Resource management involves acquiring the materials, supplies, equipment, and personnel essential for project execution. It encompasses planning, scheduling, allocating, and overseeing these resources to best serve the project’s needs.
The primary challenge for businesses lies in aligning resource capacity with demand while adhering to time constraints and project objectives.
As teams increasingly work remotely, optimizing the use of available resources becomes a significant challenge. However, leveraging the right tool can streamline resource management, allowing teams to maximize their potential.
That’s why I’ve undertaken an in-depth review of the top 10 resource management tools available in 2024. This review aims to assist you in saving time on research and selecting the best tool for your needs.
What is Resource Management?
Resource management involves the identification of the specific resources necessary for the successful execution of a project.
A resource plan comprises determining the resource type and aligning their work with their individual skill sets, reflecting the effectiveness of your resource planning.
It’s crucial to note that robust resource planning is essential. This ensures that even if priorities or deadlines change during the project, it doesn’t adversely impact team performance.
Benefits of Using Resource Management Tools
Resource management software typically offers a variety of tools and functionalities designed to assist organizations in tracking, allocating, and optimizing their resources. Some of the most common features include:
- Resource Planning: Creating a project roadmap outlining how resources will be utilized within the organization and allocating them to specific projects or tasks.
- Resource Tracking: Monitoring real-time resource utilization and updating resource availability as required.
- Resource Allocation: Assigning resources to specific projects or tasks based on priority and availability.
- Reporting and Analytics: Generating reports and analyzing data to facilitate informed decision-making about resource management.
If you’re handling multiple projects concurrently and encountering challenges managing resources across various teams and departments, Resource Management Software might be the solution you need.
By optimizing resource allocation and minimizing waste, these tools can enhance productivity, increase profitability, and streamline project deliveries.
Our Top picks for 2024
The choice of tools for managing your resources and projects is entirely based on what suits your business workflow. Let’s explore some of the top resource management tools that can effectively maintain your project staffing levels while staying within budget.
1. Monday.com
If you’re seeking an adaptable and top-notch resource management tool, Monday.com stands out. This software simplifies managing your team’s workload, monitoring progress, and ensuring projects are completed within designated timelines and budgets.
Image by Monday.com
With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can assign tasks to team members and track their advancement efficiently. Moreover, it provides the flexibility of setting up custom time-tracking features, coupled with reporting functionalities, ensuring optimal efficiency across your team.
Monday.com seamlessly integrates with various project management systems like Slack, Jira, and Trello, allowing smooth collaboration among team members across different platforms and workflows.
This platform offers an array of customizable templates and workflows, making it suitable for tailoring to your specific needs, whether you’re overseeing a large-scale project or managing a small team.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Free: $0 and free forever
- Basic: From $8 per user/ month
- Standard: From $10 per user/ month
- Pro: From $16 per user/ month
- Enterprise: Contact Sales for a customized quote
2. ClickUp
ClickUp serves as a comprehensive resource management software designed to streamline task management, collaboration, and resource optimization.
Image by ClickUp
This highly adaptable platform offers an extensive array of features, encompassing time tracking, project management, team coordination, workflow automation.
ClickUp stands out for its rich suite of resource management features that enable teams to enhance their workflows and productivity. Among its notable functionalities is the resource workload management tool, a robust feature facilitating effective resource oversight.
This tool allows teams to allocate tasks efficiently based on members’ availability and workload capacity. It ensures a balanced distribution of work, preventing overload on team members and fostering a more conducive and productive environment.
The platform showcases an intuitive and user-friendly dashboard that provides real-time insights into team member workloads. This transparency allows managers and team leads to make informed decisions regarding task assignments, ensuring alignment between each member’s workload and capacity.
Furthermore, ClickUp’s resource capacity planning feature aids teams in forecasting and planning for future resource requirements. By identifying potential resource shortages, teams can make well-informed decisions about resource allocation, ensuring adequate staffing for projects and efficient meeting of deadlines.
ClickUp offers resource utilization reports that provide valuable insights into how team members allocate their time across diverse tasks and projects.
Understanding resource utilization patterns enables teams to optimize resource allocation, ensuring effective utilization of each resource. Additionally, these reports highlight areas for improvement, enabling teams to refine their processes and maximize overall efficiency.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Free: $0 and free forever
- Unlimited: From $7 per user/ month
- Business: From $12 per user/ month
- Enterprise: Contact Sales for a customized quote
3. Float
Float stands out as a versatile resource scheduling software that offers features like effortless drag-and-drop functionality, task splitting, and task duplication on a calendar.
Image by Float
These features prove incredibly handy when adjusting deadlines or modifying project requirements. Since its launch, the application has undergone significant core improvements.
When alterations occur in your schedule, Float automatically updates in real-time, ensuring everyone is informed about the latest developments.
