What Is A Resource Calendar In Project Management?
Creating a resource calendar in project management ensures team members are available and have the capacity to work on project tasks that you’re expecting them to work on.
Without this important step in the project planning phase, you’ll only end up with major confusion, finger pointing, disappointment, and blame.
What Is A Resource Calendar?
A resource calendar is a tool that shows team member availability. It’s used to determine whether your resource management plan is feasible and to track capacity and utilization (how much time they have and any competing work priorities). It also accounts for public holidays, non-working days, or days when project team members will be unavailable (vacation, planned time off, etc.).
You should create your calendar at the start of a project (with your project plan) and update it regularly. It’s best to build it directly in your resource management software or the tool you’re using to manage your projects. It’s usually created by the project manager, but a resource manager might also create it.
The Purpose Of A Resource Calendar
The purpose of a resource calendar is to determine the general availability of your human resources and whether the right resources are available. It’s not uncommon for the resource calendar to show that a project is not possible due to resource constraints, which means a change in project schedule, scope, resource allocation, or cost might be required.
How To Build A Resource Calendar
Here are the steps to create a resource calendar.
1. Start with a fresh calendar
Begin by creating a new calendar in your resource management tool or using a calendar template. These tools are specifically designed to help you streamline the resource scheduling process. Save the calendar in a readily-accessible location so it’s visible to all team members.
With the permission functionalities offered by most resource management software, you can control access, allowing team members to view, edit, and add their own entries. This collaborative feature not only fosters transparency but also enhances coordination and productivity within the team.
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2. Add team members and resources
The next step is to input team details into your resource management tool. Define each team member's working days and the percentage of their working time that can be allocated to the project.
For example, a team member that works Monday to Friday might have around 3 hours per day of operations-focused work to do, so their available time for the project on a weekly basis might be 20 working hours.
By using project resource management best practices, you can easily track and adjust these allocations, ensuring that each team member’s workload is balanced and that the project timeline remains realistic.
3. Identify times when the team will not be available
In your calendar, also mark times when team members will be unavailable, including company holidays, public holidays, planned vacation time, sabbaticals, leaves of absence, and any other time away from work.
By marking this time as non-available in your tool, you ensure a more comprehensive view of resource availability. This will help you avoid scheduling conflicts and make sure that your project planning is as realistic as possible.
You can also enable your team members to easily update and adjust their non-working times in your resource management tool to make sure your calendar stays up-to-date throughout the project.
4. Publish the resource calendar
Once your calendar is populated, make sure to share it with the team and stakeholders. Creating your calendar in a resource management tool makes it simple to share and enables everyone to stay updated in real-time.
Having wide visibility of the calendar will help project team members and stakeholders know what’s going on, and understand what challenges of availability the team might be facing.
For example, are the winter holidays coming up? What will that do to project capacity? Remember, it's crucial to account for and respect your team's need for time off—rest is vital for maintaining morale.
5. Review the resource calendar regularly
Once you've shared your resource calendar, it's not done. You should be regularly reviewing the calendar with your team and stakeholders. This is another reason why creating your calendar in a resource management tool is smart.
Doing so will make it easy for your team members to consistently enter and update their time away. Regular reviews of the calendar will help maintain its accuracy, preventing it from becoming outdated and difficult to manage.
You can also use your software’s notification features to prompt timely updates and keep everyone aligned.
What To Include In A Resource Calendar
You’ll need to include the following information about all team members or project resources that will be needed to achieve the goals of the project:
- Names
- Titles
- Start dates
- End dates (if applicable)
- Typical working days
- The specific days each team member is available to work on the project
- Planned time off, sabbaticals, leave of absences, etc.
- Competing work priorities
Here’s an example of what this looks like:
Resource Calendar vs. Project Calendar
While a resource calendar is a schedule of when team members are available to work on tasks and is used to track the availability of resources, a project calendar is a schedule of planned tasks and milestones that is used to track the progress of the project.
Team members use the resource calendar to indicate when they are available to work on the project, whereas project calendars indicate which tasks and deliverables are assigned to whom and when the work is due to be complete.
Together, project calendars and resource calendars allow project managers or team leaders to have visibility into team member availability and project milestones and timelines, so they can identify potential bottlenecks ahead of time that may otherwise go unnoticed.
| Resource Calendar | Project Calendar |
|---|---|
| Created by: The project manager or resource manager | Created by: The project manager |
| Primary Info: Available time, time off, holidays, and leave | Primary Info: Project timelines and milestones, according to the project plan |
| Used For: Tracking availability of team members to work on tasks | Used For: Tracking progress of project tasks and milestones |
Here’s what each of these calendars might look like.
Benefits To Using A Resource Calendar In Project Management
Here are a few key benefits to consider if you’re still deciding whether you really need a resource calendar or not.
- You’ll ensure the project work is balanced amongst the team
- You won’t over or under utilize your team members, and you’ll avoid burning them out, keeping productivity high
- You’ll be able to quickly assess which team members are available and for how long before assigning them any tasks
- You’ll know in advance about team member time off, allowing you to forecast project feasibility and resource availability for new projects or more complex projects down the line
- You’ll be able to see this availability visually and at a glance (rather than struggling to parse a list of dates in a spreadsheet)
Get Started
Software tools are a lot easier to use than Google calendars and spreadsheets when it comes to creating a resource calendar. Check out our lists of resource scheduling software to find the right option for your team and project needs.
