Exercise 12.23
Refer to the following activity network table. Enter this information using MS Project to produce a Gantt chart. Assume that each resource has been assigned to the project activity on a full-time (8 hours/day or 40 hours/week) basis. Activity Duration Predecessors Resource Assigned
A. User survey 4 None Gail Wilkins
B. Coding 12 A Tom Hodges
Activity Duration Predecessors Resource Assigned
C. Debug 5 B Wilson Pitts
D. Design interface 6 A, C Sue Ryan
E. Develop training 5 D Reed Taylor
Exercise 12.24
Using the information from Exercise 12.23, produce a resource usage sheet that identifies the total number of hours and daily commitments of each project team member.
Exercise 12.25
Refer to the activity network table shown in Exercise 12.23. Suppose that we modified the original table slightly to show the following predecessor relationships between tasks and resources assigned to perform these activities. Enter this information into MS Project to produce a Gantt chart. Assume that each resource has been assigned to the project activity on a full-time (8 hours/day or 40 hours/week) basis.
Activity Duration Predecessors Resource Assigned
A. User survey 4 None Gail Wilkins
B. Coding 12 A Tom Hodges
C. Debug 5 A Tom Hodges
D. Design interface 6 B, C Sue Ryan
E. Develop training 5 D Reed Taylor
a. Using the Resource Usage view, can you determine any warning signs that some member of the project team has been overassigned?
b. Click on the Task Usage view to determine the specific days when there is a conflict in the resource assignment schedule.
Exercise 12.26
Using the information provided in Exercise 12.25, how might you resource-level this network to remove the conflicts? Show how you would resource-level the network. From a schedule perspective, what is the new duration of the project?
PMP CERTIFICATION SAMPLE QUESTIONS
12.27 The project manager identifies 20 tasks needed to complete her project. She has four project team members available to assign to these activities. The process of assigning personnel to project activities is known as:
a. Resource leveling
b. Resource loading
c. Finding the critical path
d. Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
12.28 The correct definition of resource leveling is:
a. A graph that displays the resources used over time on a project
b. The process of applying resources to a project’s activities
c. The process of creating a consistent (level) workload for the resources on the project, driven by resource constraints
d. A project schedule whose start and finish dates reflect expected resource availability
12.29 Project resource constraints can involve any of the following examples?
a. Poorly trained workers
b. Lack of available materials for construction
c. Environmental or physical constraints of the project site itself
d. All the above would be considered examples of project resource constraints
12.30 When adopting resource-leveling heuristics, which of the following are relevant decision rules?
a. The activities with the least slack time should have resources allocated to them first
b. The activities with the longest duration are the best candidates for receiving extra resources
c. Activities with the fewest successor tasks should have resource priority
d. Activities with the highest WBS identification numbers are the first to receive available resources
12.31 One of the benefits of resource-loading charts is that they:
a. Represent a method for finding available activity slack
b. Graphically display the number of resources required as a function of time
c. Help resolve resource conflicts in multi-project settings
d. All of the above are benefits of using resource-loading charts
12.32 Your customer has requested a minor change to the project that “shouldn’t impact the schedule.” How should you respond?
a. Authorize the change to maintain good customer relations
b. Refuse the change because you wish to avoid scope creep
c. Evaluate the impact of the change against the other project constraints.
d. Involve top management to determine the best course of action
12.33 Resources should be estimated against which entity:
a. The deliverables level of the WBS
b. Critical project constraints
c. The Risk Breakdown Structure
d. The scheduled activities
12.34 When are the resource requirements estimated?
a. After the activities have been defined but before the schedule has been developed
b. After the schedule has been developed but before the activities have been defined
c. As soon as the scope statement is agreed to by the customer
d. After the deliverables are contracted
12.35 Resource leveling is a method to:
a. Make sure everyone working on the project has approximately the same amount of work to
accomplish
b. A technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints with the goal
of balancing the demand for resources with the available supply
c. Use a calendar to identify the working days and shifts on which each specific resource is available
d. None of the above
12.36 The objectives of resource smoothing are:
a. To determine the resource requirements so that they will be available at the right time
b. To allow each activity to be scheduled with the smoothest possible transition across resource usage
levels
c. Both a and b are objectives of resource smoothing
d. Neither a nor b are objectives of resource smoothing
Answers
12.27. b—The act of assigning personnel to specific project activities is usually referred to as resource loading.
12.28. c—Resource leveling involves smoothing, or creating consistent workloads across the project schedule for the available resources.
12.29. d—Project resources can include people, physical conditions, and material resources; therefore, all the examples cited represent project resource constraints.
12.30. a—As a useful resource-leveling heuristic, the activities with the least slack time should have resources allocated to them first.
12.31. b—Resource-loading charts are a graphic means of identifying resource requirements as a function of the project’s duration; they can help visually identify overloads or inefficient commitment of resources.
