5 Best Project Resource Management Software

Resource management is the process of planning, scheduling, and allocating resources. It’s all about optimizing resources in a manner that maximizes the likelihood of a project’s success.

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5 Best Project Resource Management Software

Resource management mainly focuses on managing an organization’s human resources. However, a resource is anything that’s needed to execute a task. This can include:

  • Labor
  • Equipment and tools
  • Supplies and materials

Resource management software must allow you to achieve full visibility into everyone’s workload. As well as availability. That way, you can easily know who is doing what and determine who is ready to take in more work.

Including those who are over capacity. It makes it easy for managers to balance workloads and prioritize tasks in a manner that optimizes schedules.

Effective Project Resource Management Tools

There are a lot of moving pieces when growing a business. From managing people, schedules, and projects, to ensuring the right expense reporting, managing all these in one place can be challenging. This is precisely why you need a project resource management software.

In this article, we let you in on some of the best project resource management software.

person working on laptop with tea

  1. Project Manager

    This is a comprehensive project and work management software. It can manage and track your project resources with ease of use that its competitors lack. It helps with organizing resources, projects, tasks, as well as teams. This makes it easy for you to plan, schedule, and reallocate the required resources.

    Live data provides visibility into resource schedules and the tracking of labor costs. It also gives you visibility into the workload and the progress of tasks in real time.

    Resource planning is a very challenging aspect when it comes to managing a project effectively. The good news is that ProjectManager makes it easy to identify and categorize teams, supplies, and equipment. This makes planning and scheduling on the Gantt chart quite easy.

    Note that Gantt charts schedules resources depending on their availability and skillset. This enables you to keep an eye on the costs and the workload. That way, you’re able to keep to your budget and avoid burning out your team.

    Remember that your team members are your most important resource. Thus, you need software that knows how busy they are without getting in their way. A color-coded workload chart gives you visibility into how many tasks are assigned.

    You can then balance the workload and reallocate resources if necessary. You’ll, however, need to know about your team’s availability, especially if they are hybrid or remote.

  2. Runn

    Runn, which has been in the market for two years now, has the slickest and most intuitive interface. One glance at this tool and you can view all your project timelines. That includes the tentative ones that haven’t materialized from a sales perspective.

    While using this tool, tasks get planned through a simple drag and drop. The editing options include splitting of tasks and multiple-selection to ease resource planning.

    Runn also allows users to add placeholders, thereby accounting for work that needs to be done. Some people complain of not knowing who to allocate work to, and that’s where placeholders come in.

    This project resource management software also comes with different rate cards. This helps in factoring in junior and senior payment rates. It also boasts of visual charts that can evaluate your team’s workload and availability.

    Runn also helps to evaluate utilization in terms of the billable and non-billable work. Another addition of this software is the people’s cost chart. This enables users to see the overhead incurred daily with salaries.

    This software stands out through its dynamic financial reporting. It allows you to personalize your reports. Making it easy to monitor the project’s profitability, performance, and overall spending.

  3. Easy Projects

    This resource management software was designed for midsize to enterprise level teams. You can use it for IT, marketing, operations, and professional services.

    This software also automates your workflows, which saves you time. Your teams can automatically create template-driven projects based on the available resources.

    Easy projects also comes with a more visual resource planning and project reporting user interface. You’ll also find Gantt charts, collaboration tools, and kanban boards. This makes it more of a full project planning software.

    The issue with this software comes when two people are working on a task and one completes before the other. Whoever completed first will continue receiving notifications until the other person has completed.

    The software also has issues with resource allocation reporting. That’s because project stakeholders don’t get the full Gantt chart view unless they have a license. Whereas there are some issues with this tool, its overall visual style is very appealing. This makes using the software fun and functional.

  4. Float

    This is the leading web-based resource scheduling software. Float is packed with a lot of helpful features despite its simplicity.

    The people area shows users the whole team’s schedule and their current workload. To get more data, simply use the search bar. Also, you can use predefined filters that sort information in a descending or ascending order.

