Resource Leveling vs.

Resource Smoothing
It rarely happens that you have all resources as per your schedule to complete the project. Even if
you have them, during project execution any risk can take away that freedom and you will have
to manage with fewer resources.

Even when you have all necessary resources, as a project manager it is your responsibility to use
resources efficiently and save costs for the company.

To achieve these objectives, you use resource optimization techniques. Two such resource
optimization techniques are as follows:

 Resource Leveling
 Resource Smoothing
These techniques allow you to complete the project with minimal obstruction.

Resource Leveling
You use resource leveling when you have limited resources and you may extend the schedule.

Resource leveling is used when:

 A critical resource may not be available for a certain duration;

 A critical resource may not be available at a certain point of time;
 You have to share a resource with another project;
 The demand for a resource exceeds the supply.
You also use this technique when you must keep some resource usage at a constant level.
In resource leveling, you are asked to optimize the limited resources given to you. Here the
schedule is not fixed.

Resource leveling answers the question of when you will be able to complete the project with the
given resources.

Resource leveling is sometimes called resource constrained scheduling (RCS). If resources are
not available, the project duration may change.

A Real World Example

Let’s say you are developing a schedule for a project, which is to construct a two-story building.
To construct the first floor you have enough scaffolding but for the second floor you need extra
scaffolding.

So you look within your organization and find that you can arrange extra scaffolding from
another project, but one week later than what you require.

So, you delay construction activities on the second floor by one week.

This is an example of resource leveling where you extend the schedule to get the resource.

Example illustration

Now, let us look at an example and try to understand how resource leveling and resource
smoothing works in a project.

Consider a project with 7 activities as shown in the table below. The predecessors of each
activity and the duration of the activities are given. The number of compressors (consider it as a
resource) required by each activity is also listed. The organization has only 6 compressors
available with them.
The first step is to draw the schedule network diagram and determine the critical path. From the
schedule network diagram, you can understand the critical path is A-B-C-E-G and the total
duration of the project is 20 days. The problem with the critical path method is it does not
consider the availability of resources. So, now we need to check whether there are any resource
conflicts in the schedule created by the critical path method.

It will be easier if we present the schedule in the Gantt chart/ bar chart format to understand the
resource usage over time periods.

With the bar chart representation, it is easier for us to calculate the compressors needed on each
day. For example, we know that from day 1 to 3, only activity A is in progress; so, we need 6
compressors on each of these days. However, from day 6 to 9, activity C and activity D are
running in parallel. So, you need 7 compressors (5 for activity C and 2 for activity D) on each of
these days.

Let us plot the resources required as a histogram.

By drawing a line to show the resource limit, we can clearly see the days on which the resource
conflict occurs. You can see that the schedule requires more compressors than available on six
days; Day 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12.

Now, let us see how the application of resource leveling and resource smoothing helps to remove
the resource conflicts on these six days.

Application of Resource Leveling to the Sample Project

As we have seen earlier, resource leveling looks at removing all resource conflicts without
worrying too much about extending the project duration.

Let us look at the first conflict, which happens between activities C and D. To avoid the conflict,
we need to delay either activity C or activity D. Since activity C is on the critical path, it is
prudent to delay activity D.

We have to delay the activity D until activity C completes. This means, activity D has to be
shifted to start on Day 11. By doing this, the resources required on days 6 to 9 comes down to
only 5 compressors. Since there is a float in activity D, everything looks fine.

But, when we move an activity, we have to see how it affects the other successor activities. In
this case, since F depends on the completion of activity D, it also has to be shifted.
(the light blue color bars show the original schedule based on CPM)
Now, you can see that there is no resource conflict from day 1 to day 14. But, there is a conflict
on days 15 and 16; activity E needs 4 compressors and activity F also needs 4 compressors.

So, we have to delay either activity E or activity F to avoid this conflict. Since activity F is not
on the critical path, let us delay this activity.

We have to delay it until the completion of activity E. It means activity F can start only on day
20. However, it also leads to the shifting of activity G since activity F is its predecessor.

