Resource allocation plan template

You’re ready to embark on your newest initiative, but before you do, you need to understand exactly what resources go into it. What tools, team members, and budget will you need to effectively execute this project and how many are available to you? A resource allocation plan template can help you provide context about resources both for your team, and other cross-functional collaborators.  

What is a resource allocation plan template?

A resource allocation plan template is the skeleton of a resource allocation plan that you can easily duplicate to create a new allocation plan. It’s a great tool to use if you’re looking to improve consistency across your allocation process or to create several different plans at once.

In this context, a resource is something required to complete a specific project. This could mean time, an individual team, specific roles, or finances. 

What is a resource allocation plan?

A resource allocation plan is a list of resources that you need to complete a specific project. It includes the resources you’ll need, when you’ll need them, and the cost and quantity of each resource. Your resource allocation plan should align with your project scope, schedule, and budget. 

What’s the difference between a resource allocation template and a resource management template?

A resource allocation template is intended to help with the assigning of available resources to specific initiatives. A resource management plan template is a little more specific—it helps to specifically manage team bandwidth so you can see what your team is working on.

When to use a resource allocation plan template

A resource allocation plan template is best used when you're in the project planning or project initiation stage. It can help with the development of your project scope, schedule, budget, and other constraints. 

What’s included in a resource allocation plan template?

A good resource allocation plan template will have all of the information you need for project resources, including: 

• Resource name: This could be an individual person, or the type of resource you need for a specific project.

• Associated task: The specific work or task you’ll be using this resource for.

• Role in the project: For staffing resources, this is the specific skill set a single person provides for the project.

• Max capacity: The maximum capacity a resource can manage.

• Availability: This is how much capacity a resource has left before hitting their maximum capacity.

• Project start and end date: The time period when the project is active.

Integrated features

• Workload. Workload gives you a visual snapshot of team capacity by making it easy to see what your team members are working on across projects—all in one place. With this at-a-glance information, you can pinpoint conflicts, address risks, and keep projects on track by reassigning or rescheduling tasks. Check Workload regularly to make sure team members aren’t overwhelmed or underworked. If they are, you can easily reassign or reschedule low-priority tasks to unblock high-priority initiatives.

• Portfolios. Portfolios make it easy to organize and track all of your team's multiple projects in a single view. Get a high-level overview of how all your projects are progressing, then drill in for more details to address risks. Plus, share status updates across programs and keep stakeholders up to date without having to schedule a status meeting.

• Project Overview. Project Overview is your one-stop-shop for all important project context. Give your team a bird’s-eye view of the what, why, and how of your project work. Add a project description to set the tone for how you’ll work together in Asana. Then, share any important resources and context—like meeting details, communication channels, and project briefs—in one place.

• Start dates. Sometimes you don’t just need to track when a to-do is due—you also need to know when you should start working on it. Start times and dates give your team members a clear sense of how long each task should take to complete. Use start dates to set, track, and manage work to align your team's objectives and prevent dependencies from falling through the cracks. 

Recommended apps

• Slack. Turn ideas, work requests, and action items from Slack into trackable tasks and comments in Asana. Go from quick questions and action items to tasks with assignees and due dates. Easily capture work so requests and to-dos don’t get lost in Slack. 

• Google Workplace. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any My Drive file with just a few clicks.

• Zoom. Asana and Zoom are partnering up to help teams have more purposeful and focused meetings. The Zoom + Asana integration makes it easy to prepare for meetings, hold actionable conversations, and access information once the call is over. Meetings begin in Asana, where shared meeting agendas provide visibility and context about what will be discussed. During the meeting, team members can quickly create tasks within Zoom, so details and action items don’t get lost. And once the meeting is over, the Zoom + Asana integration pulls meeting transcripts and recordings into Asana, so all collaborators and stakeholders can review the meeting as needed.

• Clockwise. With the Clockwise + Asana integration, you can add Asana tasks as time blocks in your Google Calendar. The Clockwise + Asana integration allows you to specify the duration of tasks, when they happen, and whether Clockwise can automatically reschedule them. Add tasks to your calendar and make time to get work done.

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