The Best Resource Scheduling Software
I’ve evaluated and selected the following as the best resource scheduling tools:
-
monday.comBest for simple workload and capacity planning
- Kantata
Best all-in-one resource planning, timesheets, and project financials
- Resource Management by Smartsheet
Best for advanced and custom workflow automations
- Saviom
Best for enterprise resource and workforce planning
- Float
Best for digital agencies
- Wrike
Best for mid-to-large companies and complex projects
- Runn
Best real-time resource planning, tracking and forecasting
- Hub Planner
Beautifully designed online resource scheduling software with stacks of enterprise-level features
- Resource Guru
Best for beginners
- eResource Scheduler
Best simple, standalone scheduling module
- Zoho Projects
Best for growing or scaling businesses
- TeamGantt
Best for getting started fast
- MS Projects
Best for organizations using Microsoft and Excel
- Retain
Best for tech, accounting, and professional services companies
- KeyedIn
Best for resource planning at the portfolio and program level
Resource scheduling involves a set of tools that help allocate, schedule, and aggregate resources.
Typically, people think of a Gantt chart, but resource managers and project managers use various tools for scheduling resources, including calendars, timelines, and histograms with aggregated resource data.
To help you find the right tool for your projects, I’ve evaluated and selected some the best software, with details about each tools’ features and pricing below.
The 15 Best Resource Scheduling Software
monday.com
Best for simple workload and capacity planning
monday.com is a flexible platform to help teams communicate in context, get a birds-eye view of outstanding projects, available resources, and projected timelines. monday.com’s simplistic design and straight-forward interface mean teams can get started planning timelines, assigning project ownership, and managing any project in minutes.
monday.com offers various views to represent data, so each team member can work according to his preferences. With workload view, you can easily see who’s able to take on more work and who’s not. Gain insight into your team’s work capacity and make adjustments to timelines or ownership accordingly— no matter where you are. The monday.com app gives you the flexibility and power to run your team on the go. You can organize your daily work, projects, and teams all in one place.
monday.com has over 40 integrates with apps like Slack, Excel, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform, and others, accessible via Zapier.
monday.com costs from $6/user/month and comes with a free 14-day trial. They offer a free plan for up to 2 users.
Pros
- Color coded status great for resource overviews
- Easily create boards dedicated to operational resource tracking
- New features being rolled out regularly
- Quick learning curve
Cons
- Does not have resource forecasting
- Horizontal pipeline views means excessive scrolling
- No single-user plan
Kantata
Best all-in-one resource planning, timesheets, and project financials
Kantata is a well-rounded tool that bridges the core planning, execution, project accounting, and analysis systems in a single operating environment. It has modules for project management, accounting, resource management, business intelligence, and team collaboration. On top of this, it offers a system of dashboards, live time and expense tracking features, a great documenting system. And all of these best-in-class features are delivered through straightforward and minimalistic design.
Kantata ticks off all the boxes when it comes to resource scheduling. Some key features include resource forecasting, real-time utilization, capacity management, skills management, scenario planning, and role-based planning. Kantata offers a ton of other tools for managing a business beyond resource scheduling, including built-in BI reports, trend analysis, data visualization, data integration with other systems, project costing, invoicing, and much more.
I could go on and on about Kantata’s features because there really are too many to list—it’s a comprehensive suite, that, despite requiring time to truly master, has been recognized as being easy to use and learn. What’s more, the company leverages its professional services expertise as part of their offering, making available their Kantata BI Consultants who can build reports specifically for your business. As well, they provide some great training resources that can help mitigate the risks and costs of implementation.
Kantata takes a unique approach to integrations. As part of their “API-first strategy”, they’ve built a solution that doesn’t require a third party in order to integrate with any apps. They provide an integration platform (called M-Bridge) that’s designed to simplify integration between Kantata and other business apps like CRM, HCM, and financial software. On top of the M-Bridge platform, Kantata provides several pre-built integrations with these tools: Expensify, G Suite, Xero, Salesforce, Netsuite, Jira, Hubspot, Slack, Concur, Dynamics 365, Qualtrics, Quickbooks, and Sage Intacct.
Kantata offers plans to meet your needs. Choose from resource management to complete PSA with advanced BI. To receive accurate pricing information, contact Kantata directly.
