How to Effectively Manage Resources in Higher Ed IT

How do you manage your resources? Every university has multiple projects taking place on any given day, and keeping track of all of them can be complex – especially when trying to manage a portfolio of projects across multiple campuses.

One of the most daunting aspects of project management can be resource management. With such limited resources in higher education, effectively managing and allocating them is important in every department – including IT. Any mistake or miscommunication can take away the opportunity to work on another issue, so it is important that you do this well. Current tools and processes too often fail to show project managers accurate data on their teams, consequently causing them to over-allocate their resources.

Stay on Track

Those in IT are always responding to requests and trying to resolve their customers’ technical issues. In higher education especially, it is essential to make sure that your people are getting their projects done on time and under budget.

An important piece of resource and project management is the allocation of human capital. A project manager needs to be aware of all the projects his or her team members are working on so no one will be overwhelmed with requests. They should also know how many hours everyone is spending on each project, and hold everyone on their team accountable for effective resource and project management.

Simplify Your Processes

Finding ways to streamline procedures as a project manager is the key to being successful. One way to streamline your resource management process is through the use of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) software.

A good PPM solution should be able to help you see what project your team is working on and the amount of time they are spending on it. It should also give you a real-time view into demand and working projects, and allow you to notify your employees when they are assigned tickets. Through all of this, a PPM tool will allow you to efficiently manage your resources and therefore improve the efficiency of the group.

Effective Resource Management in Action

At the University of Colorado, the University Information Systems (UIS) department was having a hard time managing all of the requests coming in from its four different campuses. They were over-allocating resources and in turn, not providing the highest level of service possible to their customers. The UIS Department turned to PPM software to help them solve their problems and have since seen many improvements in their ability to manage resources efficiently.

Read the case study to find out how the University of Colorado UIS department and Project Management Office run projects across multiple campuses with Project Portfolio Management software.