Monitoring utilisation rates involves measuring the available time used for billable work. In amongst all the metrics project managers track, if you work in a project consultancy (think Worley Parsons, Wood, Genesis, etc.,) this one is the king. However, monitoring and optimising a team’s utilisation rate is the one critical aspect of resource management that often goes unnoticed.

Managing resources efficiently is the key to ensuring profitability and success. In this blog, we will delve into the importance of utilisation rates, their calculation, the ideal rate for complex projects, and how cutting-edge project management software like Proteus can aid in tracking and managing this crucial metric.

Understanding Utilisation Rates:

Utilisation rate, in the context of engineering project management, refers to the percentage of time that a team member spends on productive, billable tasks in relation to the total available working hours. In simpler terms, it measures how efficiently your team’s time is being used on tasks directly contributing to the project’s progress. Put simply, the better utilised your team, the more you can bill for their time, the more profitable your business.

Calculating Utilisation Rates:

The formula to calculate utilisation rate is:

Utilisation Rate = (Billable Hours / Total Available Hours) x 100

For instance, if a team member worked 160 billable hours out of a total of 200 available hours, the utilisation rate would be:

Utilisation Rate = (160 / 200) x 100 = 80%

The Ideal Utilisation Rate for Projects:

In the energy sector, where intricate engineering projects are the norm, striking the right balance between utilisation rate and efficiency is essential. An ideal utilisation rate isn’t a one-size-fits-all metric. It varies based on project complexity, role, and the need for research, planning, and innovation.

It is easy to assume the best rate is 100% – in this way every penny spent paying your project team can be billed to a client. Often this is not realistic.

For complex energy projects, a utilisation rate in the range of 70% to 80% might be considered reasonable. It is imperative to get the balance right. Too low, and you face lost revenue and underused capacity. Too high, and you risk burnout, declining quality and increased staff turnover. For project managers, utilisation is not just a number, it’s an indicator of how well the business is running. The challenge is that while the formula is straightforward for a single employee, calculating accurate utilisation across an entire team or portfolio of projects is a lot more complex. 

The Challenge: Why Utilisation is Hard to Track

Most consultancies struggle to track utilisation properly and over time poor utilisation undermines margins. The most common issues include:

• Lack of visibility: Without real-time visibility, managers are working with outdated data and can miss the opportunity to intervene before things go off track. 
• Timesheets are filled in late (or not at all): When time entry is late or the data is incomplete, your utilisation calculations are unreliable. 
• Disconnected systems: When timesheet tools, project management systems and ERPs do not integrate the chances of errors and delays are high. 
• Blurred lines between billable and non-billable time: Without clear definitions and consistent logging, it is difficult to understand where time is actually being spent. 

Tracking and Managing Utilisation Rates:

Enter project management software like Proteus. These tools are tailored to the energy sector’s needs, allowing project managers to effortlessly track and manage utilisation rates. Such software enables real-time monitoring of tasks, allocation of resources, and measurement of progress against predefined milestones.

With Proteus, project managers can use the project controls data to gain insights into each team member’s workload, task completion rates, and potential bottlenecks. This data-driven approach empowers managers to make informed decisions about resource allocation and project timelines.

Start with Better Time Entry 

Accurate utilisation data starts with accurate time entry. This may sound obvious, but it’s where most consultancies fall down. When logging time is slow or frustrating, project teams will rush it or avoid it and once that habit sets in, it is difficult to reverse. 

The problem is not that people do not want to log their time. It is that most timesheet systems make it harder than it needs to be. 

A well-designed timesheet system should address three things: 

1. Track all time, not just billable hours. 

This ensures you capture the full picture and gives managers the context they need to interpret utilisation accurately. Without this, a dip in utilisation can look like a performance issue when it may simply mean a week where business development took priority or annual leave.  

For example an engineer may log 25 hours on a client project (billable), 5 hours on a proposal (non-billable) and a day of annual leave. This level of detail lets a manager know why their utilisation appears lower than expected. 

2. Make entry fast and intuitive 

The more steps involved in logging time, the less consistently it gets done. The best systems allow engineers to log time against the right project and work package in seconds without needing to remember project codes. 