Pros
- Easy capacity management
- Distinguish between soft and firm allocation
- Good reporting functionality for resource data
- Resourcing fully integrated with master planning
Cons
- Custom Reports Can Be Difficult to create without training
- Proofing solution is an add-on
- Advanced features are available only in the Premier and Enterprise editions of the application
Resource Management by Smartsheet
Best for advanced and custom workflow automations
Resource Management by Smartsheet, a high-level resource management and scheduling software, helps modern teams make confident decisions about project planning, team capacity, budget forecasting, team utilization, and hiring needs in real time.
Built-in timesheets, mobile time tracking, and expense tracking, enables you to create rich project reports by filtering project data with just a few clicks. Reports can give insight into historical data or offer a forecasted view of team utilization, actual vs. planned time reports, budget tracking, expense reports, and projects in the pipeline.
Over 1,000 of the most innovative companies in the world rely on Resource Management by Smartsheet, from 10-person shops and 100-person teams within global brands to 1,000+ person professional services firms. Resource Management by Smartsheet has been recognized for its design excellence with awards from FastCo, SXSW, IxDA + IDSA.
Resource Management by Smartsheet easily integrates with a variety of internal workflows and software suites. Additionally, it provides a flexible API and Zapier integration that can connect with top operational tools for analytics, communications, PM, ERP, and finance.
With a unique project and resource matching feature, Resource Management by Smartsheet helps match team members to the project’s requirements according to different criteria like disciplines, skills, availability, and more.
Pros
- Combines time tracking and resourcing
- Able to forecast resource utilization
- Skills database helps resource allocation
- Intuitive for keeping timesheets and assigning hours
Cons
- Initial resource set-up takes time
- Could use better data visualization
- Bulk project edits don’t apply to resource field
Saviom
Best for enterprise resource and workforce planning
Saviom’s robust enterprise-level resource scheduling solution provides a Gantt chart view of resource schedules. In addition, the tool enables agile resource scheduling with advanced filters and easy drag and drop functionalities.
Businesses can manage multiple allocations at once using the tool’s bulk booking feature and also implement bulk changes in real-time. Moreover, the tool allows you to create generic bookings to keep backup resources and avoid project delays.
The tool also provides early warnings and enables you to split bookings dynamically and prevent over or underutilization of resources. Besides, you can drill down to resource availability, utilization, etc., to maintain the resource health index.
Using enterprise-wide visibility, you can schedule a cost-effective global resource to appropriate project tasks. One can also resolve the complexities of matrix organizational structure and organize schedules by multiple dimensions such as resource role, team, project type, location, and skills available.
With real-time insights into resource allocations, you can mobilize them from non-billable to billable or strategic work, thus enhancing productivity. Additionally, you can form realistic resource plans by considering leaves and absences using Saviom’s leave management portal.
The tool goes beyond basic scheduling and helps futureproof and optimize the workforce using resource forecasting and capacity planning. Saviom’s analytics suite provides access to complex data, allowing you to detect and resolve resource shortages or excesses and project delays.
Saviom can easily integrate and sync all your existing calendars, email, MS Project, Excel, and other apps. To learn more about pricing, you’ll have to get in touch with them, as they offer a customized, tiered pricing model.
Pros
- Drag-and-drop resource bookings
- Split, Reassign, or perform bulk booking with just a few clicks
- Multidimensional view of enterprise schedule
- Advanced filters for competent allocation and scheduling
- Multidimensional forecasting and capacity planning
Cons
- Interfaces display a lot of information at once
- Unavailability of some fields in reporting
- More suited for medium to large enterprises requiring complex scheduling
- Pricing is available only on request
Float
Best for digital agencies
Float combines resource management and scheduling in a powerful, easy to use software solution. Built for agencies, studios, and firms, some of the world’s top teams use Float including Deloitte, Ogilvy, BuzzFeed, and MetaLab. Its intuitive interface and fast scheduling tools make Float a suitable solution for teams big and small.
Scheduling in Float is lightning-fast. You can create and assign projects and tasks to your team within seconds. Making changes is also easy with a right-click menu full of editing shortcuts, and a drag-and-drop interface that makes reassigning and updating tasks a breeze. Even with an enterprise volume of people and projects, Float’s interface can handle it.
