Instantis resource management maturity model (white paper)

The Resource Management
Maturity Model™
A Guide to Defining and Executing an
Effective Resource Management Strategy

Instantis, Inc.

September 2011

Copyright Instantis, Inc.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Business Drivers and Benefits
2.1 Business Drivers

2.2 Benefits

3. Model Overview
3.1 Context

3.2 Levels and Dimensions

3.3 RIMM Summary View

3.4 Interpreting and Using the Model

4. Terminology

5. Detailed Level Descriptions
5.1 Level 1 – Work Visibility

5.2 Level 2 – Controlled Assignment

5.3 Level 3 – Governed Capacity

5.4 Level 4 – Schedule-Driven Availability

5.5 Level 5 – Granular Management

6. Summary and Key Takeaways

7. Next Steps

8. About Instantis


1. Introduction
The Resource Management Maturity Model™ (RMMM) enables organizations to define and
execute an effective resource management strategy. It accomplishes this by helping
stakeholders better align resource-related information needs with their level of project portfolio
management (PPM) process maturity and technology enablement.

Information Needs

Optimized
Resource
Deployment

Process Maturity Technology

The RMMM identifies a logical progression of resource management process sophistication
which is enumerated as five levels of maturity. Each level of maturity is described along seven
dimensions. Organizations can use the RMMM to ensure they can manage project resources
and capacity at the “just right” level of granularity for their business.

1 2 3 4 5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

The RIMM was developed and refined in consultation with resource management practitioners
across multiple industries, internal deployment consultants and industry analysts. As such, it
represents a blend of:

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1) Observations on how organizations actually manage resources based on significant
anecdotal evidence gathered from direct and indirect exposure to hundreds of resource
management scenarios, and;

2) Recommendations for how best to manage resources based on this collective
experience of successes and failures.

2. Business Drivers and Benefits

2.1 Business Drivers

There were several motivations for developing the RMMM. They include:

1. Business importance of resource management. Effective resource management is
vital for most organizations because resources represent a major, if not the primary, cost
of doing business. As a result, maximizing the return on investment in people is critical to
achieving strategic business and financial goals.

2. Track record of resource management initiative failures. Many organizations have
launched initiatives to improve their resource and capacity management process –
including implementing resource management software technology – and have failed.
The root of these failures is a fundamental misalignment between the granularity of the
level of information needed to make effective decisions (i.e., not too much information;
not too little information), the maturity of the process associated with the assignment and
tracking of resources, and the capabilities and the influence of the supporting resource
management software.

For example, the software may be designed to enable a resource management process
that is much more sophisticated than what is required to provide the right level of
information in a particular organization and it may assume a level of process maturity
that does not exist. Frequently, this mismatch is not apparent until after the software is
implemented.

3. Need for focused guidance. The RMMM fills a void in the PPM shared-knowledge and
best-practice landscape. While there are several excellent project and portfolio
management (PPM) maturity models available from high-quality sources – such as
Gartner, PM Solutions and the Project Management Institute – the scope of these

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models is broader. There is little guidance available that is focused exclusively on
resource and capacity management issues.

Specifically, most organizations have recurring difficulty in answering some seemingly simple
and other more challenging questions from stakeholders such as:

• “What are these resources working on?”
• “Why is it so difficult to take on new projects?”
• “How come these resources are always overbooked, don’t you control how work
gets assigned to resources?”
• “Will we have enough available capacity in three months to take on these new
important projects?”
• “Do we have the right mix of skills to meet project demand?”
• “What is the cost of this group of resources for this month on this set of projects?”
• “How do I de-prioritize the work already under way to make room for new work?”
• “Can you spare this one critical resource for this period – it is really important?”

Guidance is needed in helping organizations focus on identifying and answering the most
important questions consistently and understand how to take measured steps in deploying the
“just right” level of supporting process and technology.

2.2 Benefits

The benefits organizations can expect to realize by adopting the Resource Management
Maturity Model are as follows:

1. Common Language: Provide resource managers, portfolio managers and business
executives in project-intensive organizations with a framework and common language
for communicating about resource management objectives, issues and outcomes.

2. Roadmap: Deliver a roadmap and a guide for stakeholders that helps them characterize
their current level of maturity and determine the optimal, aspirational level of maturity.

3. Clarity: Expose clearly the implications and consequences of aspiring to or operating at
a particular level of resource management maturity in areas like data gathering and
reporting requirements, software technology selection, governance infrastructure, and
resulting business benefits. Note that higher is not necessarily better for all
organizations.

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4. Software Selection: Prepare stakeholders to make better assessments of PPM
software options for resource management and choose the solution that is best suited to
meet current and projected needs.

3. Model Overview

3.1 Context

The RMMM applies to resource-constrained environments including organizations that manage
a handful of resources as well as those that manage hundreds and even thousands of
resources. It is relevant across many industries and different project environments such as IT,
professional services and product development and delivery. However, it is not geared for
schedule/budget constrained environments where resource/capacity is not always an explicit
business driver (e.g., construction projects).

