Resource Management Tasks

Identify the resources that will be required to deliver this idea in the timeframe.

Identify likely level and type of resources required to implement the idea.

Identify potential resource clashes with other ideas/programmes/projects.

Identify any specialist or technical resources needed, and where they will come from. Assess whether they are available within the organisation or will they have to be procured. Ask whether partner organisations involved with the idea have resources that can contribute.

Evaluate the organisation’s capability to take advantage of this idea, even if it is attractive. 

Identify the resources that will be required to deliver this idea in the timeframe.

It would be helpful to estimate the likely level and type of resources required to implement the idea.

If there are potential knock on effects of resource clashes, these should be recorded as risks to this idea or other initiatives already running.

Identify any specialist or technical resources needed, and where they will come from. Assess whether they are available within the organisation or will they have to be procured.

Can the organisation’s capability to take advantage of this idea, even if it is attractive. Over optimism is often the root cause of failure so now is the most cost effective time to check for optimism bias. 

Identify what effort will be needed to develop the project proposal.

At this early stage you should think about what resources will be required and the type of skills that will be needed to deliver the idea.

Identify who will need to be involved and how much of their time will be needed.

Present  an outline  estimate of the types and numbers of resources that will be needed so that the overall impact is clear.

The individuals on the board should have a terms of reference based on your organisations governance model.

The availability of the board and any individuals they include in the process should be tested and estimates of their time made.

Suitable skills to undertake the analysis of the requirements and should be allocated.

Any specialist skills specific to the type of change may need to be externally sourced.

There are some specific resources that will be required to complete the next stage.

There are likely to be a lot of facilitated workshops and senior management engagement to gain commitment to a vision.

In terms of resource, a key element will be knowledge, about how the organisation works, the business strategies and the ultimate outcomes.

At the completion of the brief there should be a resource plan for the stage but the view of the wider programme or project will not be clear until later.

Develop a resource plan, based on the planning estimates.

There are development activities planned to establish and develop the delivery team. The team has the right level of knowledge and skills based on your organisations professional development framework. Procurement guidelines are being followed.

Create a resource plan showing profiled use of staff and other resources.

Resource constraint can affect delivery. External, specialist resources can be expensive and hard to acquire. Ensure resource requirements are fully costed and included in business cases and plans.

The resource management plan should align with the benefits realisation plan.

Resources must be allocated in line with portfolio priorities and decisions to the projects delivering the greatest benefits.

Ensure that adequate resources are being dedicated to changes that may impact on compliance.

Confirm that suppliers and partners understand the compliance issues.

Compliance projects often have priority within portfolios. Once the priority is established as part of overall prioritisation, resource allocation should be actively managed to match the priority of the compliance project.

Regular reporting against the resource management plan.

Check that the level of operational support is adequate.

Check that the organisational capability to deliver the changes is adequate in the portfolio.

Focus on blockages, conflicts, scarce or expensive resources.

Operations needs to contribute throughout the change process. This is on top of day-to-day service delivery. Lack of operational capacity to contribute to change is one major reason why changes are not effective and fail to realise the intended benefits.

Release resources from the programme.

Provide debriefs and feedback to individuals.

Hold lessons learned sessions with suppliers.

Archive individual and supplier performance data.

Archive lessons learned relating to resource management.

Handover of physical resources used during delivery back to owners.

The scale of this will vary depending on the maturity of the programme when it enters closure.

If the programme has followed the delivery strategy and the tranches, this should be a gentle landing with a structured shut down of resources in line with the original plans.

If the programme is shutting down prematurely, the situation could be far more complex.  There may be long term contracts in place that will need to be managed.

Staff expectations and morale are likely to be impacted by an early shut down as well.

Release resources and ensure compliance to governance requirements.

Release all staff from the programme.

Return all physical assets.

This step is straight forward - all programme resources, physical and human, should now be allocated to other programmes or work.

Programme information relating to resource management should now be archived in line with governance requirements.

Release programme staff from the budgets

Close resource provision contracts with external suppliers and provide feedback on their performance

The key thing for internal staff is to ensure HR policies are compiled with as a part of the staff release process, key information about the performance and training needs to be included in their personal records.

