Resource Allocation & Leveling PDF

Chp 8- Resource Allocation & Leveling 1  Introduction ◼ The term resource is used in many fields and contexts. ◼ In project management, we use the term resources to indicate three main categories: – labor (human), – Equipment,...

Chp 8- Resource Allocation & Leveling 1  Introduction ◼ The term resource is used in many fields and contexts. ◼ In project management, we use the term resources to indicate three main categories: – labor (human), – Equipment, – Materials. 2  Resource Allocation Resource allocation is done in the resource planning phase. It determines: ▪ who will do a job ▪ what material resources will be at their disposal. ▪ It assigns different tasks to different team members according to their skill sets and availability to complete the project successfully. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwyCTXQraLk scheduling resources uding Gantt Chart , ppt 3 ▪ Resource leveling I is a technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource limitation with the goal of balancing the demand for resources with the available supply.” The objective of resource leveling is: o to create a balance between resource demand and resource availability. o It aims to complete a project with the available resources without overburdening them, which often involves extending the project duration. o ensures there is no resource conflict at the project implementation stage. Ex: if you find that a person is allocated to do more work than is practically possible, you reallocate the task or adjust the timeline. In the process, you eliminate the chance of resource conflict. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjihSDb-uaA 4 ▪ Resource smoothing : is a technique that adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the requirements for resources on the project do not exceed certain predefined resource limits.” The main goal of resource smoothing, on the other hand, is to utilize resources uniformly to complete the project within the stipulated time. This makes sure that you don't have times when all your staff are overworked, and other times when they are under-utilized! is sometimes referred to as time-limited resource scheduling. 5 6  Resource Profile ◼This means rescheduling certain activities. Meaning: to utilize the available float in the network. ◼ is found useful for regulating the resource demands. ◼ The ideal situation would be to have a level resource-use graph or a graph with as few changes in level as possible. ◼ The degree to which a resource is used may be measured in terms of a resource utilization factor. 7  Resource Utilization Two distinct types of activities: Intermittent activities : it is possible to break its operation and restart at a later date. These activities are easier to handle in the resource scheduling exercise. Continuous activities : once started, they must be carried on until completed. 8 9 How do resource allocation, resource leveling, and resource smoothing work together? To optimize resource management in a three-step process. 1.Resource allocation assigns team members to tasks to ensure the work gets done. 2.Resource leveling ensures that workloads don’t exceed resource limits, so nobody is working more hours than they should. 3.Resource smoothing then helps you distribute workloads evenly with adequate daily buffers. 10 How to Select a Resource Leveling Strategy in the Real World? practicing resource leveling to prevent: ❑ unexpected delays and ❑ scope creep. The right resource leveling strategy can help you: ▪ extend deadlines, ▪ garner more resources, ▪ optimize available resources, ▪ narrow down your project’s scope. Project deadlines and available resources are typically the two most important variables in any project, so we’ve mapped them out in the grid below to show four different scenarios. 11 12 Resource Leveling Strategy: ▪ Example one: Adjusting the start date A graphic designer has been double-booked for a project and is unable to complete the project without working overtime. To ensure that the designer does not exceed his limits, the company decided to adjust the start date to two days later. However, as the designer is a fast worker, he maintained the quality of work, and the project completion date remained the same. ▪ Example two: Obtaining additional resources An IT team has been trying to fix various virus-infected computers in a company. After realizing that the company software would not be able to handle the virus, the team invested in new anti-virus software to fix all the infected computers. 13 ▪ Scenario 3: Use the same resources and extend the deadline Get your stakeholders to approve the deadline extension as early as possible. Deadline extensions don’t require training or managing new team members. Project A showed how an extension resolved work overloads. ▪ Scenario 4: Use the same resources to meet the same deadline By reducing project scope, you can resolve work overloads even without additional resources or deadline extensions. The key is to ruthlessly remove all low-value tasks and limit the project scope to only the most critical tasks. You might also need to fast-track a project by executing as many tasks as possible at the same time, meaning you’ll need to have multiple team members working at once. 14 Benefits of resource leveling There are many potential benefits of resource leveling for project managers and their teams. Advantages of using this technique may include: 1-Efficient resource allocation: Using the resource optimization technique allows for the efficient allocation of resources and timely completion of a project. By implementing resource leveling, you can complete a project while remaining within the availability of your resources. 2-Resource distribution: Resource leveling may be useful if resources are over-allocated or under-allocated, which can bring financial risks to the company. Resource leveling can help project managers improve their current distribution process, which can lead to a manageable project schedule. 15 3-Maximization of labor: Resource leveling may prevent frequent changes in labor requirements. The technique may allow you to maximize the time teams spend on projects by maximizing productivity and preventing burnout. 4-Balanced workforce: Resource leveling can result in balanced workloads, increased efficiency and minimized project costs. This means team members and accounting staff may face fewer challenges that can decrease productivity. 5-Identification of resource imbalance: Resource leveling helps project managers identify imbalances in resource allocation and avert resource overburdening. The technique often leads to better resource allocation, and it can empower team members to be ready for adjustments in project tasks. 