Resource Management

Question 1

part (a) Describe two elements that need to be considered when allocating resources to a project schedule following a linear life cycle.

part (b) Explain three key differences between resource smoothing and resource levelling.

Answer 1

Answer(a)
1. Human resource requirements. Each project task has different human resource requirements. Some require 1 or more people with similar skills others require a variety of skills, some all the time and some part of the time. The resource requirements will be dictated by the desired project end date but may be constrained by resource availability and budget.

2. Resource Availability. Tasks normally need more than just human resources. These include raw materials, consumable items, equipment and facilities. Plans must be put in place to ensure these resources are available when required, especially those with long lead times.

Answer(b)
1. Resource smoothing is time constrained. It tries to even out resource usage by utilising float. Resource levelling is driven by resource constraints at the expense of time.

2. Resource smoothing only affects non-critical activities whilst levelling will affect the critical path
3. Resource smoothing cannot fully address the situation where resource requirements exceed availability whilst levelling can.

Question 2

Part (a) Within the context of Earned Value Management, explain the term Earned Value.

part (b) Explain four benefits of using Earned Value Management.

Answer 2

part a
Earned Value represents the amount of planned work that has been completed based on its budgeted cost. For each individual activity Earned Value equals original budget x % complete. An activity when complete has Earned Value equal to its budget irrespective of its actual cost.

part b
1. If we rely just upon the schedule to control our project, then non-critical items receive less attention. EV measures the whole project rather than concentrating on the Critical Path so warns us when non-critical items are slipping and could become critical.

2. EV allows us to forecast the project outcome using different assumptions. We can assume that all future work will be performed to plan or we can assume that future work will be of the same efficiency as completed work. This will give 2 different forecasts of project outcome.
3. EV allows us to easily track money spent and work completed and hence we can plot and monitor trends which gives early warning as to deviations from the plan and what may happen if no action is taken
4. To make EV work we need to be able to measure % complete and money spent for each activity as it progresses. This requirement imposes discipline on project monitoring and control at activity level and thus enhances overall project control

Question 3

Part (a) State two resource loading observations from the given histogram.

The following resource histogram shows the labour resources required for a project. The capacity line indicates that there are a maximum number of 8 labour resources available to the project each week.

(exam paper page 41)

Part (b) List and describe four actions that the project manager might take in response to the resource loading profile in the given histogram. Include the potential benefit to the project of taking each action.

Answer 3

Answer (a) State two resource loading observations

1) Maximum loading (9) is greater than the resources available (8)
2) The resource loading is very uneven and would be improved by smoothing and levelling

answer b
1.Carry out resource smoothing
Resource smoothing attempts to resolve resource overloads by utilising Float without delaying the project. It is possible that some activities in the affected periods could be delayed to a time when resource is available. An additional benefit is that resource requirements could possibly even be reduced to below 8.

2.Adjust resources on overloaded tasks
A similar affect to smoothing could be obtained by reducing resources on suitable activities within the affected period. This would have the effect of increasing the duration of some resources within the limits of float. The benefit is reducing peak resource requirements.

3.Change activity dependencies
The sequencing of activities within the network could be examined to see if any of the dependencies are not strictly mandatory. It may be possible to move activities with high resource requirement to later in the project. Again, the benefit is reducing peak resource requirements.

4.Carry out resource levelling
Resource levelling attempts to overcome resource constraints by removing the time constraint on the project. This would allow for 1 or more activities in the affected area not to start until resources are free. This would have the effect of lengthening the critical path and hence project duration. Once again, the benefit is reduced peak resource loading but at the cost of project delay.