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CHAPTER TWELVE
Resource Management
To Accompany
PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
Achieving Competitive Advantage
By
Jeffrey K. Pinto
CHAPTER 12
TRANSPARENCIES
1. TECHNICAL CONSTRAINTS
2. PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS
3. RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS
i. PEOPLE
i. MATERIALS
ii. MONEY
iii. EQUIPMENT
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
12.5 (CON’D)
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
12.5 (CON’D) - Activity Float and Resource Needs for the Sample Network
12.7 Resource Loading Table for Sample Network When Activity Float is Included
January February
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 19 22 23 24 25 26 29 30 31 1 2 5 6 7
A 6 6 6 6 6
B 2 2 2 2
C 4 4 4 4 4
D 3 3 3 3 3 3
E 3 3 3 3 3 3
F 2 2 2 2 2 2
G 4 4 4 4
H 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
I 4 4 4 4 4
J 2 2 2
K 5 5 5 5 5
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 19 22 23 24 25 26 29 30 31 1 2 5 6 7
A 6 6 6 6 6
B 2 2 2 2
C 4 4 4 4 4
D 3 3 3 3 3 3
E 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
F 2 2 2 2 2 2
G 4 4 4 4
H 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
I 4 4 4 4 4
J 2 2 2 2
K 5 5 5 5 5
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
A D
B F
4
E
2
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Project Days
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Consider a project to build a bridge over a river gorge. What are some of the
resource constraints that would make this project challenging?
2. For many projects, the key resources to be managed are the project team personnel.
Explain in what sense and how project team personnel are often the project critical
resource.
Project teams are created to perform work on a specific project. Since projects often
require a team member’s expertise in more than one area, it is not uncommon for a team
member to be assigned to more than one task in the project. The problem comes when
these two tasks need to occur simultaneously. If only one person on the team or within
the organization can perform the function, then team personnel becomes the critical
resource constraining the ability to complete the project as planned. Alternate scheduling
has to be made in order to enable completion of both tasks and hence, progress on the
project to continue.
3. What is the philosophy underlying resource loading? What does it do for our project?
Why is it a critical element in effectively managing the project plan?
Resource loading identifies the amount of resources needed over the project baseline. It
is a process that assigns resources in the required amount to each project activity.
Resource loading maps out resource use over the duration of the project. It is a useful
tool for team members to determine conflicting uses and over allocation of resources
prior to the start of the project. It is critical to effect project management in that it
provides a better picture of resource availability, constraints and misallocation. This
allows managers to determine more accurately if extra resources are required and if the
project baseline is reasonable.
4. It has been argued that a project schedule which has not been resource leveled is
useless. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why or why not?
This question requires students to recognize that it is only after a schedule has been
resource-leveled that it represents a true perspective of how long activities and the project
as a whole are expected to take. It is important that instructors clearly identify the
linkage between schedules and resource availability and commitment for viable project
timeframes to completion.
5. Discuss the nature of “time/cost tradeoffs” on projects. What does this concept imply
for our project management practices?
When a resource is over allocated, meaning it is needed to perform multiple tasks at one
time or is needed in a greater quantity than the current supply, time/cost tradeoff
decisions have to be made. Due to the over allocation, project managers must decide to
either increase the overall time of the project by extending the schedule to allow extra
time to complete both tasks or increase the budget to allow for employment of additional
resource use. Either way, the project is going to run over projected figures, it is simply a
matter of whether the budget or timetable will be extended.
6. When resource leveling a project, there are a number of heuristics that can help us
prioritize those activities that receive resources first. Explain how each of the following
heuristics works and give an example:
a. Activities with the smallest slack: Those activities that have the smallest amount of
slack are given priority for resources. This is done to reduce the amount of slippage in
the overall project, by attempting to meet the demands of tighter deadlines. For example,
if activity A has 4 days of slack time and activity B has 3 days of slack time. Then,
resources needed to complete B are allocated first. Activity A is scheduled around the
resource use of B.
