MIS 578 Chapter 9: Resourcing Projects

Question 1

Estimating activity resources

Answer 1

Estimating activity resources is a process of assessing all types of resources—people, materials, tools, and equipment (along with quantities)—required for each activity to complete it as specified in project scope.

Question 2

Plan Resource management

Answer 2

Plan Resource Management is the process of identifying resources and required skills for the project, defining and assigning roles and responsibilities to all the resources, developing a reporting hierarchy, and communicating expectations.

Question 3

Staffing Management Plan

Answer 3

A staffing management plan is a proposal focused on acquiring, developing, and retaining human resources for as long as you need them on the project. The staffing management plan addresses how to identify potential internal and/or external human resources for the project; determine the availability of each; and decide how to handle timing issues with regard to building up, developing, rewarding, and releasing the project team.

Question 4

Resource Breakdown Structure

Answer 4

A resource breakdown structure (RBS) is defined as grouping all resources into main categories in level one and populating each main category with resources based on either function or skill level.

Question 5

Project Timing Issues

Answer 5

Timing issues include rewarding, recognizing, and releasing project team members. How are they rewarded? Under what circumstances are they released from the project, and what provision is made for them to be assigned to new work and/or promoted?

Question 6

Abilities needed when resourcing projects

Answer 6

Project managers need both technical and behavioral skills when staffing projects.

o The science and art of resourcing projects
 To develop a workable resource-based schedule that people will accept.
o Considerations when resourcing projects
 Tradeoffs often must be made to secure resources; Project managers need to understand
resource limits to avoid over promising, and resources comprise a large amount of cost.
o Activity vs. Resource dominated schedules
While almost all project schedules are partly limited by activities and partly by resources, it is
helpful to understand which has the bigger impact on a particular schedule.

Question 7

Estimating resource needs

Answer 7

Understanding resource needs is the first part of securing the needed resources.

Question 8

Create a staffing management plan

Answer 8

This describes how human resource needs will be met.

-Identify potential resources
You may not get the specific people you prefer to work on your project, so it makes sense to
identify all possible resources.
-Determine resource availability
Many times the best resources are very busy, so confirming their availability is needed.
-Decide timing issues with resourcing projects
Project life cycles create issues on when to bring people onboard, how to motivate them when
the project lags, and how to release them at the end.

Question 9

Project team composition issues

Answer 9

Project teams often have people both from inside and outside the parent organization.

-Cross-functional teams
Many team members may look at issues differently based upon training, education, experience,
and personality.

-Co-located teams
Despite communication technologies that allow people to work together from long distance,
locating closely together is useful since many small decisions are made that people often do not
feel are important enough for formal communications.

-Virtual teams
The opposite of co-located teams is virtual teams where the teams rarely meet face to face.
Many people report that if they get a chance to meet at least once in person, it helps communication and trust.

-Outsourcing
Many times if all of the necessary resources cannot be found within the organization, additional
resources are hired from outside. The entire project can be outsourced or some activities on it
can be outsource

Question 10

Assign a resource to each activity

Answer 10

This may require negotiation and flexibility.

-Show resource responsibilities on RACI chart
RACI stands for responsible, approve, consult, and inform. While one person should have
primary responsibility for an activity, others may be involved in the other capacities.

-Show resource assignments on Gantt chart
Showing responsibilities on a schedule is a simple visual way to communicate responsibilities.

-Summarize resource responsibilities by time period with histogram. This allows the project manager to pinpoint the timing and specific activities assigned that
contribute to resource overloads

Question 11

Dealing with resource overloads

Answer 11

MS Project helps identify overloads, but the project manager must decide how to over come them.

-Methods of resolving resource overloads
Some of the methods used include assign work to other resources, split an activity, reorder the
activities, secure additional resources, reduce scope, inform the sponsor, and level the resource
demands.

-Resource leveling
First try to delay noncritical activities that are part of an overload within the amount of slack
they have. If that is not enough, then either the schedule needs to be delayed, the resource
needs to perform overtime, or one of the methods of resolving overloads mentioned above
needs to be used.

Question 12

Critical chain project management (CCPM)

Answer 12

CCPM considers limits based simultaneously upon traditional critical path (logical order and
activity duration) and limits of the bottleneck resource to form the sequence of activities called
the critical chain. Advice given includes avoid multitasking, estimate aggressively, buffer critical
chain activities, put all time for uncertainty at the end of the project rather than for individual
activities, finish activities early when possible, and communicate openly.