Physical resources that have been used by the programme could be released into opertaional use or returned to suppliers if leased or used as part of a wider deal.

Analyse the resource consumption to ensure the optimal achievement of benefits.

Update resource plans to reflect lessons learned from change and operational team activities needed to release the benefits.

These should have been identified in the business case.

Some recurring benefits will not require further resources. Other benefits will require specific actions and effort, and the necessary resources must be planned and available.

It is possible that the cost of resourcing benefits has been underestimated, which is leaving benefits undelivered OR they are cost more than anticipated.

Suitable skills to develop the vision into the operating model should be identified

Visions come in different shapes and sizes and skills to develop them in a way that engages audiences. These are not inherently part of the toolset of many programme and project people.

The representation could take many forms, a simple statement, rich picture, videos and others that will help to promote the vision.

Deploy specific resources with Blueprint and analysis experience.

As the analysis of the end and intermediate states are developed, each will have an impact on the volume and types of resources that will be required.

When thinking about resources, it is worth remembering that it isn’t just people, there may well be assets and technology that will be needed, including information.

There are two resource plans to be thinking about:

1) To reach the completion of ‘Define the Programme’ and ‘Design the Programme’, and

2) The resource management strategy for the entire programme, which is formally defined in the next stage but needs to be on the radar now.

Re profile the resource plan for the projects

Changes to the project portfolio are likely to provide opportunities to streamline resources to gain some efficiencies.

The portfolio of project might have grown or shrunk but there will be opportunities to gain efficiencies and give opportunities to talent.

Update the resource plan to show the realignment of projects resources.  Identify the initial programme level resource requirements for the programme.

The Tranches provide the starting point for developing the resource management strategy.  As the major changes are defined, an embryonic plan can begin to form.

The internal resourcing of the programme for this stage will be helped as you will know the types and quantity of resources required to develop the delivery strategy.

There may well now be opportunities to stop some projects that obviously do not fit.  This offers a big opportunity to release project resources from closing projects to help with resourcing the programme or early contender projects.

Refine resource plans to reflect the programme strategy approach.

An Internal resource impact assessment should be conducted.

The preferred strategy for achieving the Blueprint should remove some of the ambiguity around resourcing that would have existed while there were a number of options for end state and delivery.

Now that the strategy has been defined, the resource plan for the ‘Design the Programme’ stage can have more detail and a schedule added to it.  This provides a gap analysis of the skills that are currently available and any new or additional resources that will be required to meet the end state.

The broader programme resource management strategy for the whole programme can now take shape.  You will know the types of resources needed to cover the wider delivery, through the various Tranches, so preparation work can now be undertaken for this.

Approve resources that will be required for the programme.

Approve the resource plan for ‘Design the Programme’ stage.

The gate review should test the viability of the resource plan and the outline resource management strategy.

It is very common for programmes to underestimate their resource requirements through over optimism about productivity and capability, particularly of in-house resources.

It is important to remember that this is not just people - there are physical resources.  Knowledge is also a resource and, the absence of which, leads to poor decisions.

The approval at this gate is validating the delivery strategy and the resource implications.

Analyse the resource requirements for the project delivery.

Identify key suppliers of resource of the projects.

The projects will be major consumers of resources.  As the project dossier has the core information about each project, it should be possible to make some estimates for resources.

The impact assessment on planned and existing projects should show what resources can be deployed or recycled.

If there is likely to be a heavy burden of resources, then this may be the right moment to undertake some market testing of supply routes for the provision of temporary resources at the project and programme level.

It is likely that there will be some early projects launching, particularly if there is procurement involved or urgent quick wins, so the resource management is formally starting at this point.

If project resources have not been formally inducted into the programme or are lacking programme management experience, this should be addressed now.

Complete the Resource Management Strategy

The development of the resource management strategy should have been going on for some time, as it begins to emerge once the Blueprint takes shape.

At this point, the formal strategy should be completed, as mentioned before.  It needs to take into account resources, other than people that are common across the programme.

One of the key decisions will be whether the programme manages a resource pool for the projects or whether projects take responsibility for their own.  The second approach reduces overheads but also reduces the programme control.

Performance metrics on how resource effectiveness will be measured should be defined in the strategy.

Resource management plan should now be finalised.

