Resource allocation template: people, projects and weeks

Free Excel download for agencies, Google Sheets compatible. Spot over-allocation week by week. No sign-up.

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

A resource allocation template records who works on which project, for how many hours, each week.

The core check is one line: each person's allocated hours in a week ÷ the hours they're actually available. Over 100% means they're over-allocated.

Available hours = hours per week − time off

% allocated = allocated hours ÷ available hours

In the example file:

106.7%Asha in weeks 1–3, then still booked during her holiday in week 4
121.3%Eli in weeks 1 and 2
66.7%Femi, on the same project, from week 2

Preview: the example in the file

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

Person load, example data, weeks 1–4: allocated of available hours, % allocated and status
Person	W1 (2 Nov)	W2 (9 Nov)	W3 (16 Nov)	W4 (23 Nov)
Asha (Designer)	40 of 37.50 h · 106.7% Over	40 of 37.50 h · 106.7% Over	40 of 37.50 h · 106.7% Over	10 of 0 h · Booked while off
Ben (Designer)	25 of 37.50 h · 66.7% Under	40 of 37.50 h · 106.7% Over	20 of 37.50 h · 53.3% Under	20 of 37.50 h · 53.3% Under
Cleo (Designer)	15 of 22.50 h · 66.7% Under	15 of 22.50 h · 66.7% Under	15 of 22.50 h · 66.7% Under	15 of 22.50 h · 66.7% Under
Eli (Developer)	45.50 of 37.50 h · 121.3% Over	45.50 of 37.50 h · 121.3% Over	37.50 of 37.50 h · 100.0% OK	37.50 of 37.50 h · 100.0% OK
Femi (Developer)	25 of 22.50 h · 111.1% Over	25 of 37.50 h · 66.7% Under	25 of 37.50 h · 66.7% Under	25 of 37.50 h · 66.7% Under
Isla (Project manager)	25 of 37.50 h · 66.7% Under	30 of 37.50 h · 80.0% OK	30 of 37.50 h · 80.0% OK	30 of 37.50 h · 80.0% OK

Project load, example data, weeks 1–4 (hours)
Project	W1 (2 Nov)	W2 (9 Nov)	W3 (16 Nov)	W4 (23 Nov)
Harbour app build	72.50	72.50	72.50	72.50
Northwind rebrand	60	60	40	10
Lumen retainer	38	38	30	30
Orbit website (pitch)	0	20	20	20
Internal	5	5	5	5
Time off	15	0	0	37.50

What's in the template

SettingsFirst week (a Monday) and example over- and under-allocation thresholds.
PeopleEach person's role and hours per week.
ProjectsProjects with a Confirmed or Tentative status, plus two reserved rows: Internal, and Time off, which reduces availability.
AllocationsThe person × project × week grid, in hours, with each project's status looked up.
Person loadAvailable, allocated and confirmed hours, % allocated and a status for every person and week.
Project loadHours by project and week, with confirmed, tentative and time-off totals.

How to allocate resources to projects, week by week

List your people and the hours each works in a normal week.
List your projects with their status. Pitches and likely work are Tentative.
Add time off as hours against the Time off project.
Allocate hours per person per project for each week. Planning one new project's roles first? Start with the project staffing plan template.
Check Person load and fix every Over and Booked while off cell before the week starts.

Think in percentages? 50% of a 37.5-hour week is 18.75 hours. Keep the grid in hours only.

How to spot over-allocation

Allocated hours include confirmed and tentative work. Tentative hours count in the load but are also shown separately, so you see the crunch a pitch would cause before you win it.

Over: above 100% of available hours.
Under: below 70%.
Booked while off: work booked in a week with no available hours.

The 100% and 70% thresholds are examples. Set your own on the Settings tab.

Worked example. Asha is on Northwind for 30 hours and the Lumen retainer for 10 in week 1. That's 40 hours against 37.5 available: 106.7%, so she's over-allocated. Ben is 66.7% allocated in week 1, then 106.7% in week 2 once 15 hours of the Orbit pitch land on top.

Resource allocation vs capacity planning

Allocation names people: who is on which project, and for how many hours.

Capacity planning counts hours by role across the agency, to tell you whether you have enough design or development time in total. Use the capacity planning template for that view.

Planning the next quarter rather than this week? The agency resource planning template adds weighted pipeline and a project timeline.

Five common allocation mistakes at agencies

Mixing percentages and hours in one grid. Pick hours and convert everything else.
Forgetting time off. A week of holiday that isn't in the sheet makes the plan look fine when it isn't.
Ignoring tentative work until it's confirmed, when it's too late to move anything.
Treating 100% as the target. People still need time for internal work and the unexpected. For targets by role, use the billable utilisation calculator.
Editing different copies. One person updates the sheet while another works from last week's download.

Questions people ask

How do you allocate resources to a project?

List the roles and hours the project needs each week, then assign named people to those hours. Check each person's total across all projects against the hours they're actually available, after time off, before you commit.

What is over-allocation?

Over-allocation is when a person is booked for more hours in a week than they're available. In this template, anyone above 100% of their available hours is flagged Over, and anyone booked during time off is flagged Booked while off.

Should I allocate in hours or percentages?

Pick one and stick to it. This template uses hours, because percentages hide part-time contracts and time off. 50% of a 37.5-hour week is 18.75 hours.

How do you show resource allocation in Excel?

Use one row per person and project, one column per week, and hours in the cells. Then sum each person's hours per week and compare them with their available hours, as the Person load tab does.

What's the difference between resource allocation and resource planning?

Resource planning is the wider job of matching people to work over time. Allocation is the part that names who does what, in hours, each week.