Data Sheet Application Delivery Management Security Project and Portfolio Management: Resource Management Module Gain comprehensive visibility and control over resource supply and demand. Product Highlights ■ Do ad­hoc projects consume too much Resource Management Module The Micro Focus® Project and Portfolio Man­ of our capacity vs. strategic projects at a Glance: agement (PPM) Resource Management mod­ or routine operational activities? ■ Top-down and bottom-up support—forecasts ule effectively measures resources’ capacity ■ Are we effectively utilizing our most resource demand by roles for portfolio planning, and efficiency, from top-down planning through valuable resources? then transitions through resource requests to bottom­up execution. This makes it possible to detailed task and request assignments ■ When will we have suitably skilled balance your resource supply to gain compre­ resources to start that strategic project? ■ Resource visibility—provides supply and hensive visibility and control over resource uti­ demand visibility into resources and resource Do we need to seek external solutions to lization—improving cost efficiency and helping ■ roles and skill levels across the organization you make the right resources available to keep temporarily fill important resourcing needs? ■ Agile team management—delivers the flexibility your most critical initiatives on schedule. The PPM Resource Management module pro­ to create and manage agile work teams and vides real­time visibility and control over your capture output in terms of milestones or detailed Key Benefits resources to help you make the right deci­ work assignments sions. It helps optimize your resource effec­ ■ Resource search—applies resource attribute Get Real-Time Visibility and Control tiveness across both the existing operational over Your Resources filters along with availability information for activities that run your business and the new finding the optimal resource to assign to a Skilled workers are more important than ever initiatives that grow and transform your busi­ specific project, task, or other request to the success of your business. Putting the ness. And it supports both agile and waterfall right people on the right projects is often the de vel opment methods. difference between meeting the needs of the business and falling short. In addition, tight Manage All Resources budgets punish resourcing mistakes that de­ The PPM Resource Management module lay important investment projects and reduce pro vides a holistic and real­time picture of re­ worker productivity. source supply (including resource roles, skills, and skill levels) across the entire organization. The PPM Resource Management module is It also captures demands in real time for those de signed to support your organization meet resources from projects and operational activi­ these challenges. It helps you answer key ties that drive your business in providing up­to­ ques tions, such as: date visibility into what resources and skills are required, and when they’re needed. Data Sheet Project and Portfolio Management: Resource Management Module page, defining resource needs with increasing detail as your project date approaches. Resource management pools are used to model resource supply in a way that makes sense for your organization. By combining the functional­ ity of both staffing profiles and resource pools, you can easily identify the need for more Java developers, marketing resources, or database administrators. You do not have to worry about whom to assign to a project six or 12 months in the future—improving the overall planning and decision­making. Staffing profiles also im­ (as shown in Figure 2) prove your organization’s speed and respon­ siveness by helping you evaluate new project Figure 1. Resource Allocation Management across all projects requests quickly (and adjust their scope) with­ out spending weeks on detailed project plan­ ning. Once projects or activities are approved, you can build detailed assignments that specify the exact resources and dates for a set of tasks or activities. You can also search for suitable re­ sources based on a number of different criteria. Transitioning from top-down planning to bot­ tom-up scheduling is seamless: Your project managers can assign resources they own, and then ask for resources from shared resource pools or external contractors for the remaining positions from within the PPM staffing profile. And with the forecast planning page, manag­ ers can easily view and edit staffing profiles for multiple projects from a single location. This helps them quickly understand the impact of Figure 2. Sample staffing profile resource changes for planned and in­flight projects and identify exceptions such as over­ This level of visibility into resource supply and Plan and Schedule Resources utilization or underutilization, double bookings, demand gives you the information to make from Top Down or Bottom Up or resources “on loan.” better decisions about where staff members The PPM Resource Management module should spend their time. To fulfill demand, you makes it easy to plan and schedule your re­ Similarly, in agile environments, you can as­ can allocate resources by name, position, role, sources. Staffing profiles capture high­level sign resources to teams that are assembled or group and then track resource allocations resource requirements from a position or role to complete the projects together, and agile against any work item. The Resource Allocation perspective so you can forecast demand at a team leaders can assign resources in stand­ Management ) provides high level before schedule or assignment de­ up meetings, within the system, or via whatever (as shown in Figure 1 managers with a single location to review and tails are known. The project and portfolio man­ other method they normally make assign­ manage all resource requests, helping manag­ agement staffing profile supports managing ments. Then agile team members can input ers quickly staff multiple projects at once. all resource allocation requests from a single time spent on activities to provide accurate 2 financial reports and milestone updates to ex­ security—reducing maintenance requirements ■ Resource visibility—provides supply ecutive management. and simplifying administration. And through and demand visibility into resources standard integration with Lightweight Directory and resource roles and skill levels across Enhance Resource Effectiveness Access Protocol (LDAP), you can leverage the organization The PPM Resource Management module pro­ third­party systems to map resource attributes ■ Agile team management—delivers the vides views for analyzing to help such as skill sets, manager, organization, and (see Figure 3) flexibility to create and manage agile work optimize resource utilization, availability, and more, without rekeying data to reduce costs teams and capture output in terms of capacity in real time. Having real­time visibil­ and increase your ROI. milestones or detailed work assignments ity into discrepancies between the resources ■ Resource search—applies resource allocated to projects and maintenance work, Key Features attribute filters along with availability and the actual assignments help your resource How the PPM Resource Management information for finding the optimal managers to share resources more efficiently. Module Works resource to assign to a specific project, Individual resources with roles, skills, proficien­ task, or other request cies, work calendars, rates, and productivity ■ Enhanced resource effectiveness— metrics are entered into the system or main­ provides the visibility and processes for tained through LDAP. Resource pools, includ­ allocating resources to the highest­priority ing agile teams, reflecting groups of resource activities across groups, cutting costs, supply are created to meet demand from and reducing time­to­value staffing profiles, project plans, and operational ■ Real-time transactions—captures the activities. Easy­to­use resource­pool search transactions that drive IT in real time, capabilities help you quickly identify and staff so resource utilization and status are the right resources—in traditional or agile up to date working environments. Automatic real-time updates and an enforced process help you ■ LDAP integration—lets you map resource keep resource allocations and utilizations up attributes such as skills, proficiencies, to date for effective high-level resource bud­ manager, organization, and more geting and detailed project planning, execution, deployment, and benefits realization. A Complete Solution Comprehensive Training Unlike other project and portfolio management Micro Focus provides a comprehensive cur­ Figure 3. Analyze assignment load systems, the PPM Resource Management riculum of IT Service Management courses. module provides real­time visibility into capac­ These offerings provide the training you need ity, assignments, utilization, programs, projects, Because the PPM Resource Management to realize the full potential of your Micro Focus mod ule provides visibility for both opera­ costs, and overall IT demand in both traditional solutions and achieve a better return on your tional tasks and mission­critical and strategic and agile environments—without the need for IT investments. projects, you can allocate resources to the costly integrations to multiple data sources. highest­priority activities across groups and The PPM Resource Management module gives Micro Focus provides a comprehensive cur­