3. Keep approvals simple

A streamlined approval process allows managers to approve or reopen timesheets quickly, bulk approve submissions and automatically notify users when changes are needed. When approvals are time-consuming, they create a bottleneck that delays reporting and frustrates both managers and engineers. 

Getting time entry right is a crucial foundation for tracking utilisation. Without it, the numbers produced for utilisation reporting cannot be trusted.

Tips to Improve Utilisation Rates:

1. Resource Allocation: Assign tasks according to team members’ strengths and expertise, ensuring that tasks are completed efficiently.
2. Effective Communication: Promote open communication to prevent misunderstandings and unnecessary delays.
3. Proactive Planning: Plan projects meticulously, identifying potential roadblocks and allocating time for research and problem-solving.
4. Continuous Training: Keep your team updated with the latest industry trends and technologies to enhance productivity.
5. Feedback Loop: Regularly review project progress and utilisation rates, and seek feedback from the team for process improvements.

Real-World Example:

Consider a renewable energy project where a team of engineers is developing a cutting-edge wind turbine technology. While the project demands high levels of innovation and research, maintaining a utilisation rate of 75% allows ample time for experimentation, troubleshooting, and collaborative brainstorming. The use of Proteus ensures that the team’s efforts are aligned with project goals, ultimately resulting in timely completion and profitability.

In conclusion, monitoring and optimising utilisation rates are paramount for engineering project managers in the energy sector. A balanced utilisation rate accounts for the complexities of projects, maintains high productivity, and leads to profitability. With advanced project management software like Proteus, the task of tracking and managing utilisation rates becomes streamlined, enabling teams to deliver outstanding results in the competitive energy sector. By following best practices and leveraging technological advancements, project managers can navigate the intricacies of energy engineering projects with finesse and efficiency.

Case Study: TechWind Solutions – Optimizing Utilisation for Better Profitability

Background: TechWind Solutions is a fictitious consultancy supplying the renewable wind industry, specializing in providing software development and digital transformation solutions for clients across diverse industries. They faced the challenge of maintaining profitability while ensuring their skilled workforce’s productivity and engagement remained high.

Approach:

1. Strategic Resource Allocation: TechWind Solutions began by analyzing its project portfolio and categorizing projects based on complexity, requirements, and skillsets needed. This allowed them to allocate the right resources to each project, ensuring that the right skills were matched with the right tasks.
2. Real-time Monitoring: The company adopted project management software that allowed them to monitor project progress, task completion rates, and team workloads in real-time. This data-driven approach helped identify potential resource bottlenecks and allowed for proactive adjustments.
3. Skill Development: TechWind Solutions invested in continuous skill development for its employees. Regular training sessions, workshops, and certifications ensured that team members were equipped with the latest technologies and methodologies, increasing their efficiency and reducing the time spent on tasks.
4. Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: The company encouraged a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing. By creating cross-functional teams and platforms for sharing best practices, team members were able to leverage each other’s expertise, reducing the time spent on problem-solving.

Results: TechWind Solutions’ efforts in optimizing utilisation rates led to significant business success:

1. Increased Productivity: By strategically allocating resources and closely monitoring workloads, the company was able to maintain a utilization rate of around 85%, ensuring that employees were engaged in meaningful, billable work.
2. Higher Profitability: The improved utilization rates directly translated into increased project delivery efficiency, reducing overhead costs and improving project margins.
3. Enhanced Client Satisfaction: With better allocation of resources and a more skilled workforce, project delivery times improved, leading to higher client satisfaction and repeat business.
4. Employee Satisfaction: The focus on skill development and a balanced workload contributed to higher employee satisfaction, reducing burnout and turnover rates.
5. Business Growth: As TechWind Solutions consistently delivered projects on time and with high quality, their reputation in the industry grew, attracting more clients and driving business expansion.

Takeaway: The success of TechWind Solutions showcases the importance of optimizing utilisation rates in driving business success. By strategically managing resources, investing in skill development, and using technology to monitor progress, consultancies can achieve higher efficiency, better client satisfaction, and sustainable growth.

