(05) Resource Scheduling Flashcards
What are renewable resources?
Available for each period regardless of project duration.
- E.g., manpower, machine, equipment, etc.
What are Non-Renewable Resources?
Exhausted as they are used and are limited over the entire planning horizon.
- E.g., raw material, capital, etc.
What are Different Sequences?
- Technical considerations define the logical sequence.
- Shortage of resources redefine the activity sequence.
- Although the technical considerations allow the simultaneous executions of the activities, due to the shortage of resources the tasks have to be executed sequentially.
What are Time-constrained projects?
- Must be completed by a set date.
- Use of levelling techniques to..
- Managerial implications.
What must be completed by a set date?
Time is fixed, resources are flexible: additional resources are required to ensure project meets schedule.
Why are levelling techniques used?
- Create a smoother distribution of resource usage by delaying noncritical activities.
- Fluctuation in resource demand is minimised.
- Resources over the life of the project are reduced.
What managerial implications are there?
- Improves morale and results in fewer problems in the personnel and payroll.
- Associated direct costs also tend to be levelled.
What are the factors of resource-constrained projects?
- Level of resources available cannot be exceeded.
- Use of heuristics (rule-of-thumb) that focus on the following priority rule in the order..
- Assumptions (simplifications).
What level of resources available cannot be exceeded?
Resources are fixed, time is flexible: inadequate resources will delay the project.
What is the following priority rule for the use of heuristics (rule of thumb)?
- Minimum slack.
- Smallest (least) duration.
- Early start (or lowest identification number).
Assumptions (simplifications).
- Splitting activities is not allowed — once an activity starts, it is carried to completion.
- Level of resource used for an activity cannot be changed.
- Activities with the most slack pose the least risk.
- Reduction of flexibility may increase risk.
What are the impacts of Resource-constrained scheduling?
- Reduces slack.
- Reduces flexibility.
- Increases the number of critical and near-critical activities.
- Increases scheduling complexity.
- May break sequence of activities, creating disjointed critical activities.
- May cause parallel activities to become sequential.
- May cause critical activities to become noncritical.
What types of constraints are there?
Time-constrained projects.
Resource-constrained projects.
Resource-constrained scheduling.
Of course, a combination of both time and resource constraints is also possible.
What is estimating project costs about?
It is about forecasting or approximating the cost of completing project deliverables.
What are the types of estimates?
- Top-down (macro) estimates: analogy, group consensus or mathematical relationships.
- Bottom-up (micro) estimates: estimates of elements of the work breakdown structure.