Throwback to the Strategic Resource Management Conference

According to the Gartner Hype Cycle for Project and Portfolio Management, Resource Management is moving out of the “Trough of Disillusionment” into the “Slope of Enlightenment” reaching the “Plateau of Productivity” within two years. Judging from the attendance and presentations at the 17^th Annual Strategic Resource Management Conference held 16^th -19^th October in Philadelphia, resource management is a relevant and hot button issue.

The conference brought together over 80 project and portfolio management leaders from BioMarin, Jannsen, BMS, GSK, Kite, Merck, Amgen, Galapagos, Celgene and many more. The conference was a forum to present ideas and share successes and challenges in designing and implementing programs to manage resource needs given the project and portfolio dynamics. Here are some key takeaways from the conference:

A data-driven approach to resource planning

A data-driven approach to resource planning was a common theme for the presentations and discussions. Timecard recording is the key source of data for building homegrown data models and predictive algorithms. Accurate and complete data gathering presents logistical and quality challenges and requires a comprehensive change management plan. It takes time to collect enough data to build robust models with a high degree of confidence. Functional teams fully focused on delivering the projects may not see the value add of taking time and resources to gather the data. The process may be cumbersome and engage resources that could be otherwise be focused on delivering the team’s mission.

Be proactive in terms of resource needs

In terms of Change Management, the biggest question is “What’s in it for me?”. Binocs lets functional teams be proactive and no-longer reactive to their resource needs using algorithms and constraints. By capturing not only the high-level capacity information but also down to actuals, Binocs delivers increased business value, greater detail and increased automation (using machine learning algorithms). This frees up Functional teams to not only focus on value-added work but also gives them a powerful data-driven platform to request the right resource, with the right skill set at the right time.

Need for visibility in capacity and demand

Geert Vanhove gave a presentation titled “Bringing Everybody’s Resource Management on One End-to-End Platform” where he introduced an integrated approach to Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) and Resource Management (RM) – Project Portfolio & Resource Management (PPRM).  Functional teams need visibility to their capacity and resource picture to be able to accurately forecast their resource needs to meet demand from the Project Portfolio level. Binocs integrates with PPM platforms and covers all capacity requests that are not managed by PPM.

In case you missed Geert’s presentation at the Strategic Resource Management Conference, fill in the form below and download the presentation.

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