Resource Utilization in Project Management: Profit Boost Tips

 Whew, what a journey! We’ve come to the end of our epic blog series and we’ve now reached the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...

The Top Line Focus of Resource Utilization

  •  We “worked hard” to change the Technicians’ habits by having their timesheets submitted on time.

  •  We have worked with the Technicians to minimalize the amount of Internal and Company time that is in their schedule, clearing the way for them to focus on Customer facing requests.

  •  We have secured non-billable time and coached the team as to when charging the Customer is fair and necessary for the Company to grow and be sustainable.

We’re ready to turn our attention to the top line focus of Resource Utilization and the purpose of all the prep work we have been doing.

IT Service Managers, Take Note

If the majority of the Technicians are not meeting the Percentage of Billable Hours Goal Utilized expectation, then the IT Service Manager needs to address the issue as a culture or Company problem, not with individuals on the team.Before you go beating yourself up or focusing on the long road ahead, take note that there are many IT Support teams coasting along at 50% Resource Utilization. The average in the industry is 70%, but the best in class and those in a very competitive position are above 80%.

Impact on the Bottom Line for the IT MSP

How does this impact the bottom line at the IT MSP? Here are the numbers:

  •  A 1% increase in Resource Utilization is worth $3,120.00 per Tech per Year, without hiring or increasing expenses. This is pure profit.

  •  So, a 10% increase moving from average to best in class is worth $31,200 per Tech per year.

Obviously, these numbers represent something that is worth the effort for yourself, your team, your company, as well as the IT Service Manager’s relationship with the Owner.

If the IT Service Manager is faced with a culture or Company issue…

My recommendation is to:

  • Lower the Weekly Billable Hours Goal across the board to a level where 75% of the Technicians are above the goal

  • Communicate with the team where they stand, and that 80+% is expected

  • Focus on managing the four areas already discussed in this blog article series

  • Coach/Mentor the bottom 25% to improve above the majority

  • Repeat steps 1-4 by raising the Weekly Billable Hours Goal until it is at a respectable level

In time, the IT Support team will be best in class, the Company will be more profitable/sustainable, the relationship & quality of work-life within the team and IT Service Manager will vastly improve, and Customer satisfaction will increase.All of this is achievable just by having the majority of the workforce focused on meeting the Customer’s needs more than 80% of the time.

Why It Makes Sense to Focus on Trends

If the IT Service Manager is facing a few individuals that are trending below the rest, steps 2-4 are all that is needed. When working with Technicians on meeting their Billable Hours Goal, trends are what you should be watching.Everyone has weeks where energy level and focus are below expectations; this is to be expected. Company projects, service requests, and Internal time (documenting standard builds, training, conferences, etc.) will come up from time to time, preventing the Technician from meeting the goal for a week or two. This is why trends are important - not a single data point (week).Throughout this blog series, we have laid out a methodology of reviewing timesheets and managing the workforce to increase profit without spending a dime.From my experience, focusing on managing Resource Utilization by reviewing timesheets and coaching/mentoring the Technicians takes 4-6 hours each week and is very confrontational in nature.For an in-depth look at how to apply the Resource Utilization System we have been writing about, click here to register for the October 16th Webinar titled:

PAUSE: Just an FYI

We have been writing articles since March providing information to IT Service Managers on a whole host of challenges they are facing. Articles have consisted of Hiring, aligning with the Company goals, projects, and now how to leverage a Resource Utilization report. Our main goal is toprovide key information throughout these articles, and if information is all you wish to receive, please stop reading now.For the rest of this article, we will discuss how an Automated Resource Utilization report that will do the majority of the work we have been writing about – so for the next 300 words, we will be selling.

Thank You for staying with us

To address this labor intensive, confrontational, gut wrenching management process, (with the help of many IT Service Managers), we have developed a Resource Utilization Automated Live Report for Autotask users.

The benefits of the Live Report

1. Automatically scheduled to run on a weekly basis

  •  By just communicating to the Technicians when the report is scheduled to run, this will   motivate them to get their time in on time

2. Automatically highlights the 5 most common profit loss areas

  •  No need to look at every timesheet

  • Just the timesheets flagged by the highlights in the report

  •  Reduces timesheet review to less than 45 minutes per week

3. Identifies Company issues vs Technician issues

  • Company Time and Internal assignments prevent Technicians from reaching their goal

  • Company Time and Internal Time are necessary, but need to be managed so the Technician can meet expectations

  •  Majority of the Technicians not meeting Billable Hours Goal is a company problem and needs a broad approach rather than an individual approach.

4. Provides coaching/mentoring opportunities

  • Allows the IT Service Manager to partner with the Technicians

  • Removes the confrontation from Resource Utilization management.

Here is a preview of the Resource Utilization Automated report. While we have been toting $3K, $12K, $25K or even $30,000 dollars in increased profit, the tool needed to Automate the process, thus saving you 3-4 hours per week and making Resource Utilization Management feasible, is only a one-time cost of $397.00.To purchase the Resource Utilization Automated Live Report mock-up so that you can have and run the report in your Autotask database this week, click here.

Steve Buyze via LinkedIn

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For more information about MSP-Ignite Service Manager Peer Groups

For more  HDI “The Association for Technical Support Professionals.”

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9 Technical Support Fundamentals for IT Managers

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Autotask Non-Billable Hours Best Practices to Improve Profits