Resource Allocation: Best Practices for Tracking Employee Effort on 100+ Projects

Stretching your resources thin - like butter spread over too much bread- can be a big mistake that affects the company as a whole. And it's even more risky when the team is handling a huge amount of projects at the same time, because the stakes are higher.

But fear not! We'll show you the best tips to track and monitor your team's work across multiple projects, and the tools that can help with that.

The challenges of tracking employee effort on multiple projects

As your team juggles a vast, diverse portfolio of projects and clients, kudos to you! When managed effectively, this can lead to significant success for both you and your company.

However, it's important to acknowledge that employees and managers are only human, and mistakes can inevitably occur. Handling multiple projects simultaneously increases the risk of errors exponentially:

• Over time, it becomes difficult to monitor who is working on which tasks, track progress, identify issues, and distinguish between projects close to completion and those lagging behind;
• Delays and mistakes eventually pile up and can trigger a domino effect, resulting in setbacks across various projects;
• Poor resource allocation and overworking can lead to burnout and poor morale.

Effective resource allocation and why it matters

When done correctly, resource allocation ensures timely project delivery, avoids burnout, and guarantees a steady and successful workflow. Having a well-defined system for task assignments, priorities, and responsibilities ensures that your team always knows its focus.

Monitoring project progress and workload is also an essential step to prevent overworking or underutilizing your team members.

Overview of the best practices for tracking employee effort

#1: Using tools and Software for Tracking Employee Effort

You and your team are only humans, trying to navigate a massive project portfolio and delivering multiple tasks at the same time. This is why you should introduce project management and productivity software right from the beginning.

This software will act as a centralized place, for team members to access when they need to see their assignments, and for managers when they need to get the big picture over the work as a whole, assign tasks and priorities, and run reports and analytics.  

• Project Management Tools

The project management tool market is huge and offers a variety of tools with many use cases. The Project Management category on Capterra has 1,700+ entries alone!

This article cannot cover the specifics of project management software for resource allocation (we wrote about our top pick for 2024 on our blog) but we can give you a few tips on how to select and use project management software effectively:

• • Select the option that's most suitable for your industry (try to Google "Project management software" + your industry);
  • Always keep in mind the specific needs and requirements of your business;
  • Use software that offers some sort of tag/categorization system for projects, team members, and tasks, to keep the account in order;
  • Double check the subscription and what it includes: some software may charge you by the user, others by the project number, and others require upgrades for specific features;
  • Pick a software that provides the most smooth onboarding and migration process possible.

• Time Tracking Apps

Time is a limited resource that we must carefully manage and allocate in order to maximize productivity and efficiency. Making sure that each team member's time is utilized effectively across a vast portfolio of projects is crucial. By implementing proper time tracking and project management tools, you can monitor and analyze how time is being spent across all the projects, no matter how vast your project portfolio is.

We have created Timeneye specifically for this purpose: this is why we centered our time tracking on the project, project phases, down to the individual tasks. Every minute track is correctly assigned to the right team members, project and client, and then is turned into insights in the Reporting section.

This is how we would recommend managing a Timeneye account with 100+ projects:

• • Use Tags extensively to categorize time entries and projects;
  • Make it a requirement to tag entries for specific projects to maintain consistency in the account;
  • Make sure each project also has a project manager (PM) assigned, who will have speedy access to the management functions;
  • Connect it with the Project management tool you're using (like Microsoft Planner) to import your projects and users automatically;
  • Automate your reports by scheduling them to save time on analysis.

Remember, time management is key in the world of project management, where success often depends on how well we can make the most of our limited time resources.

#2 Setting Clear Project Priorities

Setting project priorities is essential for successful project management, in any setting. By setting clear priorities, you provide a roadmap for your team, and make sure that everyone knows what tasks are most important for project success.

Clear project priorities help in resource allocation so that the team can focus on critical tasks and avoid wasting time on less important activities.

Communicating project priorities to employees is equally important to keep everyone aligned and working towards common goals. You can share and explain project priorities through meetings, or project dashboards, and provide regular updates to keep everyone aligned and informed.

There are various methods for prioritizing projects, one common method is the Eisenhower Matrix, which categorizes tasks based on their urgency and importance:

 #3 Monitoring Employee Effort and Project Analytics

For better or for worse, project monitoring is a necessity. It's impossible to know if the work is progressing if the manager's attention ends up being spread across too many projects, tasks, teams, clients, and deadlines.

Utilizing project management tools and time tracking software is a smart way to gather data on project progress and employee workload, saving you from drowning in countless meetings and never-ending email chains.

Project reporting: dos and don'ts

Do:

• Automate and schedule reports whenever possible;
• Build recap dashboards and access them regularly;
• Prefer visual reporting (charts, graphs, progress bars...);
• Stick to essential metrics;
• Block time to regualry update your project metrics

Don't:

• Fill reports with unnecessary details and information;
• Forget to update the statuses and project progression metrics; 
• Neglect to update your own tasks/ track your time: you're the manager, lead by example!
  
  

Conclusion

In conclusion, tracking employee effort across vast project portfolio is crucial for maintaining productivity and ensuring successful project outcomes.

By implementing project management tools and time tracking apps like Timeneye, you can effectively monitor progress, allocate resources, and set clear priorities for your team. Remember, time management is key in project management, so make the most of your limited resources: try implementing a time tracking tool today. Your team's success depends on it!