Resource Management Plan: What Is It And How To Make One?

“We don’t have enough capacity next month. Looks like we’ll have to reprioritize our projects.”

Yikes.

It’s a project manager’s nightmare having to explain to clients why something won’t be done by the deadline.

But imagine if it was more like:

“Some of us are away on a vacation next month, but we have time to move people around or adjust our schedule to meet the deadline.”

A solid resource management plan is what prepares you for such eventualities.

When done correctly, a resource management plan enables agencies to identify and solve resource gaps before they affect:

1. Client relationships and timelines
2. Team relationships and burnout
3. Revenue and profit

And we’re here to show you that what, why, and how of a resource management plan.

Let’s dive in.

What is a resource management plan?

A resource management plan helps project managers account for, allocate, manage, and release resources needed to meet project deadlines.

It also enables project managers to identify upcoming capacity gaps and ensure there’s wiggle room for any last-minute changes or delays.

A resource management plan should clearly present the number of deliverables in the pipeline, the resources required to produce them, and the resources currently available within the team.

But that’s only part of it.

To function effectively, a resource management plan must highlight:

• Team availability
• Resource gaps or surpluses
• Deadlines
• Task allocation

Why are project resource management plans important?

A project resource management plan is your friend because it:

• Brings visibility to the long-term project resource needs (so you’re more prepared at all stages and don’t overly depend on the short fixes)
• Avoids project failure due to over or under allocation of resources (you evenly distribute resources, so all projects and tasks are covered)
• Avoids unexpected risks and hurdles slapping your project’s face
• Helps keep your employees mentally fit, happy, and un-burned out
• Promotes transparency and open communication
• Helps you spot immediate gaps before you start so you don’t scramble for the solutions later
• Highlights opportunities to support/train employees who need it and reward those who are smashing their responsibilities and increasing capacity
• Helps you manage team workload and prevents burnout

In summary, it helps plan resource for a project and helps ensure that you have the right resource available at the right time.

How does a resource management plan help an agency?

Let’s say you run a blog writing agency. Here’s what a typical month looks like:

Clients	Demand (blogs)	Writers	Capacity (blogs)
Client 1	12	Writer 1	5
Client 2	8	Writer 2	15
Client 3	10	Writer 3	10
Total	30	Total	30

Since your capacity matches the client’s demands, there’s no gap. It’s a perfect month.

Unfortunately, that’s now how things work in real life.

• A client may demand more (or less) blog articles in a month
• Or a writer may need to take time off for a vacation

In such situations, Your resource management plan is the difference between “okay, time for plan B” and “balls, how will we recover?”.

At the same time, it helps you maximize your resource utilization while ensuring that no one is overworked.

For example, here are some ways you can come up with a plan B:

Situation	Additional Capacity	Plan “B”
Demand > Capacity temporarily	Some	Redistribute work
Demand > Capacity temporarily	None	Hire a freelancer
Demand > Capacity permanently	None	Hire a full-time writer

Resource management plan vs project management plan

We’ve covered what a resource management plan is. So let’s look at how it’s different than a project management plan. Here’s a quick comparison.

Resource management plan	Project management plan
Helps you identify, allocate, and manage project resources	Helps you communicate the project schedule, milestones, including resource requirements
Requires collaboration across internal teams and external vendors	Needs collaboration between clients, project managers, and vendors
Determines the most efficient, effective use of the various resources needed for a project	Describes what’s in your scope and what isn’t, and what happens if changes are required later on
Accounts for all of your resource requirements for a project and whether you need more or less during each project phase	Determines your deliverables, when they’re due, and who’s in charge of which part of the process
Source, allocate, manage, and release resources	Communicates project schedule
Helps optimize your resource utilization to meet project goals	Helps optimize budget and resources for each project stage

To summarize:

In the case of our blog writing agency, a project plan describes the schedule to deliver the articles to the client by a deadline. On the other hand, a resource management plan guides you specifically on:

Factor	What does it mean?
Demand	The number of blog articles your clients need
Capacity	The number of blog articles your team can produce
Availability	The number of blog articles your team can produce after considering time off
Resource Gap	The difference between Demand and Availability
Utilization	The ratio of Demand to Availability

What’s included in a resource management plan?

Time for some details.

What exactly does project management resource planning include?

Here is your basic breakdown with some examples:

Resource management plan component	Explanations/Examples
1. Resources	Employees and their roles (e.g., 10 writers, 3 editors) Tools (e.g., Grammarly, Clearscope, etc.) Equipment (e.g., laptops) Documentation (e.g., guidelines for each project/role)
2. Timeframes	Which resources are available when (e.g., contractors only available in the second half of the month) How to keep track of them (e.g., capacity forms and upfront communication) How to sync or fill gaps (e.g., what do you do if your client needs work done before your team has finished another project)
3. Quantity	Capacity (e.g., how many blogs can each writer complete per month) How many employees you have on each project (and whether they’re well balanced out)
4. Estimates and constraints	How long you think a task will take vs. the reality (and what to do if an employee needs more time on one task when they were supposed to start on the next one) Varying availability/capacities (e.g., an editor usually works on 10 blogs per month but is only available for two this month) Other projects team members are working on How long a client might take to respond/approve

How to create a resource management plan in 5 steps

A resource management plan is rarely a single document. Often it’s a collection of documents including:

• Resource capacity planner
• Team availability tracker
• Resource allocation tracker
• Project resource planner
• Timesheet tracker

Keep in mind that resource plan might look different for each agency.

