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RESOURCELEVELING

Introduction

Resourcelevelingisatechniqueinprojectmanagementthatoverlooksresourceallocationandresolvespossibleconflictarisingfromoverallocation.Whenprojectmanagersundertakeaproject,theyneedtoplantheirresourcesaccordingly.

Thiswillbenefittheorganizationwithouthavingtofaceconflictsandnotbeingabletodeliverontime.Resourcelevelingisconsideredoneofthekeyelementstoresourcemanagementintheorganization.

Anorganizationstartstofaceproblemsifresourcesarenotallocatedproperlyi.e.,someresourcemaybeoverallocatedwhilstotherswillbeunderallocated.Bothwillbringaboutafinancialrisktotheorganization.

TheTwoKeyElementsofResourceleveling

Asthemainaimofresourcelevelingistoallocateresourceefficiently,sothattheprojectcanbecompletedinthegiventimeperiod.Hence,resourcelevelingcanbebrokendownintotwomainareasprojectsthatcanbecompletedbyusingupallresources,whichareavailableandprojectsthatcanbecompletedwithlimitedresources.

Projects,whichuselimitedresourcescanbeextendedforoveraperiodoftimeuntiltheresourcesrequiredareavailable.Ifthenagain,thenumberofprojectsthatanorganizationundertakesexceedstheresourcesavailable,thenit'swisertopostponetheprojectforalaterdate.

StructureofResourceleveling

Manyorganizationshaveastructuredhierarchyofresourceleveling.Aworkbasedstructureisasfollows:

Stage

Phase

Task/Deliverable

Alloftheabovementionedlayerswilldeterminethescopeoftheprojectandfindwaystoorganizetasksacrosstheteam.Thiswillmakeiteasierfortheprojectteamtocompletethetasks.

Inaddition,dependingonthethreeparametersabove,theleveloftheresourcesrequired maybedifferent.Therefore,theresourcerequirementforaprojectisalwaysavariable,whichiscorrespondingtotheabovestructure.

EstablishingDependencies

Themainreasonforaprojectmanagertoestablishdependenciesistoensurethattasksgetexecutedproperly.Byidentifyingcorrectdependenciesfromthatofincorrectdependenciesallowstheprojecttobecompletedwithinthesettimeframe.

Herearesomeoftheconstraintsthataprojectmanagerwillcomeacrossduringtheprojectexecutioncycle.Theconstraintsaprojectmanagerwillfacecanbecategorizedintothreecategories.

MandatoryTheseconstraintsariseduetophysicallimitationssuchasexperiments.

DiscretionaryTheseareconstraintsbasedonpreferencesordecisionstakenbyteams.

ExternalOftenbasedonneedsordesiresinvolvingathirdparty.

TheProcessofAssigningResources

Forresourcelevelingtotakeplace,resourcesaredelegatedwithtasks ,whichneedsexecution.Duringthestartingphaseofaproject,idealisticallytherolesareassignedtoresources atwhichpointtheresourcesarenotidentified.

Later,theserolesareassignedtospecifictasks,whichrequirespecialization.

LevelingofResources

Resourcelevelinghelpsanorganizationtomakeuseoftheavailableresourcestothemaximum.Theideabehindresourcelevelingistoreducewastageofresourcesi.e.,tostopoverallocationofresources.

Projectmanagerwillidentifytimethatisunusedbyaresourceandwilltakemeasurestopreventitormakinganadvantageoutofit.

Byresourceconflicts,therearenumerousdisadvantagessufferedbytheorganization,suchas:

Delayincertaintasksbeingcompleted

Difficultyinassigningadifferentresource

Unabletochangetaskdependencies

Toremovecertaintasks

Toaddmoretasks

Overalldelaysandbudgetoverrunsofprojects

ResourcelevelingTechniques

Criticalpathisacommontypeoftechniqueusedbyprojectmanagerswhenitcomestoresourceleveling.Thecriticalpathrepresentsforboththelongestandshortesttimedurationpathsinthenetworkdiagramtocompletetheproject.

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However,apartfromthewidelyusedcriticalpathconcept,projectmanagersusefasttrackingandcrashingifthingsgetoutofhand.

FasttrackingThisperformscriticalpathtasks.Thisbuystime.Theprominentfeatureofthistechniqueisthatalthoughtheworkiscompletedforthemoment,possibilityofreworkishigher.

CrashingThisreferstoassigningresourcesinadditiontoexistingresourcestogetworkdonefaster,associatedwithadditionalcostsuchaslabor,equipment,etc.

Conclusion

Resourcelevelingisaimedatincreasingefficiencywhenundertakingprojectsbyutilizingtheresourcesavailableathand.Properresourcelevelingwillnotresultinheavyexpenditure.

Theprojectmanagerneedstotakeintoaccountseveralfactorsandidentifycriticaltononcriticaldependenciestoavoidanylastminutedelaysoftheprojectdeliverables.