RESOURCE ALLOCATION

By: Kemuel Bryan G. Luciaja

 Resource

An economic or productive factor required to

accomplish an activity, or as means to
undertake an enterprise and achieve desired
outcome.
 The Three Most Basic Resources
Land
Includes all natural resources (“gifts of nature”) used in the
production process, such as arable land, forests, mineral and
oil deposits, and water resources.

Labor
Consists of the physical and mental talents of individuals used in
producing goods and services.

Capital
Refers not to money but to tools, machinery,
and other productive equipment.
 Other Resources

•Energy
•Entrepreneurshi
p
•Information
•Expertise
•Management
•Time
 Resources in Project Management

anything used up to execute the

project

•Budget
•People
•Technology
•Time
•Space
•Tools
•Equipment
•and etc.
 Resource Allocation

Resource allocation is used to assign the

available resources in an economic way.

In project management, resource allocation is the

scheduling of activities and the resources
required by those activities while taking into
consideration both the resource availability and
the project time.
 Resource Allocation Plan

1. Basic Allocation
Decision

2. Contingency
mechanisms
1. Basic allocation decision

• The choice of which items to fund in the plan

• What level of funding it should receive
• Which to leave unfunded
•The resources are allocated to some items, not to
others
2. Contingency
mechanisms
A.There is a priority ranking of items excluded from the
plan, showing which items to fund if more resources
should become available.

B.There is a priority ranking of some items included in

the plan, showing which items should be sacrificed if
total funding must be reduced.
Example of Resource Allocation for Jobs

Assume that the active resource

plan is called “Night Plan”.

3 Job classes:
DW Consumer Group
OLTP Consumer
Group Other
Consumer Group
 Resource leveling

A project management technique used to examine

unbalanced use of resources (usually people or
equipment) over time, and for resolving over-allocations
or conflicts.

Leveling resources involves redistributing an imbalance of

allocated work. It assists project team members by
keeping them from becoming overwhelmed, working
overtime, or running into project burnout.
Resource leveling

If DW Consumer Group do not

fully use the allocated 60%, the
unused portion is available for
use by jobs in OLTP and Other
Consumer Group.
 Resource leveling
The Two Key Elements of Resource Leveling:

1. As the main aim of resource leveling is to allocate resource

efficiently, so that the project can be completed in the given time
period. Hence, resource leveling can be broken down into two
main areas; projects that can be completed by using up all
resources which are available and projects that can be completed
with limited resources.
2. Projects which use limited resources can be extended for over
a period of time until the resources required are available. If
then again, the number of projects that an organization
undertakes exceeds the resources available. Then it's wiser to
postpone the project for a later date.
 Resource Over-allocation

Over-allocation of a resource is when a

resource has been assigned more work than
can be completed during normal work hours.
Resource allocation often leads to overtime and
overspending on financial resources.
Techniques for Avoiding Resource Overload

1. Resource Leveling
2. Prioritize Projects
3. Linking Tasks
4. Leaving Breathing Room
5. Avoid the “Putting out fires” approach to
project management
Techniques for Avoiding Resource Overload

1. Resource Leveling
In this method, the project manager
can either level resources by hand
(complicated, but perhaps more sound) or use a
software program such as Microsoft Project to
level resources for you.
Techniques for Avoiding Resource Overload

2. Prioritize Projects
By prioritizing projects, when a
resource allocation overload is apparent or a
task conflict exists, it can be resolved
without piling pressure on the individual or
team (or requiring the individual or team to
put in a couple twelve-hour days).
Techniques for Avoiding Resource Overload

3. Linking Tasks
Linking tasks is more of a logistical
solution. If the resource has been assigned to
research the markets for project A and project
B, these tasks could be linked. In this manner,
when it appears that a resource has been
over- allocated, really the tasks are similar
enough to count for two projects. By linking
these tasks from the different projects, the
problem can be resolved.
Techniques for Avoiding Resource Overload

4. Leaving Breathing Room

When scheduling the project, it is
vital to leave breathing room between tasks.
However, it is important to not under-
allocate resources as this could lead to a loss
of budget monies meaning resource
allocations problems will affect your project's
health. A fine balance must be achieved
between breathing room and not moving
forward quickly enough.
Techniques for Avoiding Resource Overload

5. Avoid the “Putting out fires” approach to

project management
If your team is consistently putting out
fires, it makes it difficult to focus on the
project. Moreover, by putting out fires, the
team becomes knee-deep in ash, while
project tasks pile up. This is where project
management techniques such as Scrum
come in handy.
Thank you!