# Resource Management Tool

> See who is available, who is overloaded, and who should take the next project. Asana is the resource management tool your team already works in. Get started free.

Source: https://asana.com/uses/resource-planning

#### Why allocating people gets harder as projects multiply

#### Nobody can see who’s actually available

A new project needs a developer in three weeks. Finding out who's free takes a day of messaging project leads and checking last week's spreadsheet. When availability lives in people's heads, the work goes to whoever answers first.

#### People get committed twice, and nobody notices

Each project books people independently, so nobody adds up the totals. Two leads each claim half of a designer's time, then a third asks for something "quick." She's at 130% before anyone notices, and the deadlines she misses start to look like a performance problem.

#### Reassigning one person quietly breaks three plans

Moving an engineer onto an urgent project is the right call. It also pulls them off two other projects, and those leads don't hear about it until milestones slip. One reasonable decision becomes a chain of delays nobody approved.

#### How Asana works as a resource management tool

In Asana, every task has an owner, a due date, and an estimate of the effort it takes. The resource management features build your staffing view from those details, so project resource management happens where your projects already live. Here's how that plays out.

See who’s working on what, across every project

Need a developer in three weeks? Just open[Workload](https://asana.com/features/resource-management/workload). It shows each person's assignments across all their projects on one timeline, from this week out to next quarter, and you can filter by person or project. Workload pulls from the tasks your team is already working on, so you don't need a separate allocation sheet or a day spent asking around.

Catch double-booking before it becomes a missed date

Give each person a weekly capacity and each task an effort value, in [hours or points](http://asana.com/features/resource-management/time-tracking). Workload sums it up across all projects and shows you when someone goes over. Rough estimates are enough to show who's overloaded. You'll spot the designer at 130% while it's still a scheduling fix, before it turns into a conversation about why her work is late.

Reassign work and see what moves with it

When an urgent project needs your engineer, drag their tasks to a teammate or a new date right in Workload. You'll see how the change affects everyone's capacity before you commit, and [Timeline](https://asana.com/uses/timeline) shows the dependent work that moves with it. The leads on those other projects see the new owner and due date on the task, so nobody finds out from a missed milestone.

Report on allocation across teams and portfolios

When leadership asks why your team needs another hire, show them. [Portfolios](https://asana.com/features/goals-reporting/portfolios) and reporting dashboards roll allocation up across projects and teams, so you can point to where people are stretched and where there's room. There's no separate report to build first. Together, these resource management tools give you the numbers for a hiring request, or for saying no to the next project.

#### Purpose-built for the teams that decide who does the work

#### Agencies and services teams

#### Every project in a single view

When utilization is your business model, one idle consultant or wrong assignment shows up in your margin, and the staffing spreadsheet is out of date by Wednesday. Asana puts every client project in one view, so account and delivery leads can staff each engagement against who's actually free. With the [timesheets and budgets](/features/resource-management/timesheets-budgets) add-on, you can also separate billable hours and see how time tracks against each budget.

#### PMO and operations leaders

#### Lead with real-time data

You're accountable for staffing across the whole portfolio, but the full picture only emerges after you piece it together from project leads, each of whom sees only their own slice. Asana rolls allocation up across projects and portfolios into one live view, ensuring that resourcing decisions run on this week's numbers. You'll also have the numbers ready for the next headcount request, or for turning down another project.

#### Product and engineering leads

#### Protect sprint time with current numbers

Your engineers are split across squads, support rotations, and requests from other teams, and the sprint board only shows part of what each of them is carrying. Asana keeps all of someone's work in one place, which means you can see everything they're already working on before you commit them to something new. When an urgent fix pulls someone off the sprint, you can see which of their other deadlines are at risk before anything is actually late.

#### Asurion improved capacity planning and reached 89% team utilization with Asana

Asurion is a global technology care company serving more than 300 million customers. Its 1,100 people across training, content, media, and innovation teams use Asana to track utilization and bandwidth in real time, so managers can see who's available and where work is piling up. Projects now start 37% faster.

Asana has completely changed the way our design team works. We now have full visibility into priorities, timelines, and workloads, which has helped us deliver higher-quality work faster—and with less burnout.

- [Read Asurion's story](https://asana.com/case-study/asurion)

#### Know who’s free before you promise the work

The next time a project needs two people, you can skip the round of messages to project leads. Just open Workload, see who has room over the next few weeks, and check what else would shift if you moved someone.

- [Contact sales](/sales)

- [Create a resource management template](/templates/resource-management)

#### Frequently asked questions about resource management tools

#### What is a resource management tool?

A resource management tool is software that tracks how your team's time is committed across projects and shows who has room before you assign new work. Unlike a spreadsheet, it updates as plans change and totals each person's workload for you. In Asana, that view is built from the updates your team already makes to their tasks, like reassigning work or pushing a due date.