Furthermore, the tool allows for the duplication of recurring tasks and enables easy assignment to multiple resources simultaneously.
Float has witnessed substantial enhancements over time. What sets this application apart is its scalability as work progresses.
With an intuitive user interface, regular updates, and unwavering customer support, Float has evolved into a preferred platform for project managers and team leads across the globe.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Starter: From $6 per user/ month
- Pro: From $10 per user/ month
- Enterprise: Contact Sales for a customized quote
4. Saviom
Saviom serves as a comprehensive solution catering to diverse resource management needs. This software encompasses various functionalities like resource planning, scheduling, forecasting, capacity planning, and real-time optimization.
Image by Saviom
By leveraging these capabilities, organizations can intelligently harness their talent pool and maximize their potential. Tailored for enterprise-level operations, the software addresses complex challenges inherent in matrix organizations, including information silos, data disparities, and double-bookings.
Offering real-time insights through data analytics tools and highly adaptable dashboards, Saviom presents a range of viewing options.
From a Gantt chart providing an overview of resource utilization to a scheduler accessible across the entire organization, enabling visibility into who is engaged in which project.
The functionality of Saviom grants exceptional visibility into areas requiring attention, particularly in terms of resource shortages. It facilitates real-time solutions that empower businesses to promptly adjust their priorities.
Moreover, Saviom can identify available skills within the program, facilitating the deployment of appropriate resources for specific tasks.
These resource predictions play a pivotal role in streamlining business operations and fostering additional efficiency.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Contact Sales for a customized quote
5. Resource Guru
Resource Guru targets resource and project managers primarily. It functions as project scheduling and resource management software.
Image by Resource Guru
Handling schedules in Resource Guru—adding, editing, or removing items—is swift and straightforward. Its calendar view offers insight into resource utilization, while a staff time tracker keeps tabs on absences like vacations, sick days, or maternity leave.
The calendar syncs with a resource planning dashboard, ensuring project-wide alignment, and visual reports provide data on resource allocation.
However, this software has certain limitations. For instance, it lacks alerts or appointment scheduling. Automation features are minimal, which could significantly streamline processes.
The reporting functionality might benefit from improvements, and while there are integration options available, having all tools integrated within the platform would be preferable. Nonetheless, its capability to keep teams on track is a definite win in resource management.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Grasshopper Plan: From $4.16 per user/ month
- Blackbelt Plan: From $6.65 per user/ month
- Master Plan: From $10 per user/ month
6. Kantata
Kantata is a cloud-based resource management software that serves as a centralized platform for real-time management of tasks, schedules, and project timelines.
Image by Kantata
Renowned for its diverse array of resource management features, Kantata offers functionalities such as project tracking, time tracking, resource allocation, capacity planning, and budget management.
A standout feature is its resource allocation capability, empowering users to assign resources based on availability, skill sets, and existing workloads. Kantata ensures efficient task distribution, leveraging the strengths of individual team members while maintaining workload balance.
Noteworthy is Kantata’s capacity planning feature, streamlining the forecasting of resource capacity and enabling teams to align project timelines effectively.
Additionally, Kantata’s resource management tool encompasses robust budget management features. Organizations can seamlessly set project budgets, monitor expenses, and track project costs in real-time.
This real-time monitoring capability is crucial for effective financial management, aiding in cost control and preventing budget overruns.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Contact Sales for a customized quote depending on comapny information
7. Runn
Runn is a resource management software designed to aid in forecasting and assigning human resources. It offers flexibility and an intuitive interface that enables users to integrate project data from CRM and financial systems.
Image by Runn
Users gain an overview of individuals’ activities, their workload, ongoing projects, and availability. The software allows for the reassignment of overburdened resources and provides insights into the financial implications of such actions.
However, Runn focuses solely on resource management. If you require features related to task management or other project management functionalities, you’ll need to use Runn in conjunction with other tools. While it excels in resource management, it might pose frustrations, especially if project estimations aren’t conducted in advance.
Additionally, due to its extensive modeling and planning features, the initial setup process can be time-consuming.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Free: $0 up to 5 users
- Pro: From $8 per user/ month
- Enterprise: Contact Sales for a customized quote
8. eResource Scheduler
eResource Scheduler is an enterprise-focused resource management software designed specifically for overseeing resource utilization, scheduling, and tracking across various departments and business units within an organization.
Image by eResource Scheduler
This software facilitates resource allocation and team workload management through user-friendly tools such as workload charts, project calendars, timesheets, and cost-tracking reports. It effectively aids in resource mapping and incorporates a skill matrix to match suitable team members with appropriate resources and projects.
However, the software’s simplicity poses limitations when catering to the needs of project management teams. It lacks several project management tools, including kanban boards, status reports, or project dashboards.