For the purposes of the RMMM, the resource management discipline, at its core, is primarily
concerned with managing the work assignments, time usage and cost of a set of resources.
Work is accomplished via the assignment and completion of project and non-project work,
although the emphasis is on project-oriented work. At the project level, Project Managers (PMs)
create a need to utilize individual resources based on project schedules and required roles and
skills. Line managers or resource managers have control over the supply and assignment of
resources. A governance structure may be put in place to oversee the entire process at the
portfolio and aggregate capacity and demand levels.

Effective resource management enhances project portfolio success by ensuring that projects
are staffed with the right resources (e.g., roles and skills) in a timely manner and that adequate
resources are available to address current needs and future demand. However, project success
depends on a number of other factors which are outside the scope of the RMMM. For example,
the definition and delivery of project goals, individual performance and contribution, scheduling
best practices and risk assessment and mitigation are not addressed by the RMMM.

3.2 Levels and Dimensions

The RMMM consists of five maturity levels. The specific characteristics of each level are
described along seven dimensions.

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The five levels of resource maturity are listed below along with a simplified definition:

Resource Maturity Key Defining Characteristic(s):
Model Level

Level 1: Work Organizations have visibility to who is working on what. However,
Visibility resources are assigned to work without any control or oversight.

Level 2: Controlled A formal resource assignment approval process is introduced. However,
Assignment approvals are informed only by resource availability information.

Level 3: Governed The focus shifts to capacity management and the introduction of project
Capacity priority considerations requiring more structured governance.

Level 4: Schedule- The resource assignment approval and capacity management processes
driven Assignment are driven by project schedules at the phase level.

Level 5: Granular Full task-level project schedule details are used to drive the resource
Management assignment and capacity management processes.

A brief definition of each dimension follows:

RMMM Dimension Definition
Names

Assignment This is the level of detail at which resources are assigned to work. The
Granularity duration may be driven by dates at the project-, phase- or task-level. The
utilization may be a constant value or may be time varying for a specified
duration.

Project Roles This refers to any standardized and distinct roles played by a resource or
group of resources on a given project, such as project manager,

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software developer, business analyst, etc. Roles allow the organization
to create attributes and policies for a group of resources, such as cost
rates, maximum number of assigned projects per role, etc.

Resource Cost This is the labor cost of a resource that results from a work assignment.
Resource cost may refer to planned cost or to actual cost. Cost may be
tracked for a time interval or at the project-, phase- and task-level.

Resource Approval This is the process of approving the assignment of a resource to work at
the particular level of assignment granularity. Note: This is a critical
dimension of resource management because it has implications for
required governance and process complexity.

Capacity Planning This is the strategic portfolio-level planning process aimed at ensuring
that the most important projects are resourced and that resource
utilization is optimized within the constraint of aggregate resource
capacity. This involves shifting and removing proposed and ongoing
projects; adding or removing resources; and then making the necessary
resource assignment adjustments to accommodate the higher priority
projects.

Governance This is the decision-making process and organizational body that
oversees the resource approval, portfolio prioritization, demand
management and capacity planning business processes.

Business Value This is the key business value that organizations can expect to realize at
a given level of maturity.

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The assignment granularity dimension is a key maturity
level driver. Here is an illustration of the key attributes.

100%
A resources is assigned a
Level 1/2 fixed/constant utilization
percentage for the
50% duration of the project

0%

100%
Level 3 A resource’s utilization
can vary within duration of
50%
a project

0%

100%
Level 4 A resource’s utilization
can vary by project phase
50%
(driven by project WBS)

0%

100%
A resource’s utilization
Level 5 can vary by individual
project activity (driven by
50% project WBS)

0%

S E t

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3.3 RMMM Summary View

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Work Controlled Governed Schedule-Driven Granular
Visibility Assignment Capacity Availability Management
Assignment Assignment at Assignment at Assignment at Assignment at Assignment at
Granularity project level, fixed project level, fixed project level, project schedule, project schedule,
% % possibly non fixed phase level. granular activity
% level
Non Project work: Non Project work: Non Project work:
fixed % of capacity project placeholder Non Project work: phases in Non Project work:
multiple project placeholder project ITSM integration,
placeholders activities in
placeholder project
Project Resources Resources Resources Resources Role to activity
Roles assigned as assigned to assigned by role assigned by role typing with RACI
Project Manager differentiated roles; and skills at project and skills at phase model; Training,
and Team Member roles properties for level level certification
only cost rate etc. tracking
Resource Planned cost at Planned cost at Also, plan vs. Planned cost at Planned cost at
Cost project level; project and time actual comparison, phase level; Actual granular activity
Actual cost from level; Actual cost budget constraints cost from level; Actual cost
timesheets at from timesheets at timesheets at from timesheets at
project level project level phase level; EVM activity level; Full
EVM; activity level
budget constraints
Resource None, ad-hoc, first Resource Approval RAW at project RAW at phase RAW at all activity
Approval come first served; Workflow (RAW) at level, possibly level levels
line mgr only project, proposal multiple per
level; approval project; approval
based on based on priorities
availability
Capacity None Balanced Resolve availability Project phase Resolve availability
Planning utilization across constraints by schedules drive constraints by
resources delaying, more detailed delay/shift at
cancelling resource activity level with
proposals, projects availability views; PM involvement
based on priority capacity planning
can delay projects
at phase level
Governance None Resource or line Governance body Governance body Governance body
manager; mostly prioritizes portfolio. actions rely on up- actions rely on up-
FIFO demand Oversees capacity -to-date project to-date full project
mgmt planning and phase schedule schedule
demand mgmt. information information
Business Who is working on Controlled and Higher priority Enhanced ability to Maximized ability
Value what; Over- balanced resource projects resource excess to resource excess
utilization made utilization, preferentially demand with demand with
visible availability. resourced; existing capacity existing capacity
resourcing
responsive to
changing business
priorities

