Timelines also help with budgeting and expense management.

5. Plan Procurement

Next, you’ll need to plan the procurement of resources. Talk to vendors about what resources you need and when you need them delivered. If you’re employing contractors or hiring people to work on some tasks, you’ll need to plan when you’ll start the hiring process and the date by which you’ll need your team on the ground.

Procurement planning can be the most time-consuming part of resource scheduling, but it’s one of the most important too. Not having the timely procurement and delivery of resources could jeopardize your whole project.

6. Allocate Resources

The next major step is to actually allocate the resources. This involves creating shift schedules for employees, and assigning or moving things like equipment and machinery, raw materials and other resources to designated teams or areas.

Resource allocation might seem deceptively simple, but it can get complicated fast. You need to be acutely aware of the requirements and capabilities of each person involved in your project as well as the needs of the project itself.

7. Monitor Bottlenecks

Once your resources are scheduled, the next step is to ensure proper implementation. Bottlenecks can arise within your project for a number of different reasons. Sometimes certain parts of the project get delayed, which cause further delays in dependent activities. Sometimes there may be delays in sourcing certain raw materials or other resources, or you may face a labor shortage due to people leaving in the middle of the project.

This is where your risk management skills come into play. If you’ve done a proper risk assessment in your planning, handling bottlenecks will be much easier.

Popular Software Solutions

Resources scheduling is incredibly complex, but using software can make it much simpler. Project management software comes with a range of tools for resource planning, scheduling, demand forecasting, risk management and more. Let’s look at some popular tools and how they can help you.

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ClickUp

ClickUp is a project management tool that helps teams stay focused. It breaks down projects into achievable tasks and subtasks and tracks progress through features like checklists. ClickUp’s resource allocation feature allows you to track team capacity and reallocate resources if necessary. You can also create customizable dashboards for real-time progress updates.

Jira

Jira is a tool widely recognized as a popular choice for teams that need to manage complex projects with multiple stakeholders. It’s particularly popular with developers. Jira helps create and manage workflows, enabling teams to track the progress of projects and resources in real time and ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goals.

Teamwork

Teamwork’s key features include real-time insights, straightforward work prioritization, advanced planning and total visibility for your team’s capacity, helping ensure timely, on-budget client work delivery. In addition, the resource scheduler assists with forecasting and planning resources for future projects, facilitating a smooth workflow and consistent project completion.

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Next Steps

Now you have a firm sense of what resource scheduling is and how to create a resource schedule for your projects. Project management can be tough, but with the right tools, it’s easier than ever to make your goals a reality.

If you’re looking for more project management tools to help you with your work, our free comparison report may be what you need. You can compare industry leading project management software against your requirements and choose the one that’s best for you!

So, did we cover all the key parts of resource scheduling? How do you schedule resources for your projects? Let us know in the comments below!