Top 12 Resource Scheduling Software & Tools in 2024

Resource scheduling software supports the management of employees and finances across multiple projects.

Our list compares the best software solutions for efficient resource allocation, utilization insights, and financial management. Keep reading to find your best solution.

Productive is a resource scheduling software solution that supports managers in getting real-time visibility over their project teams.

Find out how a production studio supports their employees with Productive.

With Productive, you can:

However, Productive goes a step further than specialized resource management tools by offering tasks and project management, budgeting and billing, and sales CRM features.

Keep reading to find out more about Productive’s key features:

Productive’s Resource Scheduling features help balance employee workloads and project schedules based on reliable data.

Productive’s resource management plan includes an overview of currently scheduled time and overall capacity, but also time off and sick leave. You can always check who is available to work and allocate resources accordingly.

You can also turn on capacity indicators, or color-coded heatmaps, to get a visual cue into how utilized an employee. When reallocating your resources or shifting timelines, you can use simple drag and dropping.

Productive also includes placeholders to account for contractors or to-be-hired team members. With tentative bookings, you can also start planning for unconfirmed projects.

With Productive, you can manage resource utilization in multiple ways.

One is by monitoring your capacity indicators in the resource plan, which shows you your team’s workloads at a glance.

However, if you want to get more comprehensive insights, you can use Productive’s reporting to view utilization by various metrics. This includes department, seniority, skills, and more.

You can also set resource utilization targets and add this to your reporting by using Productive’s custom fields and formulas. You can also set up color coding to help you monitor your resourcing goals.

In the planner, the The Scheduled / Available time field shows the future workload of each employee, which helps determine your resource gaps and balance it with resource demand.

In the Reports Library, you can also use the Forecasted Billable Utilization by Person report to access and share these insights.

Productive also provides a Budgeting feature, which lets you build various types of budgets, set hourly rates, control your overhead and expenses, and monitor profitability and revenue in real time.

This also includes your Billing, so you can pull time tracking and budgeting data to create invoices and send them from the platform. You can also use the QuickBooks and Xero integrations.

Finally, Budgeting connects with your resources scheduling to provide real-time insights into predicted business financials.

With Forecasting, your team scheduling data is used to predict future financial performance, including budget burn, revenue, and profitability.

Productive’s Time Tracking feature lets your team members track time from a task, or input it manually at a later time.

There’s also a desktop timer widget to help manage the timer more easily, without switching through various tabs.

Another way to manage time is to turn on automatic time tracking. This connects your resources data with timesheets, so that time entries are created automatically based on your scheduling data.

With Time Off Management, you can define different categories of time off, allocate days to specific categories, and assign them to employees. Time off can be requested and approved across the platform.

Productive also includes native integrations with a range of HRIS software solutions to sync your data with. This includes Breathe, BambooHR, HiBob, Rippling, Justworks, and more.

Productive’s Reporting feature includes more than 50 templates for professional services teams, as well as various customizations to build your own reports from scratch.

Access a variety of reports, including:

You can add custom fields, formulas, group and filter data, and switch up your visualizations.

To share your reports, build custom dashboards, or set up automatic sending to Slack or email via Productive Pulse.

Other features: Revenue Recognition, Purchase Orders, Permission Builder

Productive offers various integrations with HR, accounting, and collaboration tools.

Integrations include Slack, Google Calendar, and Outlook for scheduling and updates; Xero and QuickBooks for accounting; BambooHR, Breathe, Humaans.io for HRM; Memtime for time tracking; and more.

Productive offers a 14-day free trial, so you can check out if it’s the right option for you, commitment-free.

Smartsheet is an enterprise resource management software solution that offers essential resource scheduling tools.

Depending on how savvy you are with spreadsheets, it can be considered intuitive, or not user friendly enough.

Key features:

Pros: Smartsheet provides a variety of sheets which can serve different use cases and industries. Users also report that it provides solid automation options.

Cons: Users on G2 have reported that although Smartsheet is a good project management tool for complex projects, it tends to lack flexibility compared to modern solutions on the market, mostly due to its Excel-like interface. Others have commented that the tool could provide more visibility into resource availability.

Smartsheet is often used as an Airtable alternative, so you can check that article out to find some similar solutions.

Wrike offers both resource scheduling and financial management features, but keep in mind that budgeting is only available in the most expensive pricing plan.

Key Features:

Pros: Wrike is a fairly customizable solution, and offers a solid blend of features for team collaboration at the task level, and more strategic resource management.

