Hello, I want to make resource planning for the company ( say 500 people). We execute the projects on task force (projectized) and non task force concept. However, there are more frequent shifting of resource (person) from one project to other (meaning resources shared). We execute Detail engineering projects. I face problem in making overall organization resource plan, and finding resource gaps. could anyone can help me in this? Any specific excel template or any software's available? Many thanks Olivia

Hi In my consideration excel is not a complete resource planning software. One can do a bit of scheduling in excel but it doesn’t have those robust features that are a pre requisite in a resource planning software. You should consider something that exclusively focuses on resource planning, management and scheduling. I searched a lot on web for it and I found that most software had functionalities which are beyond our requirement and many of them too expensive. I halted my search on software named eResource Scheduler. I tried it for a while, it was worth trying. It had everything that was needed. Drag & drop scheduling, niche detailed reporting, time sheet management are some of the many features the software comes along with. The software has an inbuilt check that prevents overloading of a resource which in-turn helps when the resources are being shared. Try it, it may prove useful to you. Thanks

Hi P6 is considered the best software for this purpose. Further you need to consider making resource dependent schedules considering availability of key resources govern your project schedule, instead of task dependent schedules. Have a comprehensive production rate analysis ready (key design resources in your case) for your programme development purpose, and utilize the resource balancing capabilities that P6 provides you for conducting various what if case scenarios with minimal effort,when compared to other softwares. James

Hi Olivia P6 is generally considered as best option for this requirement. You can define each individual by name and share them across projects for optimum resource utilisation. Those who don’t have P6, generally prefer to have customised software for this purpose which allows them to have seamless data flow with other systems. Ofcourse one can create robust Excel DB with the help of macros to fit this requirement. Thanks VS Smith