Resource Utilization

Resource utilization is the percentage of a resource's available capacity that is assigned to project work during a given time period. A resource with 40 available hours per week and 32 hours assigned to tasks is running at 80% utilization. A resource with 48 hours assigned to a 40-hour week is over-allocated at 120%. Utilization is the primary metric for understanding whether your team has the right amount of work — enough to keep everyone productive, but not so much that delivery becomes impossible.

How to Calculate Resource Utilization

The formula is straightforward:

Utilization (%) = (Hours Assigned ÷ Hours Available) × 100

Hours available comes from the resource's working calendar — their scheduled hours per day multiplied by the number of working days in the period. Hours assigned is the total task work allocated to that resource across all active projects in the same period. When two projects overlap, both must be counted; utilization is a cross-project measure, not a single-project one.

Over-Allocation, Under-Allocation, and the Sweet Spot

A utilization rate above 100% means the resource is over-allocated — more work is scheduled than can physically be done in the available time. Tasks assigned to that resource will slip unless dates are adjusted, the resource's hours are extended, or work is reassigned. Over-allocation is the most common cause of schedule slippage that looks invisible until the deadline arrives.

A utilization rate well below 100% — say, under 50% — indicates unused capacity. Either the resource has more availability than the schedule is using, or work is not being tracked in the scheduling tool. Under-allocation isn't always a problem: some teams maintain buffer time deliberately. But unplanned under-utilization often signals that tasks are missing from the schedule.

Practical experience puts the target utilization range at about 70–90%: high enough to keep the team productive, with enough buffer for meetings, unplanned requests, and context-switching overhead. At 100% scheduled, every unplanned event creates a problem. At 70–90%, there is absorptive capacity.

Resource Utilization in Maverick

Maverick's Resource Allocation Bar Chart displays utilization as a color-coded bar for each resource across the project timeline. Green bars indicate correct allocation, amber bars indicate under-allocation, and red bars indicate over-allocation. The chart updates in real time as you change task assignments, durations, or dates — making it possible to spot conflicts before they reach the team. For a complete walkthrough, see the guide: Resource Allocation Bar Chart.

Related Terms

Resource Allocation  ·  Resource Leveling  ·  Earned Value Management  ·  Percent Complete  ·  Project Baseline