The ability to obtain, structure, and analyze resource management information is central to the success of the project management offices (PMO). In this blog, we outline three key challenges that PMO resource management software can help you deal with:
- Resource allocation
- Resource monitoring and reporting
- Training, development, and resource acquisition
The PMO: a recap
A project management office (PMO) is an internal department within an organization that is dedicated to ensuring all projects across project portfolios are managed in line with the company’s standards and long-term strategy. By centralizing the project management function, large organizations and enterprises can ensure that standards are met across departments and the line of business.
The PMO takes charge of several functions within a business, including:
- Delivering projects on time, to budget, and to the standards required
- Ensuring the long-term strategy of the business is maintained within project management
- Managing the various connections and links between projects across the business
- Communicating with stakeholders across all projects and portfolios
Overcome these 3 challenges
Here are three areas that resource management software can help the PMO.
1. Resource allocation
Resource allocation is at the heart of project management in the PMO. You have several goals to achieve, and you have a finite number of resources to utilize in order to achieve those goals. How you go about putting all of this together, balancing the two, and, ultimately, achieving those goals is what project management is all about.
The larger the organization, the trickier resource allocation becomes. When a PMO functioning at the enterprise-level has to do all of this for such a vast portfolio of projects, some extra help is required. PMO resource management software can provide that by making it easy to input or upload resource information so that everything is kept up to date and ready for you to work with. You can move resource data around on the screen and see how to best allocate your people.
2. Resource monitoring and reporting
In the fast pace of the digital world, resource visibility is key. With the business being connected in the cloud, operations are more agile and spread out (geographically) than ever before. The data being created is larger than ever too. To keep up with all of this information, you need to have the software to help you make sense of it. Excel spreadsheets are not the answer – scrolling through rows and rows of cells is not practical. If you cannot look at your resource data and quickly and easily see who is doing what, when and how, then you will not be able to manage resources effectively.
PMO resource management software goes far beyond Excel spreadsheets to offer visual dashboards and real-time reporting, which allows you to stay on top of resources at all times. What’s more, the popular PPM tools, like Microsoft Project, used by many organizations have limited resource management functionality, especially when it comes to visibility and real-time functionality. This is where dedicated resource management software really shows its worth.
3. Training, development, and resource acquisition
Project success requires people with the right skills, but what happens when your organizations lack these resources? You can train and develop your current people or bring in new staff on a permanent- or contract basis. But how do you decide which of these options to take? PMO resource management software can provide such a granular view of resource data that it becomes easy to weigh up your options and make the right decision.
Sometimes a bird’s eye view is useful too. When looking at your entire resource data in one go, you can see where there are skill gaps. Resource management software gives you both options: the power to zoom in on individual resources and the ability to see the all-important bigger picture.
For example, a project might require a certain number of technicians to have particular health and safety qualifications. By being able to view your organization’s resource based on their skill set, you can see how many people have the required qualifications. This can not only help you allocate resource more effectively but inform your training or resource acquisition if it is required – and information can be shared with key stakeholders or HR or whoever needs to see it to get these training programs rolling as quickly as possible.
The best in PMO resource management
Tempus Resource is an award-winning resource management solution that gives project managers a set of sophisticated tools to optimize their resources. Tempus Resource’s range of powerful features includes resource modelling, resource forecasting, and what-if analysis. Its simple interface allows project managers to carry out advanced resource management with ease.
To learn more about the benefits of PMO resource management software and how it can help your PMO drive forward with greater efficiency and better results, get in touch with us at ProSymmetry today.
