Everyone on your team has specific skills they excel at. But hiring talented professionals is only half of building and leading a department effectively. In order to deliver on projects successfully, you need to be sure that everyone is tackling the tasks they’re best suited for. You also need to ensure workloads are balanced, and that no one is biting off more than they can chew when it comes to scheduling.
These aspects of project management are pieces of a greater puzzle. That puzzle is capacity. Capacity is how you measure the maximum output and efficacy of your team. Managing capacity well is a balancing act, and it’s something you want to keep abreast of if you want to keep both your clients and your teammates happy.
A department operating under capacity leads to under-scheduled resources, which is operationally inefficient, and can lead to staff thinking they are undervalued or not needed. On the other hand, managers may overshoot their team’s capacity by assigning too much work, leading to employee stress and rushed projects. When you allocate tasks to people based on their skill sets, balance everyone’s schedules, and take their limits into account, you’ll have an optimal capacity plan. A well-considered capacity plan allows you to juggle priorities adeptly, keep pace with sudden changes, and deliver great projects without risking burnout.
Tracking project progress, managing time off, and allocating tasks accordingly are all crucial parts of resource capacity planning. But keeping tabs on all of this across multiple projects, teams, and timelines is a challenge without the right tools. Luckily, there are plenty of software platforms that can help you consolidate all of these processes and manage them with ease. Many of these platforms can integrate with your current software arsenal, so you can seamlessly work existing data into your resource management strategy. If you’re looking to take your resource allocation to a more refined level, these top ten capacity planning software tools can help.
Best Capacity Planning Software At A Glance
| Capacity Planning Software | Best For | Standout Feature | Pricing |
| Prism PPM | Best-in-class platform for portfolio-level capacity planning across multiple projects and timelines. | Enhanced visibility, demand forecasting and resourcing scenario modeling. | $20 per seat per month for a Business plan, Enterprise plan pricing available upon request. |
| Monday.com | Great for collaborating and making staffing decisions on individual projects. | AI-powered tools for capacity planning and resource management. | $19 monthly per user for a Pro plan. |
| Workday | Great for larger companies that need a robust HR solution. | Resource forecasting and integration with CRMs and ERPs. | Available upon request. |
| Clickup | Beneficial for smaller or medium-sized teams focused on quick project delivery. | Customizable workflow visualization. | $12 monthly per user for a Business plan. |
| Kantata | Good for professional services teams that rely on accounting integrations. | Real-time analytics tracking and resourcing lifecycle visualization. | Available upon request. |
| Wrike | User-friendly solution for project and task management. | Task monitoring and data visualization tools. | $25 monthly per user for a Business plan. |
| Screendragon | Transparent and user-friendly option for portfolio level project management. | High-level of data visibility to allow for more informed strategic decisions. | Available upon request. |
| Smartsheet | Easily to adopt and implement for basic resource management. | Customizable drag-and-drop graphs and capacity plan templates. | $19 monthly per user for a Business plan. |
| Resource Guru | Simple and easy-to-use tool for creative teams and agencies. | “Clash management” tool to highlight scheduling conflicts. | Basic plan starting at $4.16 per user per month. |
| Parallax | Geared toward professional services agencies and software development companies. | Availability tracking and task allocation tools. | Available upon request. |
The Top 10 Capacity Planning Tools
Prism PPM
Pricing: $20 a month per user for a Business plan.
Prism PPM is a comprehensive tool for strategic portfolio management designed to help Project Management Offices (PMOs) manage capacity across multiple projects.. Our platform offers a wide range of features and resources to support task planning, demand forecasting, strategy mapping, and more. One of Prism PPM’s standout features is our capacity planning tool, which empowers project managers to allocate tasks and balance team workloads efficiently based on teammates skills and experience. Prism PPM’s capacity planning solution includes a “What If?” feature that can model the impact of resourcing scenarios, giving you the right information to make strategically beneficial decisions aligned with high-level business goals.
