Class No.

12 (2079/09/26 BAME IV/II)

3.5 Project Scheduling with Limited Resource
(Resource levelling and Smoothing)
• Resource smoothing is used when the time constraint takes priority. The objective
is to complete the work by the required date while avoiding peaks and troughs of
resource demand. Resource levelling is used when limits on the availability of
resources are paramount. It simply answers the question ‘With the resources
available, when will the work be finished?’.
• Few re-usable resources are limitless, so the time schedule has to be adjusted to
take into account the limited availability of resources over time. There are two
approaches to reconciling resource limits and time constraints; resource smoothing
(or time limited resource scheduling) and resource levelling (or resource limited
scheduling).
• A smoothed resource profile will be achieved by delaying some work. This will
remove some flexibility from the schedule and its ability to deal with unavoidable
delays, but the advantage is usually a more efficient and cost-effective use of
resources.
• In many situations a mixture of levelling and smoothing may be required. This is
particularly true in the programme and portfolio dimensions.
https://nptel.ac.in/content/storage2/courses/105106149/Week6/Week6_Lesson%206.%20
Resource%20Leveling%20-%20Example%20Network.pdf
 Resource is a Physical Variables such as:
 Men, Machines & Materials
 Objectives of Resource levelling and smoothing
 Smoothing Overloaded
 Smoothing Under loaded
 Resource optimization
 Manage resource (No fluctuation of Resources)
 Use Maximum Floats First
 Methods of resource planning
1. Resource Smoothing
2. Resource Levelling
• Difference Between Resource levelling & Resource Smoothing
 Resource Smoothing
 Resource smoothing is done when there is restriction on the duration
of Project Completion Time.
 The resource smoothing is applied in such a way that the total project
duration remains the same. i.e. there is no change in the total duration
of the project.
 First the periods of minimum demand, resources are determined and
the activities are shifted according to the availability of float and
requirement of resources.
 Thus the intelligent use of floats can smoothen the demand to the
maximum possible extent. This type of resource allocation is known
as resource smoothing.
https://www.slideshare.net/AshishMakwana1/project-scheduling-and-resource-levellingconstruction-
management?qid=852e7279-8ee1-485a-b6c2-8ac54ec72980&v=&b=&from_search=1
Example: Consider a project with 7 activities as shown in the table below. The predecessors of
each activity and the duration of the activities are given. The number of compressors (consider
it as a resource) required by each activity is also listed. The organization has only 6
compressors available with them.
From the schedule network diagram, critical path is A-B-C-E-G
and the total duration of the project is 20 days.
With the bar chart representation, it is easier for us to calculate the compressors needed on each day. For
example, we know that from day 1 to 3, only activity A is in progress; so, we need 6 compressors on each of
these days. However, from day 6 to 9, activity C and activity D are running in parallel. So, you need 7
compressors (5 for activity C and 2 for activity D) on each of these days.
D F

A B C E G

Compressors required 6 6 6 1 1 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6
2 2 2 2 4 4
Total Required 6 6 6 1 1 7 7 7 7 5 8 8 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6
By drawing a line to show the resource limit, we can clearly see the days on which the resource
conflict occurs. You can see that the schedule requires more compressors than available on six
days; Day 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12.
Now, let us see how the application of resource levelling and resource smoothing helps to
remove the resource conflicts on these six days.
• Application of Resource Levelling to the Sample Project
• As we have seen earlier, resource levelling looks at removing all resource
conflicts without worrying too much about extending the project duration.
• Let us look at the first conflict, which happens between activities C and D.
To avoid the conflict, we need to delay either activity C or activity D. Since
activity C is on the critical path, it is prudent to delay activity D.
• We have to delay the activity D until activity C completes. This means,
activity D has to be shifted to start on Day 11. By doing this, the resources
required on days 6 to 9 comes down to only 5 compressors. Since there is a
float in activity D, everything looks fine.
• But, when we move an activity, we have to see how it affects the other
successor activities. In this case, since F depends on the completion of
activity D, it also has to be shifted.
• Now, you can see that there is no resource conflict from day 1 to day
14. But, there is a conflict on days 15 and 16; activity E needs 4
compressors and activity F also needs 4 compressors.
• So, we have to delay either activity E or activity F to avoid this conflict.
Since activity F is not on the critical path, let us delay this activity.
• We have to delay it until the completion of activity E. It means activity
F can start only on day 20. However, it also leads to the shifting of
activity G since activity F is its predecessor.
• Let us look at the final Gantt chart and the resource usage histogram.
https://www.pmdrill.com/resource-leveling-smoothing-explained/
• It’s good. All resource conflicts are removed. Now, the maximum
compressors required is only six numbers on any day.
• However, in the process, the project gets delayed by two days. The
total duration of the project is 22 days now.
• The critical path also has changed. Activity F is part of the critical path
now. So, the new critical path is A-B-C-E-F-G.
Application of Resource Smoothing to the Sample Project

• Resource smoothing looks at removing as much resource conflicts as possible without delaying the total
project duration.
• Let us again start to adjust the original CPM schedule to avoid resource peaks.
• Activity D is shifted from day 6 to day 11. This removes the resource
peaks from day 6 to 9.
• However, there is still resource conflicts on day 15 and day 16. This
conflict cannot be removed without delaying the total project
duration. So, resource smoothing will stop here.
• Out of the six days of conflict, resource smoothing managed to
remove 4 days of conflict. However, if the organization wants to stick
to the original schedule, they should bring additional resources on
day 15 & day 16.
• Conclusion
• Resource levelling is a resource-limited scheduling technique, while
resource smoothing is a time-limited scheduling technique.
3.6 Introduction to Planning Software- MS Project
Microsoft Project is a project management software product, developed
and sold by Microsoft. It is designed to assist a project manager in
developing a schedule, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress,
managing the budget, and analysing workloads.
MS Project helps on:
• Visualize your project plan in standard defined formats.
• Schedule tasks and resources consistently and effectively.
• Track information about the work, duration, and resource requirements for
your project.
• Generate reports to share in progress meetings.
• See more……………