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Resource planning template for agencies: people, projects and pipeline

Free Excel resource plan template, Google Sheets compatible. Plan the next 12 weeks across every project. No sign-up.

Free. No sign-up. Example data included. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.

A resource planning template is one plan of who works on which project over the coming weeks, so you can see gaps and crunches before they happen.

List your people and projects, add hours per person per project for the next 12 weeks, and give tentative work a win probability. The plan shows each person's load and when each project needs people.

Available hours = hours per week − leave days × hours per day

Weighted tentative hours = tentative hours × win probability

% booked = (confirmed + weighted tentative) ÷ available hours

In the example file:

69.9%of the agency booked in week 1
56.3%from week 7, when Northwind ends, even counting the weighted pipeline
105.3%Eli from week 7, with the Orbit pitch counted at its 50% win chance

Preview: the example in the file

Example data: every name, project and number is invented.

Resource plan, example data: % booked (confirmed + weighted tentative) and status by week
Person	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9	W10	W11	W12
Asha (Designer)	88.0% OK	88.0% OK	88.0% OK	88.0% OK	114.7% Over	Booked while off	48.0% Under	48.0% Under	48.0% Under	48.0% Under	48.0% Under	48.0% Under
Ben (Designer)	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	16.0% Under	16.0% Under	16.0% Under	16.0% Under	16.0% Under	16.0% Under
Cleo (Designer)	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	66.7% OK
Eli (Developer)	85.3% OK	85.3% OK	85.3% OK	85.3% OK	85.3% OK	85.3% OK	105.3% Over	105.3% Over	105.3% Over	105.3% Over	105.3% Over	105.3% Over
Femi (Developer)	96.0% OK	160.0% Over	96.0% OK	96.0% OK	96.0% OK	96.0% OK	96.0% OK	96.0% OK	96.0% OK	96.0% OK	16.0% Under	16.0% Under
Isla (Project manager)	58.7% Under	58.7% Under	58.7% Under	58.7% Under	66.7% OK	66.7% OK	49.6% Under	49.6% Under	49.6% Under	49.6% Under	49.6% Under	49.6% Under
Kit (Strategist)	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	20.0% Under	20.0% Under	33.3% Under	33.3% Under	133.3% Over	33.3% Under	33.3% Under	33.3% Under
Lena (Account manager)	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	53.3% Under	35.2% Under	35.2% Under	35.2% Under	35.2% Under	35.2% Under	35.2% Under

Agency total, example data
	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9	W10	W11	W12
Available (h)	277.50	262.50	277.50	277.50	277.50	240	277.50	277.50	255	277.50	277.50	277.50
Confirmed (h)	194	194	194	194	184	184	121	121	121	121	91	91
Tentative (h)	0	0	0	0	26	26	78	78	78	78	78	78
Weighted tentative (h)	0	0	0	0	13	13	35.30	35.30	35.30	35.30	35.30	35.30
% booked	69.9%	73.9%	69.9%	69.9%	71.0%	82.1%	56.3%	56.3%	61.3%	56.3%	45.5%	45.5%

Project timeline, example data
Project	Status	Probability	Weeks	Total hours	Weighted hours
Northwind rebrand	Confirmed	100.0%	W1–W6	418	418
Harbour app build	Confirmed	100.0%	W1–W12	804	804
Lumen retainer	Confirmed	100.0%	W1–W12	588	588
Orbit website (pitch)	Tentative	50.0%	W5–W12	298	149
Atlas campaign (proposal)	Tentative	40.0%	W7–W12	222	88.80

What's in the template

SettingsFirst week (a Monday), hours per day and example over- and under-booked thresholds.
PeopleEach person's role and hours per week.
LeaveDays of leave per person per week.
ProjectsProjects with a Confirmed or Tentative status, and a win probability for tentative work.
PlanThe main grid: one row per person and project, with hours for each of the next 12 weeks.
Resource planEach person's available, confirmed, tentative and weighted hours, % booked and a status for every week, plus an agency total.
Project timelineHours each project needs by week, shaded like a Gantt chart, with total and weighted hours and first and last weeks.

How to build a resource plan (20 minutes)

Set the start week on Settings.
List your people with their hours per week, and add any leave you know about.
List your projects. Mark pitches, proposals and likely extensions as Tentative and give each a win probability.
On the Plan tab, add a row for each person on each project, with the hours they'll spend each week.
Check the Resource plan for anyone Over, Under or booked while on leave, and the Project timeline for when each project needs people.

Weighting the pipeline

Leaving pitches out makes the plan look emptier than it is. Counting them at 100% makes it look fuller. Weighting each one by its chance of winning gives a fairer picture of the weeks ahead, while confirmed work always counts in full.

Worked example. Orbit is a pitch at 50%. Eli has 15 hours a week on it from week 7, which counts as 7.5. With 32 confirmed Harbour hours, he's at 39.5 of 37.5 available: 105.3%. If Orbit is lost he's at 85.3%; if it's won he's at 125.3%.

The Resource plan shows tentative hours both raw and weighted, so you can see the best and worst case as well.

Reading the plan

Over: a person's confirmed plus weighted hours are above 100% of their available hours. Move work, phase it or bring in a freelancer.
Under: below 60%. In the example, Ben drops to 16.0% and Lena to 35.2% from week 7, when Northwind ends. That's the time to sell, or to pull work forward.
Booked while off: work booked in a week with no available hours, like Asha's Lumen hours during her week of leave.
Project timeline: when each project needs people. Atlas runs from week 7 to 12, so it lands just as Northwind frees up designers.

For utilisation targets by role, use the billable utilisation calculator.

Resource planning vs capacity planning vs allocation

Resource planning (this template): people across all projects for the next quarter, with the pipeline weighted.
Capacity planning: hours by role or team, to check you have enough design or development time in total. Use the capacity planning template, or read the agency capacity planning guide.
Resource allocation: who is over-allocated week by week, in hours, including time off. Use the resource allocation template.

Staffing a single new project from a SOW? Start with the project staffing plan template.

Common resource planning mistakes

Planning only next week. The gaps that hurt are four to eight weeks out, when a project ends and nothing replaces it.
Leaving the pipeline out, or counting every pitch as won.
Forgetting leave. A week of holiday that isn't in the plan makes the numbers look fine when they aren't.
Treating 100% as the target. People still need time for internal work, admin and the unexpected.
Letting it go stale. A plan that isn't updated weekly stops being trusted, and then stops being used.

Questions people ask

What is a resource planning template?

A spreadsheet that shows which people work on which projects over the coming weeks, with each person's available hours, so you can spot over-booking and gaps before they happen.

How do you create a resource plan?

List your people and their hours, list your projects with a status, then add the hours each person will spend on each project each week. Compare each person's total with their available hours after leave.

How far ahead should an agency plan resources?

Plan in detail for the next few weeks and roughly for the next quarter. This template covers 12 weeks, long enough to see a project end and a pitch land.

How should pitches and proposals go into a resource plan?

Add them as tentative work with a win probability. This template counts confirmed work in full and tentative work at its weighted value, and also shows the raw tentative hours.

Can I do resource planning in Excel?

Yes. This template works in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice with plain formulas and no macros. The limit is keeping it up to date as wins, slips and leave change the plan every week.