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Pinto Pm2 Ism Ch12
Pinto Pm2 Ism Ch12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Resource Management
To Accompany
PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
Achieving Competitive Advantage
By
Jeffrey K. Pinto
CHAPTER 12
PROJECT PROFILE The Road to Green: Converting a Power Plant
INTRODUCTION
12.1 The Nature of Resource Constraints on Projects
12.2 Resource Loading
12.3 Constrained Projects
12.4 Resource Leveling Projects
Step One: Develop Resource Loading Table
Step Two: Determine Activity Late Finish Dates
Step Three: Identify Resource Overallocation
Step Four: Resource Level the Loading Table
Splitting Activities
Optimization Models
12.5 Managing Resources in Multi-Project Environments
Resolving Resource Allocation Decisions in Multi-project Environments
Summary
Key Terms
Solved Problems
Discussion Questions
Problems
Case Study 12.1: The Problems of Multitasking
Internet Exercises
MSProject Exercises
PMP Certification Sample Questions
Integrated Project Managing Your Projects Resources
Bibliography
TRANSPARENCIES
1. TECHNICAL CONSTRAINTS
2. PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS
3. RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS
i. PEOPLE
i. MATERIALS
ii. MONEY
iii. EQUIPMENT
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Duration
ES
EF
LS
LF Slack
--
10
10
10
--
11
14
15
10
16
10
16
10
16
--
11
15
14
18
16
23
16
23
--
15
20
18
23
15
18
20
23
23
28
23
28
--
12.5 (COND)
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
10
12.5 (COND) - Activity Float and Resource Needs for the Sample Network
Activity
Duration
Total Float
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
5
4
5
6
6
6
4
7
5
3
5
0
1
0
3
1
0
3
0
3
5
0
Resource Hours
Needed Per Week
6
2
4
3
3
2
4
3
4
2
5
Total
Total Resources
Required
30
8
20
18
18
12
16
21
20
6
25
194
11
Resource Requirements
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1
11
13
15
17
19
21
23
25
27
Project Days
12
12.7 Resource Loading Table for Sample Network When Activity Float is Included
January
Activity
A
1 2 3 4 5
8 9 10 11 12
15 16 17 18 19
February
22 23 24 25 26
2 2 2 2
4 4 4 4 4
3 3 3 3 3
5 6 7
6 6 6 6 6
29 30 31 1 2
3 3
5 5
5 5 5
13
Total
6 6 6 6 6
9 9 9 9 10
8 9
3 3
5 5
5 5 5
( = Late Finish)
1 2 3 4 5
8 9 10 11 12
15 16 17 18 19
22 23 24 25 26
4 4 4 4 4
3 3 3 3 3
3
4
5 6 7
2 2 2 2
29 30 31 1 2
6 6 6 6 6
February
3 3
5 5
5 5 5
14
Total
6 6 6 6 6
9 9
9 9 7
3 3
5 5
5 5 5
( = Late Finish)
15
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
16
8
6
4
Resources
F
E
10
12
14
Project Days
17
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Consider a project to build a bridge over a river gorge. What are some of the
resource constraints that would make this project challenging?
Resource constraints would include money/budget constraints, specialized equipment,
large material requirements, and personnel constraints revolving around contractors, and
highly-skilled construction crew. A bridge is subject to many potential risks related to
environment, technology and physical construction. All put the project in jeopardy of
overextending its budget which can make monetary budgets and necessary reserves a
central resource constraint. Due to the specialized equipment and personnel required,
scheduling these resources to arrive at appropriate times is important. Equipment rentals
and labor can be expensive, so it is important to schedule these resources so that they
arrive just in time for use, however this can be difficult to accurately predict. It is also
unlikely that the same personnel will be required throughout the project. One
construction team may be needed for pouring foundations, while another is hired to pave
the driving surface. Again, identifying, sequencing and scheduling these resources is
vital to the projects on time completion.
2. For many projects, the key resources to be managed are the project team personnel.
Explain in what sense and how project team personnel are often the project critical
resource.
Project teams are created to perform work on a specific project. Since projects often
require a team members expertise in more than one area, it is not uncommon for a team
member to be assigned to more than one task in the project. The problem comes when
these two tasks need to occur simultaneously. If only one person on the team or within
the organization can perform the function, then team personnel becomes the critical
resource constraining the ability to complete the project as planned. Alternate scheduling
18
has to be made in order to enable completion of both tasks and hence, progress on the
project to continue.
3. What is the philosophy underlying resource loading? What does it do for our project?
Why is it a critical element in effectively managing the project plan?
Resource loading identifies the amount of resources needed over the project baseline. It
is a process that assigns resources in the required amount to each project activity.