Pros: Best-in-class tools for portfolio-level resource and capacity planning across multiple projects and timelines.
Cons: Not suited for smaller teams that are looking for a simpler capacity planning solution.
Monday.com
Pricing: $19 monthly per user for a Pro plan.
Monday.com is a cloud-based collaborative workforce management platform that offers customizable solutions for capacity planning. The platform provides users with a variety of workflow templates and integration options to choose from, and allows for forecasting and project time projection. Monday.com also uses AI to automate many of the processes that go into portfolio management and resource planning.
Pros: Great for collaborating and making staffing decisions on individual projects.
Cons: A lack of standardization for project data can make reporting status and other KPIs across many project challenging.
Workday
Pricing: Available upon request.
Workday uses cloud-based technology to provide workforce planning and management solutions to professionals in the HR space. One of its products is Adaptive Planning, which allows for resource forecasting and integration with pre-existing ERPs and CRMs. In addition to this, Workday’s suite of products also includes options for payroll management, time tracking, onboarding, and performance review management.
Pros: Great for larger companies that need a robust HR solution.
Cons: Not designed for project staffing and management operations.
Clickup
Pricing: $12 monthly per user for a Business plan.
Clickup is an AI-driven project management tool that offers customizable templates for capacity management and resource planning. It is geared towards smaller and medium sized teams, and allows for switching between Gantt charts, Kanban views and calendar views when managing workflows. It also provides real-time reporting to help users get up-to-date insights into the impact of their resourcing decisions.
Pros: Beneficial for smaller or medium-sized teams focused on quick project delivery.
Cons: Not the best option for managing multiple projects on longer timeframes.
Kantata
Pricing: Available upon request.
Kantata is a project management solution that provides users with the ability to manage capacity proactively with visuals, charts and graphs. Like Clickup, Kantata offers real-time analytics tracking and a suite of integration capabilities so users can seamlessly work the platform into their existing toolbelt. The platform’s employee scheduling solution leverages Gantt charts to give users visual insight into their resourcing lifecycles.
Pros: Good for professional services teams that rely on accounting integrations.
Cons: Fewer tools for detailed project planning and portfolio-level reporting.
Wrike
Pricing: $25 monthly per user for a Business plan.
Wrike is a centralized resource management solution that provides users with task monitoring, resource optimization, and performance reporting tools to keep projects on track. The platform can integrate with a variety of other communication and analytics platforms so that organizations can consolidate all the steps in their capacity planning strategy.
Pros: User-friendly solution for project and task management.
Cons: Time tracking tools, scheduling features and data storage capabilities are limited, and feature add-ons may prove to be costly.
Screendragon
Pricing: Available upon request.
Screendragon is a project management platform geared towards supporting professional services companies and agencies. One of the benefits of Screendragon is its high level of visibility – managerial users can view exactly what tasks their team members are each working on and the progress they’ve made towards completing them. This bird’s eye view can help with identifying improvement opportunities and deficiencies with existing capacity management approaches.
Pros: Transparent and user-friendly option for portfolio level project management.
Cons: Less suited for smaller teams that only need simple capacity planning tools.
Smartsheet
Pricing: $19 monthly per user for a Business plan.
Smartsheet supports task allocation, project tracking, schedule maintenance and other aspects of the project management lifecycle. The platform features customizable drag-and-drop graphs and capacity planning templates to help users get up and running quickly. Smartsheet can integrate with a number of other project tracking and communication tools, which means critical project management information won’t be siloed.
Pros: Easily to adopt and implement for basic resource management.
Cons: May require extra legwork and budget for project portfolio management..
Resource Guru
Pricing: Basic plan starting at $4.16 per user per month.
Resource Guru is a resource management software tool that gives managers the ability to design capacity plans with a drag-and-drop interface. One of Resource Guru’s standout features is its “clash management” tool, which highlights any scheduling conflicts and helps users avoid overbooking. It also offers reporting capabilities to help with tracking billable hours and team-wide utilization rates.
Pros: Simple and easy-to-use tool for creative teams and agencies.
