Project Management OPER 576

Resource Allocation

Greg Magnan, Ph.D.

May 6, 2004

Project Life Cycle Stages

Definition Planning Execution/Impl./Control Closeout

Leve

l of E

ffort

Selection Charter Goals Specs Tasks Responsi

bilities

Estimates Schedules Sequencing Budgets Resources Risks Staffing

Status Reports Changes Quality Forecasts

Training Transfer

Documents Release

Resources Lessons

Learned

II. Project Planning

4. Identify Resource Requirements• To avoid future resource problems and help

assign responsibility• For each WBS element, consider:

• Knowledge, skills, facilities, equipment, supplies, materials, special/unusual resources

• People, Materials, Equipment, Capital

• Identify type, amount, and cost • ESTIMATE!

Identify Resource Requirements

WBS 1 WBS 2Resource 1 X XResource 2 XResource 3 X

II. Project Planning

6. Responsibility Assignment Matrix• To make responsibilities clear and visible• WBS elements down left side

• Note Deliverables

• Names of individuals/groups along top• Mark Primary responsibility (P)

• One for each terminal element

• Negotiate commitment from each person

WBS 1 XWBS 2 XWBS 3 X

II. Project Planning

8. Schedule Deliverables / Gantt Chart• To provide basis for project monitoring• Identify start and finish dates• Review precedence to ensure that no terminal

element starts or finishes too soon• Gantt charts, however, do NOT show precedence

• Once again, uses WBS as main input

Sample Gantt Chart

ID Task Name Start Finish DurationNov 2002 Dec 2002

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5

1 2d11/25/200211/22/2002Research cause

2 5d11/29/200211/25/2002Enter mailing data

3 3d11/29/200211/27/2002Write cover letter

4 2d12/3/200212/2/2002Call prospects

5 3d12/6/200212/4/2002Finalize details

II. Project Planning9. Schedule Resources

• “Resource the Plan” to help maintain commitment of resources

• Resource managers allocate resources

• Act in collaboration with Project Manager

• Confirm or negotiate specific commitments for each resource

• Be aware of resource manager’s constraints or policies (e.g., % res. util. limits)

– May affect schedule sequence!• Completion date, too

November 2003

S M T W T F S

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30

Resourcing Plans• Resource Categories

– People, Materials, Equipment, Capital

• Time Constrained vs. Resource Constrained– Time: Imposed Date

– Resource: Cannot exceed level of Resource

– Problem is combinatorial: lots of possible solutions

• Incorporating resources may result in new Critical Path

• Resource Constrained– Parallel Method

• Minimize delay while maintaining technical relationships and resource limitations

Parallel Method• Combinatorial problem: expensive optimal

solutions• Heuristics: priority allocation rules

– Minimum slack (first)

– Smallest duration (second; tie-breaker)

– Lowest activity number (third)

• Parallel: starts at first time period and schedules period-by-period any activities eligible to start– Apply priority rules when resource conflict

– Effectively delaying early start times of downstream activities

ES 2 EF

LS 4 LF

1--

ES 1 EF

LS 3 LF

2--

ES 3 EF

LS 5 LF

1--

ES 4 EF

LS 6 LF

1--

ES 5 EF

LS 4 LF

2--

ES 6 EF

LS 3 LF

2--

ES ID EF

LS DUR LF

RES--SL

In Class Problem

2

4

1--

1

3

2--

3

5

1--

4

6

1--

5

4

2--

6

3

2--

ES ID EF

LS DUR LF

RES--SL

Determine ES, EF, LS, LF & SL

IDR

ES

DU

R

ES LF

SLA

CK

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Resources Scheduled

Resources Available

Scheduled Resource Load Chart w/ ES and Slack updates

IDR

ES

DU

R

ES LF

SLA

CK

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Resources Scheduled

Resources Available

1

2

3

4

5

6

Baseline Gantt Chart

Resource-Constrained Scheduling: Impacts

• Slack: reduced

• Flexibility: reduced (slack used to min. delay)

• Network sensitivity: increased

• Scheduling complexity: increased– May no longer be intuitive

• If you don’t account for resource needs, the resource-constrained schedule will materialize– If early enough, may be able to create alternatives

Multi-project Scheduling

• This is where resources really become an issue– Resource needs reconciled across projects

– Priorities, risks, resource requirements, tasks

• Effects– Overall schedule slippage

– Inefficient resource utilization

– Resource bottlenecks

• Project Management Offices (PMO)– Prioritize projects

– Centralized scheduling/ resource mgt

– Control outsourcing