In our company, we are planning the manhours for the current as well as future projects in Excel worksheet. Is it the best way to do that. Are there any other ways to do this job.
Currently, the manhours planning for next month is done on every 3rd week of current month by putting the done manhours from mid of previous month to mid of current month.
Also, the manhour utilization of the current month is calculated w.r.t to consumed hours for mid of previous and mid of current month. Is it the correct way.
I think it is not , because we are not able to analyse the planned vs consumed manhours for every month and then forecast how can we fill the gap if the difference between the two is huge.
Unless allocations don't vary over time which may be valid for long lived teams on projects following an adaptive lifecycle but definitely not the case for short lived teams on predictive projects, you would want to refresh forecasts of upcoming allocations based on the expected demand from your projects.
For example, in my current client's teams, PMs are expected to provide refreshed 3 month rolling forecasts for people allocation early each month.
Kiron
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1 reply by anonymous
Dec 13, 2018 11:12 PM
anonymous
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Yes, very rightly pointed out i.e. allocations shouldn't vary over time. Thanks.
It seems that you made some assumption for your calculation. however, as soon as your estimation and plan work for you and it is pretty much accurate, here you go, you did a good job.
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1 reply by anonymous
Dec 13, 2018 11:14 PM
anonymous
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yes the FTEs are divided in fours parts i.e. 0.25, 0.5 , 0.75, 1 for calculating the FTEs for each project as well as department.
Saving Changes...
Kevin GardnerProject Manager/Consultant| InnovateBTSLos Angeles, Ca, United States
It depends on how well you manage your way around excel. The only reason to work with a different program is if it is more user friendly to you. If you are struggling to manage your manhours efficiently through excel then it would be beneficial to do a quick internet search on other scheduling management software. Look at reviews and analyze how other users' experience might relate to your current goals
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1 reply by anonymous
Dec 13, 2018 11:14 PM
anonymous
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Thank you for suggestions.
Saving Changes...
Frank ValdiviaDirector of Analytics| Heifer InternationalShoreview, Mn, United States
I'd suggest evaluating solutions that have all that incorporated. There are even SAAS options that may help you. Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
MS-Project and host of tools can be used to plan for man power Saving Changes...
Mark GrayPM Consultant, Coach, Trainer and more| Self EmployedParis, France
There are - as mentioned - plenty of planning tools that can automate at least part of the process.
My caution - a fool with a tool remains a fool! Do not fall into the assumption that a tool will magically make it all work,
In reality there needs to be - IMHO - 3 key things in place:
- reliable, stable, resource loaded schedules for all projects
- solid data capture on actual usage (often a big issue as time spent is not well recorded)
- simple mechanisms for consolidating and extracting the relevant data for actual vs planned vs projected.
Excel can do this but tends to become complex with macros, pivots, etc - often mimicking what dedicated tools can already do. Saving Changes...
Ganesh KumarProgram ManagerBangalore., Karnataka, India
Hi
Your 1st question – depends on your organization maturity to consider a tool or to work on excel sheets. If you are conceptually clear what you want, an excel sheet can do wonders.
The particular task of manhour planning for future new projects or new client, does not happen on crm/erp/tool since it only considers manhour estimation and subsequently planning for resource(people, system, licenses etc.) happens mostly on excel sheet. Secondly – in the crm./erp/tool you have to create a project first. In your case if it’s a future project which has not materialized yet, therefore you cannot create a project i.e. create a customer name, a project name, project code – assigning resources etc… There is no harm in using an excel sheet & consolidating it as one report, since that data for has to come from different sales guys possibly working in different locations.
Utilization is the consumed project billable hours which correct. You can show non billable hours separately. Whether its 3rd week of 4th week – it rests completely upon the management how they want to see the report. You can suggest improvements to the report / work you are doing. It’s similar to payroll input, many companies consider payroll processing/generation from 4th week of previous month to 3rd week of a current month so that payroll is processed for payment by last day of the month.
I hope this helps you.
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1 reply by anonymous
Dec 13, 2018 11:06 PM
anonymous
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Hi Ganesh,
You have really understood my question and effectively answered my doubts.Yes, Excel can do wonders and as you rightly said for future projects, it is best to plan resources in excel.
However regarding utilization, why is it necessary to consider the consumed man hours data of half of previous month and consumed man hours data of half of current month for calculating the manpower utilization of current month. Is it because of payroll system which is formally in the same way.
But consider this, i have to plan the manpower for January month (1-31)according to projects for all resources in the third week of December which is correct, but if i have to check the planned vs consumed MH , then i have to have data of consumed MH of 1-31 instead of half of December and half of January. BTW the consumed MH is taken from the SAP.
Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Dec 13, 2018 10:47 AM
Replying to Ganesh Kumar
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Hi
Your 1st question – depends on your organization maturity to consider a tool or to work on excel sheets. If you are conceptually clear what you want, an excel sheet can do wonders.
The particular task of manhour planning for future new projects or new client, does not happen on crm/erp/tool since it only considers manhour estimation and subsequently planning for resource(people, system, licenses etc.) happens mostly on excel sheet. Secondly – in the crm./erp/tool you have to create a project first. In your case if it’s a future project which has not materialized yet, therefore you cannot create a project i.e. create a customer name, a project name, project code – assigning resources etc… There is no harm in using an excel sheet & consolidating it as one report, since that data for has to come from different sales guys possibly working in different locations.
Utilization is the consumed project billable hours which correct. You can show non billable hours separately. Whether its 3rd week of 4th week – it rests completely upon the management how they want to see the report. You can suggest improvements to the report / work you are doing. It’s similar to payroll input, many companies consider payroll processing/generation from 4th week of previous month to 3rd week of a current month so that payroll is processed for payment by last day of the month.
I hope this helps you.
Hi Ganesh,
You have really understood my question and effectively answered my doubts.Yes, Excel can do wonders and as you rightly said for future projects, it is best to plan resources in excel.
However regarding utilization, why is it necessary to consider the consumed man hours data of half of previous month and consumed man hours data of half of current month for calculating the manpower utilization of current month. Is it because of payroll system which is formally in the same way.
But consider this, i have to plan the manpower for January month (1-31)according to projects for all resources in the third week of December which is correct, but if i have to check the planned vs consumed MH , then i have to have data of consumed MH of 1-31 instead of half of December and half of January. BTW the consumed MH is taken from the SAP. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Dec 12, 2018 7:35 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Unless allocations don't vary over time which may be valid for long lived teams on projects following an adaptive lifecycle but definitely not the case for short lived teams on predictive projects, you would want to refresh forecasts of upcoming allocations based on the expected demand from your projects.
For example, in my current client's teams, PMs are expected to provide refreshed 3 month rolling forecasts for people allocation early each month.
Kiron
Yes, very rightly pointed out i.e. allocations shouldn't vary over time. Thanks. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Dec 12, 2018 7:41 AM
Replying to Abolfazl Yousefi Darestani
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It seems that you made some assumption for your calculation. however, as soon as your estimation and plan work for you and it is pretty much accurate, here you go, you did a good job.
yes the FTEs are divided in fours parts i.e. 0.25, 0.5 , 0.75, 1 for calculating the FTEs for each project as well as department. Saving Changes...
