Resource management includes all the planning and scheduling techniques making sure that everyone has access to the required resources in order to meet an objective. It helps organizations allocate people, money and technology in a way that can magnify its value. The availability of the right resources at the right time for the right project signifies efficient resource management practices. Whether completing a task or a project or analyzing what needs to be done, resources are the key to any business objective. It can be your project finance, human capital, technology, or any other resource. Resource management aims to make an efficient and effective use of each of these resources.

What is project resource management?

Project resource management is a series of Planning-Organizing-Scheduling-and Managing a project’s resources in such an effective way that it can optimize the productivity within limited resource constraints.

Resources of Project Management: Resource management sits at the core of every project, no matter what field you are in. Whether you are working on a website or a construction project, here are some types of resources that you will come across in project management.

• Labor
• Equipment
• Materials and supplies
• Cost
• Facilities
• Time

What’s the Goal of Managing Resources?

Undoubtedly maximizing efficiency is the primary goal of resource management, but there are other goals also associated with it.
Below are some of the ways resource management can help organizations in achieving their goal.

• See how project resources are engaged and pinpoint strategies to improve utilization.
• Gain transparency in the planning process.
• Forecast resource availability for future projects.
• Develop a strategy for choosing the most feasible projects.
• Methods for creating a resource capacity plan.
• Track project progress.
• Make sure your portfolio contains the right projects for the right talent.
• Determine if your company needs to hire freelancers or outsource.

Benefits of resource management in construction projects:

Resource management provides a plethora of benefits to construction project owners. Below listed are some of those benefits:

• Gain visibility of all construction management resources: Having the required resources at the primary location is often a task that becomes even more challenging without the right project management system. An efficient project resource management solution provides you with a 360-degree view of skills, qualifications, experience, cost, required time and other crucial information. When you have a resource management plan in place, you don’t need to combine multiple spreadsheets to track and allocate apt resources for your project.
  
  
• Reduce construction project costs: Construction projects face numerous limitations like resource costs, price volatility, project uncertainties, and much more. These constraints make construction projects vulnerable to budget and deadline overruns. Project management software finely observes crucial financial indicators such as costs, revenues, profit margins, and overheads which ultimately helps you avoid budget overruns. Project owners can control the budget by tracking & comparing forecasts with actual spending over equal time frequently.
  
  
• Improve productivity of construction resources: Resource management in construction entails strategic distribution of resources to the project while considering crucial factors like time and budget. This approach results in optimized workforce productivity. An efficient PMIS can help you accurately anticipate the efficient utilization of resources in advance.
  
  
• Helps plan construction pipeline project activities: Lack of information about forthcoming projects often results in a rush for the right resources at the last minute. You might end up spending unnecessarily on hiring and firing, declining the quality of your project.  However, an objective-driven resource management solution through PMIS can help you stay away from such last-minute chaos by enabling planning and assembling the required skilled team ahead of time.
  
  Resource capacity planning empowers project owners to precisely anticipate and satisfy the requirements of future or pipeline construction projects. It enables them to assess the resource capacity with the demand in order to detect excesses and shortages. Subsequently, project owners can implement appropriate resource management practices including training, adjusting project timelines, hiring additional resources or utilizing the excess by sales in order to fill any gaps that exist.
  
  
• Facilitate construction team collaboration: Effective team collaboration is extremely important for a clear understanding of responsibilities among stakeholders. The interrelated nature of tasks in construction projects makes it essential for the team members to have a shared understanding. Resource management fosters team collaboration, hence, enhancing positive relationships between team members through effective communication and ensuring that everyone is well-informed and in sync.

Challenges associated with resource management in construction projects:

• Lack of resource planning and scheduling tools: Project owners need to have the right tools at their disposal in order to have a competitive edge in this technologically advanced era. Limited to basic admin work, silos of spreadsheets or home-grown tools fail to address construction resource management challenges efficiently, being time-consuming and error-prone. Hence, resulting in scheduling conflicts such as double bookings.
  
  Using PMIS as a resource planning tool enables you to map the skill sets of your resources and schedule tasks accordingly. Using the software, you can easily assign tasks best suited to resources according to their unique skills. Forecasts, schedules, and task allocations can be made according to your requirements.
  
  
• Poor resource utilization: Utilizing resources is a critical measure to consider in construction project management. However, keeping track of the right metrics can be tricky at times. Often, project owners also miss utilization when resources are not active on tasks to generate income. Neglecting resource utilization can result in a demotivated and unengaged workforce. They can make more mistakes as they lack focus and thus, fail to meet the company’s standards.
  
  
• Poor resource utilization: Utilizing resources is a critical measure to consider in construction project management. However, keeping track of the right metrics can be tricky at times. Often, project owners also miss utilization when resources are not active on tasks to generate income. Neglecting resource utilization can result in a demotivated and unengaged workforce. They can make more mistakes as they lack focus and thus, fail to meet the company’s standards.
  
  Having a clear understanding of your team’s current resource utilization rate will help you recognize if your employees are overwhelmed with the workload. Analysing this rate can help you reassign and reschedule tasks as required. An efficient resource management system can guarantee that project vacancies will be filled effectively and no extra capacity will go in vain. This way you can optimize resource utilization and make sure that the tasks are delivered on time.
  
  
• Lack of clarity or poor communication: Ineffective communication can be a major factor that hampers project success. Owners are supposed to enhance team collaboration in order to ensure smooth construction project management. A unified platform for team collaboration is important for the teams and all stakeholders to foster good communication. Here are some other ways it can help team members:-
  
  1. Thoroughly understand project goals
  2. Utilizes approved project documents
  3. Updates tasks when necessary
  4. Track overall project progress
  5. Log risks and issues

Conclusion

Construction resource management can be daunting. However, the use of proper resource planning and organizing can optimize productivity and make sure that there are no resource conflicts. A resource management system is a great solution to deliver construction projects within the assigned timeline and cost bracket.

The OnIndus Solution

OnIndus facilitates businesses with automation and integration solutions that empower them to enhance their operational efficiency, preciseness, communication, and resource management for their capital projects. With the help of automation of manual and repetitive tasks, owners can effectively mitigate the risk of errors, improve speed, and reduce costs. Our expertise in managing these system integration services allows connection between disparate systems and software, allowing uninterrupted data exchange and streamlining workflows. This enables owners to have a centralized view of the active operations, enhance decision-making and increase productivity.

Additionally, we assist project owners in leveraging numerous technologies, which enable companies to automate complicated tasks, extract valuable insights from large data chunks, and make informed decisions based on data analysis.