7/7/2018

Project Management

Time management
 Project Management Framework

2
 Time management
• Planning is key in project management. An
effective planning method is to identify all the
tasks that you need to do to complete a project.
• Next step is to prioritise these tasks
• After that you estimate how much time each task
is going to take. Make sure that you include all
the constraints and other factors in your
estimation.
• Most of the time things don’t go as planned, so
include buffer times for unforeseen events in
your project schedule.
 Time Management/ monitoring
• After this you create a project schedule and
identify critical path for effective monitoring
• Planning for monitoring the progress during the
project life cycle ensures a control over the
development of the project so that project
manager is able to keep the project from going
over the deadlines.
• Progress monitoring strategy and process should
be put into place during the initial stage of the
project itself. This would include:
 Time management
• Tracking the project on the network
• Taking regular feedback from the team
• Having regular reviews with the team on the
project progress
• Documentation process for project progress
reporting
• Using some project reporting tools for every
team member to log on the progress.
 Time scheduling
• Deals with the schedules that specify when
project activities should be performed.
• Those activities have already been identified
during work breakdown structure.
• Schedules cannot be made without regard to
resources, except in cases where the work is to
be done by a sub contractor. Resource
management therefore , completes the
scheduling process.
• Carefully prepared schedules are necessary to
finish the project in time and within cost.
 Time scheduling
• A good schedule should:
– Contain all significant tasks or activities needed
to complete the project
– Place task in logical sequence
– Obey and display interdependencies between
different tasks.
– Be sufficiently detailed to provide reference
points for frequent progress checks.
 Time scheduling
– Be flexible, so that it can be updated to
accommodate approved changes in the scope or
strategy.
– Highlight priorities so that management
attention and scarce resources can be directed
to the most critical activities.
– Be visually effective, to be able to communicate
well to the team including those without
specialized training.
 Milestone planning
• It is the simplest method of project scheduling but is of
limited use.
• It consists of identifying key events in a project and
then fixing dates for achieving these events.
• Sometimes milestone events are associated with stage
payments.
• Milestone plans are useful in setting the overall project
timescale and are also regarded as project master
plans.
• Milestone plans by themselves cannot provide the
level of detail needed for day to day measurement and
control of progress.
 Gantt Charts
• Gantt chart is a bar chart and thus has two main
components-
• A horizontal axis- it is constructed to represent the
total time span of a period. This line is broken into
increments to depict days, weeks or months. This
timeline illustrates when each activity starts, how long
it continues, and when it ends.
• A vertical axis- it is constructed to represent all the
tasks related to the project.
• They are easily understood.
• Their visual effectiveness decreases as the amount of
details increases.( say more than 50 tasks.)
• It also becomes unwieldy for a long project duration to
be split into large no of short periods.
 Time now Cursor
• Time now Cursor:
• When the project is in progress, a vertical line can
be drawn on the chart to correspond with the
relevant progress review date (time now)
• Bars on the charts should be removed or color
coded when a task is finished. If everything is
going as per plan, work on the left of cursor
should have been done.
• Any job appearing to the left of cursor means
that the work is late and demands some
corrective action.
 Linked bar chart
• Since there is no dependencies shown on the Gantt
chart, in case of complex charts sometimes the
planner, by mistake may schedule one or more task
before they can logically take place.
• Such mistake can be avoided by grouping work related
tasks on the chart and by placing vertical connecting
lines to show task dependencies.
• The problem is , the complex chart becomes too
cluttered and the link paths are very difficult to follow.
• However, such problems can be taken care by critical
path networks.
 Logical relationship
• In a project sense, dependency means the
next activity can not be started unless the
preceding activity has become active, that is
either it has started or finished.
• Let us examine 2 activities A and B. A is the
independent activity and B is the dependent
activity. The different relationship of
dependency can be there between A and B.
 Logical relationship
• A can start and B can start thereafter (S-S)
• A can start and B a can finish thereafter (S-F)
• A can finish and B can start thereafter (F-S)
• A can finish and B can Finish thereafter.(F-F)
 Logical relationship
• You are required to dig a trench (activity A),
lay a pipeline (activity B) and fill back the
trench (activity C). Assume duration of each
activity is 6 days, then total time required to
complete the job with finish to start logic
would be 18 days.