The schedule view is your go-to for a high-level overview of your project pipeline and resource capacity. Drill down deeper with a universal search bar, and filter functionality. Get an accurate view of your team’s availability with custom work hours, public holidays, and scheduled time-off. Add custom tags such as location and skillsets to your people and projects, and use the scheduled status feature to let everyone know when you’re working remotely, from home, or offline in a team workshop on any day.
Track your resource utilization, monitor project budgets, and forecast your team’s capacity with real-time reporting. Adding time tracking to your account gives your team access to pre-filled timesheets, so you can compare your estimated hours with the actual time spent on project tasks.
Float’s dedicated integrations mean you can streamline your resource scheduling workflow with other tools, seamlessly. Import your Google or Outlook Calendar events directly onto your schedule. Sync and schedule your projects with Jira, Asana, Teamwork, or Trello. Integrate your schedule with Slack to notify your team of any changes, and opt-in for schedule updates via email or mobile push notifications.
Float offers a free 30 day trial with unlimited access to both resource planning and time tracking features. After that, it’s $6 per scheduled user, per month, or $10 with time tracking, with volume and yearly subscription discounts available.
Pros
- Easy-to-use resource editing tools
- Set custom work hours
- Can monitor budgets and forecast capacity
- Easily add contract workers
- Time tracking feature
Cons
- Updating staff/personnel list is time consuming
Wrike
Best for mid-to-large companies and complex projects
Wrike is an award-winning, easy-to-use resource scheduling software trusted by 20,000+ organizations worldwide. It’s suitable for teams with anywhere from five members to an unlimited number of members. It’s highly configurable, allowing users to customize workflows, dashboards, reports, request forms, and more.
Wrike’s simple interface enables users to switch between Kanban boards, one-click Gantt charts, and traditional workload views, allowing them to choose how to visualize their priorities. Wrike also features task lists, dependency management, subtasks, calendars, and shared workflows. Unlock advanced insights with performance reporting tools, resource management and allocation, and more.
Wrike has an easy-to-use, intuitive interface and navigation with distinct spaces, folders, and tasks. Users can toggle between the home screen and timesheets, dashboards, calendars, reports, and the activity stream. Wrike has a dedicated help center with interactive training, videos, a ‘Getting Started’ guide, and a thriving community.
The tool also offers a variety of different yet specific solutions depending on the type of team or organization, such as marketing teams and professional service teams. Users can also try a variety of templates for common organizational processes.
Wrike offers 400+ pre-built native integrations, including integrations with the most popular file management software from Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox, along with sales and marketing software from Salesforce and Marketo.
Pricing starts at $9.80 per user per month. There are four different price points, including a free version and plans which offer the ability to invite free external collaborators to a paid account.
Pros
- Resource request and approvals are easy and well organized
- Good variety of dashboard views to accommodate different user needs
- Building custom dashboards is great for highly specific resource tracking
Cons
- Best resource tools are limited to the higher level paid plans
- No time tracking with the free version of the tool
- May require additional training for an understanding of the full functionality
Runn
Best real-time resource planning, tracking and forecasting
Runn is a real-time resource, demand, and capacity planning tool with integrated time tracking and powerful forecasting capabilities. Get a bird’s-eye view of all projects and people to instantly spot overbookings and identify resourcing patterns. Collaborate with co-workers to stay up-to-date and on the same page with remote teams.
Scheduling allocations is easy and intuitive in Runn–simply drag-and-drop to create project phases and allocations. Flick between monthly, quarterly and half-yearly views to plan for the short and long term. If you don’t have the right person at the right time, use placeholders to define the requirements for the project.
Runn makes resource management dynamic and visual. Watch the charts and reports update as you plan out your work. You can see visualisations of capacity, workload, availability, and billable and non-billable utilisation. Drill into different roles, teams and tags to compare trends and understand which groups are overbooked. Plan out tentative projects to see how your resourcing plans might change if the work gets confirmed.
Track projects, view forecasts, and get relevant metrics within Runn. You’ll have up-to-date data in one place to keep tabs on insights like utilization, project variance, and overall financial performance. Use Runn’s built-in timesheets to understand how much time was worked compared to what was planned.
Runn integrates with Harvest, WorkflowMax, and Clockify for importing project, client, and people data and syncing time entries. With Runn’s API, you can build your own integration to send data across your favorite tools.