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3.4 Interpreting and Using the Model

For a given level of maturity, the characteristics at each dimension (in terms of assignment
complexity, governance, desired business value, etc.) are linked together by the logic of what
successful organizations actually do or should do to achieve their resource management goals.
For example, at Level 1 the absence of Resource Approval implies the absence of a Capacity
Planning and Governance process. At Level 3, a governance body is required to decide project
priorities which, in turn, are a pre-requisite to implement Capacity Planning. As a result, in
general, it is recommended that organizations implement all of the processes and dimensions
associated with each maturity level before pursuing the next level.

However, some organizations may be at one level of maturity along some dimensions while at
other levels of maturity along other dimensions described by the model. And, during the course
of this journey, organizations may continue to operate at different levels of maturity for a given
dimension than suggested by the model. For example, at Level 2, some organizations may be
operating at Level 3 in terms of Assignment Granularity, but are better characterized as Level 2
organization because there is no governance structure.

A key value of the RMMM is in helping organizations expose whether or not these variances
from the best practices represented by the model are:

(1) The result of conscious and valid organizational decisions (based on unique organizational
factors such as corporate culture, industry context or other considerations), or

(2) Symptomatic of issues or areas of dysfunction that need to be addressed. For example, it
makes little sense for an organization to invest heavily in a Capacity Planning process without
putting in place a governance structure that can also perform demand management.

A fundamental tenet of the RMMM is that higher is not necessarily better. Most organizations
will find Level 3 to be the optimal target. Organizations need to be careful before setting their
sights on Level 4 since it entails additional process complexity which may not be justified by the
business benefits. Very few organizations will find Level 5 to be the optimal level at which to
operate simply because of the potentially onerous information and supporting technology
complexity and process maturity demands. Typically, this level of maturity is appropriate for
specific types of resource-intensive scenarios where resource scheduling sophistication is
critical.

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Finally, it is important to note that the RMMM makes clear what an organization must do in order
to operate successfully at each level. However, by itself, it can not prescribe the right level of
maturity for your organization. That, of course, depends on a number of case-specific factors
such as industry context, organizational culture, leadership style and technology experience.
The probability of successful implementation of these processes must be the first guide to
selecting the desired level. The target business value at that level must be aligned with the
desired benefits. If not, the organization can take measured steps to implement the process and
organizational changes necessary to get to the next level.

4. Terminology
These are key terms and definitions used in this Model.

Key Terms Definition

Resource capacity This is the total time for a given resource that is intended to be managed.
The units of capacity are time per duration (e.g., 40 hours per week) or a
fraction (e.g., 50%) of an FTE (full-time equivalent). Usually,
organizations choose to subtract a fixed fraction of the capacity “off-the-
top” for non-project work and choose to track in detail the utilization for
project work. For example, a 40 hour per week employee that has 20%
of the capacity set aside for non-project work has capacity designated as
32 hours per week. As an alternate example, an organization may view
the capacity as 40 hours per week and track the utilization for both
project work and non-project work in this 40 hour per week capacity.
Some organizations may also choose to reduce resource capacity by
time not available for non-work such as vacations and holidays.
Resource capacity can be aggregated across a group of resources (e.g.,
by organization, by role).

Resource utilization This is the sum total of a resource’s assignment to work for a given
duration. The work includes only project work if the capacity is defined to
exclude non-project work as describe above, and vice versa. Utilization
has units of time per duration (e.g., hours per day) or a fraction of
capacity (e.g., a resource may be used 20 hours per week or 50% of

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capacity on a project). Utilization may be specified as an effort that is
spread evenly over the given duration (e.g., a resource is used for 100
hours for the duration of the project or 20 hours for the duration of a
phase of a project). At a further level of detail, the effort specified may be
un-even (e.g., a resource is used 10 hours in week 1 and 40 hours in
week 4 of a project). The Resource Assignment dimension describes the
granularity of the per-project utilization that is typical for each maturity
level.

