Resource Planning is crucial for any organization to be able to operate efficiently. This is also very challenging when there are multiple projects, teams, and tasks. Here at techno-pm, we have resource plans based on Excel, which can help in resource planning, including allocation, overutilization, underutilization. We believe that one size does not fit all regarding resource planning and management. So, we have broadly catered for three different types of templates which are Project Resource Management Templates, Team Resource Management Templates, and General Resource Management. Here are some of our best Resource Planning Templates Download This Template Now! Excel Capacity Planner Excel Resource Matrix Sprint Capacity Planner Team Resource Planning Resource Matrix Template Simple Resource Plan Team Capacity Planner Resource Management Plan Skills Matrix Template Team Capacity Planner PPT Employee Competency Matrix Team Leave Planner Download This Template Now! Project Resource Management Templates: They are designed to support planning and to manage your project-specific resources. One of the critical areas to focus in these templates is the resource's cost of the project. Team Resource Management Templates: They are designed to manage a team or a group of individuals without worrying about the cost or time spent on a specific task. Generic Resource Management Templates: Generic category which includes leaving planners, training planners, and skill planners. Excel Resource Plan The simple excel based resource plan is easy and straightforward to manage. In this resource plan, you can have resources allocated to different projects, and the allocation in every week. Excel Resource Plan Excel Capacity Planning Template Capacity planning is an activity that all the organization undertakes regardless of their size. Consider using our Excel Resource Capacity Planner to calculate your capacity and match them against your organizational needs for change. Excel Capacity Plan Download This Template Now! Excel Resource Matrix Template Sometimes, all you need is a basic resource planning tool that can give you a view of how your resources are allocated. A simple resource matrix can help you to plan your resources in a simple but effective manner. Excel Resource Matrix Resource Management Plan Word Template When working in a complex and large environment, it may be necessary to have a much more planned and structured approach to resource management. You can use a Detailed Resource Management Plan Template, which captures all the key aspects of resource management in such cases. Resource Management Plan Agile Capacity Planner Excel Template Agile Capacity Planner Download This Template Now! Agile Project Management can be challenging due to the fast-paced deliveries. In an agile environment, a project manager must manage the capacity of the team. Our Agile Capacity Planner for Sprints is meant to give a clear view of the resources across projects. Team Resource Plan Excel Template Team Resource Plan When managing a team of resources, the team leader must know who is allocated to which project. Team resource planning is different from project resource planning as it focuses more on the team rather than the projects. Our Team Resource Plan template helps managers to effectively plan team allocations and avoid over allocations. Advanced Excel Resource Plan Template Advanced Excel Resource Plan Template If you are looking for an advanced resource planner, we recommend using our Excel Resource Plan Advanced Version as a built-in dashboard. This resource plan is capable of handling multiple projects. How To Create A Resource Plan In Excel Step 1: Create a list of resources and their skills set The first step is to generate a list of resources and their skills. Ensure that you have covered all the resources you need to plan for. Also, list the primary skill you will be planning for. Step 2: Understand resource availability You need to know the availability of each of the resources. It is essential to understand if they are part-time or full-time. Typically, it is good to understand leave plans for the quarter. How to create a resource plan in excel Step 3: Create your excel template After you have all the information, it is time to create the template. The resource plan has 3 sections Resources, Skills, and Timeline. The resources section will have a list of resources. Skills list is a primary skill for the resource. The timeline is where the availability of each resource. The timeline is a very crucial part of the resource plan. The timeline lists the availability of each week in terms of hours. So, typically you would expect each cell to have 40 hours. Anything else means the resource is not available full time. If more than 40 hours, then it says the resource is over-allocated. If the value in the cell is zero, then the resource is not available during that week. Resource Plan - Over and Under Allocation Step 4: Enhance the plan with conditional formatting After the excel template is ready, the next step is to enhance the plan with conditional formatting. Considering a typical 40 hours a week, we will design the controls to highlight the cells. If the cell is greater than 40 hours, then highlight it in red. If the value is less than 40, then display it in yellow. If the cell is zero, which is equivalent to leave, then the text should be highlighted in red. If the resource is fully utilized, then display it in white. Implementing these controls will allow anyone using the plan to easily identify gaps or issues and take appropriate action. Advanced Resource Planning Template Excel Resource Management becomes more challenging when you have multiple projects and different teams. This Excel Resource Plan is designed to work with multiple projects and teams and highlight over-allocation and underutilization, making Resource Management more effective. Features and Advantages of the Excel Resource Plan Advanced Version The resource plan can handle multiple projects and teams. You can also check how to create a team resource plan. Allocations for individual resources, teams, or projects can be viewed using default filters in MS Excel. The resource load view provides a clear picture of how the resources are allocated and gaps in the plan. The resource plan highlights over-allocated, under-allocated, and partially allocated resources. The Team and Rate are auto-populated with the resource name. Also, the cost is calculated for each allocation. The resource plan is based on weekly allocations so you can plan for the long term. The resources can be set up with a team and a daily rate. How Excel Resource Plan Advanced Version Works? The Resource Plan has 3 key sections - The Resource Plan, Resource Load, and Config sections. All the sections are contained within separate sheets. The resource plan takes the allocations from the resource plan sheet and then combines them to generate a single view for each resource. Even if the resource has multiple allocations, the resource plan will sum up all the allocations for that resource and display that in the resource load sheet. Resource Plan The first image in the blog (Image 1) and the first sheet in the spreadsheet is the resource plan. This sheet contains the allocations. Each row represents an allocation for a resource. It can be different projects or the same project for different dates. When starting for the first time, DO NOT DELETE ALL THE ENTRIES, as you might delete all the formulas. Always copy the row to make a new entry. The resources come from the Resource Load sheet. The team, daily rate, and effort will be auto-calculated after you select the appropriate resource. Resource Load This sheet contains the resource details (Resource Name, Team, Rate) and allocations auto-populated from the resource plan allocation. Different colors are explained in the image below. DO NOT CHANGE THE ALLOCATIONS ON THE RESOURCE LOAD sheet. The allocations should be auto-populated from the resource plan sheet. The resource load sheet highlights cells to highlight issues. If a cell is highlighted with red color and white text, that means the resource is over-allocated in that week. If the cell is highlighted with green color and green text, then all is good as the resource is fully utilized for that week. If the cell is highlighted in white with red text, it is partially allocated in that week. If the cell has a red color with red text and has a 0 in it, it has not allocated in that week. Config Section The config section has the following - Start Date - Start date for the resource plan. Weekly Days - The no. of days your team will work in a week. Min Days - The minimum day's threshold per week. If the resource allocation goes below this value, then the resource is indicated as underutilized. Projects - The list of projects for which resources will need to be planned. The max. is 50 projects. It can be more, but then the Data Validation will have to be changed accordingly. Steps To Start Using The Excel Resource Plan Advanced Version Step 1: Enter the values for the Config sheet. Configure the start date, weekly days, Minimum Days, and the project you want to resource. Step 2: Enter the resource details in the Resource Load sheet. Enter the resource name, Team, and Rate. DO NOT ENTER ANYTHING UNDER THE WEEKS AS THAT WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY POPULATED WITH ALLOCATION DATA.Step 3: Based on the project resource requirements allocate resources in the first sheet Resource Plan. Each will be an allocation. Always try to avoid partial allocations as it complicates the allocation.Step 4: As you are allocating the tasks, check the resource load sheet to ensure that all the resources are allocated properly without over or under allocation.Except for the config in Step 1, you will be repeating steps 2,3 and 4 regularly as resource requirements tend to change. A resource manager will typically update the resource plan at least once a week.