Project Resource Allocation
1
Schedules
• Activity schedule - indicating start and
completion dates for each activity
• Resource schedule - indicating dates when
resources needed + level of resources
• Cost schedule showing accumulative
expenditure
2
Resources
• These include
– labour
– equipment (e.g. workstations)
– materials
– space
– services
• Time: elapsed time can often be reduced by
adding more staff
• Money: used to buy the other resources
3
Resource allocation
• Identify the resources needed for each activity
• Identify resource types - individuals are
interchangeable within the group (e.g. ‘VB
programmers’ as opposed to ‘software
developers’)
• Allocate resource types to activities and
examine the resource histogram
4
Resource histogram:
systems analysts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
WEEK 5
Resource clashes
can be resolved by:
– delaying one of the activities
• taking advantage of float to change start date
• delaying start of one activity until finish of the other
activity that resource is being used on - puts back
project completion
– moving resource from a non-critical activity
– bringing in additional resource - increases costs
6
Prioritizing activities
There are two main ways of doing this:
• Total float priority – those with the smallest
float have the highest priority
• Ordered list priority – this takes account of
the duration of the activity as well as the
float – see next overhead
7
Burman’s priority list
Give priority to:
• Shortest critical activities
• Other critical activities
• Shortest non-critical activities
• Non-critical activities with least float
• Non-critical activities
8
Resource usage
• Need to maximise %usage of resources i.e.
reduce idle periods between tasks
• Need to balance costs against early
completion date
• Need to allow for contingency
9
Critical path
• Scheduling resources can create new
dependencies between activities – recall critical
chains
• It is best not to add dependencies to the activity
network to reflect resource constraints
– Makes network very messy
– A resource constraint may disappear during the
project, but link remains on network
• Amend dates on schedule to reflect resource
constraints
10
Allocating individuals to activities
The initial ‘resource types’ for a task have to
be replaced by actual individuals.
Factors to be considered:
• Availability
• Criticality
• Risk
• Training
• Team building – and motivation
11
Cost schedules
Cost schedules can now be produced:
Costs include:
• Staff costs
• Overheads
• Usage charges
12
Cost profile
13
Accumulative costs
14
Balancing concerns
15