b. Activities with the smallest duration: The activity requiring the shortest amount of time
to complete may receive resources first. This heuristic focuses on completing a the
greatest number of tasks by getting shorter tasks out of the way before engaging in long-
term assignments. In this case, if activity A takes 10 days to complete while activity B
will take 25 days. Then, A is scheduled first and resources for B are assigned based on
remaining availability.
c. Activities with the lowest identification number: Tasks starting earlier in the WBS
sequence are assigned resources before those occurring later. If A begins on day 1 of the
project and B begins on day 6, then resources will be assigned to A first.
d. Activities with the most successor tasks: Resources are assigned to the task which has
the greatest number of subsequent tasks. This attempts to allow increase the number of
downstream tasks that are able to get underway. Assuming activity A has 4 successor
tasks following its completion and B has 6 successor tasks. B will be assigned resources
first, leaving A to be scheduled with the remaining resource availability.
e. Activities with requiring the most resources: Activities requiring the greatest use of
resources is assigned priority. Then, those with lesser requirements are allocated. Here,
if A requires 10 people and 5 specialized machines for its completion while B only needs
5 people and 1 machine, then A will be scheduled first.
7. Multi-tasking can have an important negative impact on your ability to resource level
a project. When your team members are involved in multiple additional commitments,
we must be careful not to assign their time too optimistically. In fact, it has been said:
“Remember, 40 hours is not the same as one week’s work.” Comment on this idea. How
does multi-tasking make it difficult to accurately resource level a project?
A multi-project environment creates several problems. One is that using resources for
one project may mean that those resources are not available for a co-existing project.
Another stems from underutilization of resources. One project may hold on to resources
even if it is not currently using them. This may occur because the team does not want to
relinquish the asset for fear they may not be able to get it back when they need it. On the
other hand, shared resources may become spread too thinly resulting in the delay of
multiple projects. When shared resources exist in a multi-project environment, a delay
(and hence, a longer use of resources) in one project may create delays in other projects.
Finally, there may be a decrease in employees’ efficiency and quality as they attempt to
juggle competing work assignments.
Some rules of thumb used by managers to resolve resource allocation problems include:
first in line, greatest resource demand, greatest resource utilization, minimum late finish
time and mathematical programming. First in line simply allocates resources based on
which projects are entered first. It is essentially a “first-come, first-served” approach.
Using greatest resource demand as a guideline, managers allocate based on which
projects demand the greater amount of available resources. The project with the highest
demand is scheduled first, then the project with the second-highest demand, and so on.
The greatest resource utilization approach is similar but allocates based on the degree of
resource use. Here, it may not be the project that has the greatest overall use, but rather
the greatest depth of use that is scheduled first. The minimum late finish time rule
focuses on slack time by scheduling first the project with the earliest late finish time.
CASE STUDY
The case, “The Problems of Multitasking,” highlights some of the critical issues that
students must absorb in terms of the relationship between project activity scheduling and
resource availability. Many firms require that their project team members engage in so
many different projects at the same time (multitasking) that resource assignments are no
longer viable because they do not recognize the over-committed nature of their resources.
The old adage, “40 hours duration is not the same as one week’s work,” illustrates this
point. If we can assume that a project resource can fully devote her time to one project,
then the “40 hours duration” argument above changes – it is, in fact, one week. However,
the more projects that are added to our plate, the more difficult it becomes to clearly
determine resources needs.
Questions:
As noted above, the more projects my personnel are committed to at the same time, the
more difficult it becomes for me to accurately forecast the needs of any specific project.
Activity duration estimates become “contaminated” by the interrelationship among the
competing project commitments and my ability to forecast resource needs and activity
durations gets extremely problematic.
While there is some truth to this statement, due to many firms’ desire to operate with a
lean staff, this statement can be a very good source of discussion among students in a
classroom setting. One method for minimizing the problems with multitasking is to do a
better job of project portfolio management, adding new projects to the portfolio only after
considering resource availability in addition to other strategic factors.
See the general discussion of the case above. Multitasking confuses accurate resource
requirements planning because it adds a level of complication to this process. In
developing a resource-leveled project, it is critical that all the resource’s commitments be
factored into the schedule, not just their commitments to the current project itself.
