You can think of resources as fuel for a project’s machinery. If the right resources are not around at the right time, you risk falling short of your project goals & objectives. Whether it’s material resources (such as hardware equipment, raw materials like concrete or cement) or human resources hired for their valuable skill & expertise – every project needs both to deliver its intended results.
With those goals in mind, is there a way to make your project more cost and resource-efficient? Well, yes. Having a Resource Plan and seeing it through using a Resource Implementation Plan is one popular project management strategy for planning the ‘what’, ‘when’, and ‘why’ of all the money and labor that goes into taking your project from its planning phase to successful execution.
Our Resource Implementation plan is a simple yet incredibly useful tool for mapping out which resources will be used for which tasks. We base our editable spreadsheet on a phase-by-phase breakdown of resources with individual tasks being identified and prioritized before being assigned a start and end date.
You then identify the human resources who will be responsible for working on each task based on their role and department. The same is done for material resources, where you specify the resource (say, laptops, office supplies) and its quantity. For both types of resources, you need to specify an estimated cost in a separate column, helping you stay within your budgetary limits.
Now, let’s explore our template in more detail:
Project Overview
Identify the project by name and the person responsible for overseeing the planning and execution of the project (usually, the Project Manager).
Now it’s time to nail down the scope and deliverables of the project using clear and concise language.
Let’s say you are working on an app development project. What will you write under these two sections?
- Scope: ‘Developing a web-based app to support the teaching and learning systems of volunteer teachers in Pennsylvania by 1st June 2025′.
- Deliverables: a product prototype, a strategic report, and a usability report (these are the tangible outcomes of all the tasks completed during the project).
Strategy
In the first column, you will create an itemized list of actionable steps or Tasks which shall form the basis of each project phase. Each task will then be assigned to a specific member or unit of the team who shall be known as its primary ‘Owner”. Remember that task and role allocation is a consequential part of every project strategy and must be done on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the nature of Tasks on one hand, and the available expertise and expertise levels of Task Owners on the other.
For each task, you also want to know how urgent or critical it is. To do this, use our drop-down menu to choose one of three options: ‘High, ‘Medium’ and ‘Low’. We have also attached a separate configuration sheet in case you want to use different categories to suit your own project needs & context. If you want to learn more about how to prioritize tasks within a project, feel free to check out our Prioritization Matrix template!
Timeline
Having a pre-set time frame for each task helps you get work done fast.
Manually enter a start date and target end date for each task in light of factors such as task urgency, priority, and the effort needed to complete them.
Based on these two dates, we automatically calculate the total duration (in terms of number of days) for each task. This may be decided based on the level of priority you assign to each or the logical task dependencies that connect one task to another.
Feel free to use our detailed Project Timeline template to create viable and effective timelines for your project!
Human Resource
From researchers, web developers, and managers to fieldworkers and administrative staff – every project needs a distinct set of human resources to successfully come through.
In these three columns, create an itemized list of professional roles or human resources needed to execute your project’s Action Plan. Once you have specified the department they work in, you will add an estimate of the budget you will need to pay for their services. This may be a sum of monthly salaries in the case of regular project staff, or a one-time payment in case of consultants & freelancers.
Material Resource
In the next three columns, list down the material resources you will need to complete each task. Allocating the right material resources (such as office supplies or required raw materials) and making sure they are available on-site in a timely way is an essential part of effective resource planning.
If you are looking for a special template that allows you to track your spending on different types of material resources (such as equipment, workspace rentals, utilities, etc.) – you can download and use our Resource Plan template for effective resource planning and management!
Wrap Up
Use our Resource Implementation Plan template to ensure that the right resources are available at the fight time so your team can mitigate risks and ensure that your project is executed on time and within the stipulated budget.
Our editable template can be instantly accessed in .xlsx, .xltx, and .ods formats.