Resource loading maps out resource use over the duration of the project. It is a useful
tool for team members to determine conflicting uses and over allocation of resources
prior to the start of the project. It is critical to effect project management in that it
provides a better picture of resource availability, constraints and misallocation. This
allows managers to determine more accurately if extra resources are required and if the
project baseline is reasonable.
4. It has been argued that a project schedule which has not been resource leveled is
useless. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why or why not?
This question requires students to recognize that it is only after a schedule has been
resource-leveled that it represents a true perspective of how long activities and the project
as a whole are expected to take. It is important that instructors clearly identify the
linkage between schedules and resource availability and commitment for viable project
timeframes to completion.
5. Discuss the nature of time/cost tradeoffs on projects. What does this concept imply
for our project management practices?
19
When a resource is over allocated, meaning it is needed to perform multiple tasks at one
time or is needed in a greater quantity than the current supply, time/cost tradeoff
decisions have to be made. Due to the over allocation, project managers must decide to
either increase the overall time of the project by extending the schedule to allow extra
time to complete both tasks or increase the budget to allow for employment of additional
resource use. Either way, the project is going to run over projected figures, it is simply a
matter of whether the budget or timetable will be extended.
6. When resource leveling a project, there are a number of heuristics that can help us
prioritize those activities that receive resources first. Explain how each of the following
heuristics works and give an example:
a. Activities with the smallest slack: Those activities that have the smallest amount of
slack are given priority for resources. This is done to reduce the amount of slippage in
the overall project, by attempting to meet the demands of tighter deadlines. For example,
if activity A has 4 days of slack time and activity B has 3 days of slack time. Then,
resources needed to complete B are allocated first. Activity A is scheduled around the
resource use of B.
b. Activities with the smallest duration: The activity requiring the shortest amount of time
to complete may receive resources first. This heuristic focuses on completing a the
greatest number of tasks by getting shorter tasks out of the way before engaging in longterm assignments. In this case, if activity A takes 10 days to complete while activity B
will take 25 days. Then, A is scheduled first and resources for B are assigned based on
remaining availability.
c. Activities with the lowest identification number: Tasks starting earlier in the WBS
sequence are assigned resources before those occurring later. If A begins on day 1 of the
project and B begins on day 6, then resources will be assigned to A first.
20
d. Activities with the most successor tasks: Resources are assigned to the task which has
the greatest number of subsequent tasks. This attempts to allow increase the number of
downstream tasks that are able to get underway. Assuming activity A has 4 successor
tasks following its completion and B has 6 successor tasks. B will be assigned resources
first, leaving A to be scheduled with the remaining resource availability.
e. Activities with requiring the most resources: Activities requiring the greatest use of
resources is assigned priority. Then, those with lesser requirements are allocated. Here,
if A requires 10 people and 5 specialized machines for its completion while B only needs
5 people and 1 machine, then A will be scheduled first.
7. Multi-tasking can have an important negative impact on your ability to resource level
a project. When your team members are involved in multiple additional commitments,
we must be careful not to assign their time too optimistically. In fact, it has been said:
Remember, 40 hours is not the same as one weeks work. Comment on this idea. How
does multi-tasking make it difficult to accurately resource level a project?
Multi-tasking decreases employee efficiency because employee time is divided among
multiple projects. This division creates down time as employees shift from one project to
the next. Simple things such as time spent getting to a new location or time switching
from on set of thought processes to another eat up time that employees could be spending
on task accomplishment. Therefore, scheduling may become difficult because
employees time devoted to one project begins to affect their time availability for other
projects. Managers in charge of scheduling need to be aware that an employee has
multiple responsibilities and not assume that he or she can devote their full amount of
working hours to one project.
21
22
CASE STUDY
23
While there is some truth to this statement, due to many firms desire to operate with a
lean staff, this statement can be a very good source of discussion among students in a
classroom setting. One method for minimizing the problems with multitasking is to do a
better job of project portfolio management, adding new projects to the portfolio only after
considering resource availability in addition to other strategic factors.
3) Because of the problems of multi-tasking, project managers must remember that
there is a difference between an activitys duration and the project calendar. In
other words, 40 hours of work on a project task is NOT the same thing as one
week on the baseline schedule. Please comment on this concept. Why does
multitasking decouple activity duration estimates from the project schedule?
See the general discussion of the case above. Multitasking confuses accurate resource
requirements planning because it adds a level of complication to this process. In
developing a resource-leveled project, it is critical that all the resources commitments be
factored into the schedule, not just their commitments to the current project itself.