Resource availability This is the difference between capacity and utilization for a given
duration. This is the time available for a resource to be assigned to more
work. Availability has units of time per duration (e.g., hours per week) or
fraction of capacity.

Resource demand This is the incremental potential work assignment for a given duration for
a resource driven from proposed projects or incremental work requests
associated with on-going projects. Demand may be greater or less than
the availability for a given duration.

Activity This is the generic name for any level of project work identified in a
project work breakdown schedule (WBS). The highest level activity of a
WBS is referred to here as a phase. Phases may be broken into a series
of lower-level activities such as tasks and deliverables.

Resource Approval This is the process by which a resource is assigned to work for a given
Workflow (RAW)
duration. The assignment may be for a proposed project (also known as
a proposal) or for incremental work associated with an ongoing project.
Broadly, the process has the following workflow:

1. Request Parameters: A request is made by the project manager for a
resource that contains:

a) A start and end date which defines the potential request duration.
Depending on the maturity level along the Resource Assignment
dimension, the duration may be determined by project start and
end dates, or some other significant dates within a project, or tied

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to the dates of a specific phase of a project or a specific lower-level
activity of a project.

b) The effort (in units of hours/days/weeks, etc.) required from the
resource in the request duration. The effort may be represented as
the average percentage of time that that the resource is expected
to be utilized for the requested duration. The effort may also be
represented by specific hours, days, or weeks..

c) The resource request flexibility with regard to (1) a specific
named individual vs. anyone matching the role and skills
requirement and (2) availability requirements (e.g., only full-
duration availability is acceptable).

2. Request Routing: The request is sent to a specific person playing the
role of resource manager. In many organizations this may simply be
the resource’s direct line manager. There may be a distinct resource
manager for a set of roles or a set of resources.

3. Resource Approval/Denial: The resource manager may consult a
“heat map” of the resource being requested to determine availability
and additionally may consult project prioritization information. The
criteria to approve/deny the request depend on the maturity level.
The response may be a simple “approved/denied” or may have
nuances such as the ability to provide for partial approval or a hard
versus soft commitment.

4. Project Manager Next Steps: If the request is approved, the project
manager then proceeds to use the resource as desired for project
execution. If the request is denied, the project manager may have
various actions available to them depending on maturity level.

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5. Detailed Level Descriptions

5.1 Level 1 – Work Visibility

Most organizations struggle with answering even the most basic question: “What are my people
working on?” At Level 1, this “Work Visibility” is the desired outcome. At this level, the first step
is to make a comprehensive list of the projects under way in the organization. Then, an
association is made between resources and projects. This exercise also usually reveals that
resource time is consumed by work outside of projects, often called “keep the lights on work”.
Non-project work is treated as simply a fixed fraction that is removed from the resource’s
capacity for project-work.

The minimal expectation is that projects have a planned start and end date and the per-project
utilization is a constant percentage for the duration of the project. If the project dates are
accurate and kept up to date, it is possible to create a reasonably complete, if not granular,
picture of the aggregate utilization of the resources. Since resource costs are known, it is also
possible to know the planned resource costs by project. There is also usually an interest in
knowing the actual costs and this is captured using time sheets which record actual time spent
by a resource on a project.

Here’s an illustration of assignment over-utilization risk
at Level 1
Resources are assigned a
Demand for Resource A fixed/constant utilization
100% percentage for the
duration of the project
75%
Project 3
Resource
Utilization 50%
(%) Project 1
Project 2
25%

time
S1 S2 E1 S3 E2 E3
At this level process
maturity (assignment
Aggregate % Utilization for Resource A granularity) there is a risk
100% of resource over-
utilization.
75%

Resource
Utilization 50%
(%)

25%

S1 S2 E1 S3 E2 E3 time

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A key defining characteristic of operating at Level 1 is that there is no formal and transparent
process by which resource assignment to projects is controlled. Resources are assigned to
projects ad hoc or simply by the line-manager’s approval instead taking a holistic view of all the
resources. This can result in over-booking and potentially “burning out” a given resource (see
illustration above). This can also result in projects not being successful because the resources
assigned to them in reality have no available time to work on the project. Likewise, it is also
possible to under-utilize certain resources while over-utilizing others.

Maturity Model Level 1:
Dimension Work Visibility Description

Assignment • A simple (but complete) list of projects with all associated resources is
Granularity created.
• A resource’s utilization is assumed to be a constant percentage for the
duration of the project (i.e., from project start to end date).
• Non-project work is modeled as a non-time-varying percentage of each
resource’s capacity which may vary by resource.

Project Roles • Role specificity is minimal. Only project managers are identified.

Resource Cost • Only aggregate resource costs are planned.
• Allocation of planned costs to projects is possible.
• Timesheets are in place to capture actual costs of resources by project.

Resource • There is no resource approval process.
Approval

Capacity • There is no capacity planning process.
Planning

Governance • There is no governance structure.

