Manpower Planning in IT: How Do You Use Ratio and Trend Analysis?

Dear All,

Does anyone have experience in manpower planning and forecasting? If yes, could someone explain ratio analysis and trend analysis - which one is typically done in the IT industry and how is it conducted?

Regards,
Harsha.M

There are many methodologies of manpower planning:

But for your query:
1. Trend is benchmark practices.
2. Ratio is engagement of manpower per operating points.

For scientific manpower planning, the following can be used:
1. Process mapping
2. Activity analysis
3. Regression analysis
4. Process redesign

This is being followed in the case of manpower optimization under business process re-engineering to downsize the surplus manpower.

Best regards,
Badlu

Dear Mr. Rajeev,

First, let me explain the question itself and answer in that context.

Ratio-Trend Analysis

The basic principle here is to say if it takes six people, for example, to perform an existing amount of work, it will take twelve people to do twice as much. Organizations measure activity levels in a variety of different ways. The ratio between direct and indirect in manufacturing is a classic one.

Individual departments in an organization will also have their own rule-of-the-thumb measures. A sales department, for instance, may have an idea of the number of customer calls a salesperson should make in a week and indeed, use this as one criterion for monitoring sales efficiency. If a business plan projects an increase in the number of new customers, this can be translated into a proportionate increase in the sales force.

The problem with measures like these is that they are crude. They take no account of economics, neither of scales which affect efficiency nor of local conditions; nor of the potential of new methods and technology to increase efficiency.

For detailed transfer of know-how, I charge consultation fees depending on deliverables and technical evaluation of projects.

Regards,

Badlu

Hi Mr. Badlu,

Please, can you explain in detail the terms involved in Manpower planning along with examples?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Rajeev Dixit