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Using OpenAir With Resource Management

Hunter Parr

Oct 1 2019

2 min read

OpenAir is a Professional Services Automation Solution that is owned by NetSuite. It provides resource management, project management, project accounting, invoicing, and time and expense management for professional service organizations in a single application. OpenAir helps professional service organizations manage their largest expense (people) while driving revenue and improved profit margins through:

Increased resource utilization
Decreased overhead for project accounting and reporting
Expedited billing
Increased billing accuracy
Improved on-time project delivery

Take the following example to see how OpenAir can improve resource management.

Scenario

Agency needs to maximize utilization of their resources to drive revenue.

Business Challenge

Typically Resource Management is all over the place. Agencies may be using work calendars such as Outlook, managing staffing through weekly planning meetings and Excel, or just manually checking with resources on their availability. It’s not sustainable for a growing agency organization. If the agency doesn’t have a formal system in place, they cannot forecast utilization or easily see resource availability.

They need a unified Resource Management system to give them that visibility.

OpenAir Resource Management Solution

The NetSuite solution for resource management is OpenAir. OpenAir provides an interactive view of resources showing who is understaffed, overstaffed, or properly utilized. You can set up a skills repository to ensure you are finding the right resource for the project. Resource Managers and Project Managers can now search for resources based on availability and skills. They can even access a copy of the resume of the resource to ensure they are a good fit for the project. This is especially important for growing agencies who can no longer easily keep track of everyone’s skill set.

Open Air allows you to quickly address staffing concerns to make sure you are maximizing utilization while also being careful to not burn out my resources. Since these schedules are stored in OpenAir you can convert these into forecasted dollars to understand the projected billing and revenue for the business.

Have any questions about NetSuite OpenAir or NetSuite in general? Feel free to contact us at any time!

This publication contains general information only and Sikich is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or any other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should you use it as a basis for any decision, action or omission that may affect you or your business. Before making any decision, taking any action or omitting an action that may affect you or your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. In addition, this publication may contain certain content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) language model. You acknowledge that Sikich shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by you or any person who relies on this publication.

About the Author

Hunter Parr