Resource planning software & solutions
Improve how your organization plans, allocates, and manages resources across projects. Rand Group helps project-based businesses align resource availability, skills, and capacity with project demand to improve resource utilization, make informed staffing decisions, and support more efficient project delivery.
Align your resources with project demand
Managing resources across multiple projects can be challenging when schedules, availability, and staffing information are spread across disconnected systems. Without a clear view of resource capacity and competing assignments, organizations may struggle to allocate the right people, balance workloads, and anticipate future staffing needs.
Rand Group helps project-based organizations improve how they plan and manage resources by bringing greater visibility to availability, skills, capacity, and project demand. With more connected resource planning processes, teams can make informed staffing decisions, improve utilization, and better align resources with project priorities.
Improve resource allocation
Match resource availability, skills, and capacity with project requirements to make more informed staffing decisions and reduce scheduling conflicts.
Optimize resource utilization
Identify underutilized capacity and overallocated resources to balance workloads, improve efficiency, and make better use of available talent.
Plan for future demand
Gain greater visibility into upcoming project requirements and resource needs to support capacity forecasting, hiring decisions, and project planning.
Rand Group has consistently thought outside of the box in ways I haven’t experienced with other providers. They’ve always offered multiple workable options to address our unique challenges, going beyond what we initially requested.
What can resource planning software help you manage?
Resource planning software helps organizations coordinate the people, skills, and capacity needed to deliver projects effectively. Rand Group evaluates your resource management processes, project requirements, and existing technology to identify capabilities and solutions that align with your business needs.
Depending on the platform and configuration, resource planning software can help you:
- Plan resource capacity by comparing available resources with current workloads and upcoming project demand.
- Schedule and allocate resources based on availability, skills, project requirements, and competing priorities.
- Monitor resource utilization to understand how employee time is distributed across billable work, nonbillable activities, and available capacity.
- Manage resource assignments across multiple projects and teams while accounting for schedules, workloads, and changing priorities.
- Forecast resource demand to anticipate staffing requirements, identify capacity gaps, and address potential scheduling conflicts.
- Connect resource planning with project operations to align staffing decisions with project schedules, time tracking, and financial management.
Find the right resource planning software for your business
ERP and resource planning software options
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations
Dynamics 365 Project Operations provides resource scheduling capabilities for professional services organizations managing multiple projects and competing staffing demands. Resource managers can match people to project requirements based on skills, availability, and organizational units, while monitoring assignments and utilization. Its resource management capabilities are particularly useful for organizations that need to coordinate staffing across project teams and balance billable work with available capacity.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Dynamics 365 Business Central supports resource planning for small and midsize businesses that need to manage employee or equipment capacity alongside project costs. Organizations can establish resource capacities, assign resources to project tasks, and compare planned usage with actual activity. Its project management functionality is particularly relevant for businesses that need straightforward resource planning and cost tracking within their existing ERP processes rather than advanced skills-based staffing.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations supports resource management within complex enterprise project and operational environments. Its project management and accounting capabilities allow organizations to define project resource requirements, manage worker assignments, and account for resource costs across projects and legal entities. Depending on the configuration and connected applications, businesses can extend these capabilities to support more advanced resource scheduling and coordination across departments.
Oracle NetSuite SuiteProjects
NetSuite SuiteProjects offers resource management capabilities for services organizations that need to balance project staffing with employee availability and utilization. Resource managers can evaluate staffing requirements, assign employees to projects, and monitor resource workloads across engagements. By connecting resource assignments with project schedules, time tracking, and financial information, SuiteProjects helps organizations manage billable capacity and understand how staffing decisions affect project performance.
Case Study
See how A-Z Process Solutions improved resource planning and field operations
A-Z Process Solutions partnered with Rand Group to implement Dynamics 365 Business Central with ExpandIT Field Service, connecting field technicians with office operations. With improved communication, mobile time and material tracking, and greater visibility into project activity, the company streamlined resource planning and material allocation while reducing manual processes.
Extend your resource planning capabilities with purpose-built apps and AI agents
Go beyond standard software capabilities with specialized applications and AI agents that enhance resource management. From streamlining time tracking to automating scheduling tasks and identifying project risks, these solutions bring additional functionality and intelligence to leading business applications.
Featured App
Moniroo Time Management
Simplify employee time tracking and gain better visibility into project activity with Moniroo Time Management for Business Central.
- Track employee hours by client, project, or task.
- Enable mobile timesheet entry and bulk approvals.
- Monitor timesheet activity through customizable dashboards.
Project Oversight Agent
Use AI in Business Central to automate project updates, identify emerging risks, and apply historical insights to improve project planning and delivery.