Business Value • Answers “who is working on what”. Simple resource utilization and
availability “heat maps” are possible that can help identify at-risk
projects, resource burnout situations, cost reduction opportunities or
availability to take on more projects.

Next Level When:

The organization decides to pursue the next level when there is a desire to pro-actively manage
the utilization of resources. Specifically, there is a recognized need to better balance work

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between available resources and to avoid burn-out or project risks associated with and
inadequate resourcing process. The creation of a Resource Approval process is the key enabler
in progressing to the next level of maturity.

5.2 Level 2 – Controlled Assignment

Resource Approval is the critical dimension at Level 2. Specifically, the introduction of a process
by which resources are assigned to projects (i.e., a resource approval workflow or RAW) drives
the organization to mature its resource management process along several of the other
dimensions. A resource approval process eliminates the ad hoc nature by which resources are
associated with projects at Level 1.

For the newly introduced resource approval workflow (RAW), the level of assignment granularity
of the request is simply at the project level. This means that each request includes a start and
end date of the project and a fixed average percentage utilization over the duration of the
project. The resource manager performs approvals by consulting a heat map indicating the
availability for each resource and providing approvals only when the demand is less than the
availability. Some organizations may choose to define availability policies that resource
managers are expected to follow (e.g., a resource’s availability should never be less than 10%).

At Level 2 the Resource Approval Workflow (RAW)
ensures that Resource A is not over-utilized
Demand for Resource A
100%

75%
Project 3
Resource
Utilization 50%
(%) Project 1
Project 2
25%

time
S1 S2 E1 S3 E2 E3

At Level 2, the RM can
Aggregate % Utilization for Resource A disapprove the request of
100% Resource A for
assignment to Project 3 to
75%
avoid the over-utilization
scenario
Resource
Utilization 50%
(%)

25%

S1 S2 E1 E2 time

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At Level 2, note that the resource manager is approving/denying resource requests based on
the viewpoint of the resource availability without considering project priority. As a result,
resources can be consumed working on lower priority projects and there is no formal process to
redirect a previously assigned resource to a higher priority project. Also, a resource manager
that is considering multiple simultaneous requests for the same resource does not have the
objective, unbiased information needed to make a decision based on business value or priority.
This leads to resource approval being driven by “squeaky wheels”, personal favors and other
dubious factors rather than important considerations like strategic alignment.

Maturity Model Level 2
Dimension Controlled Assignment Description

Assignment • Resources are assigned at the project level and start and end dates of
Granularity projects are managed with rigor.
• The per-project utilization is specified as a fixed percentage for the
project duration.

Project Roles • A project team is defined consisting of specific roles and attributes (e.g.,
cost rates, standard percentage utilization per project).
• Standard project team templates by project type may exist.

Resource Cost • The organization is able to track planned resource costs by time and
project.
• Actual costs are based on timesheets at the project level.
• There is no control of actual costs based on budgeted (planned) costs.

Resource • A RAW process is used to assign resources to projects only after a
Approval formal request is approved.
• The resource manager approves or denies requests based on availability
of the requested resource or resource type (i.e. matching role, skill set).
• Project priority is not considered; requests may be approved on a first-
come first-served basis.

Capacity • Existing aggregate-capacity total (by role, by resource) and aggregate
Planning utilization are visible and evenly balanced with relatively few instances of
over-/under-utilization.
• There is no assurance that resources are being utilized on the highest
business-value projects.
• There is no easy way accommodate new resource demands from higher
value projects by de-prioritizing in-fight projects.

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Governance • There is no governance structure to manage relative project priorities.

Business Value • The RAW process ensures that resources are not over/under-utilized,
existing capacity is actively managed to a desired availability and that
work is evenly distributed across the resources.
• It becomes clear if new demand can be resourced from existing
availability or if additional resources are needed.

Next Level When:

At Level 2 an organization reaches a pain threshold and is compelled to mature to the next level
as a result of the inability to:

Focus on projects with greatest business impact

Dynamically respond to changing business priorities

Fulfill new demand by re-prioritizing existing projects instead of simply adding new resources

5.3 Level 3 – Governed Capacity

At Level 3 the critical dimension that comes into play is a governance structure that prioritizes
projects and thereby prioritizes existing resource utilization versus new resource demand. The
governance organization or steering committee may be referred to as the “Resource
Governance Committee” or “Portfolio Governance Committee” or go by other names. The
Committee is represented by stakeholders from both the demand side (projects ideas, requests
and proposals) and the supply side (resources), and the line of business executives who are
ultimately responsible for the success of the project portfolio. This structure, coupled with the
previously discussed RAW process, results in the ability to implement a “governed” capacity
planning process.