Let us look at the final Gantt chart and the resource usage histogram.
It’s good. All resource conflicts are removed. Now, the maximum compressors required is only
six numbers on any day.

However, in the process, the project gets delayed by two days. The total duration of the project is
22 days now.

The critical path also has changed. Activity F is part of the critical path now. So, the new critical
path is A-B-C-E-F-G.
 Resource Smoothing
You use resource smoothing when you have to optimize the resources and you cannot extend the
schedule.

Since you cannot extend the schedule, the project completion date and the critical path will stay
the same. Here the activities cannot be delayed more than their total and free float.

Using float in this technique will cause you to lose some flexibility from your path; however, the
schedule will be optimized, efficient and cost effective.

In resource smoothing, you must be careful to avoid any delay in activity as it may affect your
critical path.

Time is the main constraint here. You have a fixed schedule and are asked to optimize resources.

Resource smoothing is also known as time constrained scheduling (TCS). The project end date
cannot be changed, and you have to optimize resources within the float.

A Real World Example

Let’s say you want to apply for the PMP exam and have allocated 60 hours to study in three
months. This translates to 20 hours per month.

However, while scheduling the date for the exam you find that the only available appointment is
in four months. Now you have to distribute these 60 hours throughout four months, meaning 15
hours per month.
This is an example of resource smoothing. Since you have enough time, there is no need to use
all 60 hours in three months. You can ease the burden of these three months and use the fourth
month as well.

Difference Between Resource Leveling and Resource Smoothing

The following are a few differences between resource leveling and resource smoothing:

 In resource leveling the project end date may change while in smoothing it does not change.
 In resource leveling the critical path changes (generally increases) while in resource
smoothing it does not, and activities can be delayed within their float.
 Generally resource smoothing is usually performed after the resource leveling.
 In resource leveling resources are the main constraint while in resource smoothing project
end date is a constraint.
 Resource leveling is used when resources are under or over allocated. Resource smoothing
is used when resources are unevenly allocated.
 Resource leveling can be applied to activities on the critical path while in resource
smoothing you do not touch activities on the critical path.
Similarities Between Resource Leveling and Resource Smoothing
The following are a few similarities between these two techniques:

 They both help you optimize resource utilization

 They both help you in scheduling network analysis
Resource leveling and resource smoothing are different techniques and they are used under
different situations. It is not always necessary to use both techniques; in this blog post I
mentioned that resource smoothing usually happens after resource leveling.

This is not true in all cases; you may use either of them or both of them. However, if you are
using both them, usually resource leveling is followed by resource smoothing.

Example

For example, look at the simple network diagram shown below. Duration for the activities represents weeks.
Using forward and backward pass calculation, the critical path runs this course: “Start | C | D | E |
F | Finish.” All activities on the critical path will have float (or slack) of value zero. For activity
B, the total float is 11 weeks; you could delay activity B by 11 weeks without delaying the
project. Similarly, for activity H the total float is 12 weeks; you could delay activity H by 12
weeks without pushing the end date of the project.
In the diagram below, the required number of human resources has been shown along with the
activity names in the diagram. “B(2R)” means activity B has a requirement of two resources.

At this stage, let us check the resource usage profile over the weeks. The number of resources
need in each are added up (also called resource aggregation) and shown below the x axis under
weeks. When put into a spreadsheet, the profile usage looks like this.
There are peaks in weeks 4, 5 and 6 and valleys in the latter part of the project. As I outlined
earlier, these aren’t desirable situations. Consider that we that have a predefined resource limit,
which is no more than seven resources in a week. Let’s apply resource smoothing.
I can start activity B later since it can be delayed by 11 weeks without any impact to the project
schedule. Similarly, activity H also can be started towards the end without changing the critical
path. After making the changes, we get the following diagram.

When you lay that out in spreadsheet form, you can see that the valleys and peaks of resource
usage have been smoothed out. It must be noted that in some situations, you may not be able to
fully optimize the resources.
You should also note that after resource smoothing, the critical path has remained unchanged.
However, the total float (and also free float) for activities B and H have been reduced. Hence, the
flexibility for scheduling is now less for the project manager.