Resource management: what is resource allocation?
Agathe Placet
Content manager
September 13, 2023
4 min
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A project reflects the resources allocated and how these resources are used. Budget, time, staff and skills: all these parameters matter, but in different proportions depending on the project you want to deploy.
That's where your Process of Resource Allocation.
Learn about the importance of optimal resource management for your consulting firm and the steps you need to take to design a strategic and agile resource allocation process.
The Resource Allocation (resource allocation) aims to maximizing the use of limited resources (time, financial resources, personnel, etc.) to achieve specific goals. It is an essential part of project management and strategic decision making.
To optimize this process, you need to consider the resources in their comprehensiveness, for example:
The challenge is not limited to identifying resources. For your consulting firm or ESN (Digital Services Company), the multiplicity of projects, of various types, in the short, medium or long term is an additional imperative to take into account.
Some projects require very specialized skills (implementation of an ERP system for example), while others involve a transversal know-how (such as a digital development project for an SME).
Correcting a resource allocation error is therefore not simply the same as making a few calls to your consultants to change their allocation to a particular project. Correcting the situation may require you to review the entire structure of the project and therefore has an inevitable impact on your customer relationship.
The importance of Resource Allocation should therefore not be overlooked.
Effective resource management is not only a matter of good organizational sense, but is above all crucial for the long-term profitability and competitiveness of your firm for the reasons we saw above.
A poor allocation of resources can in fact lead to serious consequences on your business:
It can also create a vicious circle. Take the example of a ESN specialized in the development of mobile applications. Developer teams have skills that can be mobilized on all projects. However, if a project falls behind schedule (for example, because the number of developers required has been underestimated), this has a snowball effect on other projects.
Finally, the distribution of resources directly affects the financial results of the company.
Managing the process of managing and distributing resources is complex. The company must take into account numerous variables in addition to raw resources. For example, for a consultant, it is not only a question of his skills, but also of his affinities with certain types of projects, his professional aspirations, etc.
Consulting firms and ESNs are also facing uncertainties : deadlines, changes in the scope of the mission, fluctuating customer requirements are all elements likely to impact resource management.
After everything we've just presented to you, you could almost forget that resource management is actually a real opportunity for your consulting firm. Projects are carried out on time, capital is better used, etc. The quality of deliverables is improved and customer satisfaction is growing.
But these benefits do not fall from the sky and require you to define and follow a well-defined process.
The first step you need to validate is to comprehensively map available resources, such as computer hardware, the time available for your consultants, and the budget. In the specific case of Staffing, you have to go beyond simple availability to also understand specific skills, levels of expertise, and the other projects that each resource is already assigned to.
After identifying these resources, you need to allocate strategically to different projects. Some have tight deadlines, others require rare skills, still others are critical to turnover, etc.
To do this, use your key performance indicators (KPI, Key performance indicator in English). They will help you prioritize the distribution of resources to the most important or urgent projects.
If there is one thing in common to all the missions that your firm carries out, it is that the lack of team coordination is fatal. It is impossible to have an omniscient vision of resources, needs, projects, etc. So you must create the resource allocation plan also in consultation with the various stakeholders. These can be department directors, project managers, and sometimes the customers themselves.
Thanks to Feedback of those interested, you will be able to make adjustments and to validate the plan of Resource Allocation.
Flexibility and resilience are essential characteristics of any good allocation of resources.
Many unforeseen events can impact the proper management of a project. : delays, sudden unavailability of a consultant, changes in company or client priorities, etc.
You must therefore be agile, in order to be able to quickly redeploy resources if a key resource is missing in the future.
Multiple tools facilitate resource management. Smaller teams often use freely downloadable matrices, such as the Gantt matrix. For small-scale projects, it is an indispensable tool for visualizing deadlines, relationships between different tasks, etc. It is a simple way to monitor the progress of projects and ensure that resources are properly allocated.
However, this type of technique shows its limits for large teams.. When projects (and resources) accumulate, this graphical representation quickly becomes illegible and counterproductive.
It is therefore advisable to opt for a Software of Resource Allocation. This tool offers an intuitive interface to get an overview of the various resources, ongoing projects, etc.
For example, think of Staffing software. This system is designed to take into account numerous factors, such as the availability of consultants, their professional skills and ambitions, etc.
This type of dedicated tool offers, most of the time, access to a centralized and connected platform, providing you with real-time updates on the availability of resources, fluid information and coherent communication between the various stakeholders. Resources are therefore more likely to be deployed on time (Resource Scheduling).
The Resource Allocation is vital for businesses, especially for consulting firms and ESNs, who manage numerous projects. The availability and skills of employees, the available capital, the tools in place, etc. must be considered to ensure the effective deployment of resources.
To do this, it is crucial to identify the various resources available to you and the needs of each project, in order to deploy them at the right time (Resource planning). You must proceed strategically, in consultation with your teams and in reactivity to the unexpected.. A dedicated solution, such as a staffing software, helps you to control the allocation of resources and its myriad of parameters, considerably increasing your chances of succeeding in your missions and, by extension, your customer relationship.
See you soon at Napta!
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