The prioritization process involves determining (1) the relative priority between existing projects
and new proposals and (2) the relative priority between multiple projects running concurrently. A
few key elements of prioritization include setting up and standardizing assessment criteria in
high level categories like benefits, financial costs and risks. Benefits criteria may include, for
example, strategic alignment, financial return and customer satisfaction. Cost may have sub-
elements like project costs and opportunity costs. Risks might be financial, implementation or
market related. Project proposals are scored using consistent criteria and approvals are made

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through a comparative assessment. New proposals for projects must follow a resource approval
workflow process (RAW), but at Level 3 the resource requests can be more effectively managed
by the resource managers based on the project prioritization information.

Level 3 introduces a governance structure which considers
project priority when approving project plans
This is the aggregate
Aggregate % Utilization for Resource A demand for resource A
100%
showing a period over-
utilization which
75%
Project 2 represents a risk to
Project 3 project 3
50%
Project 1

25%


Aggregate % Utilization for Resource A after Governance action
Aggregate % Utilization for Resource A At Level 3 governance
100%
can cancel Project 2
and approve Project 3.
75%
This action removes a
resource-related risk to
Resource Project 3 which
Utilization 50%
(%) governance has
25%
prioritized highest


At Level 3 a governance committee oversees the capacity planning process. It has full visibility
to aggregate utilization from existing projects and the incremental demand from new proposals
relative to aggregate capacity. This visibility should include a line-of-sight to any sub-set of
projects of interest and to any sub-set of roles and resources of interest. Based on priority and
resource availability information, the governance body has the ability to dynamically launch,
suspend, delay and cancel projects in order to balance capacity with demand in the most
impactful way to the organization. This is an ongoing and iterative process that reacts to
prioritization changes as business conditions dictate. Software technology should be used to
provide decision support using dynamic “what-if” scenario planning that allows examination of
the resource availability implications of different prioritization decisions. The committee also
decides whether the capacity of resources available for a particular role needs to be adjusted
upward or downward.

Level 3 represents the sweet spot of resource management maturity for most organizations
because it provides significant benefits in terms of enabling organizations to better align
resources with strategic priorities in the immediate term and over the course of a planning

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horizon. At the same time, assigning resources at the project level of granularity (as opposed to
a lower level), avoids many of the pitfalls associated with Level 4 and Level 5 resource
management which drive resource management from the project work breakdown schedule.

Dimension Governed Capacity Description

Assignment • Resources are still assigned at the project level.
Granularity
• Project start and end dates are managed with rigor because these points
bound resource assignments.
• Per-project resource utilization within projects can be adjusted upward or
downward (i.e., not necessarily constant from start to end date).
• Non-project work may be planned using placeholder projects and multiple
start/end-date intervals with variable percentage utilization.
• It is possible to integrate systems that track non-project work to better
inform utilization calculations.

Project Roles • RAW process considers resource skills, capabilities, and training to fulfill
resource requests.

Resource Cost • Planned resource costs by time and project can be tracked.
• Thus, total costs and per-resource costs can be computed for each
project, for a project portfolio and for a given duration.
• Actual costs are computed from timesheets at the project level.
• The governance committee may institute a process to ensure that actual
resource costs do not exceed planned costs.

Resource • The RAW process is not limited to a single request for the entire project
Approval duration.
• Multiple separate requests/approvals, each with different start/end dates
and percentage utilization is possible.
• The resource manager approves or denies requests based on availability
of individual requested or suitable alternative (e.g., matching skill set,
location, cost rate, etc.).
• The resource manager can decide between competing resource requests
based on the clearly defined project priorities.
• The PM may use the additional assignment granularity detail to request
the resource for only part of the project duration.
• Alternately, the PM may appeal to the governance committee to invoke a
capacity planning exercise.

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Capacity • Existing aggregate capacity (by role and by resource) and the aggregate
Planning utilization is visible.
• Utilization is greater on higher-priority projects with the most business
impact.
• Higher priority new demand is resourced ahead of lower priority new
demand.
• If new demand exceeds availability, it is possible to fulfill this demand by
re-prioritizing, delaying or cancelling existing projects without adding
resources.
• “What-if” scenarios can be used to simulate the impact of re-prioritizing,
delaying, and cancelling projects.

Governance • A governance structure oversees demand management, proposal and
project prioritization and capacity planning.

Business Value • Organizations are better prepared to support business strategic
objectives now and within the planning horizon based on ability to free up
resource capacity to accommodate higher priority projects now, as well
as anticipate resource demand.

Next Level When:

Level 4 should be aspired to by organizations that have specific needs for understanding the
project schedule driven resource utilization and these needs outweigh the issues with process
and data complexity.

5.4 Level 4 – Schedule-Driven Availability

The critical element of the transition from a Level 3 to a Level 4 organization is the use of the
project schedule to drive project resource utilization. This occurs when simple average
utilization of a resource over a project’s duration is deemed to be too coarse a measure of
utilization. It is quite possible that certain resources are needed more in certain phases of a
project. For example, in a software development project, business analysts may be needed
more during a requirements phase while QA resources may be needed more intensively during
a testing phase.

