Understanding Project Resource Needs Introduction: Utilizing Resources and Tools For Project Success

UNDERSTANDING PROJECT RESOURCE NEEDS
Introduction: Utilizing resources and tools for project success

Welcome back, and congrats on completing that graded assessment. In the previous module, you learned
all about project roles and responsibilities, and we introduced you to some tools that you can use to
ensure team accountability, like stakeholder analyses and RACI charts. Coming up, we'll talk about
project tools and resources, and the value of documentation. By the end of this module, you'll
understand the types of resources available to a project manager, you'll be able to document information
in a formal project charter, and you'll be able to compare and use various project management tools.
Ready to get started? Meet me in the next video.
Essential project resources

So far, you've learned how to determine project goals and scope, and how to identify the right
stakeholders for a project. Now it's time to add another important ingredient: resources. As a project
manager, understanding your resource needs is crucial to achieving your goals. So during the initiation
phase, it's important to ask yourself what are the things we still need to acquire in order to complete our
project? Project resources usually include budget, people, and materials. You'll use tools to manage
all those resources. As you think about the goals and the scope of the project, you figure out the different
resources you'll need to meet those goals. It's important to figure out your resources before the
project gets rolling. This makes it easy for everyone on your team to get their work done, and that's your
job as a project manager. You won't be doing the work directly, but you'll support the people who do.
Figuring out resources early on also helps you avoid accidentally understaffing your project, which can
seriously slow down team progress and eat away at the overall timeline. Even worse, if you're not careful
with your resource planning, you could wind up underestimating the budget. Meaning, you might not
have enough money to purchase necessary materials, hire vendors, or support overtime requests. Planning
your resources early is a great way to set your team up for success. Because when your teammates have
what they need to do their work on time and on budget, they are better set up to meet the project's
goals.
Now, let's break down some of the resources that project managers typically work with. First, let's talk
about budgets. A budget is an estimate of the amount of money a project will cost to complete.
Almost all projects have budgets because they need funding for expenses, like buying the right materials
or software, hiring vendors to complete jobs, or doing marketing once the project's done. During the
initiation phase, you'll talk to the stakeholders and the people working on the project to figure out the
tasks needed to get the project done. Here, you might ask questions to help uncover hidden costs. For
example, are there any taxes on products that you need to account for? What about extra fees? All this
information will help you create a budget, which you can use to source and compare proposals from
vendors, figure out upcoming costs, and track all the money moving in and out of your project. You'll
often include the budget in the project charter, and the stakeholders review it for approval. We'll talk
more about what goes into creating a project budget and creating a project charter later on. When we talk
about resources, we're also talking about the team of people who help execute the tasks of a project. For
example, you, as the project manager are a resource. So is the marketing manager who might create
advertisements for this new product. Other resources can include people outside of your company who
have unique skills and can do certain tasks that people in your organization can't do personally. Then, you
have materials. These are items you need to help get the project done. For example, project materials
might include the lumber needed to complete a construction project, okay? So you know that project
resources include budget, people, and materials. How do you organize these resources? That's actually a
nice transition into our next topic which is: tools. Tools are aids that make it easier for a project manager
or team to manage resources and organize work. They help you do things like track tasks, manage
budgets, and collaborate with teammates. There are all kinds of tools out there including productivity
tools like Google Docs and work management software like Asana. We'll talk more about these tools later
in this program. Tools are essential for tracking progress, so you want to keep them top of mind at all
phases of your project. Let's talk about how you might determine your resources during the initiation
phase of your project at Office Green. As a reminder, the Plant Pal Service offers customers small low
maintenance plants like cacti and leafy ferns that they can place on their desks. Customers can order them
online or from a print catalogue, and Office Green will ship the plant straight to the customer's work
address. The project goal is to increase revenue by 5%. So how do you get started? Well, you might do
some research to figure out the cost of launching the new plant service. That might include the estimated
prices of developing a new website, a new promotional materials, as well as shipping and delivery costs.
You also might want to budget for specific tools, like a project management software that will help you
track progress on this complex project. With that information, you can start to build a realistic budget and
you'll also need to figure out who's working on this project with you. To do this, you might make a list of
people and external vendors who will help complete all the projects' tasks. For example, the person who
manages client communications with customers or a new plant supplier that can provide you with your
product. Great, hopefully, you're getting more comfortable with the types of resources you'll need not
only to get stuff done, but to achieve your projects goals, too. In the next video, we'll talk about
documentation, another important topic for anyone who manages projects professionally.

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UNDERSTANDING PROJECT RESOURCE NEEDS

Introduction: Utilizing resources and tools for project success

Essential project resources

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