The thing about any industry is that it's a people business. Organizations are challenged with ensuring the right people are on the right projects, but how are they able to do this effectively you may ask? The truth is - having a smarter approach to resourcing will guarantee success.
Few organizations give project managers the visibility they need to know what's happening in the business. Without a centralized system in place, it's simply not practical. This whitepaper identifies those areas of improvement when it comes to resourcing and how a centralized project and resource planning system can provide the visibility to help with long-term resource strategy building.
Introduction
Once upon a time, there was a project. It began when it was supposed to, everything happened to schedule and the client didn’t ask for a single change during delivery. The project was delivered on time, and they all lived happily ever after.
Yes, it’s a fairy tale.
In reality, just as frogs don’t turn into princes, professional services projects never run that smoothly. Things happen: external events change client priorities; tasks overrun; a key member of the project team gets sick.
The true test of your mettle is how you deal with these obstacles, so that your service delivery remains in synch with customer demands – no matter which has evolved or why. Can you spot a delay or issue before it escalates? What contingencies, in terms of budget, time and access to skilled resource, have you built in? How able is the business as a whole to respond?
Multiple projects, multiple problems
This latter factor is key. If you only had a couple of projects, a problem in one could be easily absorbed and resources re-channelled so the overall impact on the business and the clients would be minimal. But when you’ve got multiple projects, in multiple locations, that simply isn’t possible. Issues in your service delivery affect not only your project and customer, but your colleagues’ projects too.
Take a simple example: a consultant is caught up on location, and has to stay on for a week. The knock-on effect is immediate: not only is the current project running late, but so is his next one. And, unless the problem is recognized, other members of both project teams may be twiddling their thumbs, waiting for a stage to be completed. Employees are frustrated, the business margin is hit and even your customer – content today that their immediate issue is solved – will be wondering next week why a key milestone has been missed.
