Resource Utilization Dashboard

Introduction

Challenge: 

The audit department at Constellation was facing significant hurdles with their annual project planning. Estimates for resource hours were often inaccurate, leading to some projects being understaffed and others having unrealistically short timelines. Additionally, the lack of visibility into project resource needs and time-entry submissions made re-allocation of resources and identification of project delays challenging.

Objective:

The goal was to develop a comprehensive dashboard to provide directors and managers with a clear view of project hours allocation, budget, and actuals for active and upcoming engagements, improving resource management and planning accuracy.

Solution

Streamlined Project Planning:

By introducing a structured project planning and tracking approach using Azure DevOps, I ensured a solid foundation for accurate and efficient project management.

Innovative Data Architecture:

I optimized data integration from various sources, including ServiceNOW and Infor E-Time, reducing data refresh times from 2.5 hours to 15 minutes and enabling near-live data updates.

User-Centric Design:

Following Power BI best practices, the dashboard was designed to present high-level information at first glance, with the capability to drill down into detailed data, including total hours budgeted, worked, and remaining, along with hours usage by service portfolio categories.

Impact

Enhanced Accuracy in Planning:

Managers gained the ability to make informed decisions based on actual hours worked and remaining budgets, leading to more accurate future project estimations and resource allocations.

Increased Efficiency:

The time managers spent analyzing time entries was significantly reduced, freeing them up for more strategic tasks.Improved Accountability and Data Quality:With comprehensive visibility into time entries, managers could ensure accurate data logging, enhancing overall project data quality.

Architecture

Dashboard

The Resource Utilization dashboard delivers at-a-glance insights and deep dives into project resource management. It’s a powerful tool for enhancing project planning, budget tracking, and resource allocation.

Page 1 - Budget Overview:

View total hours budgeted versus worked and remaining across all projects. Quickly assign staff to projects with clear visuals like bar and donut charts indicating budget and hours utilization.

Pages 2 & 3 - Weekly Hours Summaries:

These pages break down weekly hours by employee and project, offering managers a granular look at team efforts and enabling swift adjustments to keep projects on track.

The Bottom Line:

This dashboard not only solved the immediate challenges of resource allocation and project planning but also set a new standard for data-driven management within the audit department. Through a combination of technical expertise and strategic thinking, I delivered a tool that transformed project management processes, making them more efficient, accurate, and actionable.