PROBLEMS
Solution to 1:
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Solution to Problem 2:
1. A – B – E – H
2. A – B – D – F – H
3. A – C – G – H
Critical Path: A – C – D – F – H
Weeks
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
A 6 6 6]
B 4 4 4 4 4 ]
C 4 4 4 4 4 4 4]
D 6 6 6]
E 2 2 2 2 2 ]
F 4 4 4 4]
G 3 3 ]
H 6 6 6 6 6
Total 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 11 11 8 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6
] = Late Finish
Resources are overcommitted in weeks 11 and 12 by three hours each (total of 11 hours
are committed during those weeks).
Weeks
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
A 6 6 6]
B 4 4 4 4 4 ]
C 4 4 4 4 4 4 4]
D 6 6 6]
E 2 2 2 2 2 ]
F 4 4 4 4]
G 3 3 3 3]
H 6 6 6 6 6
Total 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 11 11 8 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6
8 8 7 7
] = Late Finish
Consider the partial resource loading chart shown below. Suppose that the maximum
resource hours you can commit per day are 8.
a. What are the dates on which project resources are over allocated?
b. How should the resource loading table be reconfigured to correct for this over
allocation?
c. Now, suppose that the maximum resources hours per day you can commit are
reduced to 6. How would you reconfigure the resource loading table to adjust?
What would be the new project completion date?
June
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 19 22 23 24 25 26
A 6 6 6 6 6]
B 2 2 2 2 ]
C 4 4 4 4 4]
D 3 3 3 3 3 ]
E 4 4 4 4 4]
F 2 2 2 2 2 2 ]
G 4 4 4 ]
Total 6 6 6 6 6 9 9 9 9 7 6 6 6 6 6 2 4 4 4
Over allocation occurs on the week of the 8th through the 11th. Total hours allocated for
each of these four days is nine.
The simplest method would be to delay the start of Activity B to its late finish dates as
shown in the figure below.
June
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 19 22 23 24 25 26
A 6 6 6 6 6]
B 2 2 2 2]
C 4 4 4 4 4]
D 3 3 3 3 3 ]
E 4 4 4 4 4]
F 2 2 2 2 2 2 ]
G 4 4 4 ]
Total 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 6 2 4 4 4
June July
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 19 22 23 24 25 26 29 30 1
A 6 6 6 6 6
B 2 2 2 2
C 4 4 4 4 4
D 3 3 3 3 3
E 4 4 4 4 4
F 2 2 2 2 2 2
G 4 4 4
Total 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
MSProject EXERCISES
Problem 12.1
Refer to the activity network table below. Enter this information using MSProject in
order to produce a Gantt chart. Assume that each resource has been assigned to the
project activity on a full-time basis.
Solution:
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Problem 12.2
Using the above information, produce a Resource Usage sheet, identifying the total
number of hours and daily commitments of each project team member.
Solution:
The following is a partial Resource Usage sheet, identifying the team members and their
total work hour commitments.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Problem 12.3
Refer to the activity network table below. Suppose that we modified the original table
slightly to show the following predecessor relationships between tasks and resources
assigned to perform these activities. Enter this information using MSProject in order to
produce a Gantt chart. Assume that each resource has been assigned to the project
activity on a full-time basis.
A. Using the Resource Usage view, can you determine any warning signs that
some member of the project team has been overassigned to the project
team?
Solution:
The output highlights (in red) the warning that Tom Hodges has been overassigned to
multiple simultaneous tasks.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
B. Click on the Resource Graph view to determine the specific days when
there is a conflict in the resource assignment schedule.
Solution:
The Resource Graph screen indicates the exact dates that show a resource assignment
conflict, providing the user with the basis for leveling the activity network.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Problem 12.4
Using the information provided in problem 12.3 above, how might you resource level this
network to remove the conflicts? Show how you would resource level the network.
From a schedule perspective, what is the new duration of the project?
Solution:
The challenge here lies in reassigning Tom Hodges in such a manner that the schedule no
longer shows conflict among his project responsibilities. Clicking on the Tools taskbar
shows a Resource Leveling function, under which MSProject will automatically smooth
out any resource conflicts. The new Gantt chart is shown below.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.