Try Runn free for 14 days, no credit card required. Runn has three pricing plans: Free for Startup (5 or fewer people), $10 per person for Pro, and custom pricing for Enterprise. There is also a 20% discount on annual plans.
Pros
- Clean UI that’s easy to use & navigate
- Free version available for 5 users
- Native integrations & API available
Cons
- No time tracking built in
- Can't keep notes on projects
- Colors are not customisable
Hub Planner
Beautifully designed online resource scheduling software with stacks of enterprise-level features
Hub Planner is a resource scheduling software with a full suite of scheduling, time entry, and reporting features. The core feature is the simple and usable Scheduler, which allows for project and resource planning and visualization. Users can drag and drop to plan projects and schedule resources. The tool also offers a multi function menu, powerful filtering, and a dynamic team capacity bar. Multiple view modes allow for both high-level birds-eye views and granular views of projects.
Hub Planner has a powerful reporting engine with 70+ pre-formatted templates. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in a template, you can create reports from scratch.
Hub Planner also has a number of inline workflows for timesheets, requesting vacation time, and a slick resource requesting & approval option. Their Unassigned Work feature is great for scheduling and forecasting ahead of the pipeline, and users can create custom fields at the resource or project level. Users can also customize schedule notifications and reminders.
They’ve taken a modular approach so you have the option to add or remove extensions to the base product, allowing teams to increase functionality or turn off bits they don’t need. Inline integrations with Basecamp, Slack, iCal, REst API, and Zapier are available.
Hub Planner offers a pretty extensive 60 day free trial with everything included. There is an extensive knowledge base with tutorial videos, and their customer support is excellent.
Licenses begin at $7 per month, per resource with annual discounts available.
Pros
- Filter planning & forecasting data by project, resource, group or skill set
- Easily track several projects and generate reports
- Good overview of staff task/time allocations and availability
Cons
- Need to click into modal for more details on events/projects bookings
- To customize views and schedule layout you need to edit settings
- Would be nice to view more project booking information like custom fields in iCal
Resource Guru
Best for beginners
Resource Guru is a dedicated resource scheduling software tool. With a great visual calendar style interface, it shows what everyone’s working on and clearly displays availability so you can maximize utilization. The tool allows Project Managers to make bookings simultaneously with no chance of stepping on each other’s toes.
Resource and project clashes are automatically prevented. Bookings can be added to a waiting list and used for capacity planning later. Each staff member gets their own resource dashboard so they can log in and know exactly what they should be working on. And to monitor business performance, powerful reports monitor utilization of your team, and help with capacity planning.
Resource Guru costs from $2.50/user/month.
Pros
- Availability bar for capacity planning
- Clash management for unintended overlap
- Pleasant and flexible UI
- Daily resource summary emails
- Very affordable per-user rate
Cons
- Unable to sort resources by experience level
- No copy-paste of resource tasks
eResource Scheduler
Best simple, standalone scheduling module
eResource Scheduler offers both Cloud and On-Premise versions with configurability & ease of use at core of its design. It’s been used by organizations of all sizes since 2011.
This resource scheduling tool’s features include a dashboard that highlights important information on single screen, along with multiple types of user-defined fields that allow capturing complete information (roles, skills, qualifications, certificates, team, office, etc.) about your projects.
The resource scheduling chart offers resources, projects and role views, and users can create their own scheduling views on the fly. Filters identify qualified resources as per project requirements. Meanwhile, features like drag and drop, availability and overload indicator, extend-shorten, precise split, copy-paste make scheduling efficient and quick. They also offer the option to schedule at both project and task levels. You’ll find multiple calendars with different timings, holidays, exceptions, and personal leaves (visible on scheduling chart) to ensure correct resource capacity for different types of employees (Full, Part-Time, Casual, etc.) Their reports show real-time utilization at different levels and their reporting offers several different views/filters which make the reports informative and useful.
To integrate their tool with your other business tools, you can use their Open REST API, and you can also take advantage of easy imports/exports.
And finally, their timesheets feature and financial module (complete with cost and billing rates and a forecasting report) make eResource Scheduler complete resource management package. eResource Scheduler costs $5/resource/month and provides annual billing discounts (14-day free trial).