16 Resource leveling approaches: You can accomplish resource leveling in different ways. Some approaches you can employ include: ❑ Critical pathway analysis ▪ This approach allows you to evaluate the resource dependencies to find a realistic timeframe for accomplishing a specific project task. ▪ When analyzing the paths, you aim to identify activity dependencies and merge them with resource collaboration. ▪ It's essential to look for tasks that share the same resources and figure out the most efficient way to schedule them. ▪ When implementing resource leveling in any project, they often apply critical path analysis before considering any other technique to prevent the need for implementing other approaches later in the project. 17 ❑ Fast-tracking ▪ Fast-tracking allows project managers and their teams to prevent delays by completing parallel tasks. ▪ You can only implement this technique if two or more activities can overlap. ▪ It allows you to accomplish the tasks on time with no extra costs. ▪ As a practical example, assume you're designing prototypes for a new product. Here, you could compress your schedule to avoid repeating steps you can complete simultaneously, like adding two features to the product at once. ▪ By implementing this technique, you may release the product into the market faster than expected. 18 ❑ Crashing (yes) ▪ If fast-tracking doesn’t suit your project, you can use the crashing technique. ▪ This technique aims to shorten the duration of a particular task by adding extra resources with a minimal increase in cost. ▪ Implementing this concept allows you to add equipment and labor to accomplish a specific task ahead of schedule. ▪ When implementing this technique, consider which tasks bring maximum value to the project. ▪ To do this, identify the tasks that may lead to increased productivity if they receive additional resources even if it requires you to rearrange your project schedules. 19 You can implement crashing in several ways, including yes: Adding specific resources: bringing in more equipment or people to speed up the project's progress. You may find it helpful to encourage increased communication to prevent conflicts associated with integrating additional resources. Offering overtime work: Can complete the project and motivate team members through overtime pay. When taking this approach, remember to use this method on a limited basis to prevent employee burnout, which can affect productivity. Motivating team members and contractors: pay bonuses to team members if they complete tasks early or continue working on overdue tasks to complete them as soon as possible. Bonuses may motivate your teams to work more efficiently. 20 21  Table 1. Solved Example Activity Pred. Duration Res/day Total Float A 5 3 0 B A 5 4 0 C A 4 6 4 D B 10 5 0 E B, C 3 7 7 F C 7 7 4 G D 5 4 0 H E, F 5 3 4 I G, H 5 10 0 22 23 24 25 26 27 In resource leveling specific activities are adjusted based on resource availability by adjusting the _____. 1.project start and finish date 2.labor resources 3.activity start and finish dates 4.customer contract Indicating the resources needed or assigned to complete each activity in your project schedule is called _____. 1. resource leveling 2. resource loading 3. progressive elaboration 4. project management The technique used to adjust the project schedule based on resource availability and resource demand is called _____. a. progressive elaboration b. resource leveling c. resource loading d. project management 28 Resource leveling strategies are used to: a.) Make sure all tasks are of the same duration b.) Address over-allocation of resources c.) Delay the project finish date d.) Make sure all tasks have the same number of resources assigned to them An example of resource leveling would be: a. fast-tracking a project to finish early. b. crashing a project to meet a critical deadline. c. ensuring resource usage is balanced. d. removing work from a project to compress its schedule. As the level of task interdependence ________, members must spend ________amounts of time communicating and coordinating with other members to complete tasks. A. decreases; the same B. increases; increasing C. increases; decreasing D. decreases; increasing E. remains the same; increasing 29 Which one of the following is the base for resource levelling? (a) Delaying the completion of critical activities. (b) Delaying the start of Non-critical activities. (c) Reducing completion time of critical activities. (d) Not delaying the completion of critical activities. What is the process of incorporating changes and rescheduling or replanning called? (a) Resource allocation (b) Resource smoothing (c) Resource levelling (d) Updating The time with which direct cost does not reduce with the increase in time is known as (a) Crash Time (b) Normal Time (c) Optimistic Time (d) Standard Time 30 The constraints in case of resource smoothening operation would be (a) Resources (b) Project duration time (c) Both resources and project duration time (d) None of the above The time which results in the least possible construction cost of an activity, is known as (a) Normal time (b) Optimum time (c) Crash time (d) Standard time Resource levelling means 1. Economical utilization of resources. 2. Gradual increase in resources 3. Adjustment of resources to have the least variations 4. Complete revamping of resources to suit the requirements. 5. Validating network depending on resource constraints. Of these statements. (a) 1 and 2 are correct (b) 2, 3 and 4 are correct (c) 3 and 5 are correct (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are correct 31  Example 3 -Leveling Resources in A Project A subcontractor needs to install flooring in two areas: ◼ This area has a concrete slab that needs to be topped with ceramic tile. ◼ This simple project is broken into the activities shown in the following table, along with the logic, the duration, and the required number of labors for each activity. 32 Example 3 -Leveling Resources in A Project 33 Example 3 -Leveling Resources 34 Example 3 -Leveling Resources 35 Example 3 -Leveling Resources 36 Homework 1 37  Limited Resources ◼ In certain cases it may be possible to, say, hire additional plant to cover peak requirements; in this case no rescheduling of the activities is called for. ◼ Eexample for limited resource: ◼ assume that in the previous example only 10 units of the resource were available for the project. ◼ the constraint is violated on a number of days. The means for resolving problems of limited resources are similar to those for the problem in resource leveling and their discussion is consequently carried over until resource leveling is treated. 38