A B C
 Logical relationship
• The total duration of these 3 activities can be
reduced by altering the relationship from F-S
to S-S or F-F with some time delay.
• Assume that after 1 days of digging enough
front will be available to start laying of pipe
and similarly after one days of pipe laying
front will be available for back filling.
F-F,+1
A

F-F,+1
S-S,+1 B
C
S-S,+1
 Logical relationship
• Let us look at 3 types of dependencies from
Qualitative aspects.
1. Mandatory dependencies or hard
dependencies
2. Discretionary or Soft dependencies
3. External dependencies
 Logical relationship
• Mandatory dependencies:- Which are inherent in the
nature of work being done. They often involve physical
limitations. Ex- Impossible to erect a superstructure
without completion of foundation. They are also called
‘hard logic’.
• Discretionary dependencies:- Which are defined by the
project management team. They should be used with
care and properly documented for future references as
they can limit later scheduling options. They are also
called proffered logic or ‘soft logic’.

• External dependencies:- Are those that involve a

relationship between project activities and non-
project activities. For Ex- Project construction can not
begin till the environmental clearances are obtained.
 Lead and Lag
• Lead: A modification of logical relationship which
allows an acceleration of succeeding activity. For
example, in a finish to start dependency, with a
14 days lead , the successor activity can start 14
days before the predecessor activity has finished.
• Lag:- A modification of a logical relationship
which delays the start of successor activity. In a
finish to start dependency, with a 14 day lag, the
successor activity cannot start until 14 days after
the finish of predecessor activity.
 Lead and Lag
• Consider 2 activities A and B, B depends on A.
they have finish to start relationship. B cannot
start till A is finished. Duration of A is 1 day
and B is ½ day. Now say A is concrete pouring
for a slab and B is erecting the slab on a
column. Now slab cannot be erected on to
column immediately after pouring. Some time
is required to be given for setting of the
concrete in slab. This can be shown in the
network in two ways
 Lead and Lag
• Way 1- Create 1 more activity C between A &
B . C may represent drying up of concrete slab
A C B
1 day 1day ½ day

• Way 2:- One could also use logical wait time of

one day between activities A and B by
providing a lag of 1 day
A B
1 day Lag +1 day 1/2day
 Lead and Lag
• A- leveling of site for planting grass, dur.5days
• B- planting of grass, duration 5 days
• Dependency – F-S, Total duration 10 days
A
T T B
M W F T T
u h M W F
u h

A
T T
M W F
u h

F-S, Lead - 4 days With Lead, total duration reduced

B to 6 days
T T
W F M
u h
Network diagram
 Two Basic notation systems
• Activity on Arrow(AOA) also known as ADM
(Arrow diagramming method) :- This is a project
network diagramming method which uses an
arrow to represent the activities. The beginning
and end of each arrow is connected to a node.
• Start of an arrow means start of an activity and
end of an arrow means end of the activity.
• Dotted arrows shown on the network represent
dummy Activity. A Dummy activity consumes no
resources and only shows the logical relationship.
1 2
Activity
 AoA or ADM
• Let us build a project with 7 activities. We also
define 2 nodes, node 1 as start and last node
as finish.
Activity Dependency on
A Start B
B* A 2 C F
4 5 7
C B&D
D Start A G
E D
1 8
F C
G E&F D
E
3 6

* Start of activity B depends on finish of A

 AON or PDM
• Activity on Node (AON) or Precedence diagramming
method(PDM).
• The Node represents the activity and the arrow is used to
show the relationship between various activities(nodes).
• These diagrams resemble the engineering flow charts and
are easier to understand.
• We must remember that all network flows from left to
right.
• In ADM networks all relations are finish to start. Variations
are possible but difficult to incorporate in Arrow diagrams.
However, PDM allows the planner to specify and show
other dependencies like F-F, S-S and S-F.
This side of the node
This side of the node
Represents start of
represents end of
activity
an activity
 PDM
• Let us build a project with 7 activities. We can
create node 1 as start node.

