Resource Management Flashcards
Factors that affect resources:
Budget
Resources available
Timing
Skills ( may need training )
Demands
Holidays
Politics ( sponsor involved to resolve situation)
Performance ( people work at different rates)
There are two styles of resources :
Re-usable
replenishables
Overtime should be used as a tool to help when things are going wrong and it is unwise to rely on overtime to help resolve resource process but a project should be scheduled on a basis of ?
Overtime in the first place
Synergy =
The combined action of two or more people etc working together to produce an effect greater that the sum of the individual effort
Resource smoothing makes _______ use of resources.
Removing available float make it difficult to deal with _____
Efficient
Delays
Resource smoothing - the resource are used ______ as possible whilst maintain the original end date of the project
Efficiently
Resources are considered as ?
All the labour and non labour items required to undertake the scope of the work to the required quality
Resource can be : human (labour), materials , plant or equipment and facilities (such as specialist test sites)
Each of the resources may drive the project pace by constraining the ____, that can be achieved. Such as a resource cap to a point in time will determine how much work can be completed up to that point.
Output
Resources that constrain the project delivery rate are known as ?
Critical resources
- it is likely that the relative importance of each resource will vary depending on project type but also from project to project
When projects are using a linear lifecycle , the assumption is that when the schedule is planned initially all resources are available when require. If after reviewing the schedule there are periods where resources are not available, _________ techniques can be applied. Such as ________ and _______ which can try to fit the scope of work into the resource limit and as much as possible maintain schedule and quality objectives.
Resource management
Levelling and smoothing
After all possibilities have been considered and resources are still not sufficient it is likely that all planned completion dates of activities are _______ and overall duration is _______.
Delayed
Increased
Project using an iterative lifecycle ensure requirements are ______ and implemented within the pre-allocated resources , varying the scope and quality achieved within the time box, if required. However , if all the scope must be delivered to the specified quality and extension of time is inevitable I order to finish on time specific features may be withdrawn from a time box and scheduled for a subsequent iteration.
Prioritised
The main objectives of resource management are to ?
Make sure that all resources are used optimally.
- there are two basic options available to the project manager; resource levelling and resource smoothing
Resource levelling answers the question :
With the resource available when will the work be finished ?
Resource levelling is used where resource availability is ___________ .
Limited
Resource levelling can be achieved in a project by:
- redefining the scope of the activities undertaken by the particular resource concerned __ given some of the work to an under-utilised resource.
- redefining the specification ( avoiding if possible , any compromise to the quality of the final product)
- increasing task duration to reduce overall resource requirements
- increasing resources on earlier tasks to bring workload forward , such that peaks in the future are reduced - this will have cost and possibly quality implications
Resource levelling is used when ?
Resource availability is limited
When all levelling options have been considered and a solution is still unavailable the project duration will ___but imperially this is minimised to the least possible extent.
Extend
Resource levelling = ()
Resource limited scheduling
Resource smoothing = ()
Time limited scheduling
Resource smoothing is used when ?
Time is more important that cost
The objective of resource smoothing is ?
To deliver the work within the fixed timescales
This may involve reducing the duration of activities by adding resources.
Such as - more people or the same number of people Working longer hours or additional equipment & then trying to get a smooth usage of resources avoiding peaks and troughs of resource demand and optimising their flow from one piece of work to another.
Resource smoothing needs to be considered on a ____________ particularly if the reason for applying smoothing is in response to a request to reduce the overall duration of the schedule.
Resource by resource basis.
Resource smoothing: applying additional resources to the critical path activities if the only way the overall schedule will be impacted. If additional resources were applied to activities float it would just _____
Apply additional float to those activities with no impact on duration overall
- these situations can lead to a build up of resources , particularly on those critical activities resulting in large peak and troughs appearing in the resource demand profile.
Applying smoothing will ensure that additional required to meet the new end date are applied on ________ across the whole schedule rather than in selective areas.
Critical activities
To achieve a smoothed resource profile may require some __________ of the order of some of the work. Achieving the optimally resource schedule can be a creative process requiring multiple iterations to get the best possible results.
Redefinition
Resource smoothing - there is a finite limit to the resources that can be put into some tasks due to the nature of the tasks and the environment . If resource really is finite there no more hours available from skilled people or no more equipment available then there is no option buy to ?
Extend durations and the overall project plan to accommodate this .
The result of resource optimising whether a involving the critical chain approach or resource levelling or smoothing of a critical Plath based schedule is a ?
Curve that shows the planned deployment of resources ( and therefore cost) to complete the scope and quality overtime
