Mastering Fundamentals to be a Super MSP: Resource Utilization Part 1
Welcome back, Autotask Warriors and Gladiators. It’s awesome to have you here.
So, what did you think of The Big Game on Sunday? It ended up being a nail-biter, didn’t it?
There were some amazing plays made by some really talented players. In the MSP world, we use the phrase “Best in Class” or “World Class” to describe these teams. And yet, even the best made some really bad plays.
Fans from both sides of that Las Vegas game and the playoff games that led up to it are looking back at what could have happened: “What if he caught that pass?, “What if the ref had called that right?,” and of course bashing the players for all the “stupid” mistakes: “How could five guys miss that tackle?”
Great Football Teams & Great MSPs Have Something in Common
Now, I am certainly not going to be hired by a professional sports franchise anytime soon...but I humbly suggest that great football teams and great MSPs share something in common: fundamentals and teamwork.
Sometimes, in an MSP, things just happen and we deal with them - just like sometimes a football doesn’t get caught. But more often than not, we miss an SLA because we didn’t keep our eyes on the ball. Or there was confusion and our Techs didn’t know what the play was and missed the handoff resulting in upset Clients.
From the quarterback to the kicker, everyone needs to know the playbook and be able to handle the Chaos. When your quarterback (leader) allows Chaos to reign in their heads, they make mistakes. When they slow down, focus on the fundamentals, and trust their team, their confidence comes back and they play a better game.
How Does Your MSP Rank in Resource Utilization?
One of the important fundamentals of MSP life is managing your Resource Utilization. Underworking your Techs isn’t profitable - and overworking them burns them out, lowers Client and Tech satisfaction, and risks introducing Chaos into the huddle.
The industry average of Resource Utilization is currently 70%, with some MSP’s running at about 50%. The best in class within the whole population of MSP’s is in the 80+% range.
What if you’re not sure what your company’s Resource Utilization is? We recommend running the PSA/IMS default Resource Utilization report. For Autotask, roll over “A” -> Reports -> Resources -> General -> Resource Utilization (right hand column 2nd one down).
The default Resource Utilization (RU) report benchmarks the existing Resource Utilization levels. However, after using the report for many years, it does not seem to identify the coaching moments Service Managers need to measurably improve the RU metric.
How Autotask’s Default RU Report Falls Short
The default report seems to be lacking in several key areas:
It is a manual report and cannot be scheduled to run.
It is missing markers that highlight the most common profit loss areas.
It mixes internal company time with customer non-billable time.
It is hard to compare with the budget that is based on dollars rather than hours.
It does not call out the technician’s unknown time so that it can be managed.
It cannot be customized to match how your business operates.
It blows up on holiday weeks – And this is the real kicker!
But, hey, it’s free, and it’s already there, so it’s a good place to start.
A Way to Re-Write the Autotask Default RU Report
A great MSP always wants to improve their game. Back in November 2017, a Service Manager asked if there was a way to re-write the Autotask default RU report in Live Reports. They wanted to take their game to the next level and schedule the request to run and not built each time it is needed.
It took some time to write, but as I showed it to other Service Managers, they liked what they saw and requested changes to highlight the coaching moments listed above.
What grew out of that simple request was a powerful tool that has been increasing profits by 10% or more for every MSP that uses it, while reducing the time it takes to manage timesheets to 0 hours per week.
The Advanced Resource Utilization Report Can Help Answer...
Once you have the Advanced Resource Utilization report scheduled to run every Monday morning you will be able to effectively evaluate last week’s timesheets and will finally be able to answer:
Was the timesheet completed? Was 40 hours reported?
How many hours are regular time - and what can we do to reduce that number?
How many hours are unknown time used to true up the time sheet - and how can we help the Tech to remember more of what they did? (Hint: Real-Time Time Entry)
How many hours are Company time (Task or Ticket time entries for the Zero account), and what can we do to reduce that number?
Review each non-billable time entry to verify it was non-billable work. If not, coach the Tech on what is and is not non-billable work.
Is the Tech meeting the Weekly Billable Hours Goal? If not, what are they working on that is non-Customer-Facing work?
Sounds pretty awesome, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, a deep-dive into the actual Advanced Live Report is going to take an entire column of its own, so you’re going to have to wait for Part 2 next week. I’m pretty confident it will be worth the wait.
You DIY folks are going to love it because we cover how the report is built and what each column does. For those of you who would rather write a check and get our Done for You version, just drop me a line at info@agmspcoaching.com and Chris or I will get you hooked up. And for those of you in the middle – subscribe to our Gladiator’s Community and our coaching team will help you out there or on our exclusive Thursday Webex calls.
Here is your homework to be ready:
Run the default Autotask RU report so you have some idea where you are at
Make sure your Techs are putting time in real-time time entries
Remind Techs to make sure they are recording hours properly
Reach out to me at info@agmspcoaching.com with questions
See you next week!
Steve & Co
PS- For more information on Resource Utilization, click here to download the Resource Utilization for MSPs eBook: An IT Service Manager’s Guide to Capitalizing on Resource Utilization.pdf