Activity Dependency on
A Start
B* A
C B&D
D Start
E D
F C
G E&F

* Start of activity B depends on finish of A

 PDM

Node 5 Node 6
Node 2 Node 3
Act A Act B Act C Act F

Activity Dependency on
Node 1 A Start
B* A Node 8
Start
C B&D
D Start Act G
E D
F C Node 7
G E&F Node 4

Act D Act E

* Start of activity B depends on finish of A

 PDM
• Today PDM is much more commonly used than ADM
• All 4 relationship which can exist between 2 activities is
possible to show in PDM
A
1. Finish to Start 3. Finish to finish

Design and purchase

A B B

A
2. Start to A
Start

Design and purchase 4. Start to finish

B
Rarely used-
Ex- Crane available for only 6 days.
B
A and B both are to be lifted. A must
start 6 days before B can be finished
 PERT
• Program evaluation and review Technique was developed
for the Polaris missile program in 1950’s by US Navy.
• Doz Allen and Hamilton developed the concept of PERT
while supporting polaris program.
• They came out with a concept of 3 time estimates for
determining the duration of an activity. This is truer for
those activities where uncertainties are of high degree.
• The 3 time estimates are optimistic duration estimate, the
most likely duration estimate and the pessimistic duration
estimate to complete an activity.
• The expected duration of the activity is calculated by
following formula:
T= t(optimistic)+4xt(most likely)+t(pessimistic)/6
 PERT
• Example - Time required to commute from home to office
• Optimistic=30 min; most likely 40 min; Pessimistic= 70 min. As per
formula the estimated time will be 43.3 minutes.
• Let us look at the concept of Standard Deviation(SD).
• When we use single time estimate for an activity A say 4 days. It
means chances are 100% that it will happen in 4 days. Single time
estimates have zero standard deviation. In above example of 3 time
estimate the time to commute could be anything between 30 to 70
minutes., it gives rise to the concept of probability and range.
• SD in case of 3 time estimates is
(Pessimistic duration estimate – optimistic duration estimate.)/6
• In the above example the SD = 70-30/6 = 6.67 minutes.
• The larger is the SD more is the spread of uncertainties.
• Standard deviation gives a sense of how good or bad things could
potentially become.
 PERT
• Let us apply this concept to a network of 3 activities ,
which are consecutive and are on critical path.
• To calculate the SD of the path we cannot add the SDs of
each activity. We need to calculate the variance and add
them.
• Variance is the square of SD. After adding the variance
we take the square root and that is the SD of the path. SD
of the path is Sq root of 10.9+158.8+28.1. It is 14.1
• The mean of the path is calculated by adding the mean of
all 3 activities on critical path. The mean is 198 days.
Act Optimis Most Pessimis Mean SD Variance
tic time Likely tic time
1 20 30 40 30 3.3 10.9
2 70 120 146 116 12.6 158.8
3 40 50 72 52 5.3 28.1
 PERT
• Statistically we know that +- 1 sigma from the
mean, that is between 183.9 to 212.1 days, has
68.26% probability of meeting the time schedule
• Similarly +-2% sigma from the mean, that is from
169.8 days to 226.2 days, the probability is
95.46%
• Similarly +-3% sigma from the mean that is from
165.7 days to 240.3 days , the chance of meeting
the time schedule of the path is 99.73%.
 Time phasing
• A network is a display of all interconnected
activities. Activities need to be performed to
achieve project objectives.
• For a project network diagram we need to
carry two pass system.
• The first pass also called the FORWARD PASS
calculates the early start and early finish of
each activity.
 Forward Pass
• Early Start:- In a critical path method, it is the
earliest possible point in time at which the
activity can start, given the network logic and
schedule constraints. Early start dates can change
as the project progresses and changes are
incorporated in the project plan.
• Early Finish:-It is the earliest possible point in
time at which the activity can finish, given the
network logic and schedule constraints.
• Early finish =Early start + duration
 Forward Pass
ES EF
0 Act A 1
Dur 1wk

• The left box is termed as early start and right box

is early finish.
• Activity A is the first activity and earliest it can
start is 0 date, earliest it can finish is 0+1= 1 wk.
• As we go from left to right in the forward pass, let
us calculate the ES and EF of all the activities.
 FORWARD PASS
ES EF ES EF ES EF
1 3 3 7 9 12
Dur 2 Dur 4 Dur 3
Act B Act C Act D

ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 1 1 9 15 20
Dur 1 Dur 8 Dur 5
Act A Act E Act H

