In Part 1 of our Agency Resource Management Essentials series, we covered the importance of resourcing your current projects. Once you’ve got the resources for all current work pinned down, it’s time to start looking at the data to check on overall productivity while forecasting to plan ahead for upcoming work. In Part 2 of our series, we will dig deeper into how to use reports and forecasts to bring further efficiency and profitability to your agency.
How to Track and Improve Resource Utilization
The key KPIs you’ll want to start with when reviewing your resources both center on utilization. Start with your actual utilization by calculating the number of hours on billable projects as a percentage of available hours per person. Then you’ll want to crunch the numbers on your planned utilization – a weekly view of your future workload. This number can be either total hours booked or upcoming estimated utilization. Beyond providing you with useful productivity metrics, having a strong grasp of your agency’s utilization will also help you to balance workloads, reducing burnout, as well as avoiding over-servicing your clients.
Potential problem #1: what if you can’t get accurate utilization numbers because your team drags their feet filling out timesheets? Timesheets must become a daily task. Before you drown under a rising tide of groans, keep in mind that daily timesheets are likely to be far more accurate than weekly ones. And if your team resists a daily mandate, it might be time to invest in software to make timesheet compliance easy and convenient – a tool that can even integrate directly with task management, calendars, and email.
Potential problem #2: what should you do if your agency’s utilization numbers are not where you’d like them to be? Don’t panic! Start with a resource overview: what is everyone working on, are their most valuable skills being leveraged, shuffle resources to different projects if that makes more sense. Next is to take a look at who is currently underutilized – what projects could use more support, or what skills do they have that line up well with current or future work. And last, check in with your project managers weekly to make sure that employees with available hours have billable work lined up.
Forecasting Future Capacity with Monthly Reports
Once you’re confident in your utilization, you’re on the right track to maximizing your agency’s profitability. But another key component to improving efficiency is resource planning, or forecasting your future capacity. This is most useful as a monthly process, checking in on the pipeline to plan for upcoming work. Don’t forget to loop in your Project Managers as well, to help you review workloads and planned utilization.
Automate Reporting and Increase Visibility with Agency Management Software
The most effective way to improve efficiency and increase visibility is to super-charge your reporting with a streamlined tool. The right agency management software can help you automate reporting and make it easier to understand productivity and utilization. Deltek WorkBook is a total agency management system that will give you end-to-end visibility into your business, and help you to better manage your projects, people, and finances. For smaller boutique agencies, check out our special MAC Attack quick-start package geared to help your small business with a customized implementation guided by our agency industry experts. Sign up for a demo of Deltek WorkBook today, and stay tuned for the next blog in our Resource Management Essentials Series: Rightsizing and Hiring.
