According to a 2015 report by 2080 Strategy Execution, a training company, the biggest challenge for Project Management Offices (PMO) across industries was resource management. And it still is.
The reason for this comes down to the simple economics of supply and demand, where the volume of resources available for a project fails to meet the size of the project. Challenges may also arise from the mismanagement in resource allocation, or when the capability of available resources is insufficient. When the resources at your disposal are not fit for purpose, the outcomes can suffer.
In this post, we will look at several specific challenges faced by the PMO and how resource management tools can help overcome them.
Prioritizing people in the PMO
The role of the PMO is concerned with planning and executing projects of all sizes within an organization and making the whole process of project management smoother and more effective. This is good news for your business. Good PMO strategy can:
- Organize your project portfolio with a view on long-term business strategy, avoiding short-sighted decisions.
- Deliver projects on time, to budget and to the right scale.
- Understand and link the various connections between projects across the business and how they may depend on each other.
- Improve communication between stakeholders across project portfolios.
- Increase the awareness of the value of the PMO and project processes.
While the potential benefits of a well-managed PMO are clear, the office faces several challenges. Let’s look at some of the challenges that PMOs face when it comes to resource management and ways in which you can offer the right solutions.
Challenges faced without good resource management tools
Resource capacity planning
Measuring capacity is a major part of resource management. Many organizations don’t know or don’t have the means to measure the available resources they have for upcoming projects and consequently can’t plan as effectively.
Risk assessment
Risks associated with project processes, timelines, equipment, unforeseen events, etc., are the obvious concerns for most businesses. Assessing a project’s risk related to your available resources is something that is often overlooked, yet it’s essential to consider the various risks and opportunities that exist in the allocation of resources.
Skill shortage
Having good numbers of staff is not the same as having the right volume of employees with the right skillset for a project. As well as this, assigning the right people to the right tasks is equally important.
Unrealistic schedules
You could have the right people doing the right tasks but if the project is set with an unrealistic schedule and a deadline is too tight, then the project is destined to fail. This is where good planning becomes essential right across your project portfolio.
Resource management tools are the key
ProSymmetry’s resource management solution, Tempus Resource, is dedicated to ensuring your project managers can see a complete picture of their resources across the project portfolio, including current and future projects. Our solution provides cutting-edge modeling and forecasting to enable your PMO to approach resource allocation in the most effective way possible. Taking a single project or your complete portfolio, project managers can create resource allocation models to test, in real time, the effects of changing or modifying a project. This helps your project managers make better project-related decisions.
They can see how a project would change if they added an extra employee or changed people around to better utilize their skills. At the center of successful and effective resource management is having all the requisite information available to enable better foresight and control.
Unlocking a great combination
To achieve the benefits promised by your PMO you need a combination of good people, well-planned processes and the right supporting technology. PMO best practices should be prioritized by your organization. The difference between a successful project and one that fails could have massive repercussions. And yet, PMOs are managing project selection, prioritization, resource capability planning and other deliverables without good resource management tools.
Effective resource management is often the difference between keeping a project to deadline or from running out of control. Tempus Resource is the perfect partner to make sure your project goals are set correctly and met every time.
For more information on resource management and devising a resource allocation model to get better answers for your resource questions, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us today.
