Staff Histogram and Manpower Loading Chart

Full Description

This manpower loading chart and staff histogram helps you forecast and track the people your project needs, role by role, across the whole schedule. It shows planned against actual staffing so you can spot gaps early, control labor cost and explain your resourcing to the owner.

What is a manpower histogram?

A manpower histogram, also called a manpower loading chart or labor histogram, is a bar chart showing how many people or hours a project needs in each period, such as each week or month. It is built by mapping each role’s time commitment across the project duration and adding them up. The shape shows the ramp-up, peak and ramp-down of the workforce, and comparing forecast with actuals shows whether the project is over or under resourced.

When to use it

• During tendering, to support staffing costs and show the owner a resourcing plan.
• At project startup, to plan hiring, site office space and accommodation.
• Monthly, to compare planned and actual staffing and update the forecast.
• When the schedule changes and the peak workforce shifts.
• Reporting man-hours to the owner or head office.

What’s included

• Areas for various roles and staff types.
• Rates for each of the vendors.
• Time requirements for each staff member.
• Total time requirements and total man-hour requirements.
• Total costs.
• A man-hours per million calculation.
• Forecast and actuals for all of the above.
• A manpower loading graph.

The template is an Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx).

How to fill it out

1. List each role or staff type on the project, from project manager and superintendent to engineers, foremen and safety staff.
2. Enter the vendor or employer and the rate for each role.
3. Spread each person’s time across the project periods, based on when they are needed in the schedule.
4. Check the totals for time, man-hours and cost against your budget.
5. Each period, enter actual time worked next to the forecast.
6. Review the manpower loading graph and adjust the forecast where planned and actual drift apart.

Tips

• Base the forecast on the current schedule, not the tender schedule, once the job is underway.
• Watch the peak. A sharp spike often means activities are stacked and the schedule needs smoothing.
• Keep staff and craft labor on separate charts if you report them differently.

Related templates and guides

• Manpower Planner Template
• Manpower Monitoring
• Subcontractors Manpower Tracking Log
• Hourly Labour Timecard Template
• Guide: Fundamentals of Construction Scheduling

Frequently asked questions

What is a manpower loading chart?

A manpower loading chart shows how many people or labor hours a project needs over time. It is usually drawn as a histogram by week or month. It helps you plan hiring, budget labor cost and check that the workforce on site matches what the schedule needs.

What is the difference between a manpower histogram and a loading chart?

They are usually the same thing. Histogram describes the bar chart format, while loading chart describes what it shows: the load of people or hours on the project in each period. Some teams use loading chart for the forecast and histogram for actuals, but the terms are often swapped.

What is a resource histogram in project management?

A resource histogram is a bar chart of how much of a resource, such as people, equipment or hours, is planned in each time period. Project managers use it to spot over-allocation and level resources. A manpower histogram is a resource histogram for labor.

How do you make a manpower histogram in Excel?

List roles in rows and time periods in columns, enter the people or hours needed for each role in each period, then total each column. Chart the totals as a column chart. Adding a second series for actuals turns it into a planned versus actual comparison.

Can I use this instead of Primavera P6 or MS Project?

Scheduling software can produce resource histograms when resources are loaded into the schedule. Many teams still use a spreadsheet for staffing because it is quicker to update, easy to share and does not require a fully resource-loaded schedule.