Human Resources

How do we compete with everybody else who needs resources?

Where do we find people when we can’t hire new employees?

What does time cost us in terms of resources?

How can we make up for missing resources?

The Human Resource Challenge Today

Advantage of using contractors– Highly skilled– Flexibility in your changing human resource needs– Contract to hire option

Disadvantage of using contractors– Lack of background knowledge– Difficulty of “marrying full time employees in close-

knit, fully integrated team.

The Human Resource Challenge Today - Continued

Project manager must provide– Direction: Keep the team focused– Guidance: Coach your people along– Support: Back your team– Encouragement: Cheerleading

Cost of the Human Resource

Salaries Benefits Fees and Cost of Hiring Time to Manage

Capital Resource

What are the elements of cost?

What are different ways we can minimize the cost and duration of a project?

What are some ways to Manage the resource profile?

What is the final plan?

The Capital Resource - Elements of Cost Direct Cost: costs that vary directly with your volume

of output– Labor wages– Overtime premium– Material– Subcontractors– Freight– Sales Tax

Indirect Cost: fixed periodic costs– Insurance– Start-up– Overhead utilities– Security– Marketing– Goodwill– Opportunity for problems

Duration and Cost

Criteria for selecting activities to crash– Must be on the critical path– Precedes multiple activities– Long duration– Lower cost per period gained– Early in the project– Labor intensive– Subject to common problem

Time/Cost Tradeoff Analysis

Cost/Duration Graph (p. 208) Optimum Duration Point

Managing the Resource Profile

At different times along the project’s duration, drastically more or fewer resources are needed.

The key to leveling resource profiles is to shift work from the peaks to the valleys by rescheduling activities.

The Final Plan

Use the three lines of defense to meet the customer’s deadline

Find the optimum duration for the project

Level the critical resources– People– Bottleneck facilities

Perform a last reality check