Nearly every industry utilizes resources of some kind, meaning that proper scheduling and workforce or resource management is invaluable almost everywhere for saving time, boosting efficiency, and saving money.
Because resource scheduling is valuable for people, equipment, vehicles, and facilities, the applications are almost endless, and range from sports, to tuition, to IT workforce management, and everything in between. The following five applications for resource scheduling show how different industries can make the most of their time, resources, and management personnel with scheduling.
Teams are one of the hardest resources to schedule properly, especially when you're managing more than one. Because team management can involve anything from keeping track of people who work with you every day, or scheduling in contractors and ensuring that you're putting the right person on the right job, scheduling is vitally important in any team. Keeping track of what people are doing, what they are supposed to be doing, and how you can best utilize them, means making your teams more efficient, while saving time in terms of work and project management.
Whether bicycles, rowboats, music equipment, or high end yachts, resource management makes it easy to keep track of equipment. Scheduling in dates and renters per piece of equipment allows you to see, at a glance, who is renting, who is bringing equipment back, and whether or not something is available on any given day. This allows you to ensure that everything is ready to go, that you don't have problems with double or under bookings, and can quickly see if your equipment is available for rental, all without spreadsheets.
Restaurant owners can benefit from resource scheduling in a number of ways, starting with workforce management. Not having enough servers, cooks, dishwashers, managers, or other essential personnel can severely hurt your business on any given night. Keeping track of other resources, such as food supplies, available plates, gas or fuel, soda and drinks, and cleaning supplies is also essential to running your business. Restaurant scheduling means that you can keep track of who is available to come in, who is out sick, and who is supposed to be working, and why, so you can keep up with everything. If you also book out for parties or other small events, you can schedule those as well, so that you can easily keep track of events, as well as the personnel who have to show up for those events.
Hiring out rooms and venues usually means spreadsheets, but resource scheduling makes that easier. Not only can you schedule when rooms will be booked and to whom, you can also schedule staff and managers or planners to the room for the duration, schedule caterers, or any other people you need in the room for the job. This allows you to schedule your entire workforce based on the type of event held at the venue, while also keeping track of who is renting a room, when, and for how long. Seeing, at a glance, which rooms or venues are free on which dates also means faster booking, because you can help customers more quickly, and ensure that their reservation is immediately scheduled in.
Resource scheduling is incredibly valuable in industries like construction, where you have to manage and allocate both skilled workers and equipment. Resource scheduling software allows you to sort through workers to find those who have the skills to match the job at hand, ensure that they know where to go and when, and that you don't overbook, or double schedule. Matching skilled workers to specific jobs, as well as ensuring that they have the available equipment on the necessary days, allows you to make better decisions.