Additionally, its existing project management features like Gantt charts lack some advanced functionalities, such as task dependency identification, critical path management, or task-level cost tracking. In essence, while it assists with resource planning aspects like tracking resource utilization and capacity reporting, it doesn’t offer comprehensive capabilities required for professional project management as a fully-featured resource management software.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Scheduling Module: $4 resource/month
- Scheduling Plus: $2 resource/month
- Timesheets Module: $4 resource/month
- Financial Module: $3 resource/month
- Authentication Plus: $1.6 resource/month
9. Wrike
Wrike integrates project management functionalities within a real-time workspace. It stands as a popular software option; however, its resource management features are only available in the most expensive plans.
Image by Wrike
The software allows users to create and personalize multiple dashboards that can be shared across teams. It incorporates useful risk management features that aid in the anticipation and handling of potential project risks.
Moreover, Wrike offers a plethora of collaborative tools, facilitating team communication and interaction, including automated responses.
Nevertheless, many of these benefits don’t directly relate to resource management, which, as previously mentioned, is exclusively accessible through a substantial investment in the dedicated resource management software.
This limitation might discourage mid-sized companies, especially considering the availability of less expensive alternatives. Additionally, there were delays in integrations providing alerts, such as Outlook, posing an issue.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Free: $0 and free forever
- Team: $9.80 per user/ per month
- Business: $24.80 per user/ per month
- Enterprise: Contact Sales for a customized quote
- Pinnacle: Contact Sales for a customized quote
10. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is software that essentially amplifies the capabilities of a spreadsheet. It offers a relatively low-cost solution, including a free forever plan. This tool is notably customizable, equipped with robust analytics and reporting tools.
Image by Smartsheet
It also provides numerous templates, including those tailored for human resources. Smartsheet incorporates collaborative tools, automation options, and real-time reporting features.
However, unless you invest in add-ons, it lacks time tracking and resource management software. Perhaps additional payment might be acceptable, but even at its most basic level, the software is challenging to navigate.
There exists a steep learning curve that users must overcome to derive any benefits from it. Moreover, the platform’s pages do not update in real-time, potentially leading to working with outdated data.
Customer Ratings
Pricing
- Free: $0 and free forever
- Pro: Starting at $7/user/month
- Business: Starting at $25/user/month
- Enterprise: Contact Sales for a customized quote
Final Verdict
There exist numerous choices for resource management software. The ideal tool for you largely depends on what specific features you seek in a resource management solution. While certain projects might not demand extensive resource management, the majority often require robust management strategies.
Acquiring a resource management tool that aids in planning, scheduling, and allocating resources holds paramount importance. Opting for an online platform that offers real-time data for monitoring resources becomes even more crucial, particularly in the working landscape of 2024.
However, these are just fundamental considerations when selecting a resource management tool for overseeing projects and teams.
Beyond the feature set, it’s crucial to consider other aspects of resource management software, including user experience, learning curve, pricing, and customer service. These aspects can significantly impact the implementation and effectiveness of the software within your organization.
FAQs
What is resource management?
Resource management in project management involves planning, monitoring, and optimizing the use of various resources like human resources, space, and equipment. It aims to streamline project work and completion by ensuring efficient utilization.
This process includes checking resource availability, scheduling start and end dates, resolving conflicts or dependencies, and adapting to changes over time.
Do I need resource management software?
Yes, you do. Utilizing resource management software to manage your team and its resources ensures optimal utilization.
It ensures the right people work on the right tasks at the right time, maximizing efficiency, maintaining project progress, and ensuring the necessary resources for successful project delivery.
What are the three types of resource management?
The three types of resource management are:
- Human Resource Management (HRM): Managing employees and their skills, knowledge, and experience to ensure effective and efficient utilization within an organization.
- Financial Resource Management (FRM): Managing an organization’s financial resources, involving tasks such as budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis.
- Equipment Resource Management (ERM): Focusing on managing the tools and equipment used by an organization to ensure optimal usage and availability when needed.
For Further Reading:
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- Top 10 CRM Applications to Use in 2024
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- Top 10 Gantt Charts to Use in 2024
- Top 10 Kanban Boards to Use in 2024
- Top 10 Meeting Management Applications to Use in 2024
- Top 10 Risk Management Applications to Use in 2024
- Top 10 Team Management Applications to Use in 2024
- Top 10 Note Taking Applications to Use in 2024
- Top 10 Task Management Applications to Use in 2024
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- 10 Best Project Management Applications to Use in 2024
John Smith
Hello, I'm John Smith, and I'm passionate about sharing my thoughts and expertise through the written word. I'm a writer, explorer, and lifelong learner with a deep love for all things related to technology, travel and adventure. I've been fortunate to journey to various corners of the world, soaking in diverse cultures and experiences along the way. My aim is to transport readers to these places through my words, inspiring them to embark on their adventures and explore the beauty of our planet.