The role of the workload plan in the performance of a company
Resource management
Project planning

The role of the workload plan in the performance of a company

Estelle
Content manager
March 29, 2022
3 min

The success of your project management depends to a large extent on your workload planning. This is why, to be fully effective, a workload plan must meet a number of prerequisites. Your project manager uses it as the first reference for the project. It must therefore be kept up to date throughout your project. To shed some light on this subject, we explain how your workload plan affects your company's performance, and how to use it to maximize your results. 

What is the role of the workload plan?

The workload schedule (WBS) allows you to see, during the course of the project, the time spent and the resources mobilised on the project, and to compare this information with what was planned beforehand. You can thus determine at a glance whether you are behind schedule or whether your project is running smoothly. 

What's more, you know how much effort each department is putting into each task. You can optimise and redistribute the tasks of the staff or teams involved, and review the time and material management of the project. 

A workload planning tool has one main role: to allow you to effectively manage your project by optimizing the resources allocated throughout the project management process. Its purpose is therefore to :

  • Keep track of the time spent on each assignment to readjust,
  • Make a comparison between current and future resource needs,
  • Redistribute the workload and update the project schedule. 

What form does a workload plan take?

You will find many Excel workload plan templates online. There are, however, more expert and ergonomic solutions, which allow you to produce a dynamic workload plan. They are to be preferred to Excel, which tends to become a heavy document that is difficult to read as it is used. 

What are the issues behind building a workload plan?

More than just a monitoring document, your workload plan is a major ally in optimizing your performance. That's why there are two key issues behind this tool for service companies (and all organizations operating in project mode): completing the project on time and on budget. Keeping a close eye on your workload enables you to generate a virtuous circle that will have a positive impact on your teams, your performance and your customer relations.

Indeed, completing your project on time and on budget allows you to :

  • demonstrate efficiency in delivering projects to your clients
  • to deliver quality deliverables that meet expectations
  • strengthen the relationship of trust between you and your customers
  • to achieve an optimal margin on your projects
  • mark out the workload of your teams to avoid overloadingassignment.

Choosing a workload planning tool: what are the advantages?

Your workload planning tool has many benefits for your company, and here's just a sample!

Better organisation

From a purely organisational point of view, the workload plan distributes and optimises the work of employees. Its visibility on completed tasks or those to come enables the work to be redistributed if necessary. 

Better distribution of resources

A workload planning tool reports on the distribution and allocation of resources. As a result, the project manager can decide at any time to redistribute them, or to buy additional ones. In this way, the project is never short of resources and can continue on its way. 

You can better determine what the blockages are

Your first workload plan can already be very revealing about the things you need to change in your way of working. Indeed, you can see the blocking points in the company. This way, you can rectify along the way the points that slow down your teams' performance. 

You have a flexible 360° tool 

An obvious advantage, but one that deserves to be emphasised: you have time to correct the actions you have taken. Among other things, if your workload planning tool is not performing well (you suffer from a gap between reality and deadlines), you can change your strategy at any time. This discrepancy between your planned time and your real time efforts is invaluable. 

Things to remember

At the end of several projects, you have a better overview of the recurring blocking points. You analyse the results, the resources, the HR management... and advise on your new projects. Thanks to this before/after comparison, you can optimise your company. The workload plan is a solution that offers real added value for the successful completion of all your business projects. 

To learn more about Napta's support in building a workload plan adapted to your organization, contact one of our experts !

Would you like to find out more? We've got plenty of resources to help you go further.

To complement this topic, find our template "The perfect load plan for successful deployment".

See also our guides, templates and checklists in the Resources tab.

See you soon at Napta!

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