Project Resource Management: When? Why? What?

When you start a project, you think about the aim of it, about the developers who will implement your idea, and about the money that you will need to invest. As a rule, a start-up is a small team, where all the processes happen intuitively without any additional tools because you can't spend extra money and also because everything does work well.

When the project starts growing it is impossible to keep everything in mind, at the same time, making notes on paper is not effective. This is the time when you may consider using some additional tools to help you with the workload and to manage your resources. In this article, we will focus on the idea of resource management. We will try to understand what it is, why it is useful, and we will also define the best solutions from the JavaScript resource management components that exist today and that your project can benefit from. So, look through the text to find the part you need or read it all if you are not sure if you know what we are talking about.

Resources you need to manage

Resources are all the things the team needs to implement the project. If you are dealing with e-commerce, your resources are the goods in stock, transport for the delivery, couriers, software. If your business is event management, you probably need catering services, music equipment, contacts of available venues. Thus, resource management is the process of planning your business, allocating tasks between team members, and tracking the implementation of all the activities. The better you organize your resources, the higher the performance will be. People will know what you expect them to do, they will be motivated and focused. And of course, the resource management process is a must for a big team. You can't individually talk to each person if you have 100 people on staff. So, it is more convenient to have a special tool with an opportunity to visualize the tasks.

Benefits of the resource management tools

• Project management
  It doesn't matter how big or small your company is. Resource management tools will allow the business to carefully monitor each step in the strategy of further development.

• Transparency of the processes
  When your operations are transparent, the team members know their workload, they are not stressed. Besides, customers are aware of the progress, other teams may ask for support, and the general goal is clear and manageable.

• Team motivation
  We all enjoy pleasant working conditions. When we know our tasks ahead, we can be relaxed and we know what to expect from the next working day. It contributes to work satisfaction and employees are glad to be of service.

• Decreasing risks
  Thorough resource allocation and exploitation lead to minimizing risks in the future.

• Return on investment assessment
  When you know what you need and you know when you will need more, it provides you with the vision in the long-term perspective. Thus, you can predict the time when your investment will pay out.

Resource management JS components

We now move on from theory to practice. Let's explore the features of the tools that are offered today and have high users ratings.

Webix Gantt Chart

The Gantt Chart widget is a complex widget from the Webix UI library. Complex widgets are complete single-page applications, that developers can use independently or build into the environment of their system. All Webix widgets comply with any modern browsers and devices and integrate with Angular, React, Vue. The library is regularly updated and new features become available to users holding a license.
Features of the Gantt Chart:

• viewing, creating, editing tasks
• tasks allocation and resources assignment
• marking the start and end of the task
• critical path mapping

Webix Kanban JS

This is one more complex widget of the Webix UI library that is successfully used by the developers in their projects. Kanban is a task management board, it is probably a simpler solution in comparison with Gantt, but it still copes with tasks allocation perfectly well. A custom pack of the available license plans allows users to choose the widgets they would like to have. A free trial period is also available.
Features of the Kanban widget:

• cards with tasks
• commenting tasks
• drag-n-drop
• compact view mode

GanttPro

This is a powerful solution that includes not only the functionality of a resource management tool. It is a complete online platform that contains solutions for team cooperation, budget tracking, time management, resource management, and others. A free trial period and fast registration on the platform allow users to start benefiting from the solution in just 3 minutes.
Features of GanttPro:

• saved history of the project
• setting roles and calendars for team members
• managing the workload of the resources
• various access permission rules

Bryntum Scheduler Pro

Another JS component that integrates with any popular modern framework. Web components from Bryntum are supported with detailed documentation, a blog, and a trial period. Scheduler differs from Gantt or Kanban but it also allows to arrange the tasks depending on the availability of resources.
Features of Scheduler Pro:

• tasks links and connectors
• customized styling
• highlighting overloading
• synchronized resources shifts

Syncfusion Gantt Chart

Syncfusion offers a wide range of components for creating web, mobile, and desktop applications. Besides the components, they also provide users with a developer, analytics, and reporting platforms that comprise many useful tools and serve as a powerful support for the team.
Features of the Gantt Chart:

• binding various formats of data
• different timeline views
• tasks dependencies
• filtering and sorting

Conclusion

Resource management tools are useful components that facilitate working processes and increase the general performance of the team. Those components take over a significant part of the tasks, letting the team leads and project managers concentrate on more challenging issues. With a resource management solution, the daily routine activities will be monitored resulting in continuous progress and employees satisfaction.