#### What tools are used for resource management?

Most teams use spreadsheets, dedicated scheduling tools, or a work management platform. With the first two, the staffing plan lives apart from the project plan, and you have to copy every moved deadline or new assignment over by hand. In a work management platform like Asana, the staffing view updates on its own whenever a task changes.

#### What’s the difference between resource management and capacity planning?

Resource management decides who does what work and when. Capacity planning looks at how much work your team can take on before you commit to it. You need both to make a good staffing call, and Asana supports both, including[capacity-planning software](https://asana.com/uses/capacity-planning) to size up what your team can absorb.

#### How do you track resource allocation across multiple projects?

You can track resource allocation across multiple projects by rolling every person's assignments into one view. But that only works if the work lives in one place. In Asana, each task carries an owner, dates, and an effort estimate, and Workload totals them per person across every project they're on.

#### Do I need a separate tool for resource management?

You don't need a separate resource management tool if your team's work is already in Asana. Allocation comes from the assignments and effort on real tasks. A dedicated professional services tool can still make sense if you need deep billing, invoicing, or financial resource planning.

#### Does resource management cost extra?

With the Advanced plan, you get Workload for $24.99 mo./per user, billed annually. Upgrade to Enterprise and you can see workload across your whole organization and plan your team's capacity. Neither requires a separate resource management add-on. See[Asana pricing](https://asana.com/pricing) for the full breakdown.

#### How accurate is the allocation view if people don’t log effort?

The allocation view is only as accurate as what's in it. You don't need perfect estimates, though. Rough effort on the bigger pieces of work is enough to show who's overloaded. Start with hours or points on your largest tasks, then refine as you learn how long things actually take.

#### Can I manage resources across multiple teams or departments?

Yes. Allocation rolls up across projects and[Portfolios](https://asana.com/features/goals-reporting/portfolios), which lets an operations or PMO lead see the whole organization instead of one team at a time. When one team is stretched and another has room, you can move work between them.

#### What is a resource management tool?

A resource management tool is software that tracks how your team's time is committed across projects and shows who has room before you assign new work. Unlike a spreadsheet, it updates as plans change and totals each person's workload for you. In Asana, that view is built from the updates your team already makes to their tasks, like reassigning work or pushing a due date.

#### What tools are used for resource management?

Most teams use spreadsheets, dedicated scheduling tools, or a work management platform. With the first two, the staffing plan lives apart from the project plan, and you have to copy every moved deadline or new assignment over by hand. In a work management platform like Asana, the staffing view updates on its own whenever a task changes.

#### What’s the difference between resource management and capacity planning?

Resource management decides who does what work and when. Capacity planning looks at how much work your team can take on before you commit to it. You need both to make a good staffing call, and Asana supports both, including[capacity-planning software](https://asana.com/uses/capacity-planning) to size up what your team can absorb.

#### How do you track resource allocation across multiple projects?

You can track resource allocation across multiple projects by rolling every person's assignments into one view. But that only works if the work lives in one place. In Asana, each task carries an owner, dates, and an effort estimate, and Workload totals them per person across every project they're on.

#### Do I need a separate tool for resource management?

You don't need a separate resource management tool if your team's work is already in Asana. Allocation comes from the assignments and effort on real tasks. A dedicated professional services tool can still make sense if you need deep billing, invoicing, or financial resource planning.

#### Does resource management cost extra?

With the Advanced plan, you get Workload for $24.99 mo./per user, billed annually. Upgrade to Enterprise and you can see workload across your whole organization and plan your team's capacity. Neither requires a separate resource management add-on. See[Asana pricing](https://asana.com/pricing) for the full breakdown.

#### How accurate is the allocation view if people don’t log effort?

The allocation view is only as accurate as what's in it. You don't need perfect estimates, though. Rough effort on the bigger pieces of work is enough to show who's overloaded. Start with hours or points on your largest tasks, then refine as you learn how long things actually take.

#### Can I manage resources across multiple teams or departments?

Yes. Allocation rolls up across projects and[Portfolios](https://asana.com/features/goals-reporting/portfolios), which lets an operations or PMO lead see the whole organization instead of one team at a time. When one team is stretched and another has room, you can move work between them.

#### Resource management tool: Plan and move projects with confidence

A resource management tool shows who on your team is working on what, who has room for more, and what shifts when you move someone. Asana is resource management software built into the place your team already works. Because assignments live on the tasks themselves, your view of who's available stays current.

- [Get started](/create-account)

- [View demo](/demo/main-video)

Resource Planning