Cons: The biggest downside of Wrike is that the budgeting feature is locked between the most expensive pricing model. If we compare Wrike to Productive, essential features of Productive’s budgeting is available in the most essential plan.

ClickUp is a flexible work management solution for project managers, but it can have some significant performance issues and bugs.

Key Features:

Pros: As one of the benefits of ClickUp, users on G2 highlight that it helps them eliminate some of their administrative work by streamlining repetitive tasks.

Cons: Although ClickUp is a decent solution as a software development tool, some features of more robust resource allocation software are missing. For example, financial features are underdeveloped, including real-time utilization, profitability, and profit forecasting.

Additionally, ClickUp users frequently report issues with bugs and platform performance. Find out more in our comparison of ClickUp vs Asana vs Monday.

Microsoft Project is a management platform that helps teams stay organized and focused, but users often comment that it feels less sophisticated than comparable resource management tools, and can be difficult to learn.

Key Features:

Pros: Microsoft Project can be a solid pick if you’re looking to stay within the Microsoft ecosystem and integrate the platform with other tools.

Cons: The main downsides of Microsoft Project is its interface and steep learning curve. Additionally, some user have noted that it lacks customization and flexibility in comparison with other software (Source: Capterra).

We also covered Microsoft Project in our article on top Avaza alternatives.

LiquidPlanner has been acquired by Tempo, as is now known as Tempo Portfolio Manager.

LiquidPlanner is a cloud-based resource management tool for digital agencies, but similarly to Microsoft Projects, users often report that the interface is outdated and “grey” (Source: Capterra).

Key Features:

Pros: With predictive analytics, LiquidPlanner can report future availability to support capacity management and increase operational efficiency.

Cons: LiquidPlanner’s interface has been described as “antiquated” (Source: G2). Others have mentioned that the tool isn’t fully tailored to fixed-price projects and that even the most essential pricing plan can be steep for smaller companies (Source: Capterra).

For more options, check out our guide to LiquidPlanner alternatives.

Resource Guru is a user-friendly system for creating schedules for resources, but it can be underfeatured for more complex workload management and financial reporting.

Key Features:

Pros: G2 users often praise Resource Guru for its simplicity and user-friendly interface. It’s also a fairly affordable option.

Cons: Users have reported that the main disadvantage of the tool is its “lack of features” (Source: G2). Some have also commented that they’ve had to invest in Resource Guru alternatives in order to get a full picture of their project profitability.

Adobe Workfront is a project management software solution that helps teams stay goal-oriented, but can be less flexible and more difficult to learn than comparable solutions.

Key features:

Pros: Workfront can be a great option for creative work management, as it includes features for online proofing and automated approvals.

Cons: Some users have reported that they find the pricing models “difficult to understand”, and although it offers a wide range of features for scheduling and other activities, some can end up being redundant, depending on your business and teams (Source: Capterra).

Netsuite is an ERP software solution from the leading provider Oracle. It has robust financial and resource management features, but isn’t the best option for smaller businesses due to its complexity and price.

Key features:

Pros: Netsuite has advanced finance tracking features. It can also be customized with a range of modules to increase its feature set, such as revenue and bank management, reporting tools, and more.

Cons: Netsuite has the potential for customization, but it requires extensive technical knowledge and investment. Additionally, the training materials could be better, according to some users.

Source: G2

You can also check out comparison of QuickBooks to Netsuite to learn more.

Paymo is a fairly affordable resource management tool with features for managing workflows and invoices, but its overall features can be limited compared to more robust solutions.

Key features:

Pros: Paymo offers a solid range of features for freelancers, from file proofing, invoicing, task management to online payments.

Cons: Users on G2 comment that some parts of the resource management module could be more advanced, such as scheduling time for part-time workers.

Source: G2

Hive is another fairly affordable resource management solution that can be great for small business needs, but the time management and budgeting features aren’t as developed as more robust tools.

Key features:

Pros: Hive offers a free forever version for up to 10 workspace members. It can also be a solid freelancer tool as it includes boards and proofing alongside features for managing resources.

Cons: Users on Capterra have noted that the “time tracking needs some work” (Source: Capterra). For example, Hive doesn’t have automatic time tracking, and there’s no built-in time off management. Check out our article on Hive alternatives to learn more.

Trello is a collaborative platform for agile teams with a drag-and-drop user interface known for its user-friendly interface, but is best as additional tool alongside a more robust capacity planning.

