A project manager or resource planner role is a lot like a juggling act. You manage resource allocation for projects, ensuring that all team members are utilized – but not over- or underutilized. You have to respond to change, consider priorities, and make sure project phases are completed by their deadlines so everything doesn’t come crashing down. You also need to maintain visibility into your teams’ activity, so when unexpected circumstances arise, you can react quickly to reallocate the best resources to handle them so you can still bring the project in on time.
However, juggling doesn’t stop there. To track resource allocation, team members’ activity, project priority, and change orders, you probably use multiple tools, including your enterprise resource management (ERP) system and spreadsheets. You’re in and out of multiple screens every day, trying to keep a handle on where projects – and your people – are.
When a project manager or resource planner doesn’t perform well, a company can experience project delays and higher labor costs due to underutilization. They may also cause the business to miss profitable opportunities and new revenue. A company may pass on projects it could have handled if the manager had better visibility into the team’s availability. Failure simply is not an option.
So, the juggling act continues. You sacrifice your time tracking down information and filling in spreadsheets to try to maintain visibility into your teams’ activities – but still falling short of the real-time information you need.
MPRS Fills the Gap
SAP Business ByDesign users can choose the advantage of allocating and managing resources more efficiently with Projexia’s Multi Project Resource Scheduler (MPRS). This application uses SAP as the foundation for its data, leveraging SAP’s ERP and HR modules and displays all projects and resources from a single screen. In addition to eliminating the need to open multiple project screens and spreadsheets saves time, MPRS also includes these time-saving features:
- Drag-and-drop functionality to assign and reassign resources
- Automatic resource availability display by day or week
- Calendar that provides insight into project progress and resources’ workloads
- Quick search of resources, both employees and third parties
- Filters for projects, resources, team, or company
- Reports on utilization forecasts and the ability to adjust and recalculate utilization
- Meeting scheduling from within the tool with integration with Outlook or Gmail
The software, specifically designed for project-based companies and developed on the SAP Business Technology Platform, completely runs on SAP’s servers and meets SAP’s high security standards. Its OData connection enables seamless communication with SAP to provide you with real-time information.
Additionally, MPRS uses multitenant architecture. Therefore, as Projexia enhancing the solution, including incorporating user feedback into new releases, those updates are pushed to the entire user base with no maintenance required, so you’re always using the most recent version.
For XYZ Technologies Culturelles, one of our clients working in the Audiovisual Technologies industry: “MPRS is providing our company a robust and agile engine to optimize the allocation of our resources, which is the most critical aspect of our business to ensure 100% customer satisfaction”.
Don’t Go Another Day without the Resource Allocation Efficiency and Visibility You Need
Whether you’re managing engineers, accountants, consultants or field workers in oil, gas, utilities, or heavy equipment, you need good data for effective resource allocation today and to forecast need in upcoming months. Real-time visibility into your resources and projects enables you to assign the right people on the right jobs, consistently deliver work at a high standard, increase customer satisfaction – which all results in greater competitiveness.
Additionally, the benefits of more efficient resource allocation can extend company-wide. For example, visibility into team members’ workloads can also help you improve work culture and minimize turnover. A recent survey from Jobvite found 28 percent of new employees quit within the first 90 days, with 43 percent saying their day-to-day wasn’t what they expected and 34 percent saying a bad experience drove them out. Overutilizing a resource, which Harvard Business Review points out leads to employee stress, illness and mistakes on the job, can cost a company a good employee
If you’re already an SAP Business ByDesign user or if you are evaluating to become one, you can make resource allocation easier and more effective. You only need an internet browser to deploy MPRS. No system maintenance or customization is required, and the solution can be up and running in one day with minimal training.
Are you ready to learn more about managing projects and resource allocation without juggling information from multiple screens? Start by watching this brief video and then contact Projexia for more details.