Allocate resources to initiate specific projects.

This task specifically requires the output of the programme resource management plan.

This is a very important input to the business case, as it will provide the schedule of resource expenditure over the foreseeable lifetime of the programme.

If this is a long term programme, the level of detail around later Tranches is likely to be vague, however, a resource management plan for the first Tranche is essential.

The plan should be clear on where the resources are coming from and what their management arrangements will be.

A key area of planning should be the dependencies on key resources - physical or human.

The dependency network will illustrate how the project outputs fit together, this will provide the analysis to show where key resources will be required and highlight potential hotspots that will need to be managed.

Approve resource management strategy.

Approve resource management plan.

Refine the resource plan based on any changes resulting from this review.

Confirm with internal and external suppliers the resource profile and plan in the business case.

At this point, the resource management plan is finalised and adopted within the business case as one of the key areas of financial expenditure.

The strategy and plan will come under a lot of scrutiny at this point as it is a key cost element, so expect plenty of challenge.

Resource management also includes the partners and supply chain anticipated in the delivery process.  It also thinks about where and when they will be required.  This resource plan should be linked to the milestones to show what resources you will need and when.

The projects should be compliant to the resource management standards in the framework and demonstrate how the resource management cycle will be used by the project.

Approve the mobilisation of resources to launch the first Tranche.

Confirm resource budgets.

This gate review is the final approval before going into full delivery.  However, the reality may be that there are elements of delivery already under way to achieve quick wins or projects with a long lead time.

Once an independent review has been completed, the resource plan will need to be mobilised.  This may be part of the main resource plan, or it may be useful to provide this separately.

In the lead up to the gate review, it is wise to reconfirm internal and external commitments to making resources available.  Once the approval to proceed has been provided, they will need to be released in accordance with the schedule.

Undertake impact assessment of project resource requirements on programme resource plan.

Establish resource frameworks.

Establish resource reporting.

Implement performance metrics for individual teams and assets.

Implement supply chain monitoring and performance management in line with contracts.

This is where the resource management strategy and plan come to life.

It is possible that resources may be arriving at the programme and projects in numbers, so it is really important that there are appropriate controls in place to ensure they are being utilised as soon as possible.

It is important not to forget the induction and training programmes. An induction is applicable to everyone, to ensure everybody in the programme understands the context.  The training is about raising capability and performance.  Once the programme moves into full swing, it may be harder to find the time to do this, so covering training during mobilisation ensures it will get done.

Track and optimise the use of resources across the projects and programme.

Review effectiveness of resource management, productivity and optimise.

Monitor the quality and provision of in-house resources.

Monitor the performance of teams and assets against projections.

Intervene as needed on performance issues.

Conduct regular supply chain reviews and identify improvement opportunities.

Balance resources between projects to maintain momentum

This is a major delivery point for projects, so it may be a point where there is a reallocation of resources between projects.

The lead up to this point will involve the day to day management of resources within the programme, so there will now be information on productivity and effectiveness of teams and individuals. 

This information should be factored into the resource management review at this point to identify lessons and what the impact of those are likely to be on future Tranches.

Most of the lessons at this stage are likely to be related to project resources.  The focus will now shift to transition resources and the services change to achieve the outcomes.  Therefore carefully check transition plans to minimise potential performance risks.

Review effectiveness of resource management, productivity and optimise.

Review the programme resource management plan for the remainder of the tranche.

Review the resource management strategy that will be required for the remainder of the programme.

The achievement of a major outcome means that a significant transition has now happened, so it is the opportunity to review the effectiveness of transition resources as well as delivery resources. Resources to support sustaining the business to achieve benefits may still be needed, the resource plan should be checked for this.

This is a good moment to analyse the effectiveness of business transition resources, the change team and pick up lessons for future transitions and tranches.

Based on the review here, there may be a need to revise the resource management strategy and/or resource management plan for the programme, as well as the impacts on the projects delivering the capability.

Specialist skills and resources should be deployed to deal with hazards.  

Specialist resources may need to be used to remove and dispose of legacy systems, especially if they carry specific risks (e.g. asbestos).

Mobilise the resources to launch the next tranche or closure.

This gate may well herald a change in the culture of the programme as it moves into a different Tranche, a completely new set of resources may be required to build the next capability.

There may even be a significant change in direction for the programme if external events have conspired to provide opportunities.

A key element of this is taking the lessons learned, identifying opportunities to improve and undertaking impact assessments on the benefits.

There may well be suppliers or resources leaving at this point as the team changes.

Those leaving the programme to return to an operational role should have debriefs through exit interviews to ensure knowledge is recorded and available to future tranches.

Updates may need to be made to HR records for full time staff.

If the programme is closing early, then an impact assessment on resource and contract commitments is essential - it could be very expensive.

Identify and include appropriate resources to contribute to the business design.

The amount of expertise in the resources required will depend largely on the level of risk associated with the change. Ensuring that the right resources are involved early will enable early identification of problems and reduce wasted effort.

Ensure that the same resources are used to analyse each option.

Ensure that adequate and consistent resources are in place to undertake this work properly in terms of time, skills and experience. Decisions made at this point by the wrong people or in a rush could easily come back to haunt the project later.

Ensure appropriate resources are available to support the assurance review.

The recommended option must take into account the impact and requirement of resources to deliver and transition it into use. The availability and use of internal resources as part of the project is often overlooked, which in turn causes the project to run late or fail. Basic considerations should include:

• Who will be needed?

• Who will be available?

• Are the necessary skills and experience available in house?

If external support is required this will need to be factored into the Business Case.

Ensure recommended actions relating to resources are dealt with.

The decision should seek detail on the scale of internal and external resources required, in general for the whole of the life cycle, and in particular for the next stage.

Identify the resources that will be required to deliver the model.

The resources required to complete this activity will be drawn from a mix of the operational areas to be changed in addition to people with technical or previous experience of the assets and their capability.  

Ensure that resources with the right capability and knowledge are involved in this work.

It is important that the right resources are included in this piece of work. It is not just volume, but also expertise, which should include areas such as specific market knowledge, technical knowledge and understanding of how the products will be used when they are implemented.

Adjust resource plans in line with the selected approach.

The resources will need to be skilled in the subject matter and be able to advise on planning related to complying with national or European guidance.  When considering the suppliers, their potential to provide skills to support transition should be a factor.

Resourcing for testing can now be included in the plan.

Assure that the required resources will be available.

Resourcing will be high on the list of things that will be considered at the assessment, so challenges are likely.

Appropriate skills and resources should be dedicated to supporting the contract negotiation.

The placement of the contracts should include how the build and transition will be handled as well as any long term warranties.  This may require external input.

The testing regime should include operational testing which will consume resources.  The skills required and timetable need to be understood prior to contract signature.

The resource plans can now be finalised to move into deliver.

Resourcing in this context should extend beyond transition resources and consider the impact on the operational resource plans from the new operating model.

Testing resources should be scheduled.

There will need to be a mix of expert resources that understand any technical functionality offered and also from operational areas that will need to sign off that the project deliverables meet their expectations.

It is important to monitor the availability and performance of individuals to maintain effectiveness.

Ensure all resources involved in the testing are consulted as part of completion.

The knowledge and experience gained from the testing should be documented and shared with areas that will be using the new capability. This should include operations and corporate teams.

Ensure that there is agreement to provide internal resources for support where needed. 

The intensity and demand for support resources in terms of backfill and dual running will be needed.  

Responsibility for identifying and sourcing the resources should be allocated.

Adjust resource plan to ensure adequate operating support is in place during transition.

The level of additional support for the operations provided by the project may need to be adjusted depending on the results of this activity.

Ensure that the resource utilisation is optimised and adjust as required.

During transition, additional support will be required by the operational areas as they work to recover to normal operating levels with the new ways of working in place.

Identifying suitable substitute or backfill resources should now be in place to minimise the impact and risk during transition.

Release temporary resources from the project.

Once the systems and operating practices are stable, the additional resources should be released in a measured way that minimises risk or ability to react to an unexpected degradation in the systems.

Ensure that resources are released and their HR records updated.

Release project resources for other ventures or BAU.

Ensure that responsibilities for resourcing are handed over to operational staff.

Care must be taken when reducing additional operational resources, particularly if expert knowledge is removed from the support environment.