Resource calendar (or project management calendar, or project planning calendar, resource planning software) allows you to plan and manage and allocate resources more effectively and efficiently – especially if Microsoft Excel had a leading role in your company.

Often a part of a resource management tool, a resource calendar is your go-to view while planning projects, assigning bookings, and managing your teams. What follows is a resource calendar breakdown to give you a glimpse of essential features and why it’s worth using such a calendar in your daily work as a project manager.

What will you get with this article:

Project management calendar helps with team scheduling and resource planning

Key Benefits of Resource Calendars in Project Management

  1. Solving Project Management Challenges: Project management calendars address numerous challenges by providing a structured approach to planning and resource allocation. They facilitate the synchronization of team efforts, ensuring that resources are utilized optimally and project milestones are met timely.

  2. Comprehensive Resource Overview: Resource calendars offer a holistic view of resource allocation, including employee availability, capacity, workload, and utilization. This transparency helps in preventing overutilization or underutilization of resources, thereby maintaining a balanced workload across the team.

  3. Integration with Other Tools: Modern resource calendars integrate seamlessly with resource management software and other project management and time-tracking tools, creating a unified platform for managing all aspects of a project. This integration enhances efficiency by reducing the need for manual data entry and enabling real-time updates.

What is a resource calendar?

A resource calendar (also known here and there as a project management calendar and project planning calendar) monitors the multitude of tasks, occurrences, and dates that takes or will take place during the project’s life cycle. Creating a resource calendar is essential for effective project management as it helps in planning and resource allocation from the outset of a project. It observes the individual employee’s – at least – availability, capacity, workload, and utilization.(Teamdeck) A resource calendar – as terms suggest – is a calendar for controlling, coordinating, and monitoring resources, including both employees and equipment. It gives project managers a fully transparent view of the entire team and all projects, which is a great way to help enterprises in scaling their businesses.

To be more strict, an overview of how resources (employees) are being utilized, which resources with particular skills are available, how long separated projects take time, and how many particular projects will cost. Project and resource calendars play distinct roles in managing project timelines and resource availability. A project calendar tracks progress and deadlines, while a resource calendar focuses on resource allocation and availability. It also helps with avoiding workload management challenges such as overutilization or underutilization. A resource calendar shows the availability of both human and nonhuman resources, including working hours and off days, to ensure efficient project planning.

Project management calendar helps if is connected with google calendar

What are the project managers’ features looking for in the resource calendar?

Project calendars with gantt charts that separate calendar view are like bird's eye view for PM's

Team members’ bookings, timesheets, vacations overview

[Screen from Teamdeck – the resource and project management calendar]

The Role of a Resource Calendar in Project Management

Resource calendars play a pivotal role in managing complex projects by providing several advantages:

How does a resource calendar benefit your complex projects?

Project managers can benefit from using a resource calendar in many ways, e.g. by:

Managing resources effectively is crucial when handling multiple projects to ensure that workload is balanced and team members are not overburdened.

With a resource calendar, you can plan your team’s work more efficiently. By minding employees’ availability, their planned vacations, and national holidays, you reduce the risk of having too little workforce to complete the project.

Similarly, you can use a resource calendar to spot employees you need that are at the moment booked for another project. Knowing for how long they are unavailable, you can adjust your project’s timeline or negotiate with another PM over the resources you both need.

Another advantage of a resource calendar is a clear overview of employees’ workload. By monitoring bookings or time entries, you can quickly spot team members with too much or too little to do, so you can adjust their bookings accordingly. This helps the project team stay informed about their schedules and potential challenges, ultimately supporting better allocation of tasks and maintaining team morale.

The resource calendar, time tracking, timesheets, project planning, and workload management in the 1 place?

Let’s make the introduction. The Teamdeck is a SaaS resource management solution developed by a software house that works with NetFlix, Uber, or Universal. Previously the software was dedicated for their own purposes but after dozens of months, the product became commercialized. This is how – generally speaking – this resource calendar became part of the huge project management software market.