    Float also comes with an activity feed. This enables you to follow updates as they unfold chronologically. It also allows you to spot inconsistencies along the way.

    If a user wants to update the schedule, they can just right-click on a task to split and reassign it. You can also choose to duplicate it on the go, or use the quick shortcuts to apply the exact change to multiple tasks. Many people love the speed and smoothness of the updates.

    Users can set a schedule status to alert the team if they are working from home or out of the office. You can also use it to alert the team about tentative tasks in case they had not been confirmed yet. User profiles also come with job titles, departments, and tag fields.

    This makes it easy to organize a team with searchable terms. You can also clock in your work-time and compare it with the initially scheduled hours. This is all thanks to the pre-filled timesheets.

    When it comes to reports, Float doesn’t disappoint as it displays logged VS scheduled hours. It also displays future scheduled workloads, including billable Vs. non-billable ratio of logged hours in an easy-to understand bar chart timeline.

  5. Forecast

    This software is used in professional services, agencies, consulting, and software sectors. It provides users with real-time data. This helps with resource planning and the improvement of key performance indicators.

    Forecast utilizes artificial intelligence to help with resource planning including the selection of the most suitable team members to work on particular projects.

    The disadvantage with this software is that it lacks reporting tools. This results in poor tracking and difficulties in learning from past projects. Some users praise it as a forecasting tool. However, they also criticize its project visualization. That’s because it gets confusing when dealing with large teams in big organizations.

Conclusion

Project resource management software has come a long way from spreadsheets prone to human errors. That’s the reason we decided to give you a detailed review of some of the best tools. We know this will help you match your current project demands with resources.

Check the comment section below for additional information, share what you know, or ask a question about this article by leaving a comment below. And, to quickly find answers to your questions, use our search Search engine.

Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.

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Online Threat Alerts Security Tips

Pay the safest way

Credit cards are the safest way to pay for online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never get the goods or services or if the offer was misrepresented. Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely if you report the problem promptly.

Guard your personal information

In any transaction you conduct, make sure to check with your state or local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see if the seller, charity, company, or organization is credible. Be especially wary if the entity is unfamiliar to you. Always call the number found on a website’s contact information to make sure the number legitimately belongs to the entity you are dealing with.

Be careful of the information you share

Never give out your codes, passwords or personal information, unless you are sure of who you're dealing with

Know who you’re dealing with

Crooks pretending to be from companies you do business with may call or send an email, claiming they need to verify your personal information. Don’t provide your credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for something and know who you are sending payment to. Your social security number should not be necessary unless you are applying for credit. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information that the business already has.

Check your accounts

Regularly check your account transactions and report any suspicious or unauthorised transactions.

Don’t believe promises of easy money

If someone claims that you can earn money with little or no work, get a loan or credit card even if you have bad credit, or make money on an investment with little or no risk, it’s probably a scam. Oftentimes, offers that seem too good to be true, actually are too good to be true.

Do not open email from people you don’t know

If you are unsure whether an email you received is legitimate, try contacting the sender directly via other means. Do not click on any links in an email unless you are sure it is safe.

Think before you click

If an email or text message looks suspicious, don’t open any attachments or click on the links.

Verify urgent requests or unsolicited emails, messages or phone calls before you respond

If you receive a message or a phone call asking for immediate action and don't know the sender, it could be a phishing message.

Be careful with links and new website addresses

Malicious website addresses may appear almost identical to legitimate sites. Scammers often use a slight variation in spelling or logo to lure you. Malicious links can also come from friends whose email has unknowingly been compromised, so be careful.

Secure your personal information

Before providing any personal information, such as your date of birth, Social Security number, account numbers, and passwords, be sure the website is secure.

Stay informed on the latest cyber threats

Keep yourself up to date on current scams by visiting this website daily.

Use Strong Passwords

Strong passwords are critical to online security.