24
PROBLEMS
Consider a project with the following information:
Activity
Duration
Predecessors
--
B, C
E, F, G
Activity
Duration
ES
EF
LS
LF
Slack
--
10
10
10
--
10
13
10
13
--
13
12
17
13
17
13
17
--
10
12
15
17
17
22
17
22
--
25
Activity
Duration
Total Float
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
3 weeks
5 weeks
7 weeks
3 weeks
5 weeks
4 weeks
2 weeks
5 weeks
-2
--4
-5
--
26
Solution to 1:
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
27
Solution to Problem 2:
Alternative Paths through the Network:
1. A B E H
2. A B D F H
3. A C G H
Critical Path: A C D F H
Solution to Problem 3:
Weeks
Activity
4 4
4 4
6]
10
13
6]
14
15
16
17
] = Late Finish
22
4]
21
]
4
19 20
4]
Total
18
D
E
11 12
11 11
Solution to Problem 4:
Resources are overcommitted in weeks 11 and 12 by three hours each (total of 11 hours
are committed during those weeks).
Solution to Problem 5:
Weeks
Activity
4 4
4 4
6]
10
13
6]
14
15
16
17
4]
3]
] = Late Finish
21
22
]
4
19 20
4]
Total
18
D
E
11 12
11 11
8
8
4
7
4
7
Problem 6
Consider the partial resource loading chart shown below. Suppose that the maximum
resource hours you can commit per day are 8.
a. What are the dates on which project resources are over allocated?
b. How should the resource loading table be reconfigured to correct for this over
allocation?
c. Now, suppose that the maximum resources hours per day you can commit are
reduced to 6. How would you reconfigure the resource loading table to adjust?
What would be the new project completion date?
1 2 3 4 5
8 9 10 11 12
15 16 17 18 19
22 23 24 25 26
6 6 6 6 6]
2 2 2 2
4 4 4 4 4]
3 3 3 3 3
4]
Total
6 6 6 6 6
9 9 9 9 7
]
4
35
1 2 3 4 5
8 9 10 11 12
15 16 17 18 19
22 23 24 25 26
6 6 6 6 6]
2 2
4 4 4 4 4]
3 3 3 3 3
2]
4]
Total
6 6 6 6 6
7 7 7 7 7
]
4
4 ]
Solution to Problem 6 (c): Because activities C and D have little slack time, pushing them off to their Late Finish points is not a viable
option. Activity D would have to be moved later, affecting the starting dates for Activities E, F and G. The new completion date for
the project would be July 1, or three days late.
Project Calendar Dates
June
Activity
1 2 3 4 5
8 9 10 11 12
July
15 16 17 18 19
22 23 24 25 26
6 6 6 6 6
2 2
4 4
4 4
Total
29 30 1
6 6 6 6
6 6 6 6 4
37
MSProject EXERCISES
Problem 12.1
Refer to the activity network table below. Enter this information using MSProject in
order to produce a Gantt chart. Assume that each resource has been assigned to the
project activity on a full-time basis.
Activity
Duration
Predecessors
Resource Assigned
A. User survey
None
Gail Wilkins
B. Coding
12
Tom Hodges
C. Debug
Wilson Pitts
D. Design interface
A, C
Sue Ryan
E. Develop training
Reed Taylor
Solution:
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
38
Problem 12.2
Using the above information, produce a Resource Usage sheet, identifying the total
number of hours and daily commitments of each project team member.
Solution:
The following is a partial Resource Usage sheet, identifying the team members and their
total work hour commitments.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
39
Problem 12.3
Refer to the activity network table below. Suppose that we modified the original table
slightly to show the following predecessor relationships between tasks and resources
assigned to perform these activities. Enter this information using MSProject in order to
produce a Gantt chart. Assume that each resource has been assigned to the project
activity on a full-time basis.
Activity
Duration
Predecessors
Resource Assigned
A. User survey
None
Gail Wilkins
B. Coding
12
Tom Hodges
C. Debug
Tom Hodges
D. Design interface
B, C
Sue Ryan
E. Develop training
Reed Taylor
A. Using the Resource Usage view, can you determine any warning signs that
some member of the project team has been overassigned to the project
team?
Solution:
The output highlights (in red) the warning that Tom Hodges has been overassigned to
multiple simultaneous tasks.
40
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
B. Click on the Resource Graph view to determine the specific days when
there is a conflict in the resource assignment schedule.
Solution:
The Resource Graph screen indicates the exact dates that show a resource assignment
conflict, providing the user with the basis for leveling the activity network.
41
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
42
Problem 12.4
Using the information provided in problem 12.3 above, how might you resource level this
network to remove the conflicts? Show how you would resource level the network.
From a schedule perspective, what is the new duration of the project?
Solution:
The challenge here lies in reassigning Tom Hodges in such a manner that the schedule no
longer shows conflict among his project responsibilities. Clicking on the Tools taskbar
shows a Resource Leveling function, under which MSProject will automatically smooth
out any resource conflicts. The new Gantt chart is shown below.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.