If like most small teams, you use spreadsheets to manage project resources, these ready-made templates are a huge time-saver. Instead of starting from scratch, you can get quickly off the blocks using templates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is resource planning?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Resource planning<\/a> is the process that ensures that the right resources are available to the project<\/strong> when needed. Within resource planning, project managers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a resource plan in place, projects get delayed, or worse, fail. Besides, upfront resource planning also helps avoid conflicts with other teams<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, resource planning is not a one-time activity. Project managers need to adjust resource plans to account for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Resource planning templates help you record, update and visualize resource availability, allocation, and capacity data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, you\u2019ve learned about resource planning templates and how they can help. You also know about the disadvantages of using these templates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, let\u2019s take a look at the templates you\u2019ll need to manage your project team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All the templates below are view-only templates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Make a copy of a template by clicking File \u2192 Make a copy…<\/strong> from the Google Sheets menu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To download the template for Excel, click File \u2192 Download \u2192 Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each template comes with three sheets (Instructions, Example, and Template) to help you get started. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Team members are unavailable because of public holidays or planned vacations. Finding available team members to work on a project is a critical step in resource allocation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team Availability Tracker Template helps you track your team’s off time and visualize your team\u2019s availability<\/a> to work on a project. That way, you can schedule work when they are available.<\/p>\n\n\n Once you know the available resources, the next step is to allocate them to a project<\/a>. Or simply assigning a team member to a project for a specific period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Resource Allocation template helps you track these assignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It helps track when a specific resource is available to work on a project<\/strong>. Use this template along with the resource availability tracker to avoid scheduling on dates when the resource is AWOL.<\/p>\n\n\n Tracking work assignments is critical, especially with shared team members. For example, multiple project teams could share a designer in a small web design company. It becomes important to know when this designer is available to take on more work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once people are assigned to a project, the next step is to track their workload within a project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Project Resource Planning Template helps you assign tasks within a project without creating scheduling conflicts<\/a> or workload imbalances. It also gives you a clear overview of who within your project is doing what and when.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, it also shows you the number of days available for a resource during a month.<\/p>\n\n\n You\u2019ll need to account for task dependencies, delays, as well as people\u2019s availability and skills when assigning tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After you\u2019ve assigned people to tasks, the next step is to track each team member\u2019s workloads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether a client comes with additional work or a new client comes onboard, you want to know who’s available to take on new work. At the same time, you don’t want to overwork your team members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Resource Capacity Planning Template helps you track the estimated working hours for all team members<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n Also, you can visualize if any team member has some extra capacity. Or rebalance workloads if any team member is overwhelmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The timesheet template helps you track and measure the billable hours<\/a> put in by your team<\/strong> in a project.<\/p>\n\n\n Whether you’re charging based on time and materials or a fixed price, staying in control of your project’s budget is essential. Without this, your agency cannot deliver profitable projects and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At times you may want to look at the resource requirements over the next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Staff Resource Planning Template helps you understand if you need to hire any resources based on project commitments for the year.<\/p>\n\n\n In addition, it can also help you plan your recruitment based on when you need a specific type of resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Human Resource Capacity Planning Template helps you see average workload and utilization by employee, department, and job title.<\/p>\n\n\n Like the Staff Resource Planning Template, this template helps you manage your employee\/freelancer recruitment and onboarding. As a result, you can match your agency’s capacity with the demand and the workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ready-to-use templates come with the following advantages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Templates also have their fair share of disadvantages which make them unusable in most real-world situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you haven\u2019t realized it yet, updating all these templates is a lot of work<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These templates work together. And, if you miss updating any of these, your resource planning will be error-prone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of these templates may look similar. And it\u2019s tempting to combine these templates into one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But, there\u2019s a reason why these templates are separate. Each template serves a different audience and purpose. Combining templates will cause information overload, and inconsistencies and lead to chaos.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what are your options?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Resource planning and management templates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to download and use these templates?<\/h4>\n\n\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/google-sheets-make-a-copy.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n1. Team Availability Tracker<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Team](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/team-availability-tracker-1024x512.png\"){kind=tracking}
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow to use the Team Availability Tracker template?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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2. Resource Allocation Template<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Resource](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/resource-allocation-template-1-1024x512.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow to use the resource allocation template?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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3. Project Resource Planning Template<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Project](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/project-resource-plan-template-1024x512.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow to use the project resource planning template?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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4. Resource Capacity Planning Template<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Resource](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/resource-capacity-planning-template-1024x512.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow to use the resource capacity planning template?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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5. Timesheet Template<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Timesheet](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/timesheet-template-1024x512.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow to use the Timesheet Template?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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6. Staff Resource Planning Template<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Staff](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/staff-resource-planning-template-1024x483.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow to use the Staff Resource Planning Template?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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7. Human Resource Capacity Planning Template<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Human](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/human-resource-capacity-planner-1024x395.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow to use the Human Resource Capacity Planning Template?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Pros and cons of using resource planning templates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Updating templates needs discipline & effort<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Toggl Plan: A Better Alternative To Resource Planning Templates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Toggl](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/toggl-plan-team-availability.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Toggl](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/toggl-plan-time-off-1024x474.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"Toggl](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/toggl-plan-resource-allocation.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Toggl](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/toggl-plan-team-workload-management.jpg\")
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