12.32. c—Any change request must be evaluated against project constraints (especially resource constraints) to ensure that it will not affect the delivery date.
12.33. d—resources are estimated against the project’s scheduled activities.
12.34. a—it is common to estimate resource requirements after the activities have been defined but before the schedule has been developed.
12.35. b—resource leveling is a technique for adjusting start and finish dates based on resource constraints.
12.36. c—both a and b are objectives of resource smoothing (also referred to as resource leveling).
Integrated Project
Managing Your Project’s Resources
You have an important task here. Now that you have created a network plan, including a schedule for your project, it is vital to resource-level the plan. Develop a resource-loading chart for your project. As you do this, keep in mind the budget you created for your plan and the personnel you have selected for the project team. Your resource-leveling procedure must be congruent with the project schedule (as much as possible) while maintaining your commitment to the use of the project resources you are intending to employ. Remember that the key to doing this task efficiently lies in being able to maximize the use of project resources while having a minimally disruptive effect on your initial project schedule. As a result, it may be necessary to engage in several iterations of the resource-leveling process as you begin to shift non-critical tasks to later dates to maximize the use of personnel without disrupting the delivery date for the project. For simplicity’s sake, you may assume that your resources for the project are committed to you at 100% of their work time. In other words, each resource is capable of working 40 hours each week on this project. Create the resource-leveling table. Be sure to include the schedule baseline along the horizontal axis. What was your initial baseline? How did resource-leveling your project affect the baseline? Is the new projected completion date later than the original date? If so, by how much?
Notes
1. Harder, A. and Ailworth, E., (2016). “Fossil fuels’ unpopularity leaves a mark,” Wall Street Journal, June 2, B1-B2; Gallagher, J., (2016). “US rejects permit for massive Pacific Northwest bulk terminal,” Fairplay, May 11, retrieved at: http://fairplay.ihs.com/commerce/article/4267831/us-rejects-massive-bulk-terminal-inpacific-northest; Plumer, B., (2017). China’s war on coal continues – the country just cancelled 104 new coal plants,” Vox, Jan 17, retrieved at: http://www.vox.
com/energy-and-environment/2017/1/17/14294906/china-cancels-coal-plants
2. Dumaine, B. (1986, September 1). “The $2.2 billion nuclear fiasco,” Fortune, 114: 14–22.
3. Raz, T., and Marshall, B. (1996). “Effect of resource constraints on float calculation in project networks,” International Journal of Project Management, 14(4): 241–48.
4. Levene, H. (1994, April). “Resource leveling and roulette: Games of chance—Part 1,” PMNetwork, 7; Levene, H. (1994, July). “Resource leveling and roulette: Games of chance—Part 2,” PMNetwork, 7; Gordon, J., and Tulip, A. (1997). “Resource scheduling,” International Journal of Project Management, 15: 359–70; MacLeod, K., and Petersen, P. (1996). “Estimating the tradeoff between resource allocation and probability of on-time completion in project management,” Project Management Journal, 27(1): 26–33.
5. Meredith, J. R., and Mantel, Jr., S. J. (2003). Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 5th ed. New York: Wiley and Sons.
6. Fendley, L. G. (1968, October). “Towards the development of a complete multiproject scheduling system,” Journal of Industrial Engineering, 19, 505–15; McCray, G. E., Purvis, R. L., and McCray, C. G. (2002). “Project management under uncertainty: The impact of heuristics and biases,” Project Management Journal, 33(1): 49–57; Morse, L. C., McIntosh, J. O., and Whitehouse, G. E. (1996).
“Using combinations of heuristics to schedule activities of constrained multiple resource projects,” Project Management Journal, 27(1): 34–40; Woodworth, B. M., and Willie, C. J. (1975). “A heuristic algorithm for resource leveling in multiproject, multiresource scheduling,” Decision Sciences, 6: 525–40; Boctor, F. F. (1990). “Some efficient multi-heuristic procedures for resource-constrained
project scheduling,” European Journal of Operations Research, 49: 3–13.
7. Fendley, L. G. (1968), as cited in note 6.
8. Field, M., and Keller, L. (1998). Project Management. London: The Open University; Woodworth, B. M., and Shanahan, S. (1988). “Identifying the critical sequence in a resource-constrained project,” International Journal of Project Management, 6(2): 89–96; Talbot, B. F., and Patterson, J. H. (1979). “Optimal models for scheduling under resource constraints,” Project Management Quarterly, 10(4), 26–33.
9. Gray, C. F., and Larson, E. W. (2003). Project Management, 2nd ed. Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill.
10. Meredith, J. R., and Mantel, Jr., S. J. (2003), as cited in note 5.
11. Meredith, J. R., and Mantel, Jr., S. J. (2003), as cited in note 5.
12. Weaver, P. (2002). “Vanquishing PM nightmares,” PMNetwork, 16(1): 40–44.
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