At Level 4 project resources are assigned using high-level (e.g., phase-level) activity information
delineated in the projects WBS. Each phase has an associated utilization that results from the
phase start date, phase end date, and percent of capacity spent on the phase or total effort on

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the phase. The summation of these attribute values over all the phases is aggregated to arrive
at the resource utilization for a given project.

At Level 4 phase-level demand info can lead to
better resource utilization and assignment decisions
Aggregate % Utilization for Resource A (Level 1,2,3) Here we are at Level 1,2,3
100% resource demand
information which shows
an over-utilization period.
75%
Project 3
50%
Project 1
25%
Project 2


At Level 4, Phase level
Aggregate % Utilization for Resource A detail for Project 2 allows
100%
us to fit Project 2 demand
into Resource A’s
schedule w/out canceling
75%
Project 2

50%

25%

An organization may choose to be at Level 4 when this greater detail is meaningful and can
have a material impact on the capacity planning decisions. For example, Project 1 utilizes a
resource for 40 hours during a month and there appears to be an over-utilization in week 4 due
to new demand from Project 2 for the same resource for 40 hours in week 4. However, it turns
out that -- based on a phase-based assignment in Project 1 -- the utilization is entirely in week
1. Therefore, week 4 is not used by Project 1 and Project 2’s request can be approved. Thus,
the extra detail eliminated a “false-positive” over-utilization situation.

A second benefit is that it is possible for the capacity planning process to operate at the phase
level of a project rather than at the project level. In the above example, an alternate resolution
for the over-utilization may be that the particular phase of Project 2 that needs the resource in
week 4 is delayed, not the project as a whole. This phase delay may have no eventual impact
on the project’s business impact whereas delaying the entire project may not be acceptable.

Another benefit of WBS-driven resource management starting at Level 4 is that non-project
work items can also be tracked at a corresponding level of granularity concurrently with project
work. A placeholder project for non-project work can be created with each placeholder activity

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corresponding to each work item and representing its duration and effort. This enables a unified
view of the detailed project and non-project work items that consume the time of each resource.

It is important to note that this places an incremental but significant burden on the project
managers to accurately maintain and update their phase dates, to accurately assign individual
resources to the relevant phases and to accurately provide utilization requirements by phase.
For example, a portfolio of 100 projects, with 5 phases per project, and 5 resources per phase,
requires that a total of 7,500 pieces of information (100x5x5x3) be kept up to date and accurate.
If the organization does not possess adequate process maturity, the dependent capacity
planning and governance processes will be driven from a mass of unreliable underlying
information.

A key challenge at Level 4 is that potential conflicts can result because the time horizons of the
strategic capacity planning process are mismatched with the day-to-day changes made by
project managers at the phase level. For example, the governance committee might meet and
decide that there is a severe resource shortage during a particular timeframe and decide to re-
assign resources, delay or cancel projects to relieve this shortage. It may then turn out that the
project manager coincidentally re-arranges the project schedule, freeing up resources that
appeared to governance to be in critical short supply, but the governance committee is not able
to react to this information until it meets at a later time.

Dimension Schedule-driven Availability Description

Assignment • Resources are assigned at the phase level in the project WBS.
Granularity
• The per-project resource utilization is an aggregate of the underlying
per-phase utilization.
• Per-phase utilization attributes are phase start date, phase end date,
percentage utilization or phase level effort.
• Non-project work may be planned using placeholder projects with each
representing an item of non-project work.

Project Roles • Roles and resource skills are used during project phase assignments.

Resource Cost • Resource costs are planned at the phase level.
• Each phase has a total resource cost based on the WBS level
assignment
• Phase level costs are totaled to determine project costs.

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• Actual costs are derived from timesheets and actual time spent on each
phase can be tracked.
• Additional processes may be used to control actual costs at a per-phase
level to be limited to the planned costs.
• Earned Value Management is possible.

Resource • The RAW process is performed at the phase level.
Approval
• Each assignment to a phase must be approved through the RAW
process along with the phase-level dates and percentage or effort
information.
• Approvals are informed by resource availability and project priority.

Capacity • Aggregate utilization is the summation of all the project phase-level
Planning resource utilization rates from individual projects.
• Underlying data for all projects and phase schedule changes must be
timely and accurately estimated to enable effective capacity planning.

Governance • A governance structure oversees portfolio management processes such
as demand management, project/proposal prioritization and capacity
planning.
• There is a potentially undesirable interplay between the project
managers’ level of detail and granularity and the high-level governance
committee strategic viewpoint.

Business Value • It may be possible to accommodate incremental demand with the same
set of resources as a result of more detailed phase-level information.
• This greater detail may be vital in particular project-intensive and highly
resource-constrained scenarios (e.g., can maximize billing rates in
services delivery organizations).

Next Level When:

Organizations aspire to Level 5 when an even greater level of project schedule detail is deemed
necessary to perform effective resource management.