Keep your software up to date and maintain preventative software programs

Keep all of your software applications up to date on your computers and mobile devices. Install software that provides antivirus, firewall, and email filter services.

Update the operating systems on your electronic devices

Make sure your operating systems (OSs) and applications are up to date on all of your electronic devices. Older and unpatched versions of OSs and software are the target of many hacks. Read the CISA security tip on Understanding Patches and Software Updates for more information.

What if You Got Scammed?

Stop Contact With The Scammer

Hang up the phone. Do not reply to emails, messages, or letters that the scammer sends. Do not make any more payments to the scammer. Beware of additional scammers who may contact you claiming they can help you get your lost money back.

Secure Your Finances

  • Report potentially compromised bank account, credit or debit card information to your financial institution(s) immediately. They may be able to cancel or reverse fraudulent transactions.
  • Notify the three major credit bureaus. They can add a fraud alert to warn potential credit grantors that you may be a victim of identity theft. You may also want to consider placing a free security freeze on your credit report. Doing so prevents lenders and others from accessing your credit report entirely, which will prevent them from extending credit:

Check Your Computer

If your computer was accessed or otherwise affected by a scam, check to make sure that your anti-virus is up-to-date and running and that your system is free of malware and keylogging software. You may also need to seek the help of a computer repair company. Consider utilizing the Better Business Bureau’s website to find a reputable company.

Change Your Account Passwords

Update your bank, credit card, social media, and email account passwords to try to limit further unauthorized access. Make sure to choose strong passwords when changing account passwords.

Report The Scam

Reporting helps protect others. While agencies can’t always track down perpetrators of crimes against scammers, they can utilize the information gathered to record patterns of abuse which may lead to action being taken against a company or industry.

Report your issue to the following agencies based on the nature of the scam:

  • Local Law Enforcement: Consumers are encouraged to report scams to their local police department or sheriff’s office, especially if you lost money or property or had your identity compromised.
  • Federal Trade Commission: Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or use the Online Complaint Assistant to report various types of fraud, including counterfeit checks, lottery or sweepstakes scams, and more.
  • Identitytheft.gov: If someone is using your personal information, like your Social Security, credit card, or bank account number, to open new accounts, make purchases, or get a tax refund, report it at www.identitytheft.gov. This federal government site will also help you create your Identity Theft Report and a personal recovery plan based on your situation. Questions can be directed to 877-ID THEFT.

How To Recognize a Phishing Scam

Scammers use email or text messages to try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could get access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Or they could sell your information to other scammers. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day — and they’re often successful.

Scammers often update their tactics to keep up with the latest news or trends, but here are some common tactics used in phishing emails or text messages:

Phishing emails and text messages often tell a story to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment. You might get an unexpected email or text message that looks like it’s from a company you know or trust, like a bank or a credit card or utility company. Or maybe it’s from an online payment website or app. The message could be from a scammer, who might

  • say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts — they haven’t
  • claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information — there isn’t
  • say you need to confirm some personal or financial information — you don’t
  • include an invoice you don’t recognize — it’s fake
  • want you to click on a link to make a payment — but the link has malware
  • say you’re eligible to register for a government refund — it’s a scam
  • offer a coupon for free stuff — it’s not real

About Online Threat Alerts (OTA)

Online Threat Alerts or OTA is an anti-cybercrime community that started in 2012. OTA alerts the public to cyber crimes and other web threats.

By alerting the public, we have prevented a lot of online users from getting scammed or becoming victims of cybercrimes.

With the ever-increasing number of people going online, it important to have a community like OTA that continuously alerts or protects those same people from cyber-criminals, scammers and hackers, who are every day finding new ways of carrying out their malicious activities.

Online users can help by reporting suspicious or malicious messages or websites to OTA. And, if they want to determine if a message or website is a threat or scam, they can use OTA's search engine to search for the website or parts of the message for information.

Help maintain Online Threat Alerts (OTA).

5 Best Project Resource Management Software