Pros
- Resource notification emails
- Ease of use and functionality
- Change control records for resource data
- Robust resource dashboard
Cons
- No invoicing module
- Convoluted pricing structure
Zoho Projects
Best for growing or scaling businesses
Zoho Projects is a resource scheduling tool that lets you plan and manage both simple and complex projects with the help of Gantt charts to schedule timelines, set up baselines, compare multiple baselines, identify critical tasks, and create dependencies.
You can distribute work evenly with the help of their resource allocation feature. Moreover, teams can track project metrics and team performance with the help of numerous dashboards, charts and reports and make necessary changes to the project schedule or task ownerships accordingly.
PMs can manage teams by setting up profiles for users and setting access privileges as per their role. Managers can also set user rates to generate invoices for payroll. Team members can also check in and check out right from Zoho Projects via the Zoho People integration.
Zoho Projects integrates with tools such as Google Drive, Google Calendar, Slack, Github, Bitbucket, and Dropbox. Access even more integrations through Zapier.
Zoho Projects costs from $4/user/month (billed annually) and offers a 10-day free trial. They have a free plan for up to 3 users.
Pros
- Easily connect to other Zoho apps for sales, CRM, marketing
- Affordable and free entry-level plans
- Time tracking built-in
Cons
- No premade templates
- Steep learning curve for maximum benefits
TeamGantt
Best for getting started fast
Used by Amazon and Netflix, TeamGantt is a project management tool with resource management functions like time- and budget tracking in the availability tab. TeamGantt specializes in task planning tools and charts but they also track workloads and team availability, collaboration features like chat and tagging, and customizable alerts.
One con with TeamGantt is that dashboards’ views sometimes lag behind real-time changes to resource tracking. Resource-complex projects may lag a bit due to the fact of TeamGantt being an in-browser, cloud-based application.
TeamGantt scores well in the Usability segment of the evaluation criteria, as it is incredibly flexible to use. The tool is accommodating to however you may want to set up and track your projects, no matter their resource structure or constraints. Additionally, providing an easy “read-only” URL makes it great for sharing with outside parties for input.
TeamGantt costs from $24.95/month and has a freemium version of the software for up to 3 users.
Pros
- Flexible setup/tracking for projects
- Share charts without receiver logging in
- Easy drag-and-drop task duration
- Quick learning curve
Cons
- Dependency data is awkward at times
- Lack of in-app notifications
- Views can lag behind changes
MS Projects
Best for organizations using Microsoft and Excel
Microsoft Project can be clunky (which is why many people search for MS Project alternatives), but MS Project is still a standard, well-supported, and widely adopted tool. It includes familiar scheduling tools to assign project tasks to team members and use different views like Grid, Board, and Timeline (Gantt chart) to oversee the schedule. Users can view and compare how resources are used across projects to optimize assignments.
If you are familiar with other Microsoft programs, in particular Excel, then the interface and navigation will be familiar to you. This can help teams on a Usability level, as familiar software makes for easier training; thus, they evaluated well in Usability in this regard.
Integrations include other Microsoft software, like Outlook, Excel, Skype, and more.
A few critiques that would make this solution better for resource scheduling is that you can’t open different projects across different windows (for, say, easily comparing resources between the two) and PDF exports look messy, so if you use them for reports or printable projects you will need some manual design intervention.
MS Projects costs from $7/user/month and has a free 30-day trial.
Pros
- Can generate a Gantt chart from a spreadsheet
- Helpful project template descriptions for guidance
- Driver prioritization module for ranking strategies/objectives
- Integration with other Microsoft software
Cons
- Limitations on collaboration tools
- Higher learning curve
- Few customization options
Retain
Best for tech, accounting, and professional services companies
Since 1992, Retain has maintained its market-leading position in the resource scheduling space. Retain is a customizable, scalable and user-friendly resource tool and is used across a wide range of industries and sectors in over 70 countries. With over 25 years’ experience in resource scheduling, Retain’s staff planner is used by the Big Four accounting firms. Retain is built with UI and UX specialists, client surveys and their own expertise in the resource planning space in mind.
Available features include resource scheduling, capacity planning, demand forecasting, talent management, and a powerful, visual reporting capability. Using a customizable interface, you can easily move, schedule and allocate resources to projects, including the ability to auto-schedule resources.