Cons: Lacks in-depth project planning features required for more complex projects.
Parallax
Pricing: Available upon request.
Parallax is a service operations platform that offers tools to support sales, finance and resource management. Geared towards professional services agencies and software development firms, Parallax’s resource management features allow for availability tracking and efficient task allocation based on individual employee skill sets. It can be integrated with other project management and collaboration platforms for heightened business management.
Pros: Good for insights into capacity as compared to sales pipeline.
Cons: No built-in time tracking or project management capabilities.
How to Choose the Best Capacity Planning Software
There are several things to keep in mind when you’re deciding on a capacity planning tool. The first step to choosing the right tool is to identify what features you’re looking for and factor in the size of your team today and how large it is planned to become. If your team is on the smaller side, you’ll want a simpler tool with basic scheduling and forecasting features that you can quickly implement. Larger teams will need a more comprehensive solution that allows for tracking multiple project lifecycles and timelines at once. You’ll want to choose a tool that both fits the needs of your current team, but can also be scaled up as you grow.
Another important thing to keep in mind is pricing. Sticking with your budget is crucial no matter what software you’re planning to purchase, and you want to be sure you’ll be getting a good return on your investment. Since you likely use a number of tools to manage your team already, you’ll want to pick a platform that offers integration capabilities with your existing software toolbelt.
The Importance of Using Capacity Planning Software
Capacity planning software is designed to enhance your resource allocation processes and give you data you can work with, so you’re not making decisions in the dark. With the right tool, you’ll be able to see all of your teammates’ skills and schedules in one place, and can make more informed choices about task assignments. Many capacity planning software tools automate processes like schedule generation and availability tracking, optimizing your workflow so you can save time and build your resource allocation strategy with more accuracy.
Key Features of a Good Capacity Planning Tool
There are four key attributes you want to look for when choosing a capacity planning tool for your team.
- Real-time resource visibility. A good capacity planning platform will show you when your teammates are available, what tasks they’ve been allocated to, and how they’re tracking towards project timeline completion.
- Forecasting and scenario planning. You’ll want a tool that can allow you to plan for future scheduling scenarios and see exactly how your current capacity strategy will pan out over time.
- Integration capabilities. You likely already use a variety of software to run your business. The right capacity planning tool will allow you to integrate with those existing platforms so you can transmit data without any extra legwork.
- Customization options. Many capacity planning tools offer templates and data display options that you can customize based on your needs and how you work.
Common Challenges in Capacity Planning
As mentioned above, good capacity planning is a balancing act. Managing multiple projects without the help of automation and forecasting tools can get messy quickly. Without tools to help, you can easily wind up with a team that is under or overutilized, or you may make errors in forecasting that can lead to schedule conflicts or missed deadlines down the road.
A solid capacity planning tool will help you avoid these issues and keep your projects on track. For example, Prism PPM can forecast team availability for you so you can sidestep conflicts and avoid both underutilization and overutilization. Prism PPM also supports resource leveling and task allocation by skillset, so you can be sure everyone is doing work they’ll excel at.
Why Prism PPM Stands Out Among Capacity Planning Tools
If you’re a larger team or a project management office (PMO) looking for a robust capacity planning tool, Prism PPM is your best bet. With Prism, you’ll get access to comprehensive demand and resource management features like resource scenario forecasting, task lifecycle visualization, and advanced portfolio-level management tools designed to keep your teams operating at maximum efficiency. We support teams in manufacturing, life sciences, insurance, and the public sector as they take on multiple projects and deadlines at once. Our platform will send you notifications whenever resourcing changes are made or if conflicts arise, empowering you to stay on top of your team’s capacity and execute projects successfully. With Prism PPM, you can easily manage your entire project portfolio, avoid common capacity planning mistakes, and deliver projects that create value to your organization.
Capacity planning is a crucial step towards delivering great work. Ready to take your capacity plan to the next level? Explore everything Prism PPM has to offer by signing up for a demo!