7 Resource Planning Templates for Excel & Plaky [Free Download]

Project resources include everything from time, money, and equipment to the people on your project team. With this in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why planning and managing project resources is vital for successful project execution. 

If doing this sounds difficult, you’re absolutely right — which is why resource planning templates are such life savers.

In this article, you’ll find 6 free project resource planning templates for Excel that you can download, use, and customize to your liking. As a bonus, you’ll also get a simpler and more intuitive Plaky resource planning template you can start using right now for free and invite your whole team to join you.

1. Resource planning template

⬇️ Try Plaky’s free resource planning template

There are better paths to effective resource management than wasting hours creating and customizing Excel spreadsheets to perfection, and then still wondering if you made a mistake somewhere. Why not go for a simpler approach? Try Plaky’s free resource planning template.

Plaky is a free project management software system you can use to speed up and streamline your resource planning and management. 

Use Plaky’s resource planning template to inventory your project resources, manage resource allocation and procurement, add descriptions in an organized way, and collaborate with different departments and team leads with ease.

This resource planning template is completely customizable — you can add or remove fields, create your own tags and statuses, change colors, view your resources in Table, Kanban, or Gantt views, and more. 

Excel is a great tool, but it can get complicated and frustrating. There are simpler ways. Try Plaky for free and see for yourself.

2. Resource capacity planning template

⬇️ Download free resource capacity planning template — Excel

The resource capacity planning template lets you see how well your workload is allocated throughout your project on a weekly basis. 

By using quantified effort, you can see which of your team members are overburdened and which of them have the time to take on other responsibilities. 

You can use this free resource plan template to make sure the workload is evenly distributed and that you are making effective use of your human resources.

3. Resource allocation template

⬇️ Download free resource allocation template — Excel

You can use the resource allocation template to see exactly where your material and non-material resources are located, how many of them are in use and where, and whether the demand for a particular resource is exceeding your current capacity.

With this resource allocation template, you’ll be able to manage project resources and anticipate changes in demand to prevent bottlenecks due to a shortage of resources.

4. Resource planning and budgeting template

⬇️ Download free resource planning and budgeting template — Excel

With this free resource planning and budgeting template, you’ll be able to plan your resource allocation and acquisition across 1 or multiple projects alongside a complex budgeting system. 

At the beginning of the project, you can use this budget planning template to organize your resource acquisition, calculate their estimated costs, and plan your resource contingency budget.

As the project progresses, use the actual cost columns to calculate the actual cost of your resources, account for contingencies, and track how your overall budget is faring.

The template is customizable to an extent (you can add as many rows or new columns as you need to), so you can adjust it to fit your unique workflow.

5. Gantt chart for resource management

⬇️ Download free Gantt chart for resource management — Excel

This particular resource management template with a Gantt chart will come in handy if you share some of your project resources with other teams, projects, or project managers. 

The template shows which resources are held by which project and department, how many of them are in use, how many of them are still available, and how important the resources are for the functioning of that project/department (i.e., if it would be viable to borrow them if necessary).

The Gantt chart shows how long the resources will be needed on one project so that you can plan accordingly and perhaps arrange a transfer to another project once they become available.

Besides the start and end date columns, this template is fully customizable, so you can use it to track any time-dependent tasks and processes.

6. Resource skills matrix template

⬇️ Download free resource skills matrix template — Excel

The resource skills matrix helps you determine which team member is the best fit for a particular project or position. 

Use this template to assess each of your resources’ strengths and weaknesses by grading their aptitude for each of the listed skills. Feel free to replace existing skills with your own or add additional ones by inserting a new column in the table.

7. Resource inventory template

⬇️ Download free resource inventory template — Excel

Resource management can’t function without a comprehensive resource inventory. This particular template focuses on documenting all of the equipment necessary for the functioning of your project.

Most of your equipment management throughout the project will rely on equipment inventory such as this one, so make sure your documentation is as detailed and accurate as possible.

What is resource planning?

Resource planning is the process of determining how much money, time, equipment, and people is needed to complete a project and then distributing these resources and scheduling work accordingly. 

Resources should be tracked throughout the project and adjusted according to shifting demands.

What to cover in a resource plan?

A resource plan should cover the list of specific resources (time, money, equipment, and people) necessary to complete a project. 

It should go over their distribution per task and/or department, budget estimates, and actual costs per unit, as well as their overall quantity and availability.

Tracking resource demand throughout the project is necessary to maintain its proper functioning. This includes keeping your team supplied with enough computers, cables, printers, and pens, but also making sure that there is no shortage of workers, that they are well-compensated, and that their work is effectively scheduled.

Why do you need a resource plan template?

Every project needs a resource plan. So, would you rather create a new one from scratch each time, or would you prefer to whip out a template you know works great and pour yourself a cup of coffee for a job well done? 

It’s as simple as that, really. Using templates significantly reduces the time spent on performing repetitive tasks and — as all know — time is a precious resource. 

Bonus points if you can automate those templates using project management software created specifically for this purpose.

Who uses resource plan templates?

Project managers and project management offices (PMOs) most frequently use project resource plans to track and manage resources in the form shown in this text. 

However, resource planning and management is important in many companies and industries, including small businesses, staffing companies, film industries, manufacturing companies, etc.

When to use a resource plan template?

Use resource plan templates when you want to eliminate unnecessary and repetitive tasks that eat up your time. 

Creating a resource plan template takes an incredible amount of time, effort, and frustration, especially when working with complex programs such as Excel. Using templates lets you do the work once and enjoy its benefits for months and years to come.

Why use Plaky for resource planning?

Plaky is an intuitive and beautifully simple project management tool that provides an easy way to organize, track, and manage your project resources.

Unlike complicated tools like Excel that require hours of careful coding to do simple work, Plaky lets you organize projects, create boards and views, and share them with your entire project team in just a few clicks. 

For example, creating a Gantt chart from a project table in Plaky takes exactly 5 clicks and 4 seconds (tested).

Plaky also has a long list of project management templates you can use to help you along the way.

And if you have a unique system you like to follow, Plaky also lets you create your own templates for future use. 

Additionally, all of Plaky’s field names, status names, and colors are customizable, meaning that you can use Plaky to create a workflow system that’s uniquely yours in a matter of minutes.

The additional benefits of project communication, collaboration, and permissions management within the software make Plaky just the right kind of awesome for project management teams of all shapes and sizes — for free.

Don’t believe me? Check out Plaky’s pricing page to see exactly what you can get with the free plan.