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Capacity
Availability, working time, leave and absences in one view. The basis of every resource plan.
Workforce process: how do we steer capacity, skills and motivation optimally?
People are the most important resource in services, and the biggest cost driver. teamspace connects availability, skills, utilisation and compensation so that the right people with the right skills work on the right projects.
Three dimensions of the workforce process
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Competence
Skills, certifications, languages, tools. Enables staffing by competence instead of gut feel.
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Motivation
Compensation models, commissions, objectives, feedback. Connects contribution and reward.
Workforce process structure
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Master data and skills
Employee record, contract, weekly hours, skills and certifications are maintained centrally.
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Capacity planning
Availability per person is computed from contract, leave, sickness and special times, automatically and daily.
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Staffing
On new projects, suitable people are assigned by skills and availability, conflicts are visible.
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Capture and approval
Staff log time, tasks and expenses. Managers approve. Delegation rules prevent bottlenecks.
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Analysis and feedback
Utilisation, margin and contribution are analysed per person. Foundation for development talks and commission models.
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Development
Skills extended, certifications updated, career paths documented. People stay current, the firm stays competitive.
Key workforce KPIs
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Utilisation
Billable hours over available hours. Green: 70 to 85 percent, industry dependent. The most important steering KPI in services.
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Revenue per employee
Total revenue divided by headcount. Measure of scalability and productivity, typical 100 to 250 thousand EUR per year.
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Realisation rate
Billable hours over total hours. When it drops, hidden project losses appear.
4
Utilisation forecast
How busy will we be in the next 1 to 6 months? Source: project plan, resource plan, pipeline.
5
Skill coverage
Which skills do we have, which do we need? Surfaces gaps long before the engagement starts.
6
Attrition
Share of people leaving per year. Direct impact on knowledge, capacity and follow-on cost.
Utilisation forecast
See bottlenecks and idle time before they happen.
The utilisation forecast combines three sources: current project commitments, planned resourcing and weighted sales pipeline. The result is a forward view that exposes bottlenecks (not enough capacity) and idle time (not enough work) early.
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Across all staff
Who is critically loaded over the coming weeks, who has gaps? Weekly granularity.
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Across skills
Which skill is tight, which has slack? Foundation for sales focus, training or hiring.
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Across business areas
Which area has growth headroom, which needs people? Strategic steering instead of reaction.
Workforce maturity
Level 0: unplanned
Capacity, leave and skills are neither documented nor planned. Staffing happens by phone call.
Level 1: manual
Spreadsheets for leave, availability and skills. Utilisation calculated after the fact.
Level 2: structured
HR and time tracking in place. Skills documented, rarely used for staffing.
Level 3: assisted
Resource planning integrated with project plan and time tracking. Utilisation measured continuously.
Level 4: largely automated
Utilisation forecast, skill-based staffing, commission computation, digital payroll preparation.
Level 5: fully automated
Real-time steering, automatic staffing proposals, skill gap analysis, integrated career paths and compensation.
Classic workforce vs. teamspace
| Feature | Classic (HR + spreadsheets) | teamspace workforce process |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Leave list in spreadsheet, separate from contract | From contract, leave, sickness, special times, automatic |
| Utilisation | Manual, often weeks old | Live, with multi-month forecast |
| Skills | In CVs, not searchable | Structured, usable for staffing |
| Commissions | Spreadsheet calculation at quarter end | Automatic from sales and project data |
| Payroll preparation | Export hours, add manually | Hours, expenses and bonuses pushed automatically |
| Employee record | Paper or network drive | Digital, role based, compliance ready |
Relevant teamspace modules
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HR software
Employee record, contracts, skills, leave, sickness.
Learn more 2
Digital employee record
Documents, contracts, certifications, role-based access.
Learn more 3
Leave management
Requests, approvals, balances, delegation, team calendar.
Learn more 4
Capacity planning
Resources across all projects with utilisation and conflict detection.
Learn more 5
Payroll preparation
Hours, bonuses, expenses for payroll, with DATEV handover.
Learn more 6
Time tracking
Working time and project time, legally sound, with approval and analytics.
Learn moreWhy the workforce process is the most critical one
In professional services 70 to 85 percent of cost sits in people. People are also the resource value creation springs from. Treating the workforce process as HR administration squanders the biggest lever in the firm. Typical symptoms when steering is weak: utilisation swings uncontrollably, skills live only in some managers’ heads, commission models create frustration instead of motivation, attrition silently costs multiples of an acquisition each year.
A professionally steered workforce process connects capacity, competence and motivation in one data model. The result is a clear picture of who is available with which skills, where skills are missing and where the next bottleneck is brewing.
Maturity in the workforce process: honest scoring
Maturity is not the HR tool you use. It comes down to four questions: is availability per person current and system-side, are skills structured and usable for staffing, is utilisation actively steered rather than reported retrospectively, are commissions and payroll preparation integrated with the data set?
If two or more answers are ‘rather no’, you are typically on Level 1 or 2. The jump to Level 3 or 4 pays back twice: higher utilisation and lower attrition.
Target picture: people leadership with a data base
A high-maturity workforce process combines soft and hard steering. Availability and skills are structured and available, utilisation is steered ahead of time, compensation models are transparent and computable, payroll preparation is digital. People experience transparency, leadership gains steerability.
Frequently asked questions about the workforce process
What utilisation is realistic and healthy?
Industry dependent. Consultancies often sit between 70 and 85 percent, agencies between 65 and 80 percent, engineering firms between 75 and 85 percent. Values well above 90 percent look attractive but lead to burnout, quality issues and attrition long term.
How does utilisation forecast differ from today's utilisation?
Today's utilisation is the past. The forecast looks ahead based on project commitments, pipeline and planned absences. That is where the biggest steering value sits: kick off sales or hiring early, before a bottleneck or idle time materialises.
Why capture skills systematically when everyone knows their strengths?
Because at ten people everybody knows them, at one hundred no one does. Structured skills make staffing by competence possible, expose gaps and support career paths. Above all: in case of absence, replacement is found faster.
How does the workforce process integrate with payroll?
Hours, bonuses, travel cost and commissions are captured and approved in teamspace, prepared and handed over to payroll via DATEV LODAS or similar interfaces. Payroll runs in the payroll system, the data comes from teamspace.
How do we handle commission and bonus models?
Freely configurable. Commissions can tie to order intake, revenue, margin or pipeline. Bonuses to objectives or project results. teamspace computes amounts transparently, the employee sees them in their cockpit, payout runs through the payroll interface.
How does the workforce process help against attrition?
Indirectly. Clear compensation models, transparent utilisation, documented skills and visible career paths reduce the feeling of working in a black box. Overload and chronic imbalance also surface early, so counter measures are possible before someone resigns.
Other processes
Where does your workforce process stand today?
In a 15 to 30 minute requirements call we score your workforce process against the maturity model and identify the biggest lever for utilisation and retention.