Teamdeck allows users to create their own resource calendar for better resource management, helping to prevent overbooking and enhance visibility into team workloads.

It helps each project manager and team member during the entire project, with resource planning, managing, and measuring performance.

Teamdeck, you have access to your employees’ workload with a simple resources scheduler. The information available in Teamdeck include Bookings, Timesheets, Availability, and Vacations.

Additionally, we’ve included two more details that can help you with monitoring the workload:

The bars show employees’ bookings or timesheets compared to their availability. It’s a quick and easy way to see if a team member is being under- or overutilized, making it easier for you to take action.

Detailed Overview of Resource Calendar Features

Availability and Leave Management

One of the fundamental features of a resource calendar is its ability to track employee availability and manage leave. This functionality is critical for ensuring that project managers have an accurate picture of who is available to work on a project at any given time.

In contrast, a project calendar is used to identify working days, shifts, and deadlines for tasks, providing a more static overview of the project timeline.

The calendar should include:

By having a detailed overview of these factors, project managers can avoid overbooking employees and ensure that projects are adequately staffed.

Customizable Reports

Customizable reports are another essential feature of a resource calendar. These reports provide insights into various aspects of resource management, such as:

These reports can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the project manager, offering flexibility and detailed insights that aid in decision-making.

Planned Work Scheduling

Planned work scheduling ensures that each employee’s workload is manageable and does not exceed their availability. This feature helps in:

Effective scheduling is vital for maintaining high productivity levels and ensuring that projects are completed efficiently.

Timesheets and Time Tracking

Accurate time tracking is essential for understanding how much time employees spend on various tasks. This feature includes:

By comparing timesheets to planned bookings, project managers can identify discrepancies and make necessary adjustments to improve efficiency.

Employee Utilization Analysis

Employee utilization analysis helps project managers understand how effectively their team members are being used. This involves:

This analysis is crucial for making informed decisions about resource allocation and project planning.

Project Budgeting and Controlling

Effective project management requires careful budgeting and cost control. A resource calendar assists with:

These features help project managers maintain financial discipline and ensure that projects are profitable.

Advanced Customizations

Advanced customization options make resource calendars adaptable to various organizational needs. These include:

Customization enhances the usability of the resource calendar, making it a versatile tool for different project management scenarios.

The Strategic Importance of Resource Calendars

Resource calendars play a strategic role in project management by providing a centralized platform for managing resources. This strategic importance is evident in several key areas:

Improved Resource Visibility

Resource calendars offer a high-level overview of resource availability and allocation. This visibility is crucial for:

Enhanced Collaboration

A centralized resource calendar fosters better collaboration among team members and departments. Benefits include:

Scalability and Growth

Resource calendars support the scalability of organizations by providing tools to manage increasing complexity. This includes:

Risk Management

Effective resource management is a critical component of risk management in project management. Resource calendars contribute by:

Resource availability given by Teamdeck project planning calendar

Availability bars in Teamdeck’s project planning calendar

To make Teamdeck more convenient to use, you can customize the view by selecting which rows you want to see.

Additionally, you can filter the view to display a specified list of employees, e.g. frontend developers or designers only. You can create your own views, so you can quickly get an overview of different teams.

Best Practices for Using a Resource Calendar

To maximize the benefits of a resource calendar, project managers should follow best practices in resource management. These include:

Regular Updates

Comprehensive Training

Clear Communication

Data-Driven Decision Making

Conclusion

In conclusion, a resource calendar is an indispensable tool for modern project management. It offers a comprehensive solution for managing resources, scheduling tasks, and optimizing workloads. By providing clear visibility into resource availability and utilization, a resource calendar enhances efficiency, collaboration, and decision-making. Tools like Teamdeck exemplify the benefits of advanced resource planning software, offering a robust platform that supports the successful execution of complex projects. By following best practices and leveraging the full potential of resource calendars, project managers can significantly improve their ability to deliver projects on time and within budget, ultimately contributing to the growth and success of their organizations.

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