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Analyzing resource allocation and utilization

Let us look at a business scenario to understand how you can use the Resource iCube to analyze project allocation and capacity utilization of resources in an organization.

Tom is a Resource Manager whose responsibility is to manage an organization's resources. He must allocate the right resources to projects based on skill and roles, and ensure optimal utilization of the allocated resources. In the event of resources falling short of their task requirements, he must plan for additional training or counseling to equip resources with the necessary skills.

As a resource manager, Tom would want a dashboard that will enable him to analyze and keep track of his resources, their allocation, and utilization to ensure effective use of resources.

For example, technical architects in an organization are sought after and are at a higher salary grade; if the utilization percentage of technical architects is less than 30%, Tom can immediately try to understand why the architects are not utilized efficiently and reassign them to other projects. Similarly, this dashboard will enable Tom to:

• Plan to hire or train resources for specific skills that are essential for timely project execution
• Realign resources who are not allocated thereby ensuring that they are allocated to other projects and are not idle
• Ensure that resources with certain primary roles are utilized efficiently

Creating the dashboard

The Resource Management dashboard contains Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and reports that help Tom analyze various metrics related to resources. To create the dashboard, you have to log in to Digital.ai Intelligence Applications and perform the following tasks in the Resource iCube of the PPA solution.

1. Creating KPIs for Resource Management
2. Creating reports to analyze resources based on employment type
3. Creating a report to analyze resources based on primary skill

Here is an example of the Resource Management dashboard:

Analyzing the dashboard

Using the Resource Management dashboard, Tom can derive the following insights:

• The KPIs in red indicate if resources are under allocated or underutilized. The Resource Manager can then investigate as to why resources are not utilized efficiently and plan to reallocate resources to other projects.
• The number of resources and allocation reports based on employment types enables the Resource Manager to identify under allocated contractors and down size or reallocate them to save costs.
• The Skill based analysis report enables the Resource Manager to identify underutilized resources with certain skills and reassign or train them to ensure optimum utilization.