Resource Forecasting In Project Management: A Quick Guide

Resource Forecasting In Project Management: A Quick Guide

Resource forecasting is an important tool used by project managers and their teams to estimate the number of resources needed to deliver a project successfully. It is used to allocate the team by looking at their capacity, workload and utilization levels. Resource planning is how one organizes the resources that a project needs to reach completion, while resource forecasting identifies these resources and whether they can fulfill the needs of the project over a specific timeframe. The project schedule and budget will greatly influence resource forecasting. Resource management is the practice of planning, scheduling and allocating resources for a project, program or portfolio.

Resource forecasting is an important aspect of resource management as it factors in resource planning. Benefits of resource forecasting include allowing project managers to know what they're working with and how to use those resources effectively, balancing supply and demand, producing more revenue, and making resource planning more flexible. Without resource forecasting, project managers could overspend or go over schedule. Resource forecasting is an important part of resource planning and resource management, and can be beneficial to projects. To take advantage of this benefit, it is important to understand the skills needed for the project, the strengths and weaknesses of the team, and historical data. Additionally, it is important to match the right resource to the right task, not make assumptions based on job titles, and to consider attrition rates when recruiting talent.