Key features:

Pros: Trello is a great tool for creativity and collaboration that can be used as an add-on to your current software solution, with its main advantage being its “visually appealing” and “clean” interface (Source: Capterra).

Cons: Project managers with more complex projects will find that Trello is lacking some essentials for supporting their current workload needs. For example, there’s no native time tracking, and analytics are basic at best.

Compare Trello to Jira to learn more.

Resource scheduling is a part of the overall resource management. It includes managing resource capacity and availability to balance workloads and ensure that allocation is optimal.

This allocation is usually done within a resource plan, which provides a visual overview of projects, resources, and timelines.

Resource scheduling ensures that employees in a business are utilized accordingly, with their skills, availability, and costs taken into account.

It contributes not only to HR planning, but also financial and profitability management across various projects and clients.

Resource scheduling is a part of the overall resource management. It includes managing resource capacity and availability to balance workloads and ensure that allocation is optimal.

This allocation is usually done within a resource plan, which provides a visual overview of projects, resources, and timelines.

Resource scheduling ensures that employees in a business are utilized accordingly, with their skills, availability, and costs taken into account.

It contributes not only to HR planning, but also financial and profitability management across various projects and clients.

Why should you choose software with automatic resource scheduling features? Here are some benefit of switching from spreadsheets to modern tools:

The best type of tool for your business will depend on your team composition, your industry, and your business and project needs.

However, there are some basics to keep in mind when making a choice. Look out for a tool that can integrate multiple processes in one platform to minimize multitasking as well as software licensing costs.

An additional thing to consider is how user-friendly the software solution is, as this can significantly cut down your implementation costs and help you achieve a positive ROI.

Scalability is the final criteria. Consider how active the vendor is with quality-of-life improvements and new features, as switching to another software can be pricey and time intensive.

Throughout the article, we’ve established the many useful features that resource scheduling software can bring to your business processes.

Here’s a quick summary:

Productive is designed to support the workflows of professional services teams with collaboration, task management, financial and resource management, and more.

Book a demo with Productive today.

Giraffe Social is a creative agency from the UK that helps brands get better results on social media.

At the start, they used software that supported collaboration, and tried using manual resourcing methods, such as spreadsheets. However, this quickly stopped being viable.

The agency needed a software that combines project management and profitability insights — and they got this in Productive.

Productive allowed us to bring it all under one umbrella, which means we got a better picture of our business as a whole.

With Productive’s Resource Planning module, Giraffe is able to ensure that billable time is maximized, no one is underutilized, and their teams are balancing billable and non-billable work.

All of this helps resource managers understand their team composition, and provides employees with clarity on client projects.

Learn more about Giraffe Social’s implementation and onboarding process with Productive.

Can resource scheduling software integrate with other tools we already use?

Yes, many resource management solutions offer integrations with popular platforms for seamless workflow management. Common integrations include accounting software (e.g., QuickBooks, Xero), HRIS platforms (e.g., BambooHR, HiBob), and productivity tools (e.g., Slack, Google Calendar). Be sure to confirm that the resource allocation software you choose offers compatibility with your existing tech stack to maximize efficiency.

How secure is my data in resource scheduling software?

Resource management tool providers typically prioritize data security by implementing encryption, user access controls, and regular security audits. Look for software that complies with standards like GDPR or SOC 2 if you’re handling sensitive data. Confirm the security protocols with the vendor to ensure they meet your organization’s requirements.

How difficult is it to onboard a team onto resource scheduling software?

Onboarding complexity depends on the software’s user interface, customization options, and training support offered by the vendor. Some solutions provide in-depth tutorials, customer support, and resources to facilitate a smooth transition, which is especially helpful for teams new to resource management and collaboration tools. Choose a tool with robust onboarding resources to reduce setup time and ease the transition for team members.

Are there industry-specific resource scheduling tools available?

While many tools are designed to suit a broad range of industries, some software solutions offer features or add-ons tailored to specific fields, such as creative agencies, engineering firms, or consultancies. Industry-specific tools often come with specialized templates, reporting metrics, and scheduling options to better address sector-specific needs. Check if any tools are optimized for your industry to ensure maximum relevance and functionality.

Can resource scheduling software help improve employee satisfaction and retention?

Systems for managing resources can indirectly impact satisfaction and retention by ensuring that workloads and tasks are assigned in a balanced way. Better schedules mean less burnout and improved project communications. Features like time-off tracking, workload visualization, and flexible scheduling can help managers ensure team members are neither overworked nor underutilized, leading to a more positive and sustainable work environment.