Resource Scheduling: Pros, Cons, and Ways to Improve the Process and the Results

When planning multiple projects with a shared resource pool, one of the main challenges is to ensure a balanced workload, prevent resources from being overloaded, and avoid project delays. Resource scheduling is considered the cornerstone of smooth flow and helps to deliver the projects on time, but what is resource scheduling, and is it really so effective for project planning and smooth delivery? In this article, I’d like to focus on the importance of resource scheduling, the benefits of resource scheduling, and its drawbacks, as well as ways to improve it with proven alternatives. 

What is resource scheduling in project management?

Project resource scheduling is a process of incorporating resource capacity and equipment into a project schedule. Time-constrained and resource-constrained scheduling are the two main resource scheduling methods. In the first case, the schedule is created in such a way as not to miss project deadlines, while the other method implies preventing resource overload. Time-constrained resource scheduling increases the risks of budget overrun as the projects may require additional resources, while resource-constrained scheduling increases the risks of project delays.

This method of planning is usually used for complex multi-project environments with limited resources. But is creating a resource schedule really suitable for such environments, and what are its pros and cons? 

Advantages and disadvantages of resource scheduling

Resource scheduling in project management is a proven technique with lots of advantages if performed correctly. The main benefits of resource scheduling are:

• It improves resource efficiency and ensures smooth workflow.

• It optimizes the utilization of resources and prevents extra expenditures. 

• It simplifies project control and lets a project manager react promptly to any threats.

• It organizes and structures the work of resources as they have a clear understanding of their individual tasks and when they should be done. 

At the same time, despite the numerous advantages of scheduling, scheduling resources has its drawbacks, especially when carried out improperly. Therefore, the disadvantages of scheduling resources include:

• The complexity of collecting and managing huge data sets and further creation of resource schedules (if we’re talking about multi-project environments with large complex projects).

• Employees’ emotional burnout due to unbalanced workload (overload and idleness go hand in hand, and both have a harmful effect) or improper allocation.

• Absence of flexibility: strict schedules don’t provide enough opportunities to deal with uncertainty, and in complex multi-project environments, unexpected events may happen daily. 

• High price of scheduling inaccuracy. Taking into account the difficulty of accurate planning and scheduling, resource scheduling without the right tools puts project success and budgets at risk. 

• Resource conflicts and bottlenecks may arise as a result of wrong scheduling because of task dependencies. Remember that even with slight project scope changes, several projects may require the same critical resource, which will create a resource conflict. A bottleneck may occur if scheduling is made regardless of buffer time or if it's used incorrectly. 

What is the best alternative to traditional resource scheduling, or how can it be improved to enhance resource utilization?

Together with resource planning, resource scheduling is a brilliant technique to ensure smooth workflow and trouble-free project delivery, but it requires the help of the right tools. Resource scheduling software is a tool that helps project and resource managers overcome the shortcomings of traditional resource scheduling by gaining data-driven insights, the highest level of accuracy, and many more. Let’s briefly outline the opportunities and benefits a resource scheduling software tool like Epicflow and an alternative approach to resource management can give you:

• Accuracy in planning future projects

• Ultimate flexibility 

• Better preparedness for uncertainty 

• Enhanced risk management 

• Data-driven project and resource management decisions

So, how exactly do a software solution and a framework ensure proper resource scheduling?

Now, let’s overview the main features of resource scheduling software that can significantly improve resource scheduling through the example of Epicflow:

Automatic prioritization 

Automatic prioritization of project tasks sensitive to real-time changes that may happen to your projects and resources lets you get rid of strict schedules and provides flexibility. Therefore, you can promptly react to any changes in your project environments and always have your projects on track. Besides, every employee has a task list that is updated in real time, which also improves their efficiency making them focused on one assignment at a time.

Capacity forecasting

Automatic resource capacity planning before the start of the project helps you learn if your available human resources and equipment can cope with the required scope of work and ensure the timely delivery of the planned projects. In other words, a resource scheduling tool calculates and shows resource demand, so you always know how many people and how much equipment you'll need. If the capacity isn’t enough, you can adjust your plan and try project staggering: after ordering your projects according to their business value, you can postpone the least important ones based on available capacity to minimize the delays.

Predicting bottlenecks

Predicting and preventing overload and ensuring a bottleneck-free project environment is possible with a few clicks in the Future Load graph. This feature analyzes real-time data about resource workload and forecasts the workload distribution over time.

Competence management and resource allocation

Epicflow assists in resource competence management and suggests semi-automatic resource allocation based on capacity, availability of resources, skill sets, and attributes of every employee in a project team with Resource Allocation Advisor. This feature essentially improves and simplifies the allocation of resources and the overall resource scheduling process, so that you can be sure that the right resources work on the right tasks.

Virtual assistance

Get notifications about possible threats such as a probability of a bottleneck or errors, prompts of assigning resources, and more with Epica virtual assistant. It can also calculate the best days for a vacation for any project team member to avoid bottlenecks and delays (it calculates the dates when the employee’s absence won’t affect the schedule). 

What-if simulations

Leverage informed decision-making that ensures confidence in the correctness of any project and resource management action and get the expected results with the What-if analysis. The simulations can be shared between multiple users, which makes decision making even easier and more efficient. 

At the same time, all these features won’t bring you maximum benefits without these essential rules:

• Don’t let your resources work on several tasks at the same time. They have their task lists with prioritized assignments, so they should do their tasks one by one to avoid bad multi-tasking and, as a result, decreased productivity.

• Forget about strict task deadlines and make your teams follow a simple rule: “Finish your tasks ASAP and report its completion”. This will improve resource productivity and help eliminate Parkinson’s law and student syndrome effects. 

• Manage buffer time in an intelligent way: add extra time for emergencies only to the end of the project and eliminate it from each task. This will also help you avoid student syndrome and the Parkinson's law effect. 

Final thoughts about resource scheduling

Resource scheduling as a process of allocating the right resources to the right tasks at the right time is a brilliant technique that can ensure smooth flow across the project portfolio and help get the desired project outcomes with the approved finish dates and project budget. Despite the advantages of project scheduling in terms of resources, both time-constrained scheduling and resource-constrained scheduling have lots of disadvantages: lack of flexibility, high risks of delays and burnout, complexity, and others. Schedule resources with the right resource management software solution, taking into account all the nuances of complex multi-project environments, and this will become a key to stressless delivery and outstanding project results. A resource scheduling software solution in tandem with the right methodology ensures accurate resource forecasting and allocation and helps avoid delays, cost overruns, and emotional burnout in resources. Resource management software lets you enjoy the benefits of effective resource scheduling and, as a result, successful delivery of projects and increased client satisfaction.