RESOURCE SCHEDULING

MGMT 6084 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

MODULE
EIGHT

Prof. Mohamed Soliman

Project Management by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

The following content was prepared by Prof Robert Brookes and reproduced
from Larson, Gray (2018) Project Management: The Managerial Process.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

You are here!

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO TODAY?

 Learn about time-constrained and resource-constrained schedules.

 How to smooth resources over the project for time-constrained projects.
 How to smooth resources over resource-constrained projects.
 How to develop a project budget baseline.
MAKING TEA!

 Draw a logical network diagram for making tea, using the following WBS:

Activity
Description Predecessor
ID
A Decide to make tea
B Put water in kettle A
C Put teabags in teapot A
D Put milk in cup A
E Boil water B
F Put boiled water in teapot C, E
G Put tea in cup F
H Drink tea D, G
MAKING TEA

Put
boiled
Put water Boil water in Pour tea Drink tea
Start
in kettle water teapot in cup

Put tea in
teapot

Put milk
in cup
Problem: you are restricted
by the number of hands you
have!
MAKING TEA

Put
boiled
Put water Boil water in Pour tea Drink tea
Start
in kettle water teapot in cup

Put tea in
teapot

Put milk The resource driven

in cup solution.
WHY WE NEED TO SCHEDULE

 The logic diagram and network assume that resources are unlimited – either in
total or some other constraint (e.g. skilled worker).
 By adding in the resource view, we create the project schedule.
 Time-phased resourcing also allow for the creation of a cost budget for the
project.
TECHNICAL VS RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS
 TYPES OF SCHEDULING PROBLEMS

Time-constrained Resource-
constrained
Must be completed by
an imposed date. Must be completed
within an imposed
If project is late, add cost.
resources (cost).
If project is over cost,
Cost is flexible but add time.
should be minimized.
Time is flexible, but
should be minimized.
TWO TYPES OF SMOOTHING

Time-constrained
Although meeting the project timeline is the priority, we do not want to waste
resources.

Resource-constrained
Although meeting the project cost or other constrained resource requirements are
a priority, we still want to finish the project as soon as possible.

Both options involve reducing resource ‘peaks’. In time-constrained projects, we are

minimizing the average cost per time unit. In resource constrained projects this also
means smoothing the costs, but this smoothing will result in a longer project since
there is a maximum resource usage per time unit allowed.
TIME-CONSTRAINED SMOOTHING
Advantages

Reduces peak demand,

overall resources needed,
and fluctuation.

Disadvantages

There is a loss of flexibility

(slack times are reduced),
and critical path sensitivity
is increased.
TIME-CONSTRAINED SMOOTHING

Week
1 2 3 4
NETWORK NODE TO SCHEDULE CHART
NETWORK NODE TO SCHEDULE CHART
NETWORK NODE TO SCHEDULE CHART

2 2 2
RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED SMOOTHING

 Resources can be limited by overall quantity or availability.

 The method used to conduct smoothing is using parallel activities to apply the
following rules:
i. Where parallel activities add up to a total time higher than the resource
limit, we need to decide which activities to keep.
ii. First, we choose the activity that has the minimum slack.
iii. If all activities have the same slack, then we choose the activity with the least
duration.
iv. If all activities have the same duration, choose the activity with the lowest
ID number.
 Remember we cannot change the project logic!
WORKED EXAMPLE – EXERCISE #5

 We will work through Exercise #5 together.

 Worksheets will be provided.
STARTING OUT
PERIOD 0-1

 Schedule activity 2 (minimum slack)

 Schedule activity 1
PERIOD 1-2
 Delay ES of Activity 3 from P1 to P2, then reduce slack to 2.
PERIOD 2-3
 Delay ES of Activity 3 from P2 to P3, then reduce slack to 1.
PERIOD 3-4

 Schedule 4 (min slack) and 3 (also min slack).

 Delay ES of activity 5 from P3 to P4, then reduce slack to 1.
 PERIODS 4-5, 5-6
 Delay ES of activity 5 from P4 to P5, then reduce slack to 0.

 Delay ES of activity 5 from P5 to P6, then reduce slack to -1.

PERIOD 6-7, 7-8
 Delay ES of Activity 5 from P6 to P7, then reduce slack to -2.
 Schedule Activity 5.
PERIODS 8-9, 9-10, 10-11
 Delay ES of Activity 6 from P8 to P9, then reduce slack to -1.
 Finally, delay ES of Activity 6 from P9 to P10, then reduce slack to -2.
BREAK TIME

 10 minutes

Licenced under CC
3.0
YOUR TURN – EXERCISE #6

 Fill out the provided worksheet on your own.

EXERCISE 6
SCHEDULING IN THE PORTFOLIO
ENVIRONMENT

 Delays in one project can affect not just that project, but other ones as well.
 There is always a chance that there will be idle resources or project delays due
to resource constraints – it is impossible for everything to be perfectly balanced.
 This means that we want to optimize resource utilization as much as possible,
while planning for potential problems.
 Organizationally, it will become evident over time where the problems tend to
occur (for example, it is consistent that resources are over-allocated) and this
can be planned for during the estimation process.
 However – what might happen over time?
 What are the potential root causes?
SCHEDULING IN THE PORTFOLIO
ENVIRONMENT

Recommendations:
1. Create project offices to oversee scheduling of resources across projects.
Question – does this actually mitigate conflicts?
2. Use a project priority queuing system: first come, first served for resources.
Question – is this the right way to manage prioritization?
3. Centralize project management (PMO) – treat all projects as part of one big
‘megaproject’. Question – how does this deal with complexity? How does it shift
organizational power relationships?
4. Outsource project to reduce the number of projects handled internally.
Question – if under-resourcing represents a risk, what risk option does this
recommendation use?
CREATING THE PROJECT COST BASELINE
WORKED EXAMPLE – EXERCISE #10
WORKED EXAMPLE – EXERCISE #10
WORKED EXAMPLE – EXERCISE #10
WORKED EXAMPLE – EXERCISE #10
TRY ON YOUR OWN – EXERCISE #9

 Fill out the worksheet!

SUMMARY

 You learned why we need to do resource scheduling subsequent to the project

design phase, and the differences between time-constrained and resource-
constrained methods.
 You can now perform basic resource smoothing.
 You can now create basic time-phased cost budgets for your projects.
THINGS TO DO BETWEEN NOW AND THE NEXT
CLASS…

 Continue to work on the Risk Cases, and remember to submit prior to your due
date, with your team minutes!
 Next week we will be talking about reducing project durations. Watch the video
posted on FOL to help prepare yourself.
 READ Chapter 9, Reducing Project Duration, Project Management 7E – Larson
and Gray.