You can also identify (and receive alerts) around resource planning conflicts. The insightful view helps you to filter, rotate and share resource schedules. Retain includes a comprehensive reporting suite allowing you to extract meaningful business information. The integrated report builder lets you create customizable reports.
Offering three levels of access, Retain’s powerful and visual workforce analytics platform provides intuitive business intelligence. You can also identify skills shortages, utilisation levels, demand vs. capacity, planned vs budgeted time/revenue/cost and overall supply and demand.
In addition to resource scheduling, Retain offers the option for users to develop their skills and support talent management. Users can apply for roles on the projects using our Marketplace module which lists open opportunities that match their interests.
With Retain, you do not need third-party applications. You can connect all of your business systems with our Retain API. Retain’s resource scheduling software can be utilized as a Microsoft Windows platform, a web application, or both.
Pricing and trials are on request. Retain also offer demo requests.
Pros
- Drag-and-drop organization
- Supports multiple currencies
- Data-rich dashboards
- Easy to duplicate bookings
Cons
- Displays can get pretty busy
- Search functionality could use improvement
KeyedIn
Best for resource planning at the portfolio and program level
KeyedIn is a great tool for resource scheduling (as well as PPM). In fact, it was recognized as an August 2019 Gartner Peer Insights Customer Choice for Project and Portfolio Management. Features include Kanban and project workflows, hierarchy and roll-ups, forecasting and budgeting, and key deliverable and dependency tracking.
Maintaining daily and weekly tasks are easy with KeyedIn, as you can add tasks against multiple projects and the system will even show the effort and cost estimations. This will help navigate resources around staff leaves, and so on.
Integrations include Jira, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Dynamics 365, SharePoint, QuickBooks, Microsoft Outlook, Sage Intacct, Salesforce App Cloud, SugarCRM, SAP CRM, Pivotal Tracker, Microsoft Dynamics GP, VersionOne, Fulcrum. Additionally, the software uses API Version 3 that makes it easier for its customers to share or extract project and portfolio data with other business software solutions.
A dedicated customer portal would make this software easier for looping clients in on resource scheduling needs for projects and tasks. The tool lost a few marks in the Usability review category because of this oversight.
KeyedIn offers pricing upon request and has a free trial.
Pros
- Data-rich dashboards with multiple views
- Robust forecast dashboard with charts
- Supports multiple languages and currencies
Cons
- Must scroll through tabs to get a holistic view
- Project hierarchy gets complex for multiple projects
- No customer portal available yet
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Resource Scheduling Software Comparison Chart
This table summarizes some of the key features to help you make a decision.
| Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  monday.com Best for simple workload and capacity planning | Freemium version 14 days free trial | From $6/user/month | Check out monday.com |
| 2 |  Kantata Best all-in-one resource planning, timesheets, and project financials | Not available | Custom pricing/user/month | Check out Kantata |
| 3 |  Resource Management by Smartsheet Best for advanced and custom workflow automations | 30 days free trial | From $25/user/month | Visit Website |
| 4 |  Saviom Best for enterprise resource and workforce planning | Not available | Priced by custom license | Check out Saviom |
| 5 |  Float Best for digital agencies | 30 days free trial | From $6/user/month | Check out Float |
| 6 |  Wrike Best for mid-to-large companies and complex projects | Freemium version 14 days free trial | From $9.80/user/month | Check out Wrike |
| 7 |  Runn Best real-time resource planning, tracking and forecasting | Freemium version 14 days free trial | From $10/user/month | Check out Runn |
| 8 |  Hub Planner Beautifully designed online resource scheduling software with stacks of enterprise-level features | 60 days free trial | From $7/user/month | Check out Hub Planner |
| 9 |  Resource Guru Best for beginners | 30 day free trial | From $2.50/user/month | Check out Resource Guru |
| 10 |  eResource Scheduler Best simple, standalone scheduling module | 14 days free trial | From $5/resource/month | Visit Website |
| 11 |  Zoho Projects Best for growing or scaling businesses | Freemium version 10 days free trial | From $4/user/month (billed annually) | Check out Zoho Projects |
| 12 |  TeamGantt Best for getting started fast | Freemium version 14 days free trial | From $24.95/month | Check out TeamGantt |
| 13 |  MS Projects Best for organizations using Microsoft and Excel | 30 days free trial | From $7/user/month | Check out MS Projects |
| 14 |  Retain Best for tech, accounting, and professional services companies | Free demo | Pricing upon request | Check out Retain |
| 15 |  KeyedIn Best for resource planning at the portfolio and program level | Free trial | Offers pricing upon request | Check out KeyedIn |
Other Resource Scheduling Tools
Below is a list of additional tools for resource scheduling that didn’t make the top list:
- Notion
Best for users who prefer the flexibility of a database structure
- ActiveCollab
Set billable rates, log time on tasks and projects, easily generate records for client invoicing and handy project reports
- Clarizen
Fully-featured, enterprise-grade project management tool with resource scheduling
- Clickup
Workload and box views that help you see what your team is up to and their capacity to take more work
Selection Criteria
To help you make an informed buying decision, I scored tools based on the following factors when writing this review:
- Features For The Use Case: I evaluated whether the features and functionality that the tool offers is a strong fit for the use case we are considering. I explain the key features in the list below.
- User Interface (UI): I looked at the overall design of the tool—does it offer clear displays and intuitive navigation?
- Usability: I examined how easy it is for users to learn and master. I give preference to products with tutorials, knowledge bases, and good customer support.
- Value for price: I consider pricing, as it factors into the buying decision. I give preference to products where pricing is clear and transparent, and where I determine that the pricing makes sense for the features you get.
Key Features
Here are the features I look for in any resource scheduling software:
- Gantt charts: Tools should allow you to schedule resources in a Gantt chart with easy drag-and-drop editing.
- Toggle views: I tried to find tools that also provide easy visual switching between Gantt chart views, calendar views, etc, as that is becoming more of a standard feature in today’s software.
- Automation: At a minimum, automatic resource scheduling features should include auto-adjusting according to dependencies when you make changes. More advanced tools offer workflow automation features.
- Real-time scheduling: Real-time visibility into workloads lets you monitor progress, see resource utilization, and make adjustments more accurately.
- Custom alerts and notifications: A good resource scheduler lets you customize the type of notifications and alerts that each user receives (email, desktop, etc.
What Is Resource Scheduling?
Resource scheduling is a key step in project management. It’s the process of and methods used for assigning an organization’s resources to projects or tasks according to resource availability.
Resourcing scheduling involves these common tasks:
- listing tasks
- estimating their duration
- identifying constraints
- setting deadlines
- identifying resource demand and resource capacity
- forecasting the future availability of resources
- identifying potential resource bottlenecks
You then use all of this information to efficiently match the appropriate resources with tasks or jobs.
Resource scheduling is crucial for project planning and starting new projects, as it impacts the project schedule and timeline.
What Are Resources?
In an organization, resources can include anything that contributes to the finished product.
Resources include people (skills and human resources, including your team members and freelancers), financial resources, inventory, equipment and supplies (offices, meeting rooms) IT resources.
Outside of the digital industry, resources often include production and natural resources as well.
What Is Resource Scheduling Software?
Resource scheduling software can help plan, organize, and manage your projects as well as your agency resources—whether they’re people, rooms, or phone lines. It is used in resource planning to create resource plans and resource requirement forecasts.
Larger software suits often include additional modules for budget management, project management, task management, and document storage.
Resource scheduling software is known by a lot of other names, including. resource allocation software and workload management software.
What Are The Benefits Of Resource Scheduling Software?
Here are some of the main benefits of resource scheduling software:
- Save time manually moving resources around
- Make fewer mistakes overbooking your team members
- Gain a clear understanding of the team’s capacity and utilization
- Deploy the limited resources that you have more effectively and efficiently
As agencies and studios grow, the systems for resource scheduling that may have worked for a small agency—such as using a simple resource allocation spreadsheet—often struggle to scale.
Excel and Google Docs are effectively free resource scheduling tools, but resource scheduling software can help you work faster and smarter, access real-time project data, help you to assign people to projects, and allow you to schedule projects more effectively.
Additional Resources
- In-Depth Guide To Resource Availability In Project Management
- Resource Loading In Project Management: A Helpful How-To
- Getting The Most Out Of A Software Demo
Related Tools:
- monday.com Competitors And Alternatives
- ClickUp Competitors And Alternatives
- Resource Management Software
- Resource Tracking Software
- Project Scheduling Software
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