Question 13

Compress the project schedule

Actions to reduce the critical path

Answer 13

• Reduce the project scope and/or quality,
• Overlap sequential activities using FF, SS, or SF relationships,
• Partially overlap sequential activities by using time leads,
• Increase the number of work hours per day,
• Schedule activities that are normally in sequence at the same time,
• Shorten the duration of critical activities,
• Shorten activities by assigning more resources, and
• Shorten activities that cost the least to speed up.

Question 14

Compress the project schedule

Crashing

Answer 14

This is trading cost for time (paying more to get critical path activities completed more quickly).
The first activities selected are those that cost the least per day to speed up.

Question 15

Compress the project schedule

Fast-tracking

Answer 15

This is trading risk for time (performing activities concurrently that would often be performed in
sequence).

Question 16

A project manager needs two types of skills, __________________________ and _________________, to
successfully resource a project.

Answer 16

Technical and behavioral

Question 17

To help ensure project support, it is important to involve workers in the _______________ phase of the
project.

Answer 17

Planning

Question 18

What does a staffing management plan include?

Answer 18

List of potential internal and external human resources, availability of each resource and strategy for
handling timing issues with regard to building up, developing, rewarding, and releasing the project
team

Question 19

A(n) ______________________ is a tool which is used to show resource assignments.

Answer 19

Responsibility matrix or RACI chart

Question 20

The first column of a RACI chart contains the _____________________. The second column contains the
____________________________, and the remaining columns contain the ________________________.

Answer 20

• WBS,
• Activity name,
• Names of people involved in the project.

Question 21

It is best to only have one person assigned primary responsibility for an activity. True or false?

Answer 21

True

Question 22

A(n) ______________ _______________ is often used to show resource assignments.

Answer 22

Both a RACI chart and a Gantt chart are correct here.

Question 23

Using a(n) _____________________ can help a project manager identify if workers are overloaded.

Answer 23

Histogram

Question 24

____________________ is any form of schedule network analysis in which scheduling decisions are driven by resource constraints.

Answer 24

Resource leveling

Question 25

With resource leveling, _________________ activities are often delayed first.

Answer 25

Noncritical

Question 26

When performing resource leveling, it is helpful for the project manager to consult both the
_______________ _________________ ______________________ and the ________________ _________________________.

Answer 26

• Critical path schedule,

* Resource histogram

Question 27

Critical chain project management is a technique which uses both the predecessor-successor relationship
and _______________ _________________ to calculate the project’s critical chain.

Answer 27

Resource availability

Question 28

To reduce the total project duration, activities that are on the noncritical path must be reduced. True or
false?

Answer 28

False

Question 29

_____________________ and __________ ______________ are two techniques that are used to compress
project schedules.

Answer 29

• Crashing and

* Fast-tracking

Question 30

When crashing a project, what two criteria are considered when deciding which activities to speed up?

DIDN’T REALLY COVER CRASHING IN DETAIL, BUT I DID TALK ABOUT THIS

Answer 30

• Is it on the critical path and

* What is the cost per time period to crash each activity?

Question 31

List four common assignments that are given to workers on RACI charts.

Answer 31

(i) . Responsible,
(ii) . Approve,
(iii) . Consult, and
(iv) . Inform

Question 32

Identify three examples of when a project manager uses technical skills and three examples of when a
manager uses behavioral skills.

Answer 32

• Technical:

(i) . Estimating resource demands,
(ii) . Compressing a project schedule, and
(iii) . Identifying when an employee is overworked or underutilized.

• Behavioral:

1. Selecting the appropriate workers,
2. Working with a diverse team, and
3. Developing capability in workers.

Question 33

Describe the importance of activity resource estimating.

Answer 33

Activity resource estimating is the first process in resourcing a project. Activity resource estimating
involves determining what type of resources will be needed for each activity and what quantity of
these resources will be needed. All other resourcing planning depends on accurate resource activity
estimating.

Question 34

List at least four factors that a project manager should consider when identifying individuals to work on a
project. Why is each important?

Answer 34

(i). Skill level,
• (ii). Physical location,
• (iii). Work function, and
• (iv). Professional discipline. All are important to ensure that the assigned workers will have
the necessary ability to perform their work correctly

Question 35

Why is it important to identify key members of a project early on?

Answer 35

People are typically more enthusiastic about working on a project that they helped to plan. By
involving key members early, it will help to motivate the team throughout the duration of the
project. Doing this is also helpful because it helps to establish the culture of the group as well as get
the project off to a quick start.

Question 36

Describe a potential timing issue that can occur early in a project and a potential timing issue that can occur
at the end of a project. How would you address each of these issues in your project?

