Your Consultants Work Across Multiple Projects. Does Your Planning? Cinode Allocation Is Here

The more projects your consulting firm runs in parallel, the harder it gets to keep track of how hours are distributed. What starts as a simple spreadsheet quickly grows into an unmanageable situation. With our new feature Allocation, we set out to solve exactly that.

The reality for many consulting firms

In many consulting firms, every consultant works across several projects at the same time. One week it might be 20 hours on one engagement and 12 on another, the next week the split looks completely different. Projects vary in intensity across phases, and what matters is rarely which specific consultant does the work but rather that the right number of hours land on the right project at the right time.

That kind of planning is nearly impossible to manage in spreadsheets, which also quickly become dependent on one person’s knowledge. Every change creates a ripple effect, and without a consolidated view it’s easy to lose control.

The challenge of fluctuating hours across many projects

When consultants move between engagements week by week and hours vary continuously, it’s not enough to know that “Anna works on Project X”. You need to know how many hours, which week, and what that means for every other project she’s involved in.

At the same time, you need to act fast. If a project runs over or a client needs more hours a certain week, you have to be able to redistribute without creating conflicts with other commitments. That requires a view that shows the full picture, not just one project at a time.

Allocation: planning with the consultant at the center

That is exactly what our new feature Allocation does. Instead of starting from individual projects, Allocation brings together all assignments per consultant in a single view. You can immediately see how each person’s time is distributed, where there is room, and where things are getting tight.

Need to move hours between projects? Do it directly in the view. Want to see allocation by week or month? The choice is yours. Available hours are calculated automatically based on employment rate, holidays, and other absences, so you always plan based on actual capacity.

Part of a complete staffing solution

Allocation is a new piece of the puzzle in Cinode’s staffing and resource planning module. We also offer:

Project planning with roles. Create roles within each project and assign consultants. Track hours per role on a weekly or monthly basis, with changes reflected directly in the staffing view.

Staffing and capacity forecast. Look ahead and understand your utilization rate and overall capacity based on ongoing engagements, incoming projects with preliminary bookings, and available resources.

Real time overview. Reporting on utilization, revenue, and risk in real time. Make decisions based on current data, not outdated spreadsheets.

Together, these features give you full control over staffing, from the first client meeting to ongoing delivery.

Want to see how it works?

We’re showing Allocation live in a 15-minute webinar on March 12 at 11:30 CET. Ludvig Erlandsson, Customer Success Manager at Cinode, will walk you through the feature and answer your questions.

Register for the webinar →