Service companies, how do you establish your load plan?
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Estelle
Content manager
January 4, 2022
3 min
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Project management in service companies is based on a workload plan that is as close as possible to reality. It accurately details the material needs, but also the budgetary expenses and the estimation of time spent on the project by each collaborator. However, poorly carried out, not followed by all employees, the repercussions on your profitability, or the progress of the project, can be fatal.
Your load plan can take various forms (dynamic reporting, excel table, graph, etc.). However, it must be based on specific criteria in order to be constructive and usable in the development and monitoring of all your projects. Therefore, it is recommended that you start creating specifications in order to find the best possible load plan tool.
Your specifications must correspond in every way to your expectations. It is advisable to devote a full day, or half an intensive day, to writing it, so that all the issues related to managing the capacity of your company come out. Various questions should challenge you: what are the keys to the success of your business to date? What are the reasons for the slowdown in its performance? How do you avoid them? What are the tools put in place to date and their limitations?
It is important to bring together all the representatives of the divisions concerned with the progress of your project: the operations or staffing managers, the operations directors and the managers or project managers. Through a brainstorming session where you lay down all of your thoughts, you will define your needs and goals.
Here are some things that should be identifiable with a load plan:
The workload plan is an essential element in ensuring the smooth running of any project. It allows you to centralize, consolidate and organize all the data necessary for the smooth running of missions and helps you to carry out your projects successfully.
When you create your load plan, it should allow you to simulate different project device scenarios. The objective is for you to make the best decisions, in light of the availability and skills of employees, future commercial opportunities and the prioritization of projects.
In addition, your provisional load plan allows you to simulate a provisional budget, between the allocated budget and the time spent by your collaborators on the project. You compare it with the budgets and the real time consumed, thus calculating the exact margin and the profitability of the projects. In this way, you fine-tune the budgets and therefore the profitability of the projects, ensuring that the best future decisions are made.
Managing your project must be masterfully: flexible to always be ready for any eventuality, but firm enough to make the right decisions. A real headache for many staffing managers!
A tool adapted to control of your load is a powerful ally. Staffing teams, or the project manager, carry a heavy responsibility on their backs. Indeed, a load plan poorly maintained or poorly coordinated has financial consequences for the company.
Our advice? You have software adapted to your service business, i.e.:
In addition to good organization, leave yourself room for maneuver! Your project may face new obstacles along the way. Do not forget to provide an envelope as well, in case of unexpected financial investments.
Your tool for load plan must frame your project: its conduct before, during and the analyses after your project improve the performance of your teams. Always plan to have one or two collaborators ready to take over the project and ensure that all customer deliverables meet customer expectations. With such an organization that frames all your projects, all you have to do is refine your services, in order to provide a better customer experience.
Do you want to go deeper into the subject? We have lots of resources at your disposal to help you go further.
In addition to this subject, find our template”The perfect load plan for a successful deployment.”
Also discover our guides, templates and checklists in the Resources tab.
See you soon at Napta!
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