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` Resources and Priorities

M Project network times are not a schedule until resources have
been assigned.
The implicit assumption is that resources will be available
in the required amounts when needed.
Adding new projects requires making realistic judgments
of resource availability and project durations.
 
 
 

` Technical or Logic Constraints

M Constraints related to the networked sequence in which
project activities must occur.

` Physical Constraints
M Activities that cannot occur in parallel or are affected by
contractual or environmental conditions.

` Resource Constraints
M The absence, shortage, or unique interrelationship and
interaction characteristics of resources that require a
particular sequencing of project activities.
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` Technical skills necessary to:

M estimate resource demands

M create a staffing management plan

M assign one or more persons to each activity

M identify when a person is assigned too much work at a point in

time

M schedule a project with limited numbers of key people and

other resources

M compress (speed up) a project schedule.

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` uehavioral skills necessary to:

M Select the right people
M Identify exactly what each needs to accomplish
M Ensure performance capability
M Deal with difficult individual work schedules
M Schedule overtime when there are conflicts
M Estimate the amount of work required to complete an activity
M Assemble an effective team
M Deal with people from diverse backgrounds
M Decide where each person will work
M Establish effective virtual relationship
  
  
 


` melp key people develop necessary skills.

` Consider project tradeoffs and precedences - time vs.
human resources vs. other costs vs. scope.
` Understand resource limitations to prevent over
promising.
` Keep in mind that people are often a very large portion
of total project cost.
  
  
 


` actors to Consider in Assigning Work:

M Don͛t always pick the same people for the toughest
assignments.

M Choose people with an eye to fostering their development

through participation on the project.

M Pick people with compatible work habits and personalities but

who complement each other.

M Team-up veterans with new hires to share experience and

socialize newcomers into the organization.

M Select people who may need to learn work together on later

stages of the project or other projects.
  
   

` mow many resources of each type and skill or

knowledge level are needed.
` Consider support needs such as information systems
and human resources
` Consider constraints placed upon how people are hired,
scheduled, and released
` Activity resource estimating ʹ ͞the process of
estimating the types and quantities of resources
required to perform each scheduled activity.͟ |



        | 

` mow to identify potential internal and/or external

human resources for the project
` Determination of availability of human resources
` Determine how to handle timing issues with regard to
building up, developing, rewarding and releasing the
project team.
` Staffing management plan ʹ ͞the document that
describes when and how human resource requirements
will be met.͟ |


  |
 
 

` ecessary information (work functions, professional

discipline, skill level, physical location,
organizational/administrative unit)
` Compare available people to estimated resource needs
` Identify gaps in specific skills
` Identify gaps in numbers of people available vs people
needed
` Continue identification of potential resources until an
adequate number and mix of people are identified
` Identify the core team for participation in chartering
the project
   
   

` Identify availability of people

` Secure commitment
` Full and part time resources
` Internal vs external resources

 

` A responsibility matrix
` RACI ʹ Responsible, Approve, Consult, Inform
` Only one person should have primary responsibility for
any activity
` Use to assign activities to project core team members,
subject matter experts, and the project manager
` Useful in managing project communications
` Identify every project activity and exact involvement of
each stakeholder

 

   

` Person responsible for each activity is listed next to the

activity in the Gantt Chart Schedule
  

 
 


` Identify which activities are involved

` Compare resource histogram to the Gantt Chart
Schedule
` Project scheduling software pinpoints when overloads
occur for each worker
` Management decisions required to solve the problem
  

 
 

  

 
 


` Assign certain activities to other workers

` Split an activity into two activities
M Perform 1st part as scheduled
M Delay 2nd part of activity

` Reorder the activities

` Acquire or borrow additional resources
` Reduce project scope or extend project schedule
` Inform the sponsor of severe overloads

   

` Most common form ʹ delay activities so the person

doesn͛t perform as many activities at the same time
` Delay non-critical activities by an amount no more than
their slack
` Allow the project to slip ʹ reduces peak demand and
smoothes the period to period resource usage
` Resource Leveling ʹ ͞any form of schedule network
analysis in which scheduling decisions ͙ are driven by
resource constraints.͟ |



   

` If non-critical activities must be completed at the rate

of effort in the original schedule, reassign activities to
another worker
` Resource leveling is a combination of art and science

   

  
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` Projects that involve resources that are limited in

quantity or by their availability.
` Scheduling of activities requires the use of heuristics
(rules-of-thumb) that focus on:
1. Minimum slack
2. Smallest (least) duration
3. Lowest activity identification number

  
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` People make conservative duration estimates

` There is a great deal of variation in durations of some
activities
` Project workers tend to use all of the time available to
them
` Workers are asked to multi-task to keep multiple
projects moving
` Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) addresses
these problems
  
 |
   
|
` AKA critical chain method
` Incorporates calculations on resource availability into
predecessor-successor relationships
` The resource most in demand is identified
` Efforts are made to keep that resource appropriately
busy on critical chain activities
` Critical chain method ʹ ͞a schedule network analysis
technique that modifies the project schedule to
account for limited resources. The critical chain
method mixes deterministic and probabilistic
approaches to schedule network analysis.͟ |


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|


` Avoid multi-tasking
` Estimate how quickly each activity can be completed
` Put a feeding buffer of time directly in front of critical
chain activities to ensure they will not be delayed
` Put the time normally reserved for the uncertainty in
each individual activity at the end of the project as a
total project buffer that the project manager can use as
needed, and
` Finish activities early if possible and pass the work on
to the next worker.

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 |
 


` Customer requirements and contract commitments

` Time-to-market pressures
` Incentive contracts (bonuses for early completion)
` Unforeseen delays
` Overhead and goodwill costs
` Pressure to move resources to other projects

|  
 |
 


` Reduce the project scope and/or quality

` Shorten the duration of critical activities
` Shorten activities that cost the least to speed up
` Adding Resources
` Outsourcing Project Work
` Scheduling Overtime
` Establishing a Core Project Team
` Fast-Tracking

|  
 |
 


` Crashing may cost more money to speed up the schedule

` Fast tracking may increase the risk to speed up the
schedule
` Crashing ʹ ͞a specific type of project schedule
compression technique performed by taking action to
decrease the total project duration after analyzing a
number of alternatives to determine how to get the
maximum schedule duration for the least additional
cost.͟ |


` Fast Tracking ʹ ͞a specific project schedule compression

technique that changes network logic to ͙ perform
schedule activities in parallel.͟ |


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` Commonly Used Options for Cutting Costs

M Reduce project scope

M mave owner take on more responsibility

M Outsourcing project activities or even the entire project

M urainstorming cost savings options

   |
 
   


` Managing Multi-project Scheduling

M Create project offices or departments to oversee the
scheduling of resources across projects.

M Use a project priority queuing system: first come, first served

for resources.

M Centralize project management: treat all projects as a part of

a ͞megaproject.͟

M Outsource projects to reduce the number of projects handled

internally.