We need to measure the effectiveness of resource planning, scheduling, and utilization so that lessons can be learned before moving on to future projects.
For effectiveness of resource planning, we need to compute the planned vs. actual metrics for each of the resources. The following formula may be used:
1. Planning Effectiveness = quantity of planned resources / quantity of resources actually utilized
The above metric should be closer to 1. If it is more than 1, then, the project was over-planned and if it is less than 1 then the project is under planned. Conversely, we may also infer that the project execution was excellent if the above metric is more than 1, and if the metric is less than 1, the project execution is poor.
We can measure each category using this formula :
2. Scheduling Effectiveness = total number of resources / number of resources released as per schedule
The above metric should be closer to 1. If it is more than 1, then, the project was not effectively scheduled. Conversely, we may also infer that the project execution was poor if the above metric is more than 1.
We can measure each category of resource using the formula :
3. Utilization Effectiveness = total clock hours available for project execution / total hours actually utilized
Clock hours are to be taken as the number of resources, multiplied by the number of shifts worked, multiplied by the number of hours per shift.
The above metric should be closer to 1. If it is more than 1, then, the project did not effectively utilized the resources, and we may also infer that the project execution was poor if the above metric is more than 1. Of course, it is impossible to utilize 100% of the clock hours available during the period of project execution due to absenteeism, equipment breakdown, and so on. Normally, the organization would have a norm for this metric and the result may be compared with that norm and conclusions then can be drawn.
Resources are always limited. They need to be planned, scheduled, and utilized carefully. We also need to measure the performance of the resources and resource management effectiveness so that lessons can be learned and preventive actions can be implemented for future projects, as well as take advantage of the best practices unearthed during the project execution.
For more information on resource planning tools, read Ronda's article "Easy-to-use Resource Planning Tools".