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SUMMARY
Quick access: All steps
- Define the approach and objective of your process resource planning
- Creation of your profile database
- Create the skills framework and update profiles
- Update employee preferences
- Assignment of profiles to projects
- Implementation of KPIs
- Optimize the resource planning
- Support change
- Define periodic objectives and start monitoring
- Choose your tool resource planning
Step 1
Define the approach and objective of your process resource planning
Depending on the activity, the resource planning may have different objectives
- First there is the resource planning customer needs. That is to say the search for the right profile(s) to match a need expressed by a customer.
- Secondly, the work of load optimization. To make sure that the employees are correctly assigned, that there is no overload or surcharge.
- Finally, the more commercial approach which consists of anticipating the end of employee missions and ensuring that they are repositioned on projects in order to avoid inter-contracts.
These different objectives often go hand in hand with each other. But they may have a different degree of importance depending on your business strategy. It is up to you to clearly determine the objectives that the process of resource planning must give priority.
2nd step
Create the profile database
Consider internal and external profiles
If your resource planning is mainly intended to optimize the workload of employees, the process of resource planning will only require tracking internal employees. But if you want to position external profiles to meet customer needs, and if you also work regularly with freelancers and subcontractors; the database taken into account to work on your resource planning must be wider.
The 3 types of profiles to take into account are as follows:
- Internal collaborators
This internal profile database is essential to successfully achieve your marketing objectives. resource planning . All profiles must be taken into account and it must be possible to update profiles with skills and preferences (clarified in the next section).
- External profiles (subcontractors) and candidates
Knowing how to respond to all customer demands thanks to a database of profiles that will identify skills above and beyond those of internal employees can create a real competitive advantage for a service company. The chances of meeting customer requirements with the right level of skills must be maximized.
That is why it is necessary to also include the profiles of subcontractors you have already worked with, and of candidates (profile you have identified and registered) so that you can contact them if necessary.
Step 3
Create the skills framework and update profiles
What skills should be assigned to profiles?
- Define the skills framework
It is necessary to clarify the list of skills that can be attributed to the different profiles. This requires coordination between sales teams and management. They are perfectly aware of customer expectations. Human resources teams may already be monitoring these skills aspects. Alignment within your company regarding the skills framework to follow is necessary, because there is an issue of offering to the customer and career monitoring from an HR point of view.
- Assign skills to profiles
The skills must then be added to each profile with an indication of the mastery of each of them. The skill level is an interesting addition to facilitate the choice when several profiles have the same skill requested by a client. It is important that this update is done massively if it is to be done by the same person. Otherwise, each employee must be given the opportunity to update his or her own skills, before the manager checks them.
- Added post-mission skills
As the employee completes projects, they accumulate new skills or develop existing ones. You must be able to give yourself the possibility of an update after each project in order to keep your skills base up to date.
Step 4
Update employee preferences
Choose profiles based on customer criteria and integrate preferences
Choosing profiles based on customer criteria is imperative. Furthermore, integrating employee preferences into the selection criteria is a real asset for employees. It is an approach that promotes the progression of teams' careers and the development of profiles' skills. This is the type of process that promotes employee satisfaction and retention.
- You must first choose the type of preferences that can be updated
In order to remain pragmatic, it is necessary to define what types of preferences can be updated by employees. They must in fact be able to be used in the choices of resource planning , otherwise this approach will end up creating more frustration among employees than satisfaction. Also, it is important that these preferences correspond to the criteria used in requests for resource planning so that a “matching” can be made.
- It is then necessary to carry out a campaign to update preferences
Ideally, communication to launch a campaign over a limited period ensures that all employees update their preferences. You want to make sure you have easy tracking to know who hasn't updated their preferences so you can follow them up again.
Step 5
Assignment of profiles to projects
Fill the resource planning by allocating the forecast load to date on the projects
- Customer projects
It is necessary to confirm on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, the time planned to be spent in the future on each client project. Project managers are the people who will have the best visibility to indicate what remains to be done to each employee, and over what period this work should be planned.
- Internal projects
It is also necessary to take into account the load linked to internal projects. This ranges from the time spent on management to the various internal projects to which employees make a contribution. Scheduling is often planned in terms of number of hours or portion of day over a period. For example, half a day per week dedicated to management.
This update makes it possible to take into account the associated load and thus reduce the capacity of employees to avoid overloading them.
- Absences and part-time work
Finally, it is appropriate to position all planned absences, and when employees are part-time, to indicate the dates on which they cannot work. If, for example, an employee works four-fifths and is absent every Friday, his capacity absolutely must reflect this.
Step 6
Implementation of KPIs
What key indicators to monitor?
At this stage, you have a consolidated visual of the load, as well as detailed information by profile (and potentially by team). Here are the key indicators that must be followed:
- Occupancy rate : this rate calculates the occupancy percentage of a resource by integrating all activities and projects (clients, internal, holidays included, etc.)
Objective : to see the overall occupation of the employee and check if he or she has the capacity to be staffed on client or internal projects.
- TACE (staff activity rate): the percentage of time spent on billable projects compared to the time available.
Objective : ensure that employees spend sufficient time on projects that generate turnover to preserve margins.
- Forecast turnover vs Valuated production: it is possible thanks to the forecast load to know how the turnover will progress in future periods. For a fixed-price project, the progress of the project will make it possible to determine the turnover that will be recognized over the next periods. For a project under management, production multiplied by a daily rate makes it possible to determine the produced and billable turnover. You have to be able to calculate and differentiate them.
How to set up an effective resource planning management process?
Discover all the essential steps in our guide
Steps 7 & 8
Optimize the resource planning and support change
Identify the issues
The global view that you have created now allows you to identify issues and answer the following questions:
- Who is overstaffed?
- Who is understaffed?
- Which teams have low projected staff activity rates?
- THE resource planning Does the current situation enable the turnover objectives to be achieved?
The role of the operations manager is to resolve each of these points by making the necessary decisions and adjusting the assignments so that the indicators are at the right level.
Coordinate change
The establishment of a resource planning performance that improves performance involves coordinating change so that data is regularly updated. This updating frequency is imperative so that the data you rely on to make decisions is reliable and relevant.
Project managers must be trained and empowered so that they update the forecast load regularly on their projects. Ideally, a review of their project portfolio should be done every month. It is also necessary to set up a meeting of resource planning regularly to facilitate arbitration.
Depending on the needs of the different teams and customer issues, a decision taken collectively by a manager promotes performance improvement.
Steps 9 & 10
Define periodic objectives and start monitoring and choose your monitoring tool resource planning
Analysis of indicators
Now that everything is in place, we must define the objectives to be achieved on which the resource planning has a direct impact. The KPIs identified above must be reviewed by management and monthly, quarterly and annual objectives must be set. The employee approach also makes it possible to consolidate at the level of groups of people (teams, business unit, role, etc.).
These indicators must therefore be analyzed from different angles, and objectives at each level must be set to strengthen performance.
Choose a tool resource planning
You have the choice to work on your resource planning on spreadsheets and design models or choose a tool for resource planning dedicated. As you imagine, it is the second option that we recommend. Spreadsheets create the following problems:
- Updates that are not made in real time
- Complexity of working with several people on a file
- Risk of obsolescence of a model, or inability to maintain it
- Lack of intelligence and data vision
- Lack of visuals
Are you going to opt for a tool resource planning ?
With Stafiz, automate: the search for profiles, positioning on customer needs, and production schedules.
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