Resource management template

When your team is juggling multiple projects, it's easy to lose sight of who's doing what and whether anyone is stretched too thin. Without a clear view of your team's bandwidth, overwork creeps in and productivity drops. A resource management template gives you the visibility you need to balance workloads, keep projects on track, and protect your team from burnout.

What is a resource management template?

A resource management template is a reusable guide that helps you manage team bandwidth throughout a project. It shows you everything your team is working on, so you can see how full everyone's plate is, whether they can take on additional work, and whether they need help meeting the project deadline. Instead of building a new resource management plan for every project, you can copy the template, fill it in, and start working.

Types of resource management templates

Not all resource management templates serve the same purpose. Depending on your team's needs, you may want to use a specific type or combine several for a more complete picture.

• Workload planning: Best for spotting overwork early and redistributing tasks. It shows how much work each team member has on their plate.

• Resource allocation: Best for assigning the right people to the right tasks across projects. It shows team skills, availability, and project priorities side by side.

• Capacity planning: Best for forecasting whether you’ll need contractors or extra support. It shows available hours compared with planned work for the coming weeks or months.

• Team resource: Best for giving managers one consolidated view. It shows team assignments, deadlines, and statuses in one place.

Each of these templates can be adapted to fit your team's workflow. The key is choosing the type that matches the visibility you need most.

The benefits of a digital resource management template

Resource management is a constantly evolving process. New requests, projects, and absences mean your team's bandwidth is always in flux, and you need a template that can keep up with these changes. That's where a digital resource management template really shines.

While static Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets templates quickly become outdated, a digital template updates in real time as your team's workload and priorities change. Its functionality lets you make adjustments on the fly, so you can stay in control of your team's schedule and stop overwork in its tracks.

With a digital resource management template, you can:

• Centralize workloads: See your team's entire workload in one place.

• Track bandwidth over time: Visualize how your team's available resources change as projects progress.

• Adjust on the fly: Update tasks, deadlines, and priorities to manage team bandwidth effectively.

• Map your timeline: Get a Gantt chart view of how long each task will take relative to your project schedule.

• Spot blockers early: Visualize project dependencies to avoid future roadblocks.

• Gauge effort at a glance: Color-code tasks by effort to understand how much bandwidth they require.

• Keep stakeholders informed: Share your template to demonstrate how additional requests affect your team.

• Eliminate duplicate work: Add project tasks to your template without recreating them.

How to create a digital resource management template

Your resource management template should provide a high-level overview of each team member's work. Follow these steps to build one that keeps your team balanced and on track.

• Create a section for each team member: Add project tasks to each person's section so you can see what's on everyone's plate. Include date ranges for each task to visualize how long each deliverable will take to complete in a Gantt chart.

• Add custom fields for effort and status: Tag each task with an effort level (for example, small, medium, or large) and a status like "not started" or "in progress." Depending on your team's needs, you can also track things like asset type or the Agile sprint this work is planned for.

• Set up dependencies: Mark tasks that need to be completed before others can start. Dependencies help your team prioritize work that could turn into a blocker down the line.

Manage team resources with Workload

A resource management template is a great tailor-made solution for smaller teams. But if you have a large team whose work spans across many different projects, you may need a more flexible workload management tool. In that case, the Workload feature in Asana can help by automatically providing a visual snapshot of your team's capacity, so you can see what everyone is working on across different initiatives.

Integrated features

• Timeline View. A Gantt-style project view that displays all of your tasks in a horizontal bar chart. See each task's start and end date alongside dependencies, so you can spot conflicts early and keep your plan on schedule.

• Custom fields. Tag, sort, and filter work by creating unique fields for any information you need to track, from priority and status to effort level. Share custom fields across tasks and projects to ensure consistency across your organization.

• Dependencies. Mark a task as waiting on another task so your team knows when their work is blocked or blocking someone else. When a task is completed or rescheduled, the assignee is notified automatically.

• Start dates. Set when work should begin, not just when it's due, so your team has a clear sense of how long each task should take. Use start dates to align your team's goals and prevent dependencies from falling through the cracks.

Recommended apps

• Clockwise. Add Asana tasks as time blocks in your Google Calendar, specifying the duration and letting Clockwise automatically reschedule them if needed.

• ServiceNow. Automate task creation in Asana from ServiceNow tickets, giving IT and service teams cross-platform visibility into real-time status and context.

• HubSpot. Create Asana tasks automatically using HubSpot Workflows, so work passes seamlessly between teams when deals or tickets close.

• Jira. Create connected workflows between technical and business teams, and quickly generate Jira issues from within Asana so handoffs happen at the right time.

Start managing your team's resources today

A resource management template gives you the clarity to balance your team's workload and keep projects moving forward without burning anyone out. Whether you're managing a small team or coordinating resources across multiple initiatives, having a clear view of who's working on what makes all the difference.

Ready to take control of your team's bandwidth? Get started with Asana and build a resource management template that keeps your team productive, balanced, and focused on the work that matters most.

FAQs about resource management templates