Scheduling Resources and Costs

After sequencing and timing  the work , in order to complete the schedule, resources need to be added. The schedule is influenced by one of the following conditions. If  the project must be completed by an  imposed deadline and resources can be added to ensure completion by the specified deadline, the project is known as time-constrained project. If resources cannot be exceeded, but the project can be delayed, it is known as resource constrained project.

Resources

Resources are people, material, and equipment that can be utilized to accomplished the project. Human resources are classified by the skills they bring to the project. Materials utilized in a project can be either substances used in developing hardware or information for a developing a service. Equipment comes in various types, sizes and quantities to reshape the materials according to the specifications.

Resource allocation 

In time constrained projects, when demand for a specific resource is erratic, delaying non critical activities by using slack to reduce peak demand and fill in the valleys for the resources, is known as leveling technique.

In resource constrained projects, when demand for resources at its peak exceeds their availability, prioritizing activities by either minimum slack, smallest duration, sequence order.

This is no trivial activity but, fortunately, program management software can ease the process. The traditional critical path concept of sequential activities is no longer meaningful. These techniques  while improving resource utilization, also reduce people efficiency and flexibility. In a multi-project environment resources are prioritized company wide through project management office. If that is not sufficient, another option is to contract out some of these projects.

Time-Phased Budget

As systems cannot measure how much work was accomplished for the money spent, matching costs to schedule will provide reliable information for control purposes. Each work package has an estimated cost and it will be very easy aggregate this information for all the work packages included in that activity and for all phases of the project. The baseline (planned value, PV) is the sum of the cost accounts, and each cost account is the sum of the work packages in the cost account. Although there are several types of project costs, the cost baseline is usually limited to direct costs (such as labor, materials, equipment) that are under the control of the project manager; other indirect costs can be added to project costs separately.