A large, multi-practice law firm had already taken an important first step. They went live on ServiceNow with IT Service Management and Strategic Portfolio Management, establishing a foundation for more disciplined project and demand oversight.
But as the platform matured, leadership recognized a familiar problem. While projects were tracked, the people doing the work were not. Resource allocation lived in assumptions, spreadsheets, and hallway conversations rather than in a shared system of record. Planning decisions were being made without a clear view of capacity, skills, or future demand.
They needed clarity. Not necessarily more tools, but better alignment between strategy, projects, and people.
The Challenge
The firm lacked a formal process or a consistent understanding of how resources were allocated across projects and initiatives. Project timelines existed, but they were not grounded in real capacity. Leadership faced several compounding issues:
- No enterprise-wide visibility into resource allocation
- Limited insight into skill gaps and understaffed roles
- Difficulty forecasting future demand with confidence
- Portfolio planning decisions made without a clear view of constraints
Without a trusted system connecting projects to people, the firm risked overcommitting teams, underutilizing skills, and making planning decisions without reliable data.
They needed a way to align portfolio strategy with actual capacity while bringing their existingServiceNow investment closer to best practice.
The Process
The firm partnered with CoreX to reassess how Strategic Portfolio Management was being used and to introduce Resource Management as a core planning discipline, not an afterthought.
The engagement began with advisory services designed to evaluate the current SPM implementation and align it with ServiceNow best practices. Through structured workshops, stakeholders reviewed existing demand, project, and resource processes and mapped a practical path forward that emphasized standard configuration over-customization.
Rather than rushing to configure, the focus stayed on readiness, clarity, and shared understanding. Only after requirements were validated and gaps addressed did configuration begin.
The Journey
The implementation centered on two key capabilities within ServiceNow SPM:
Resource Management
The firm implemented ServiceNow Resource Management to enable structured resource planning tied directly to projects and demands. This included:
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Standardized resource assignment forms with defined fields
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Resource groups aligned to skills, roles, and rates
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Support for soft and hard allocations across projects and demands
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Approval workflows, notifications, and service level agreements
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Dashboards and reports to analyze utilization and availability
This allowed project managers and resource managers to operate from a shared view of capacity rather than assumptions.
Strategic Planning Workspace
To connect execution back to strategy, Strategic Planning Workspace was configured to link goals, initiatives, and work items. The firm then established:
- A goal framework tying projects to strategic initiatives
- Planning item types aligned to projects, demands, and portfolios
- Lenses and roadmaps to support portfolio-level decision-making
Together, these capabilities created a single planning environment where strategy, demand, projects, and people were finally connected.
The Result
By the end of the engagement, the firm had something it lacked before. A reliable, shared understanding of how resources are aligned to work.
Leaders gained visibility into where skills were constrained and where capacity existed. Portfolio planning conversations shifted from opinion to evidence. Project decisions could now be grounded in realistic forecasts rather than optimism.
Just as important, the firm emerged with clearer alignment to ServiceNow best practices and a scalable model for future growth. Resource management was no longer reactive. It became a strategic input into how the firm plans, prioritizes, and delivers work.
Closing Summary
This engagement was about restoring confidence. By pairing advisory guidance with disciplined implementation, CoreX helped this law firm turn Strategic Portfolio Management into a practical decision-making engine grounded in real capacity and real data.
