Project Management

Sub:-Elective

Assignment 5

Submitted To:-
Ar. Veena Ekbote Ma’am
Ar. Anklesh Kumawat sir

Submitted By:-
Prajakta Sushil Vaidya
1. How many types of resources are there. Describe them
in brief.
Resource: Anything which has some utility for us is called a resource.
Some resources have economic value, while some do not. For example;
milk has economic value, but a beautiful landscape has no economic
value. But both are important because both satisfy some human needs.
Time and technology are two important factors which can change a
substance into resources. For example; petroleum was not a resource
before people learnt to use it.
Types of Resources:

Resources are usually classified into three types, viz. natural, man made
and human resources.

Natural Resource: Resources which are obtained from nature are called
natural resources. Some of the natural resources can be used directly,
while for using some others we need the help of some technologies.

Types of Natural Resources:

Natural resources can be classified on the basis of their level of

development and use, origin, stock and distribution.

Classification of natural resources on the basis of development and use:

a. Actual Resource: Resources whose quantity is known and which are

being used at present are called actual resources, e.g. coal and petroleum.

b. Potential Resource: Resources whose entire quantity may not be known

and which are not being used at present are called potential resources.
Potential resources can be used in future once technology for that is
properly developed. For example; uranium reserves in Ladakh.

Classification of natural resources on the basis of origin:

a. Abiotic Resource: Resources which come from non-living sources are

called abiotic resources, e.g. soil, rocks and minerals.

b. Biotic Resource: Resources which come from living beings are called
biotic resource, e.g. milk, leather, timber, etc.
 Classification of natural resources on the basis of their exhaustibility:

a. Renewable Resource: Resources which can be quickly replenished are

called renewable resources, e.g. wind energy, hydel energy, solar energy,
etc.

b. Non-renewable Resource: Resources which cannot be replenished in

the near future are called non-renewable resources, e.g. coal and
petroleum. It takes millions of years for the formation of coal and
petroleum and hence they cannot be replenished in our lifetime.
Classification of natural resources on the basis of distribution:
a. Ubiquitous Resource: Resources which are available everywhere on the
earth are called ubiquitous resources, e.g. air and water.

b. Localised Resource: Resources which are available at select locations on

the earth are called localized resources, e.g. coal mines in Jharkhand.
Topography, climate and altitude are the major factors which affect the
distribution of natural resources.

Man Made Resources

When a natural resource undergoes drastic change by human
intervention, it becomes human-made resource. For example; iron ore is
processed to make steel and hence steel is a man-made resource.
Buildings, bridges, railways, machines, etc. are examples of human-made
resources. Technology is also a human-made resource.

Human Resources
People are the human resources. Education and health improve the
quality of human resources. Improving the quality of people’s skills to
enable them to create more resources is called human resource
development.
2. What are the benefits of resources?

• Resource allocation is essential in project management as it allows you

to plan and prepare for project implementation or achieving goals. In
addition, it helps schedule resources in advance and provides an insight
into the project team’s progress.
• Resource allocation is much more than just delegating assignments. It
plays a vital role in project and operations management and eventually
improves business performance. It also helps achieve optimum
utilization and enhances ROI.
• Here are some key benefits of resource allocation in project
management:

i) Reduce project resource costs significantly

ii) Maximize the productivity of resources on projects
iii) Enhance employee engagement and satisfaction
iv) Facilitate client satisfaction with successful project delivery
v) Achieve the best outcome within existing resource constraints
3. Describe :
1. Resource Allocation
Resource allocation, also known as resource scheduling, recognizes and
assigns resources for a specific period to various activities. These activities
can be either project or non-project work such as BAU, admin, support,
operation, etc.
Resources can be either fully or partially available. Therefore, resource
managers must take resource availability into account while allocating them
to the projects.
Resource allocation is often easier said than done. Without the right tools
or techniques in place, identifying the right resource can be a daunting
task. Let’s have a look at some of the resource allocation challenges:

2.1 Change in project scope:

Despite taking necessary control measures, the project scope can still change
anytime during the project lifecycle. In addition, changes in Project
requirements in an agile world can lead to fluctuating resource demands. So,
without an up-to-date resource schedule, frequent allocations to meet the
changing needs become incredibly challenging.
2.2 Use of outdated legacy tools:
Spreadsheets and homegrown tools are inadequate for resource allocation.
They fail to provide real-time updates in project/resource schedules, causing
discrepancies and redundancies. It can lead to double booking chaos that
dampens the project’s success.
2.3 Miscommunication between sales and delivery team:
While focusing on achieving sales targets, sometimes the sales team doesn’t
involve the delivery team before signing the deal. As a result, the delivery team
ends up scrambling for resource allocations at the eleventh hour to meet the
delivery deadline.
2.4 Lack of resources visibility within a matrix organization:
Not having a centralized resource planner means there is no visibility of
resources and allocations across matrix boundaries. Hence, resource managers
find it extremely challenging to allocate the best-suited and cost-
effective workforce to the project.
2.5 Mismatch in the skillset between capacity and demand:
The inability to forecast future pipeline project requirements prohibits
identifying skill shortages in advance. This incorrect estimation of capacity vs.
demand hinders the resource allocation process.

2. Resource Levelling:
Resource leveling is a technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted
based on resource limitation with the goal of balancing the demand for
resources with the available supply.”
Resource leveling, by definition, is a resource optimization technique that
answers when the project can be finished with the available resources without
overbooking them or spreading them too thin. Resource leveling will generally
aim to distribute work between resources fairly, which not only contributes to
a healthy work environment, but also makes the project schedule realistic and
achievable. Putting your current bandwidth front and center, resource leveling
can either compress the schedule or loosen it. By making only a few tweaks to
your resource allocation plan, the end date of the project will change, but that’s
okay. What resource leveling is mainly for is to get the idea when the project
can be accomplished without necessarily adding capacity to the resource pool.

Resource leveling examples

Example of resource leveling would be moving start and end dates of tasks to
balance the workloads and avoid over- or under-allocation of resources. Here’s
what is meant exactly by those terms. While over-allocated resources have
more work than they can complete within their normal 8-hour schedule,
under-allocated resources have spare time to dedicate to the project and tasks.
Resource leveling will straighten out over-allocation by relocating task start
and end dates, as in the example below:

Let’s assume that a web designer is allocated for eight hours each day to a
project during the resource allocation process. However, in the original
project plan, you notice that he is assigned two different tasks he can't
physically complete in two days. We all know that one person can’t be in
two places simultaneously. Resource leveling will reschedule these two
tasks, so they are carried out on different days. It will untangle the conflict
immediately.

Overall, resource leveling aims to prevent such cases from happening and
makes sure that a) people don’t have unrealistic workloads and b) tasks
aren’t delegated to the same people over and over.