Every project relies on resources — the people, skills, tools, and budgets you need to manage appropriately to achieve your goals and deliver value to your business.
Thankfully, you no longer have to use a series of color-coded spreadsheets to manage your resources. Using the latest resource management software lets you plan workload, reduce oversights, and maximize team efficiency.
In a nutshell, resource management software keeps your projects on track, with many project managers reporting it reduces project costs by thousands of dollars and saves hundreds of people hours.
In this article, we’ll share seven of the best resource management platforms and highlight the key features, pros, cons, and pricing to consider. We’ll also highlight the essential features and benefits of using resource management software in your business.
What is resource management software?
Resource management software plans, schedules, allocates, and tracks employees, skills, finances, and tools across projects. The software streamlines and optimizes resource management by simplifying processes and maximizing efficiency.
It helps organizations analyze resource demand and capacity, allocate resources more effectively, and ensure that every project has the necessary resources to move forward, even when multiple projects depend on the same resources.
What are the essential features of resource management software?
The essential features of resource management software include:
- Resource planning: Provides an overview of all resources — people, time, and money — to ensure you have everything in place at the right time.
- Resource allocation: Assesses and distributes workload based on resource capacity to achieve the optimal workflow from your available resources.
- Resource scheduling: Helps create project timelines, schedule tasks, and prioritize which resources are needed when and where in real-time, and adapt accordingly to meet your goals.
- Task management: Enables the reassignment of tasks by matching available resources and skills with the tasks.
- Time management: Captures the time spent on each activity so project managers can assess forecasts vs actual, and informs future staffing and budgeting decisions.
- Financial management: Helps with budget planning, compares overall estimated costs with the actual money spent, and informs data-driven decisions.
- Team collaboration: Facilitates collaboration among the team members and stakeholders in resource management.
- Reporting tools: Provide insights into resource allocation, monitor utilization metrics, and send alerts accordingly. They also help manage deadlines and budgetary requirements.
- Templates: Help you get started quicker with various tasks, like resource allocation.
- Automations: Remove time-consuming manual processes, like scheduling and assigning tasks.
- Integrations: Enable you to connect with existing tools in one platform.
Top 7 resource management software for 2024
With so many different resource management software options, choosing the best one for your business can be challenging. To help narrow the field, here’s a breakdown of the top seven solutions’ key features, pros, cons, and pricing.
1. monday work management
Best for: Teams of any size looking for a highly customizable work management platform.
Built on monday.com Work OS, monday work management enables organizations to manage resources effectively and maximize efficiency. The software helps estimate current workload, assign the right people based on skill and availability, and visualize over/under-utilized resources. Using powerful building blocks such as automations and dashboards, teams can maximize overall work efficiency.
Key features of monday work management
- Workload view: Balance team resources and quickly adapt to changing priorities.
- Time tracking: Monitor project efficiency with the built-in time tracking column.
- Dashboards: Automatically display high-level insights on budget, goals, schedules, resources, and more.
monday work management pros
- Unlimited users and boards.
- Multiple views and notifications.
- Automated workflows and request forms.
- Templates for resource allocation, scheduling, and utilization.
- Integrations with the tools and apps you already use.
- Prioritized customer support.
- iOS and Android apps.
monday work management cons
- Premium plans have a three-user minimum.
- Certain features are only available on higher plans.
monday work management pricing
- 14-day free trial available.
- $8/seat/month billed annually (minimum 3 users).
Learn more about monday work management pricing to find out which plan is best for you.
2. Mosaic
Best for: Project-based businesses.
Mosaic is an AI-powered resource management app and capacity planning tool. It helps manage people and projects in the business and provides comprehensive AI-powered reporting, workload visualization, and forecasting capabilities to manage your workforce. Utilize real-time priorities and availability to efficiently staff projects, balance workload to avoid burnout, and forecast hiring needs.
Key features of Mosaic
- AI: Quickly assemble project teams with the right skills and availability using AI-powered recommendations.
- Reports and dashboards: Get real-time visibility into key performance metrics like workload, utilization, role demand, and profit, and share dashboards with stakeholders.
- Time management: Automatically track time and send timesheet reminders to ensure accurate time management.
Mosaic pros
- Split screen to view team members’ workload.
- Visually track budget completion.
Mosaic cons
- Users report limited features and functionality.
- Limited customization options.
Mosaic pricing
- Pricing undisclosed.
- Free 30-day trial available.
3. nTask
Best for: Small businesses and individuals.
nTask is a cloud-based project management platform designed to prioritize tasks, manage resources, set goals, and control costs. It enables teams to collaborate on tasks, meetings, issues, and risks to plan, analyze, and deliver projects successfully. The software also includes tools for task management, time tracking, meeting scheduling, and file sharing.
Key features of nTask
- Multiple views: Manage project tasks and resource schedules with list view, board view, calendar view, and Gantt chart view.
- Budgeting: Easily set hourly rates by individual resources, tasks, or projects.
- Time management: Monitor time spent on project activities with time tracking and timesheet approvals.
nTask pros
- Drag and drop functionality for resource scheduling.
- Integrates with a wide range of third-party applications.
nTask cons
- Limited free version.
- Limited customization options.
nTask pricing
- $3/user/month with annual billing.
- Forever free plan available.
- Free 7-day trial available.
4. Resource Guru
Best for: Small to midsize companies looking for fast and flexible scheduling.
Resource Guru is a resource management tool for scheduling people, projects, equipment, and meeting rooms. The software helps manage resources effectively, prevent over-allocation, and keep workloads under control. It also offers features for managing leave and PTO, monitoring resource utilization rates, and tracking key metrics like billable vs. non-billable time, overtime, and time off.