While this example is entirely fictitious, the principles of optimizing utilisation rates are transferable to the energy sector and other industries. The key is to tailor the approach to the specific challenges and dynamics of each sector while maintaining a focus on efficiency, skill development, and effective resource allocation.

Turn utilisation into insight 

Once your data is accurate, reporting becomes powerful. Rather than chasing numbers, you can start asking better questions and making more informed decisions.  

Effective utilisation reporting should allow you to: 

• Track, expected, submitted and missing hours so you always know the completeness of your data before drawing conclusions. 
• View utilisation by employees to spot trends and proactively balance workloads. 
• Analyse time by project and work package which gives project managers and finance teams a granular view of where time is being spent relative to what was planned and billed. 

Tracking utilisation is only half of the battle. The real value comes from being able to act on what the data tells you. Whether it’s adjusting resourcing or having informed conversations with clients about scope before margin is impacted.

How Proteus Supports Utilisation Tracking

Proteus’ Time and Approvals module is purpose built to give engineering and energy consultancies accurate, real-time utilisation data without the friction. 

The module has been redesigned from the ground up with an intuitive grid-based interface that makes logging time fast and straightforward for engineers. 

Key features include:

• Drag-to-copy hours across days, removing repetitive time entry and reducing risk of incomplete timesheets
• Single-click timesheet copying from a previous week for recurring work patterns
• Quick access to project work packages, proposals and non-billable codes from a single interface. This makes it easy to capture all time, which is essential for analysing utilisation data. 
• Forward planning as engineers can prepare and submit timesheets up to a month in advance
• Better visibility by hovering over any work package, engineers can see hours previously booked, the original budget and hours remaining, helping them to manage their own utilisation proactively rather than waiting for a manager to flag problems.
• Ability to add notes to timesheet entries, giving project managers the detail they need to interpret utilisation accurately. 

For project managers, the new approval interface provides a comprehensive overview of all pending and approved submissions and utilisation per team member. Managers can bulk approve or reopen timesheets, with engineers automatically notified when action is needed. 

The result is a timesheet process that works the way your team does. This reduces the administrative burden on engineers, gives project managers real visibility and produces the accurate, complete time data that reliable utilisation tracking depends on.

Conclusion 

Utilisation is one of the clearest indicators of consultancy health but only if the data behind it is accurate, complete and visible in real time. For most engineering consultancies, the gap between the utilisation rate they report and the one they can actually trust comes down to the quality of their time entry and approval processes.

Getting this right does not require a wholesale change of systems. It requires a tool designed specifically for how project-based businesses work, one that removes friction for engineers, gives project manager the visibility they need and connects time data to the broader commercial picture. 

About Proteus

Proteus developed by a Scottish-based tech company, Xergy Group, is an end-to-end project management solution developed for the energy and engineering consulting industries. 

Proteus is industry-proven and enables consultancies to meet project demands across the full lifecycle, from proposal development to project delivery. With robust sales and project delivery modules, Proteus helps its customers win more business, increase efficiencies, manage expenditures, and improve project controls.

Critical workflows, automation, and controls are integrated into Proteus. These include opportunity evaluation, proposal building, resource planning, budget tracking and forecasting, real-time multi-level restricted dashboards, and project performance analytics.

Third-party integrations and customised solutions allow Proteus’ users, which include C-suite, project leads, and engineers, to get the exact software solution needed for their business.

We offer a free onboarding consultation service to ensure your company account is set up to your company’s needs.

How to get Proteus

Proteus operates under a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. We offer Enterprise packages and flexible pricing solutions: contact our team to learn more.

We designed Proteus to be simple, and that means you can get up and running on Proteus without an IT team or support from a programmer. You will want to spend a bit of time configuring the admin console so that you have everything set up to suit your company structure, but it’s very intuitive and you don’t need a PhD in IT.

However, we want you to get the best out of what is a brilliantly powerful tool, so don’t hesitate to ask for our support. We have a team of product experts who are ready to help you with the configuration process, so get in touch today by filling out the form below: