FREE Resource Planning Template
Master resource planning project plan timelines with our intuitive resource planning template project plan Gantt chart template.
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Why use our Resource Planning Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?
Get started with our Resource Planning Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.
Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.
No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.
Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.
Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.
Headache-free collaboration and sharing.
Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.
How to use Tom’s Planner’s resource planning template to build and share your resource planning project.
Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.
Step #1
Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Resource Planning Template.
Step #2
Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.
Step #3
You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Resource Planning Template based on your project description.
What is a resource planning template?
Struggling to manage your resources? You’re not alone. From balancing team availability and tasks to tracking occupancy rates in hotels, it’s a challenge for many people. Thankfully, you have tools available. For instance, a resource planning Excel template can help you outline available resources, track usage/demand, and allocate them accurately.
A resource planning template allows resource managers to achieve critical goals, adapt to changes quickly, assign resources to project tasks, and ensure project success. However, a spreadsheet might not be the best type of resource planning template.
Better results with a resource planner Gantt chart
Spreadsheets are familiar tools for many people, and they certainly have their uses. They’re well suited for data entry and can work well for creating static checklists. However, resource management is dynamic and demands flexible planning and the ability to change as situations evolve. In this case, a resource planner Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner is the superior choice to using a team resource planning template in Excel or Google Sheets.
When to use a resource planning template
Accurately planning the allocation and use of resources is critical to individual projects, but also to the success of the business itself. Some of the times you’ll need to use a resource planner Gantt chart instead of a resource plan template in Excel include:
Resource Identification:
Before you can manage the allocation and utilization of your resources, you’ll need to know what you have. Resource identification is an important first step in the planning process that helps ensure better accuracy throughout the other steps handled within resource planning templates.
Resource Allocation:
Resource allocation is crucial to project success. That’s true whether we’re talking about team members or something more utilitarian, like lumber for a construction project. You must plan your resource allocation so that you support the project’s goals, as well as the organization’s initiatives.
Stakeholder Communication:
Keeping stakeholders engaged and involved throughout a project is important. This can include high-level stakeholders, like project managers and C-suite representatives, but it can also include team members, specialists, subcontractors, and others. A resource planner Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner can help.
Implementing a resource forecasting template is the key to better management and allocation.
Who should use a resource planning template?
Not sure who needs access to your resource planner Gantt chart? Here are a few professionals who will need to access it.
Project Managers:
Project managers will use the resource mapping template to identify, allocate, and manage resources ranging from raw materials to human talent.
Team Members:
Team members will need to access the resource document template to understand what resources they have available and when. In some instances, the team members will be the resources, and they will need to see how their talents and time are being allocated.
Other Stakeholders:
Other stakeholders within the organization may also need to access the resource sheet template to gauge availability and to aid in planning other projects or initiatives.
The top three pitfalls to avoid in resource planning
Give your project the best chance of success by avoiding these three resource planning mistakes:
- Inadequate Resource Forecasting
Resource planning isn’t just about allocating and managing materials and people. You must also forecast the demand for those resources accurately within your resource planner template. Failure to do so can lead directly to project failure.
Solution:Resource forecasting should be a major part of your planning efforts. Tom’s Planner gives you the customization and flexibility to handle this, as well as other resource planning-related needs.
- Failure to Manage Priorities Correctly
It’s not unusual for multiple projects to run concurrently. However, if you fail to prioritize correctly, it could lead to poor resource utilization across all of them. In a best-case scenario, this will create delays, but it’s also possible that it can lead to project failure.
Solution:Prioritize correctly and then maintain those priorities to ensure better resource allocation.
- Failure to Set Goals
Without clearly defined goals, your project will struggle. You’ll lack milestones and be unable to track progress. This will also affect resource planning, management, and usage.
Solution:Set goals during the initial planning stages of the project and then use those goals to inform your resource planning activities.
What does a resource planning template include?
Every project is unique. Each business’s resource template needs are different. However, you’ll find that a versatile resource sheet template will include several common elements that allow you to plan, allocate, and manage resources effectively. These can include:
- Resource Type:
Resources come in all types, from hotel rooms to human instructors, and everything in between. An accurate resource planning template should allow you to enter the types of resources you’re managing and allocating with ease. For instance, in Tom’s Planner, you can create a custom Gantt chart that includes instructor names and their hourly rates. You can also create a custom chart that highlights different accommodations at a hotel or B&B property.
- Resource Demand:
Some resources will be in higher demand than others. For instance, you might find that while your hotel has both suites and standard hotel rooms, your suites book up faster and more often than standard rooms. This information allows you to better manage your property, as well as make more informed decisions about room allocation.
- Resource Availability:
Finally, your resource planner Gantt chart should give you the ability to indicate resource availability. For instance, if you have multiple instructors, each of whom has a different hourly rate and dissimilar availability and specialties, you can create a calendar that highlights their availability across each day for multiple weeks and months ahead of time. The same is true for hotels and B&Bs that need to make informed decisions about the allocation and management of rooms and suites.
Tom’s Planner offers the customization and flexibility you need to plan resource allocation and management with ease.
Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines
1. Plan for Dependencies
All projects have dependencies – tasks that hinge on other steps being taken before they can be completed. Identify these dependencies and the resources necessary for them and the tasks they depend on. Tom’s Planner simplifies resource planning, management, and allocation to simplify this process and help you meet your deadlines.
2. Be Flexible
Projects and workflows aren’t static. They’re dynamic and evolve in response to a broad range of forces. A lack of flexibility when approaching these changes can lead to unnecessary slowdowns that cause you to miss deadlines. Instead, stay flexible and adapt as resource demands and availability change.
3. Develop Your Plans After Hiring the Right People
Having the right people in the right positions is critical to resource planning, management, and allocation. However, if you plan workflows and tasks before hiring the right people, you’ll waste valuable time later trying to adjust. Instead, focus on long-term resource planning after you’ve filled open positions with the right people.
4. Track Talent Assignments Accurately
Imagine that you’re about to launch a new project and you have the perfect person in mind. You assign them to the project, only to find out that they’re already booked on something else. Track talent availability and assignments so that you can reach your deadlines.
Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel
| Excel | Tom's Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | License required | Free version available |
| Learning curve | Hours | Minutes |
| Create your first Gantt chart | Hours | Minutes |
| Making an update in your chart | Several minutes | Seconds (drag & drop) |
| Sharing charts with others | At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx | Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion |
| Look & Feel | Messy | Clean, polished and professional |
| Dependencies |  |
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| Filtering |  |
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| Zoom in/out | |
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| Automatic Legend | |
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| AI-assist | |
Let our AI assist do the work for you |
| Export to image or pdf | Requires workarounds to export | One mouse click |
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