Key features of Resource Guru
- Resource scheduling: Find and schedule resources based on skill, department, location, or custom fields.
- Capacity planning: Check who’s overloaded or under-utilized in one drag-and-drop calendar.
- Leave management: Plan vacations and other time off in the context of your team’s workload.
Resource Guru pros
- User-friendly interface.
- Integrates with 1500+ apps.
Resource Guru cons
- Limited customization options.
- No iOS and Android mobile apps.
Resource Guru pricing
- $4.16/user/month with annual billing.
- No free plan available.
- Free 30-day trial available.
5. Runn
Best for: Professional services organizations and consultancies.
Runn is a real-time resource planning and forecasting software that allows users to assign the right people to the right projects in real-time, create assignments quickly, and view everybody’s schedules in a single view. The software also includes integrated time tracking and dynamic reporting to help users plan, budget, and track projects confidently.
Key features of Runn
- Resource scheduling: Assign people to projects and create assignments in seconds.
- Capacity management: Analyze everybody’s schedules in a single view.
- Forecasting: Eliminate the guesswork by forecasting capacity, projects, scenarios, and financials.
Runn pros
- Unlimited users and projects.
- Timesheets and time tracking.
Runn cons
- Limited customization options.
- Limited integrations.
Runn pricing
- $8/user/month with annual billing.
- Forever free plan available.
- Free 14-day trial available.
6. Paymo
Best for: Businesses who want to track time, like agencies and consultancies.
Paymo is a comprehensive work management solution that allows teams to control their work and focus on the most critical tasks. Users can manage projects, schedule teams, proof designs, track work time, invoice clients, and measure profitability from one place, including the handy mobile app. Furthermore, users can collaborate with other team members and clients in real-time, manage individual and team tasks, check estimated vs. actual budgets, and generate various reports on time, tasks, and projects.
Key features of Paymo
- Time tracking: Evaluate hourly bookings, workload, and timesheets.
- Team scheduling: Plan task durations and set dependencies between them.
- Resource capacity: View the remaining bookable hours for each team member per project.
Paymo pros
- Automatic time tracking and booking.
- Invoicing and online payments.
Paymo cons
- Limited third-party integrations.
- Mobile apps have limited functionality.
Paymo pricing
- $5.90/user/month with annual billing.
- Forever free plan available.
- Free 15-day trial available.
7. Resource Management by Smartsheet
Best for: Businesses already using Smartsheet.
Formerly 10,000ft, Resource Management by Smartsheet is a resource planning solution that assigns the right people to every project, tracks and manages time, and forecasts hiring needs for future growth. It works as an add-on to Smartsheet or a standalone app.
Key features of Resource Management by Smartsheet
- Resource allocation: Find and schedule the best project team, resolve staffing conflicts in real-time, and forecast hiring needs.
- Time tracking: Easily submit hours worked with pre-filled timesheets.
- Reporting: Visualize complex data to understand business performance and plan for growth.
Resource Management by Smartsheet pros
- Seamless integration with Smartsheet.
- Accurate project budgeting and capacity planning.
Resource Management by Smartsheet cons
- Resource Management is sold separately from Smartsheet as a premium add-on product.
- Limited number of integrations with third-party tools and services.
Resource Management by Smartsheet pricing
- Pricing undisclosed.
- Free 14-day trial available.
What are the benefits of using resource management software?
The benefits of using resource management software include:
- Enhanced resource allocation: Allows for more effective and efficient allocation of resources across projects, ensuring that the right project resources are available at the right time.
- Improved project management: Simplifies the processes involved in resource management, consequently improving project management and keeping multiple projects moving forward, even when they depend on the same resources.
- Increased productivity: By streamlining workflows and allocating resources efficiently, teams can focus on their core competencies.
- Reduced costs: Optimizes resource usage by identifying underutilization and eliminating overlaps, which reduces operational costs and improves the bottom line.
- Real-time evaluation: Provides real-time insights and flexibility, allowing organizations to make better-informed decisions and adapt their resource management strategies accordingly.
- Optimized data analytics: Enables businesses to identify patterns and trends for continuous improvement with powerful analytics tools and comprehensive reports,
- Visibility and transparency: Provides a detailed view of project needs and resource availability, which organizations can use to control clashes or disruptions and apply to future hiring decisions.
Case study: Allocating resources effectively
Here at monday.com, we’ve experienced first-hand the benefits of using our resource management software. Deborah Block, our Enterprise Content Professional Lead, says:
“We’re able to leverage data to assign and schedule projects based on team resources. This means we can avoid bottlenecks and complete more projects without overwhelming the team.”
In pure numbers, over one year, the team:
- Reduced costs by 120K
- Saved 3,564 people hours
- Improved efficiency by 1.5X
Discover how you can effectively allocate resources and maximize the returns on your resources more efficiently in our behind-the-scenes case study.
Manage your resources more efficiently with monday work management
Resource management software will help you plan, schedule, and allocate resources to meet changing business needs, but choosing the right solution takes careful consideration.
That said, if you’re looking for a visual, intuitive, and fully customizable platform to manage your resources and projects, then monday work management can help you estimate current resources, assign the right people based on skill and availability, and check over/under-utilized resources to maximize all-round work efficiency.
Overall, monday work management is the best software to manage your resources more efficiently. But don’t just take our word for it.
Currently, monday.com rates 4.7 out of 5 on G2’s software review platform. Users say the platform is easy to use, set up, and administer, with excellent customer support. Furthermore, reviewers appreciate the wide range of customization options to create unique workflows and automate repetitive tasks, plus the centralized hub to assign tasks and communicate with colleagues.
Try monday work management yourself with a 14-day free trial and get started with our free resource management template.
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