Leading Audit & Tax Firm Improves Resource Planning

A leading audit and tax advisory firm supports a broad range of clients across complex engagements. Managing multiple projects simultaneously requires clear visibility of resource availability, effective scheduling and the ability to allocate the right people to the right work at the right time.

To support these requirements, the firm implemented Retain, replacing spreadsheet-based resource planning with a dedicated resource management platform.

Today, Retain provides a centralised view of employee availability, helps the firm schedule resources more effectively across client engagements and has reduced manual planning effort by an estimated 10-20%.

The Challenge: Managing Resource Availability Across Multiple Engagements

Like many professional services firms, the organisation needed a reliable way to manage employee availability across multiple concurrent client engagements.

Auditing and tax projects frequently require employees to work across multiple assignments, creating a need for accurate scheduling and clear visibility into future commitments.

Prior to implementing Retain, resource planning was managed using Excel. While effective, spreadsheet-based planning required significant manual effort and made it more difficult to gain a clear, real-time view of who was available and where capacity existed.

Why the Firm Chose Retain

When evaluating potential solutions, the organisation was looking for a platform that was clear and intuitive to use, well organised, easy to understand and focused on resource planning and scheduling.

Retain provided a dedicated resource management solution capable of supporting the firm’s planning requirements while remaining straightforward for planners and employees alike.

Establishing a Central Resource Planning Platform

Retain is now used as the firm’s central planning platform, providing a consolidated view of employee assignments and availability.

The solution enables assistants and planners to capture scheduling information in one place, helping the organisation maintain an accurate view of future workload and resource commitments.

Improving Resource Visibility

One of the most significant benefits of Retain has been improved visibility across employee availability and workload.

Planners can now see more clearly which employees have capacity for additional engagement work and make faster resource allocation decisions.

Employees also benefit from greater transparency, with clear visibility of their assignments and upcoming engagements.

Reducing Manual Effort

Since implementing Retain, the organisation estimates that manual effort associated with planning activities has reduced by approximately 10-20%.

This improvement has been driven by easier access to planning information and a clearer view of employee availability.

Supporting Longer-Term Planning

Improved visibility has also enabled the firm to take a longer-term approach to resource planning. Rather than focusing solely on immediate scheduling requirements, teams are now able to plan months in advance and gain greater confidence in future resource availability.

Delivering Better Utilisation

Alongside improved planning visibility, the firm has also reported utilisation improvements of approximately 1-5%. By improving visibility of employee availability and making it easier to identify where capacity exists, Retain helps ensure resources are deployed effectively across client engagements.

Business Impact

• 10-20% Reduction in Manual Planning Effort
• Improved Visibility of Resource Availability
• Better Resource Allocation
• Improved Employee Transparency
• Longer-Term Planning Capability
• 1-5% Improvement in Utilisation
• Positive Impact on Team Morale

Customer Perspective

“Retain is a clear and easy-to-use tool that helps us manage employee availability and resource scheduling more effectively.”

Leading Audit & Tax Advisory Firm