So instead of a step-by-step guide, here’s a high-level roadmap to help you create a resource management plan that matches your agency’s needs.

1. Map out your project timeline

If you don’t know your new design client is your biggest project ever and requires a whole fleet to be done on time, you might quickly find yourself under-staffed and ill-equipped for the job.
So start by defining the scope and creating a timeline:

Make sure you’re clear on when deliverables are due, as well as what a finished one looks like and who’s in charge of it.

Break it into tasks and estimate how long each one will take.

Then, you can see what it will take to get it done.

2. Identify needed project resources

Think about all it takes to complete the project successfully and comfortably.

1. What resources do you need to complete each task?
2. How many people do you need on the task?
3. Do you need any specific tools or equipment?
4. Do you already have these resources or would you acquire them?
5. What about employee training?

Keep in mind: surprises and risks are inevitable along the way. Make plans considering these hurdles.

Now stack it up against your current resources.

3. Find the availability and capacity of existing resources

It helps if you can visualize your team’s schedule to identify any imbalances or scheduling conflicts ahead of time.

Considering your team’s current capacity, other projects, and preferences, how much work can they each take on?

Do you have enough manpower for the project?

Are you missing any skills or just more people on the team?

Is it just the short-term situation or will you need backup on an ongoing basis?

This is where you figure out how to fill the gaps.

For example, if you have 30 tasks to complete by the end of each month, but your team can only cover 25 at full capacity, your resource management plan will instantly underline that you need reinforcements.

4. Plan for hiring more resources (if necessary)

Hiring is in itself a process you need to plan out to avoid wasting your time and money.

So don’t rush into interviewing.

It’s better to sit down and think it through:

1. What skill/task/role are you hiring for?
2. How long do you need help?
3. How will you evaluate a great hire?
4. Who’s in charge of interviewing the candidates?
5. How much can you spend on testing and onboarding?
6. What’s your onboarding plan? Do you have all the documentation ready?
7. When can you start and finish the process, and who’s going to do it?

5. Map resources to project tasks

Finally, once you have all the resources, you need to connect the dots.

And this doesn’t mean just putting people on tasks at random.

You need to evaluate:

• Who’s best suited for which job and what their preferences are (for best utilization)
• What type of support they might need to deliver the product/task
• Who will do the quality control/help them along the way if needed

For example, a writer will be creating a blog, the editor is there for quality control, and then you’ll be overseeing the general timeline and making sure everything falls into place.

In Toggl Plan, you can start by adding tasks to a timeline. Then you can add assignees. If needed you can also assign multiple people to a task.

This way, everyone who’s collaborating on the task is always up to date with its status. They can communicate on the spot, and you can have an easy overview of the big picture.

In theory, that’s your preparation for everything to go right.

Now, not meaning to sound grim, but things still probably won’t go 100% according to plan… so how can you prepare yourself for potential problems?

How to mitigate resource planning risks

The best way to build resilience against project failure is to visualize everything that could go wrong, then build a contingency plan.

So, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Below are some examples.

Common resource planning risks

Budget changes

In web design, projects are usually once and done.

Imagine you planned for 10 projects of varying scales. But then—oh no—the biggest client has canceled!

Now you have to figure out what to do with the contractors or employees you had organized to do the job.

There are two great ways to mitigate this risk:

1. Include cancellation clauses in your contracts (meaning clients are less likely to drop out, and you still get paid if they do)
2. Keep internal tasks in the backlog (you could re-allocate those resources to working on your own site, for example)

Changes in resource availability

An employee could get sick.

Or a contractors could go on holiday and would not be available.

Changes like these happen all the time, which is why resource management planning needs to be a monthly/regular thing.

Task delays

For example, a client might take longer than usual to approve something, and this means that the project kickoff is pushed to the next month.

So, you still have the project, but the delay might mean you have to lose certain time-bound resources.

Who’s going to jump in and save the day?

Strong project and timeline management skills are the key to mitigating this risk.

Resource management planning tips to reduce risks

Here are a few other helpful ways to fend off the attacks and keep your project on the right track:

• Get a project scope sign-off—scope creep could plague your project otherwise
• Adapt an agile approach to delivering incrementally (the plan is your foundation but the reality rarely turns out exactly like the theory)
• Avoid over or under-allocating resources—open communication can help you get the real feel of how your team is doing
• Keep an eye on employee availability (other projects, time off, public holidays) and workloads
• Monitor project progress and flag off any delays—don’t wait and see what happens
• Don’t become reliant on short term fixes—like having people do things that aren’t their job or preference
• Prepare for the worst—rehearse for any project disaster you can imagine
• Over-communicate—it’s better to double-check that everyone understands the situation, so there are fewer errors. Plus, you might have volunteers to help when shit hits the fan

Turn your resource management plan into a repeatable process 

Resource management and planning templates can help you start planning quickly.

But your resource management plan is the sort of document you’ll be tweaking every month.

Ideally, that should be a smooth, standardized, sustainable process—otherwise, you’ll be wasting a lot of time on it.

So here are some better resource management tools that could help cover your bases instead.