Managing your Resources/Consultants

Submitted by Dorian Gray
in
General Questions and Comments
Hello All, This site being heavily favored by IT companies/folks, I thought what better venue to ask such question: What are most people using for their resource management, as far as their consultants are concerned. We have about 100 consultants, and I would like to figure out a better way to allocate our resources, as far as our consultants are concerned. We are talking about Project Server, but it would be a project in itself? Any suggestions, would be highly appreciated! FYI - We provide IT services to Law Firms. Regards, Dorian
Submitted by Greg Akins on Wednesday April 4th, 2007 7:13 am

[quote="doriangray2"]
What are most people using for their resource management, as far as their consultants are concerned.

We have about 100 consultants, and I would like to figure out a better way to allocate our resources, as far as our consultants are concerned. We are talking about Project Server, but it would be a project in itself? Any suggestions, would be highly appreciated!
[/quote]

Are you the client for these consultants, or are you the consulting company?

Submitted by Dorian Gray on Tuesday April 10th, 2007 12:12 am

we are the consultanting company and just trying make sure that all of our consultants are being used to their fullest potential (bill-able-hours) and/or any other matrics that people are using (what are they?).

Background: I have just start working for this firm and do not have a prior experience working within a firm-like enviornment.

Thanks
Dorian

Submitted by Greg Akins on Tuesday April 10th, 2007 6:38 am

[quote="doriangray2"]we are the consultanting company and just trying make sure that all of our consultants are being used to their fullest potential (bill-able-hours) and/or any other matrics that people are using (what are they?).[/quote]

I've experienced consulting companies deriving utilization numbers strictly from total hours available / hours billed

This was either reported hours compared to project revenue (when hours weren't billed directly in a fixed cost contract) or salary compared to billable hours when working on a time & materials contract.

Project Server is a HUGE tool. I'm sure it's great for project management; but for just tracking utilization it's a bit too much, in my opinion.