5.5 Level 5 – Granular Management

At Level 5, resource management and capacity planning is driven by the complete and full
levels of WBS activity detail. Each activity has an associated utilization that results from the
activity start date, activity end date, and percent of capacity spent on the activity or total effort

Page 23

on the activity. The summation of these attribute values over all the phases is aggregated to
arrive at the resource utilization for a given project.

This may be necessary when the phase level information about resource utilization is too coarse
and full project schedule detail is necessary and meaningful to the business. Another benefit of
is that non-project work items can be tracked at fuller detail with a placeholder activity
corresponding to each work item and representing its duration and effort. This enables a unified
view of the detailed project and non-project work items that consume the time of each resource.

This places a very significant burden on the project managers to accurately maintain and update
their activity dates, to accurately assign individual resources to the relevant activities and to
accurately provide utilization requirements by activity.

For example, a portfolio of 100 projects, with 30 activities per project, and 2 resources per
activity, requires that a total of 18,000 pieces of information (100x30x2x3) be kept up to date
and accurate. For most organizations, it is extremely difficult to accurately maintain this amount
of information. As a result, most organizations that attempt to operate at this level fail under the
weight and burden of additional process complexity (unless the number of projects and
resources is small).

Many resource management software solutions require organizations to supply this granular
detail to feed the higher level capacity planning and governance processes. This is a key reason
why these software implementations are not successful.

Dimension Granular Management Description

Assignment • The complete WBS activity detail feeds into the per-project utilization.
Granularity
• Non-project considers information derived from IT service management
system integration (e.g., trouble tickets) and granular non-project work
item visibility.

Project Roles • The RACI model (Responsible-Accountable-Consulted-Informed) may
be used to further classify the types of activity-resources assignments.
• This may have implications for activity-resource demand. For example,
resources designated as “responsible” for a project activity assignment
may trigger a level of resource (time/effort) utilization while a resource
designated as “informed” may not.

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Resource Cost • Resource costs are planned at the detailed resource-activity level.
• Each activity has a total resource cost based on the WBS level
assignment and the activity level costs are totaled to determine project
costs.
• RACI may be used to further specify different cost rates based on
assignment type.
• Actual costs are derived from timesheets and actual time spent on each
activity can be tracked.
• Additional processes may exist to control actual costs at a per-activity
level limited to the planned costs or a specified not-to-exceed planned
cost.

Resource • Resource approvals are performed at the individual activity level and are
Approval informed by resource availability and project priority.

Capacity • The aggregate utilization is driven by a summation of all the project
Planning activity-level resource utilization.
• The underlying data for all projects on all phase schedule changes must
be accurately estimated and timely to enable effective capacity
planning.

Governance • The governance process and body needs to be prepared to react to
more dynamic and constantly changing project schedule details.

Business Value • It may be possible to accommodate even more demand with the same
set of resources because of the more detailed activity level information.

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6. Summary and Key Takeaways
Here are the key conclusions:

• The level “Assignment Granularity” detail is the key model driver. The level of granularity
an organization chooses to plan and track effort largely drives where it should be along
other maturity model dimensions.

• There is a “chasm” between maturity levels 3 and 4. Many organizations pre-maturely
rush to Level 4 -- which includes activity-level effort roll ups -- and fail.

• For most organizations, Level 3 is the sweet spot to strive for providing “just right”
process sophistication given the level of information needed by the business to make
effective resource-related decisions.

• Systems should be configured to align with the level of process maturity and not
encourage IT organizations to bite off more functionality than they can chew.

RMMM Pictorial Summary
RMMM Pictorial Summary
At Level 1 there is a Level 2 introduces a resource
uncontrolled resource grab approval workflow

At Level 3 a governance body Level 4,5 considers project
considers project priority activity-level demand

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7. Next Steps

• Assess your own company’s level of existing process maturity and see where it fits in the
Maturity Model. You may do this internally by benchmarking with other companies or
with the help of a consulting firm.

• Examine the business benefits at your company’s maturity level.

• If the additional business benefits of going to the next level are important, perform a gap
analysis and identify what critical “dimensions” need to progress at your level of maturity.

• Communicate the findings to others in your company and get buy-in to fix the gaps.

• Lay out a roadmap of how your company should get to the next level and work towards
getting there.

• Contact Instantis if you need software technology help with your resource and capacity
management initiative.

8. About Instantis
Instantis, Inc. is a leading SaaS-based provider of Enterprise Project & Portfolio Management
(EPPM) software used by business process and IT leaders to improve strategy execution and
financial performance. Leading global corporations like Abbott, DuPont, France Telecom, Lilly,
National Grid and Xerox rely on a single system called EnterpriseTrack to fulfill the distinctive
requirements of their strategic project portfolios such as IT, PMO, product development, Lean
Six Sigma and sustainability. EnterpriseTrack features comprehensive resource and capacity
management functionality that can be configured to support organizations needs across the
spectrum of resource information needs and process maturity levels.

Page 27

Instantis resource management maturity model (white paper)

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