Why Are We Still Over Budget?

When Resource Management Isn’t Enough: The Three Most Common Pitfalls

“We’ve implemented a time and resource tool but blew our project budgets the last few quarters. We thought we were doing all the right things; what happened?”

This refrain of project- or client-based teams across industries represents the challenge that drove more than a few of ClickTime’s customers to our platform. But for the organization waking up to this unpleasant issue today, what is to be done?

We aren’t consultants at ClickTime, but in twenty-five years alongside firms who prioritize both profitability and excellent work, we’ve observed a thing or two about effective time and budget management. If your organization struggles to reach profitability goals even after implementing project, resource, or financial management, start by considering whether any of these three pitfalls is true of you.

1. You’re Managing Tasks, But Not Projects

A PR agency is juggling multiple campaigns. Their staff log time to tasks at the end of each day but lack a clear picture of their billable goals or priority projects. The result is valuable staff time spent spinning wheels. A new ClickTime customer’s previous PSA tool failed them in this area: the “bottom-up” approach of task-based allocations masked true servicing goals, which reduced their overall billability.

Most task management software excels at keeping day-to-day activities on track but falls short when it comes to strategizing the appropriate breakdown of work. The solution? Begin by allocating staff to the project or client rather than to the task. If necessary, detailed plans will flow naturally from great resource decisions.

2. You’re Managing Resources but Missing Half the Equation

Consider a software development firm. Project managers allocate developers to various projects while budgets are managed independently by the finance team. But the firm finds that core projects requiring more specialized developer hours quickly push past budget restraints. Has resource management failed this firm?

The firm’s disconnected concepts of staff capacity and project budgets have made it vulnerable to imbalanced plans. Often, software is to blame. Resource management tools excel in efficient staff allocations. They’re also usually strong in implementing budget parameters. The problem is that these are typically two separate parts of the system. A successful resource plan must give equal and simultaneous consideration to human capacity limits and financial limitations. Siloes between budget and resource allocation may not reflect the reality of project needs.

ClickTime’s observation of these challenges led us to create one of the only truly integrated time and budget management solutions. Changes in resource allocations are immediately reflected in the budget or potential billings, depending on the firm’s structure.

3. Your Time and Budget Data is Too General

Many time and budget tracking tools use a one-size-fits-all approach, applying uniform billing rates or labor costs across a firm’s staffers. This generalized data fails to provide the nuanced insights needed for precise decision-making. Without detailed and specific data, leadership can only make broad estimates, which often leads to misallocations.

For example, a consulting firm might record hours worked at a standard rate for all employees. However, the reality is that different projects and clients require varying levels of expertise and effort. Adjusting rates and costs based on the project and personnel involved arm the firm to more accurately forecast and control its budgets, even allowing for mid-period adjustments as necessary. The power to steer toward success as the winds change is an often-overlooked capability of good resource management software.

The Right Kind of Resource Management

Trade-offs between various resource management tools make prioritizing the right capabilities a convoluted process. ClickTime has benefitted from walking alongside thousands of firms navigating just such choices and has adapted our solutions to meet the most critical resourcing needs across industries. Our fully integrated resource and budget management is a direct response to the three challenges above. As backwards “bottom-up” task management, missing budget targets, and inaccurate inputs have wreaked havoc within firms who appeared to be doing everything right, we took a fresh approach to empowering resource planners to consider all angles of the plan without the drain of excessive detail.