1. Project management (seminar)
Resource analysis 2
Project management
(seminar)

2. Optimum seeking procedures
Constraints:
Resource-limited projects
Time-limited projects
Resource-limited AND time-limited projects (question of priority)
Methods:
Linear programming
Levelling
Allocation
Smoothing

3. Linear programming
Successful only for small networks (up to about 200 activities)
Need for precise data

4. Levelling Need for a previously produced starting schedule.
Attempts to level out peaks and valleys in resource requirements by rescheduling some activities.
Difficulty of interactions between activities.

5. Allocation Allocation resources
‘Splitting’ an activity: stopping an activity, which is currently in progress, by the removal of its resources for use on an activity of higher priority.
Two procedures for allocation:
Serial: if only a few activities are splitable
Parallel: if many activities are splitable; more complicated method that needs more time and data

6. Allocation when resources are limited
Serial procedure:
All activities in the project are ranked using constant priority rule. The most frequently used rule: ascending order of the LSTs with a tiebreaker of the ascending order of total floats.
Activities are scheduled in the above order at the earliest possible point in time consistent with the availability of resources and the precedence requirements.
Step-by-step process:
Draw the network diagram for the logical connections
Compute the activity times and total floats
Plot a Gantt or time-scaled network in tandem with a resource-histogram

7. Network with single resource data2 10 8
a (2) 2
START (0)
e (1) 10 13 3
FINISH (0) 13
d (2) 2 7 3 5 10
b (4) 5 10
Resource limit: 5

8. Network with multiple resource data
c (3A) 2 10 8
a (2A) 2
e (3B) 10 13 3
START (0)
FINISH (0) 13
d (2B) 2 7 3 5 10
b (4B) 5 10
f (3A) 5 8 10 13 3
Resource limits: 5A, 5B

9. Allocation when resources are limited
Parallel procedure: Activities are considered sequentially (sub-lists). Unscheduled activities are retained and ranked in the next period with new activities.

10. The time-limited case Balancing the S-curve with milestones:
Forcing early activities to start sooner

11. Smoothing
Aim is to produce a feasible schedule within the time constraints & provide as smooth a resource requirement profile as possible.
Informational needs of smoothing:
Start time and timeframe
Priority order of the resources required
Prioritising activities and selecting them in order for scheduling (critical activities have supreme priority).
Finding the best place for the activity (placing).
Repeat the process with the next activity.

12. Prioritising activities
Considerables:
Resource type(s) and importance
Total work content (resource units per time multiplied with the duration for all resources used on the activity
Available float
Formula:
(Total work content) / (Float remaining)
In descending order (greatest first).

13. Placing
The best position is the one that gives the lowest usage increase in the time span of the activity.
Two ways of finding this position:
Visual
Sum of squares:
Calculate the sum of squared resource needs of each period within the questionable time frame (between the ES and LF time of the given activity) for every possible positioning
Choose the position with the lowest value

14. Reading
Lockyer – Gordon (2005): Chapter 18

15. Thanks for your attention