As a software services firm, your people are the most crucial assets for delivering work and generating revenue.

However, without effective resource management and capacity planning, many firms end up wasting the valuable bandwidth of high-cost resources or overworking and burning out their quality employees.

What is resource management?

Resource management plays a critical role in the success of any software consultancy. It involves the planning and management of various resources, including hardware and personnel.

However, the key aspect lies in capacity planning for people, which encompasses both employees and contractors. This article focuses on the essential questions that resource management addresses for software development firms:

• Who is available to take on more work?
• Where in the business do we need more billable engagements to keep people busy and utilized?
• When will I need to hire more staff for the work I have coming up?
• Who has been overallocated work?

By having a solid resource management plan in place, team members can be confident that they have the right people available to meet short-term objectives while maintaining cost efficiency.

In addition, suitable resource management can give software consultancies the edge they need for the path to success, and resource management tools for software teams streamline the process with automation.

Purpose of resource management tools for software teams

Project management software is an essential tool for any consultancy. By utilizing cloud-based programs, teams can overcome issues related to spreadsheet version control and gain real-time visibility into their capacity.

In addition to these benefits, the best systems offer advanced features that enable the prediction of billable rates, revenue forecasting, and margin analysis based on resourcing plans.

Moreover, resource management software also helps prevent work over or under-allocation, resulting in increased satisfaction among employees and clients. This transition from spreadsheets or ad hoc processes to purpose-built software transforms resource management into a triple-duty business planning tool.

Basic resource and time management tools that software consultancies require

Trying to find the perfect software suite for your needs? There are three key features to consider when looking at software project resource management tools.

Timesheets

Save time and ensure schedule adherence by using employee timesheet tools. These tools eliminate manual data entry and keep your project on track.

By tracking time spent on tasks and projects, you can easily identify concerns and delays, allowing proactive adjustments with available resources.

The best systems for software consultancies also integrate with invoicing, generate Work In Progress (WIP) reports, and provide insights into budget through time entries.

Resource management dashboards

Keep projects on track with user-friendly resource management dashboards. These tools offer clear visuals that present resources, progress, and performance, enabling effortless monitoring of project status. By leveraging resource planning software, you can manage projects more efficiently than ever before, gaining complete visibility at a glance.

Resource management reports

In addition to dashboards, resource management reports provide crucial insights for data-driven decision-making.

Assess the effectiveness of your planning with reports like "Resourcing vs. Actual Worked," which compare planned resources to actual work. Gain insights into billable and non-billable work with forward-looking resource utilization reports.

Take it a step further with margin reporting, which predicts project margin based on revenue forecasts and resource plans.

Top 10 resource management tools for software consultancies in 2024

When it comes to resource management in software development, finding the perfect tool can be a challenge. To help ease your search, we have curated a list of the top resource management software options available. These tools are designed specifically for software development projects and offer features to optimize, manage, and allocate resources effectively.

Projectworks

Projectworks is the perfect tool to help software consultancies elevate their business. Not only was it built as an in-house platform at a software development firm, but it combines cutting-edge resource planning with timesheets and project financials so your resourcing can do double and triple duty for your business and project planning.

Hive

Designed by users, for users, Hive is a good project management tool and is great for remote team collaboration. They allow users to map out project timelines, track baselines, and execute comprehensive plans in calendar view.

Float

Float’s resource management planning system provides speedy scheduling capabilities but has a manual employee updating process. It’s best suited to businesses with few employees and low turnover. It is great for resourcing and time-tracking.

Compare Float’s features to Projectworks.

monday.com

monday.com is a great tool to give teams the ability to collaborate efficiently, monitor progress on active projects and plan ahead with insights into available resources.

Compare Monday.com’s features to Projectworks.

WorkOtter

WorkOtter offers an efficient and effective solution to help IT, Engineering and Professional Services PMOs manage their projects. Smaller software consultancies may find the range of tools unnecessary, but it is a great tool for enterprise businesses.

Scoro

Scoro streamlines workflow management with a single dashboard to track projects in real-time and assign tasks as they come up.

Harvest

Harvest provides teams and managers with a comprehensive solution for streamlined time keeping.

Compare Harvest’s features to Projectworks.

Toggl Plan

Toggl is a project planning and collaboration tool with a drag-and-drop interface. Use Gantt charts to create projects, customising task statuses, subtasks, deadlines and more.

Kantata

Kantata is a comprehensive software suite with seamless integration of four essential systems — planning, execution, project accounting and analysis. Training may be required for custom reporting.

Hub Planner

Hub Planner is an advanced, cloud-based software designed primarily for team-based businesses. Stay on top of resources and time tracking with scheduling and project planning capabilities.

Summary

Projectworks offers an innovative solution to help software consultancies plan project resources to increase utilisation rates, project margin, and employee and customer outcomes.

With a range of features, from tracking time and resources to invoicing and integrating with accounting systems, Projectworks puts premium resource management at your fingertips.