Planning management in service companies: definition and challenges
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Estelle
Content manager
July 30, 2021
7 min
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When We Talk About Planning-Management In companies, we often expect the organization of working time, associated with tasks and/or actions to be carried out, over a given period of time. This can be an individual's working time, personal tasks, and deadlines, as well as time spent working on a larger project, for example, at the level of a team or department.
For people in charge of Planning-Management, this then amounts to allocating working time to an individual or a group of individuals, in order to organize their work as optimally and simply as possible.
If planning management, in most companies, is a problem that arises at the level of a project or a team, the challenge of the latter is one of the most important for service companies. And for good reason, the profitability of this type of business is based on their ability to optimize the allocation of their resources to customer missions, current and future. In short, organize the time of each collaborator according to the different projects.
The role of the planning manager, while primarily operational, is closely linked to all the more macro strategies within an organization. Indeed, the decisions and choices of resource allocation made by the latter will impact the progress of projects as a whole, but also the financial profitability of the company and the action plans developed by the HR department. Therefore, planning management becomes a problem at the crossroads of operational, financial and HR concerns.
The main objective of managers is to guarantee the performance of their team on each of their projects and to ensure that they are delivered on time. For Optimize this performance and absorb as many projects as possible, it is essential to know the availability in real time and to be able to anticipate workforce needs in the more or less long term.
One of the first performance indicators for a business is its profitability. This is why managers are very attentive to the profitability rates of each project, internal or external. To monitor this indicator closely and manage your activity in the best possible way, it is essential to have reliable and actionable data available.
For HR departments, knowing the resources required to carry out future projects makes it possible to anticipate future needs to support the development of the company. This highlights the implementation of recruitment, training or mobility plans to ensure the availability of the required devices and skills.
It is therefore obvious that the establishment of an optimized schedule management process is essential for the growth and sustainability of a company. But changing processes, even if they are not very (or even not) efficient, is often a challenge for companies to take up. However, the benefits associated with this transformation (necessary!) Are legion:
A schedule management process established and supported by dedicated planning software saves time at all levels of the company. First of all, the information necessary for team planning is centralized and updated automatically, effortlessly and without the risk of error. That's nearly 10 hours of work saved each week for resource managers! This result has an impact on managers, for whom the time between the expression of a need for resources and the positioning of an employee on their project is reduced by 30%.
One Planning-Management optimal allows, prior to the launch of projects, to ensure the mobilization of a system perfectly adapted to the needs of the latter. But not only that! An efficient process also allows, During the Project, to adjust and modify the system according to its evolution. This ability to react to possible slip-ups is essential to optimize project margins and maximize its profitability, in terms of budget and time.
By planning future projects based on the resources currently available in your company, you are in a position to highlight the shortcomings that could slow down your development in the future. For example, if you are taking on more and more IT projects and all the employees competent on the subject are no longer available for 1 year, it is essential to implement HR actions to train or recruit. Thus, you do not let any project pass due to lack of resources!
Service companies have the particularity of having an internal organization based 100% on what is called “project mode.” Indeed, if the employees are employees of the service company, the objective of the latter is to position them not on internal projects, but on missions suffered by external customers. This is particularly the case for consulting firms and NSEs for example. For these companies, work organization is not limited to establishing the schedules of employees, but to finely positioning them on the projects that are most consistent with their availability and skills.
La Planning-Management (also called “staffing management”) determine their profitability. Building project teams for incoming missions is therefore a crucial task which, from a certain size of company, is the subject of a full position. To ensure the progress of the project in the best conditions and in compliance with time and budget, it is essential to set up a competent, available, experienced and motivated project team. When the project teams deployed meet these conditions, the impacts on activity and performance are felt:
By correctly and simultaneously managing the schedule of all employees, you do not exceed 100% of the workload for each individual. The teams formed are fully available for their project, do not burn out and are fully focused on their mission. The performance of everyone and of the company in general is improved.
Few projects go off without a hitch from launch to end date. Unexpected events and slip-ups are common, especially on long-term projects. However, optimal planning management allows you to apprehend these changes with serenity and efficiency. You are in a position to anticipate and bounce back if the dates, the system or the mission change.
As we saw earlier, Planning-Management is at the crossroads of all of a company's most important challenges. Like all other processes, its optimization is largely based on digitalization and the ability of companies to equip themselves properly, with software dedicated to this central problem in service companies. Now let's see what are the essential criteria to be met by a planning management solution to allow you to obtain full satisfaction.
Possibility for each manager/project manager to have an overview of the overall schedules of the structure and to make additions or modifications if necessary.
Possibility of creating a process adapted to your business and your needs.
Possibility to find all the data necessary for planning (availability, seniority, skills, aspirations, past experiences, etc.).
Possibility to manage everyone's access rights and authorizations in a flexible way.
Possibility to automatically generate reports.
Possibility of communication via an intelligent notification and alert system.
Possibility to retrieve all the information necessary for the management of schedules. Requires an open API that can connect to your existing tools.
Obligation to comply with the RGPD and to guarantee the protection and backup of data.
Possibility and ability to adapt to changes in your processes.
Possibility to manage your planning process on a simple and ergonomic interface.
You have now understood the importance of optimizing the management of the schedule in your company. This makes it possible to support the activity and performance of the company and allows your employees to work on projects that motivate them. Your entire organization will benefit from it!
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 infographic”Management of staffing: 5 methods of organization”.
Also discover our guides, templates and checklists in the Resources tab.
See you soon at Napta!
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