Dynamics 365 Field Service Scheduling Operations Agent
Use AI to optimize technician schedules, respond to last-minute changes, and improve resource utilization while reducing manual scheduling work.
Explore related project and professional services solutions
Effective resource planning goes beyond scheduling and staffing. Connecting resource management with project accounting, time tracking, and financial reporting helps organizations better understand how resource decisions impact project delivery and profitability. Explore related solutions to support your project operations.
Project accounting & billing
Connect resource assignments and labor activity with project budgets, costs, and billing processes. Improve financial control and gain greater visibility into how resource decisions affect project costs and performance.
Time & expense management
Simplify how employees capture and submit project time and expenses. Streamline approvals, reduce manual entry, and connect resource activity with project costing, billing, and financial processes.
Project reporting & profitability
Bring together resource utilization, labor costs, project budgets, and financial performance to better understand project margins, identify inefficiencies, and make more informed decisions.
Why partner with Rand Group?
Project and resource management expertise
Rand Group understands how staffing decisions, resource utilization, and capacity planning affect project execution and profitability. Our team combines project management, ERP, and financial expertise to help organizations improve resource planning across the project lifecycle.
Multi-platform ERP expertise
With expertise across Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Oracle NetSuite, Rand Group helps organizations evaluate resource planning solutions based on their staffing requirements, project complexity, scheduling processes, and existing ERP environment.
Solutions aligned with your processes
Rand Group takes the time to understand your staffing models, resource allocation processes, utilization goals, and project workflows before configuring solutions that support your operational requirements and business priorities.
Long-term partnership and support
With a 90% client retention rate, Rand Group provides ongoing support, optimization, integrations, and development to help your resource management environment adapt as project demands, team structures, and business requirements evolve.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What should we look for when evaluating resource planning software?
Look for resource planning software that supports your staffing model, project complexity, and scheduling requirements. Important capabilities may include resource availability tracking, skills-based assignments, capacity forecasting, workload management, and utilization reporting. Consider how well the solution integrates with your existing ERP, project accounting, and time tracking systems.
Can resource planning software match employees to projects based on skills and availability?
Yes. Resource planning solutions with skills-based scheduling can help managers identify employees whose qualifications, availability, and capacity align with project requirements. These capabilities can reduce scheduling conflicts and improve staffing decisions. The level of skills matching and scheduling automation varies by platform, so organizations should evaluate whether the software supports their specific assignment processes.
Can we manage resource allocation across multiple projects and departments?
Yes. Resource planning software can provide visibility into assignments, workloads, and available capacity across projects and departments. This helps managers identify competing staffing demands, prevent overbooking, and adjust allocations as priorities change. Organizations managing shared resources should prioritize solutions that provide consolidated resource views and support coordination between project teams.
Can resource planning software help us forecast future staffing needs?
Yes. Resource capacity planning capabilities can help organizations compare available employee capacity with anticipated project demand. Managers can use this information to identify potential staffing shortages, evaluate upcoming workloads, and make more informed hiring or scheduling decisions. Forecasting capabilities vary by solution, particularly when accounting for employee skills, tentative projects, and changing delivery timelines.
Do we need dedicated resource planning software, or can our existing ERP handle it?
Your existing ERP may already provide the resource planning capabilities your business needs. Solutions such as Dynamics 365 Business Central support resource capacity and project assignments, while Dynamics 365 Project Operations and NetSuite SuiteProjects offer more specialized resource management capabilities. Organizations with complex skills-based scheduling or capacity optimization requirements may benefit from dedicated functionality or integrated applications.
Can we improve resource planning without replacing our current ERP system?
Yes. Many organizations can improve resource planning by configuring existing capabilities, adding specialized applications, or integrating resource scheduling tools with their ERP. This approach can address gaps in resource visibility, allocation, and utilization without requiring a complete system replacement. The right option depends on your current platform, scheduling requirements, and integration needs.
Can resource planning software connect with time tracking and project accounting?
Yes. Integrating resource planning with time tracking and project accounting can help organizations compare planned assignments with actual hours and labor costs. This provides greater visibility into utilization, project budgets, and the financial impact of staffing decisions. When evaluating solutions, confirm whether these connections are native, require additional modules, or depend on third-party integrations.
How do we determine which resource planning solution is right for our business?
Start by identifying your most significant resource planning challenges, whether they involve scheduling conflicts, limited capacity visibility, uneven workloads, or difficulty forecasting staffing demand. Evaluate solutions against your project delivery model, resource management processes, reporting needs, and existing technology environment. Rand Group helps organizations assess these requirements and select Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Oracle NetSuite solutions that align with their operational needs.
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