People really are the most important asset a business has, yet so many organisations struggle to put effective resource management processes into place.
According to the Resource Management Institute (RMI), the number one objective for executing effective resource management is to improve utilisation and cost-effectiveness, with ensuring timely project staffing ranking a close second.
Imagine how much more profitable your business would be if you were able to increase the utilisation of your resources. And, think of the efficiencies you would see if your projects were consistently on-time and had the right people for the right tasks.
In this blog, we’ll take you through how to identify where your business currently rates in resource management maturity and what you can do to increase your rating.
Resource Management Maturity Model
As industries continue to adopt and develop efficient resource management capabilities, the strategic value of doing so is becoming more and more apparent. However, it can still be difficult for PMO’s to obtain approval from their executives for process improvements and funding to better their resource management capabilities. Therefore, it is critical PMO’s can easily identify and provide evidence of their current maturity level rating and detail the steps necessary to improve their capabilities to their executives.
Since RMI’s inception, it has been dedicated to the advancement of resource management best practices, research, and training. Thanks to this commitment, RMI developed a renowned resource management maturity model structured off its Just-in-Time Resourcing process. The comprehensive model identifies the critical functional elements of resource management and helps organisations to identify their strengths and weaknesses, supporting them in understanding where they can invest to better their rating.
What is your Resource Management maturity level?
If you think your business doesn’t rate very highly, or if you don’t yet have an idea and understanding of your current maturity levels – there is no need to worry. According to a poll run in our recent webinar, 66% of attendees reported that they have a low maturity level, or they don’t actually know what their resource management maturity level is.
By using RMI’s resource management maturity model, you will be able to self-determine where your organisation rates relative to resource management functional maturity.
After you download RMI’s resource management maturity model, we suggest you use the following table as a guide for your self-assessment:
| Level 1 & 2 | Represents a non-existent function, or resource management processes that are providing the organisation little to minimal benefit. |
| Level 3 | Demonstrates you have invested in resource management capabilities and processes and are starting to get the basics right, but shortcomings exist causing you to still be more reactive and less strategic. |
| Level 4 | This level shows that resource management in your organisation is adding value. It is more proactive than reactive. Resource management is more integrated into the service delivery model. |
| Level 5 | You are an industry leader in a specific area or overall. Resource management is strategic for the organisation and a critical element for meeting organisational objectives and creating competitive advantage via resource management capabilities. |
As you work through scoring your organisation in each category, and an overall rating, you will then be provided with a sense of where you are and what lies ahead in your journey to a more mature resource management function.
Where to start?
In full-cycle resource management there are four phases that mirror the project delivery lifecycle from inception to optimisation: Estimate, Plan, Deliver and Analyse & Optimise. By treating resource management as an iterative cycle, it becomes easier to prepare for resourcing conflicts and proactively make changes to the project or team if necessary.
- Estimate: Estimate the work and skill required to conduct the work
- Plan: Plan out the named resource and their availability
- Deliver: Track the actual work conducted
- Analyse & Optimise: Analyse the plan vs actual to determine variances. Optimise your estimation and planning based on data driven outcomes
After each phase, you should ensure that your business takes the time to evaluate what worked and what didn’t to learn from the previous phase and to inform the next phase for business continuity. The fourth phase of the process, Analyse & Optimise, is designed as a feedback loop that will help discover improvements across the other three phases.
Benefits of enhancing Resource Management Maturity
- Resource visibility: Ability to optimise resource utilisation by prioritising high value work with the correct available resource capacity.
- Work and resource optimisation: Knowing where resources are already assigned and if those allocations are appropriate.
- Resource capacity planning (long term planning): Utilising data to reliably define actual timelines for future projects and plan early for resourcing requirements.
- Eliminating the burn out effect: Being able to provide objective methods for prioritising work ensures demand is balanced against capacity to deliver, therefore minimising the risk of overworking resources.
- Protecting your resource pool: Considering the current shortage of skilled resources, ensuring your people are getting the right work, matching and extending their skill set, will give you a stronger chance of retaining them.
- Increase business value: Connecting strategy to the ability to execute with a focus on delivering programs that drive innovation and transformational change.
Mature your Resource Management Process with Altus
Resource management in Altus gives you global visibility of your current and future resource demand. It creates the umbrella for resource management across all your project schedules, giving you optimisation of your current resource loads and the ability to accurately plan and make decisions about resourcing for future project requirements.
Dive deeper into how to enhance your resource management maturity by watching our on-demand webinar.
Download RM Maturity Model
Fill out your details below to access RMI’s Resource Management Maturity Model!
By Marc Soester
Marc Soester is an Executive Director at Sensei and has over 18 + Years experience in being a PPM and Work Management Subject Matter Expert​, he has been part of over 250 PPM ​implementations​ and is an Industry Standard Expert on PMI, P3O, Scaled Agile. Marc was also the first Microsoft Project MVP and is an active member of the Microsoft ​Product Advisory Council.
