Presentation Summary

Simplify and Demystify Resource Capacity Planning

In modern IT environments, our efforts to manage project work are confounded by the Granularity Paradox: Estimates must be granular to be believable and manageable, but we rarely have time to manage at that level of granularity.  As a result, many organizations don’t know how much capacity they have for projects today, a week from now, and a month from now.  Forecasting for annual budget planning devolves to a series of guesses.  The dissonance produced makes it difficult to finish projects, manage our people, and make solid commitments to leadership.

This session will kick off with the presentation of a realistic Resource Management model that encourages abstraction:  Manage the portfolio at the allocation level and let the projects manage at whatever level of granularity makes sense for the individual project.  Andy will then demonstrate the implementation of these principles for Resource Capacity Planning at the University of North Texas System using an Excel-based tool.  The overall model depends on the combination of a leading commercial PPM product for project and time sheet data and the Resource Capacity Planning tool for capacity forecasting.

On a regular basis, Andy’s team reconciles the imbalance between supply and demand for IT time.  This approach improves the quality of resource commitments and project delivery while making them diligent stewards of the resources under their care.

Bio

R. Andrew ("Andy") Novak is a Resource Capacity Planning Manager for the University of North Texas System (UNTS) in Denton, Texas. With over 35 years of progressive experience, he brings a broad background in technology, IT Management, and Project Portfolio Management.

Prior to joining UNTS in 2002, Andy was as a leader at ThinkSpark (formerly Database Consultants, Inc.), an Oracle Corporation partner and consulting firm. He specialized in Oracle Applications and Data Warehousing projects prior to being selected to lead a branch of the consulting practice.

At UNTS, Andy started the first central IT Project Management Office and began focusing exclusively on Resource Capacity Planning & Project Scheduling Management as the organization evolved. He successfully rolled out various tools in support of IT Governance & Project Portfolio Management, which resulted in significant productivity gains throughout the department. Most notably, Andy persistently led and drove the implementation of a comprehensive Resource Capacity Planning Program which is now in the state of continual quality improvement. As part of this effort, he has forged collaborative relationships with leadership, resource managers, and teams as they have embraced and adopted new tools and business processes.

Earlier in his career, Andy spent 13 years in various roles with General Dynamics, Frito-Lay, and Baylor University Medical Center.

A certified PMP since 2010, Andy holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Dallas.