Structured IT Resource Management with PM Software

Stadtwerke Rostock have established structured IT resource management through the implementation of project management software to manage personnel capacity more efficiently and improve project planning.

The number of projects in municipal enterprises is constantly growing. This trend is driven by various factors, including ongoing digitalization, technological advancements, and increasing pressure to improve efficiency. To effectively meet these demands, Stadtwerke Rostock introduced structured project and resource management. As part of a pilot project, they began building a system-supported IT capacity planning process with the help of project management software. The goal was to establish transparent and reliable resource management, with a focus on the personnel capacities of the IT department.
Given the increasing demands on IT services and the limited availability of qualified professionals, it was particularly important to plan projects realistically, manage personnel deployment more precisely, and allocate budgets more efficiently.

Tangible Improvements

The introduction of the new software solution quickly led to noticeable improvements at Stadtwerke Rostock. Bottlenecks in resource planning can now be identified at an early stage, providing the basis for proactive management and helping to prevent overload. More realistic task distribution has also helped to increased employee satisfaction. Improved planning accuracy has a positive impact on cost control, making it easier to avoid budget overruns. Overall, the implementation has increased efficiency in daily project work, as tasks can now be assigned more purposefully, duplication of work is reduced, and priorities are clearly defined.

The need for well-thought-out resource planning is particularly evident in the area of human resources, which is subject to numerous external factors. These include demographic change, shifting job requirements, the shortage of skilled workers, growing digitalization, and increasing staff turnover. These developments are especially challenging for IT departments, where qualified staff is hard to find – and precisely these challenges triggered the pilot project.

Central Tool

Since April 1, 2025, project planning at Stadtwerke Rostock has been based on a standardized project lifecycle. The central tool used for this venture is the PLANTA Project software, which serves to manage all company-wide projects at the management level. Not only does it ensure transparency in resource planning but it also supports the organizational implementation of the project structure.

As part of the new planning methodology, projects are now evaluated and prioritized according to a clear classification model. In addition, standardized role profiles have been introduced to provide guidance for employees. The use of a collaboration platform helped to intensify communication at the management level, allowing for more efficient coordination and control.

Resource planning is no longer based on specific individuals but on areas of expertise such as IT infrastructure or software development. It is aligned with the respective organizational units, such as Controlling, Business Solutions, or Core IT. Requirements are determined using empirical values and cross-departmental coordination, allowing for a high degree of flexibility and qualification-based allocation. Particularly in the IT department this approach helped to refine planning and make it more detailed.

In addition to project planning, employees are increasingly recording their non-project-related tasks in PLANTA Project. In the case of IT topics, this is already mandatory to ensure full transparency of all deployed resources and to prepare for a company-wide rollout.

Project 500

The so-called Project 500 – IT Baseline was initiated to document the actual availability of project capacity per employee. In this project, a distinction was made between regularly recurring routine tasks, plannable activities, and annually recurring IT topics. The basis for capacity planning was each employee’s weekly working hours, taking into account absences and their individual baseline workload.

During implementation, several challenges arose. The originally planned project duration was significantly extended due to staffing bottlenecks, parallel involvement in other high-priority initiatives, and spontaneous high-priority tasks. Maintaining absence data for 32 employees proved to be particularly time-consuming. In collaboration with the software provider, a practical solution was developed through a CSV import and a customized interface.

Not all resources were fully available in the system, which required manual entries. An automated import is planned for 2025. The originally intended automatic distribution of efforts via the load curve often did not reflect the actual work profile due to highly fluctuating demands. By applying the “PM Week” method, more realistic schedules could be created.

In addition, project prioritization within the new system is still under development, which means that all projects are currently weighted equally. As a result, the workload diagrams do not yet accurately reflect the actual relevance of individual initiatives.

New Role of the Resource Manager

As part of the project, a new role was established: the resource manager is now responsible for planning the available resources within their organizational unit. This role includes recording baseline workloads and absences, managing project requests, and coordinating closely with supervisors and team members regarding availability and task allocation.

In addition, a procedure for classifying all IT activities was developed. When a new task of a project is assigned to an employee, a system-supported request is initiated via the project management software. If there is no direct project affiliation, the task is either assigned through the internal ticket system or manually entered into Project 500 and evaluated based on the expected effort.
Monitoring of these processes is carried out using the internal service meeting log.

Next Steps

Further steps are planned to continue improving resource planning at Stadtwerke Rostock. These include establishing a standardized end-to-end process, ensuring transparent communication of benefits and effort, and introducing resource planning based on individual resources. In addition, regular exchange formats and reporting are to be implemented to identify weaknesses early on and continuously optimize processes.

“For Stadtwerke Rostock, the introduction of project management software for system-supported capacity planning marks a major step forward. The pilot project has provided valuable insights into how human resources can be managed more effectively and deployed strategically – especially in the highly burdened IT sector.”