Answer 36

Answers vary. A timing issue that occurs early in a project is when to bring project workers on
board. Doing so too early can be costly, but it is often helpful to bring them on as soon as possible
to ensure that the person is available to work on the project. A timing issue that occurs at the end
of the project is how to release and reward the team. Ensuring the project work is complete,
celebrating success, providing positive (if earned) feedback to functional managers regarding the
team members’ performance are all helpful when releasing and rewarding individuals.

Question 37

Describe two ways that a project manager can resolve resource overloads. Under what circumstances
should each be used?

Answer 37

Answers vary, but look for:

• One method is to reassign certain activities to other project workers to free-up one worker from
being overloaded. This should be used when the work demands vary substantially from worker to
worker.

• Another method is to delay one or more of the activities that comprise the overload. This can be
used when it is more important to use a specific resource on an activity than it is to complete the
project by a certain time.

Question 38

List three common problems that can occur when traditional critical path scheduling is used. How would
you address each?

Answer 38

• First, people typically make conservative duration estimates so that they have plenty of time to
complete their portion of the project.
• Second, workers typically use all the time that is given to them instead of finishing early.
• Third, people are often asked to multitask and therefore, are unable to give the needed attention to
the project. To overcome each, open and honest communication needs to be established, people
should be encouraged to work exclusively on critical path activities to the extent possible, and
people should be encouraged to complete as quickly as practical regardless of what the schedule
states (early completion is encouraged).

Question 39

Give an example of what is given up in a project when it is crashed and when it is fast tracked.

DIDN’T REALLY COVER CRASHING IN DETAIL, BUT I DID TALK ABOUT THIS

Answer 39

When a project is crashed, the budget is often given up as it will cost more to have the activities
performed faster. When a project is fast-tracked, the level of risk is often given up as fast-tracking
results in increasing the level of risk in a project.

Question 40

Describe several instances when a project schedule is limited mostly by activities. Describe several
instances when a project schedule is limited mostly by resources.

Answer 40

Answers vary, but look for:

-• activity limited
o construction schedule
o custom manufacturing project

-• resource limited
o software implementation project
o building design by architectural firm

Question 41

Explain how a project can be fast tracked.

I DID DISCUSS FAST TRACKING!

Answer 41

A project can be fast-tracked by having activities that would typically be performed in a series now
performed at the same time. For example, if Activity A and Activity B would normally be performed
in series, the project could be speeded up if both activities were performed at the same time.

Question 42

Describe how to perform resource leveling.

Answer 42

• define critical path
• “front-load” the schedule (schedule activities as soon as possible)
• generate resource histogram to visually determine time periods when each resource is overloaded
and by which activity
• any activities not on critical path can be moved within their slack
• apply other techniques – reassign activities, crash or fast-track

Question 43

Describe problems with traditional project scheduling techniques that encourage some organizations to use
critical chain project management.

Answer 43

Answers vary, but look for:

• Many people make conservative duration estimates. Often, people are punished for completing
work late, so they give themselves plenty of time in their estimates.
• Durations of some activities vary greatly. The part of this variation that is due to specific possible
events taking place can be managed by risk management techniques as discussed in Chapter 10. The
other part of the variation, known as common cause or random variation sometimes is just difficult
to accurately estimate.
• Many project workers tend to use all of the time available to them. Instead of finishing early and
getting the work to the next person, they keep fine-tuning their work and turn it in just on time.
• To keep multiple projects moving, many workers are asked to multitask. Up to a point, multitasking
is helpful in keeping multiple projects moving and keeping the workers stimulated. However, many
people are asked to multitask far beyond that point; by not focusing on a limited number of things,
they sometimes cannot give adequate attention to any.

Question 44

What considerations must a project manager keep in mind when identifying potential workers for a
project?

Answer 44

Answers vary, but look for:

• work functions (may include job titles and range of responsibilities),
• professional discipline (may include degrees and professional certifications),
• skill level (may include experience and performance ratings),
• physical location (may include willingness to relocate and travel), and organizational/administrative
unit (may include costs and contractual issues).

Question 45

Describe components of a critical chain project management system.

Answer 45

Answers vary, but look for:

• Rather than calculate the critical path based solely upon predecessor–successor relationships alone,
incorporate calculations on resource availability.
• Once the resource that is most in demand is identified, make efforts to keep that resource
appropriately busy on critical chain activities (those critical both because of the predecessor–
successor relationships and because of resource shortages) but not overloaded.
• Avoiding multitasking.
• Estimating aggressively how quickly each activity can be completed.
• Putting a feeding buffer of time directly in front of critical chain activities to ensure they will not be
delayed.
• Putting the time normally reserved for the uncertainty in each individual activity at the end of the
project as a total project buffer that the project manager can use as needed.
• Finishing activities early if possible and passing the work on to the next worker.