Every business involves some challenges and capacity planning is just one of those. Accurate capacity planning is part that demands most of your time in business. Wondering why? It is because planning resources that you may need for the completion of the project are important. Capacity Planning Software should be used to complete each work efficiently and prevent the organization from hiccups.
Committing a mistake may not be that big a problem as would be the inability to control it. Well incapacity planning, these could be the 5 common mistakes that you may happen to make.
5 Most Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them?
Here are some common type of mistakes you might commit regarding capacity planning:
1. Failure to understand the requirement
Before you proceed to hire or release the contract with the resources, at times you might fail to evaluate the exact requirement. The resources might include finances, humans, and infrastructure that the organization may run out of. The step may look complicated and this is why the organizations use software tools to monitor the state of the company. It gives them an idea about the exact capacity.
Another aspect of capacity evaluation could be analyzing the level of services you can provide to the customers. You may have the resources, but they may not be capable of accommodating the work pressure. Or things can be vice-versa that you misunderstood the requirements of the project but made commitments. Hence, it is necessary to analyze the ability of the resources at hand and the demand.
To address such a problem, you must:
- Evaluate past trends of work that the company received.
- Analyze the performance of the existing resources.
- Monitor the availability of the budgets.
- Stick to the timeline to avoid rush and hassles.
- Compare the existing resource capacity with the work you have received.
2. Ignoring the usage patterns
In the due course, you may feel that all the projects can be completed within the stipulated period. But to your amazement, the sudden rise of the demand in one project shakes the concentration of resources. Some of your valued resources may then have to dedicate more time on one project than they should have. While deciding the capacity, missing such fluctuation is common. This may affect the work in the long run especially when the workload changes frequently.
These abrupt changes may be observed industry-specific. You may escape a mistake like this by:
- Deeply observe the usage pattern of resources.
- Always refer to the past scenario, especially, if you have a seasonal business.
- If you are new and do not know what can hamper your business, be prepared with some stock of resources.
3. Inaccurate Forecast
Many times, accurate forecasting gets missed and that is common to happen with any kind of business. Your forecast will depend on these:
- Current business demand.
- External factors that affect your industry segment at large.
- Factors you consider while making up for forecast.
Though the capacity planning software never drops the basics of this information. It keeps you and your decisions in line. But often any abrupt changes in the system and deviation in the demand can cause disruptions.
In a scenario like this, you are most likely to go wrong with the forecast. If it happens to you, do these to take care of the situation:
- Intelligently calculate the sizing demands that alter with the external factors.
- Monitor minuscule changes that can affect the execution of the project.
- Keep the software updated to avoid errors like this to happen.
- Limit the use and access of the information through the software. It should be limited depending on the roles of the users in the company..
4. Reviewing the capacity of the company at continual intervals
It may appear to be a casual task but reviewing the capacity of the company at continual intervals should be a regular job. When you miss on it, chances are you will fail to achieve what is destined to happen.
You should be able to review the trends that flow in your company from past months or years. It will keep the system updated or in simple words prepare the whole system for any new workload.
To avoid a challenge like this with fire, you can do these:
- Get the capacity planning software updated and checked at regular intervals. You should be assured whether the tool you rely on is perfect or not.
- Observe the work patterns and know that your organization is ready for future projects or not.
To find out the capacity of the company, you must review:
- Load in the system in the last 3 months or 6 months.
- Response time at which the query in the system was handled.
- Downtime if there existed any. If yes, then how could the organization battle situation.
- All projects and resources allocated. If you spot a compromise or delay as per the software tool, you would know the capacity of the company. It will bring you to decide when and from where to hire the resources.
5. Improper or no communication with the management
Lack of communication with the stakeholders and the management can leave you in a low spot. Their experience and awareness can help you with capacity planning. You must not leave a room with zero communication as the managers can help you forecast the capacity needed. They can also guide you with more specifications and updates in the software if need be.
Technology is as good a tool to drive your business as is the management. Avoid a situation like this by:
- Keeping yourself updated with the system-generated reports.
- Talk to your technical team that handles the software. They would be able to give you a better picture of the flaws of the capacity planning tool. Discuss the same with the managers.
- Inform the management about the requirements of the talent and why do you feel the need. You can back your decision with system-driven reports.
Failure to abide by the project timelines, relying too much on valuable resources, and not making arrangements for the time of peak demand can be a setback for the company. Though it indicates an important aspect of capacity planning if you are unprepared, you leave the whole organization for a free fall. This is why they say capacity planning should be a flawless process to outrage the weaknesses in the system.
The root issue is the use of capacity planning software that is the critical solution for a definite success. You cannot afford to take a chance with the system. If you want to truly visualize what lies ahead in a particular situation, the best is to prepare yourself with the capacity needs.
The software tool aids you to put aside challenges like peak demand analysis, capacity Vs forecast of the job, database, and accurate analytics. It is best advised to use capacity planning software that looks into your business. Many companies make industry-specific capacity planning tools. You can see and compare the ones that work best for you. But if you are looking for a reliable and affordable solution, then you must visit online eResource Scheduler. They make on-premise and cloud-based capacity planning software that can serve your requirements.