ES EF ES EF
1 6 9 15
Dur 5 Dur 6
Act F Act G
 Forward Pass
• Early start of D is not necessarily the early finish
of activity C, why not?
• In a forward pass analysis, whenever an activity is
dependent on more than one activity to finish,
we always take the largest no of all the preceding
early finishes.
• In the finish activity H , the earliest finish is 20
wks.20 wks is the earliest this project can finish.
• Forward pass gives us the earliest finish of a
project.
 Forward Pass
• The earliest finish so calculated may have the
following outcome:
– Not accepted by the management as the EF is much
later than similar product release by the competitor
– The EF date is higher than the time period given for
the project and can affect the ROI.
– Magmnt believes that the time period given for
individual activities have lot of padding.
– Magmnt feels that you have not provided enough
parallel activities
– Conversely, Magmnt feels that your network plan is
much more optimistic and less realistic.
 Backward Pass
• The forward pass has determined the earliest possible time
to finish the project. But the question now is what is the
latest permissible time to complete the project.
• In most case completion will be desired as soon as possible.
That is earliest possible finish time and latest permissible
finish time will be same.
• Having made this assumption, a BACKWARD PASS through
the network will reveal the latest permissible start and
finish times for every activity.
• We go from planned end of the project to the beginning of
the project. The backward pass process is similar to forward
pass except that results are obtained by subtracting from
right to left.
 Backward Pass
• We are still in the planning stage of the project and not
yet begun the execution of the project
• Late start:-the latest possible point in time that an
activity may begin without delaying the project finish
date.
• Late finish date:-the latest possible point in time that an
activity may finish without delaying the project finish
date.
• Late start= late finish- duration
• When you have more than one path going backward to
reach an activity, take the smallest number of imposed
late finish dates to arrive at the late finish of the activity
 Backward Pass
ES EF ES EF ES EF
1 3 3 7 9 12
Dur 2 Dur 4 Dur 3
Act B Act C Ac D
6 8 8 12 12 15
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 1 1 9 15 20
Dur 1 Dur 8 Dur 5
Act A Act E Act H
0 1 1 9 15 20
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF
1 6 9 15
Dur 5 Dur 6
Act F Act G
4 9 9 15
LS LF LS LF
 Float or Slack
• The difference between earliest finish time and latest finish
time or, Early start time and late start time of an activity or
network as a whole is known as float or slack.
• Total float is the amount by which any activity in the network
can be delayed without affecting the project completion time.
• Free float is an amount of time that a schedule activity can be
delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately
following schedule activities.
• Act B and C has same float of 5 Wks, but can I afford to delay
both activities by 5 wks each. If act B is delayed by 3 wks then I
can afford to delay Act C only by 2 wks. The total float is
sharable between more than one activity .
 Float or Slack
• Float is a quantity that denotes the priority of a task,
highest priority to be given to the tasks with least float.
Allows project management to give attention and
action on the most critical activities.
• Float also plays a big role in resource scheduling. Any
activity having total float can be deliberately delayed
up to the amount of total float available, to take care of
resource overloading.
• Total float available should not be exhausted early in
the project
• In a network there will always be at least one path
where total float will be zero or assigned minimum
float.
• Activities with minimum total float or zero float are
critical to the project
 Critical Path
• Critical Path:- In a project network diagram , the
series of activities which determines the earliest
completion of the project is the critical path.
• Critical path is the longest path to complete a
project .
• It has the least float.
• The critical path will keep changing from time to
time as activities get completed ahead or behind
the schedule.
 Calendar consideration
• Before start of the project all the time in the project
planning network has been used as numbers only.
• As soon as the project start date is announced, it is
necessary to convert all times to calendar dates, taking
into account non working days such as weekend and
public holidays. This can easily be done when network
is being made with the help of software program on
computer.
• Date formats: 10.12.02 in Britain is 10th Dec 2002, but
in America a project manager will interpret it as 12th
October 2002. Confusion can be avoided by adopting
the form 10th Dec 2002.
 Working Calendar
• The default calendar in most software will
assume that weekends are non working days and
will allow the planner to identify and exclude
other non working days like public holidays.
• The computer will assign this default calendar to
every activity unless specific instruction is given.
• Different calendars can be used when there is mix
of 5 and 7 days working in the same project.
• Some activities like concrete curing and paint
drying span non working days and these should
be strictly assigned to a seven day calendar.
 Time control
• Duration compression is compression of time
with reference to the duration of an activity.
• If I am required to do a work in 8 hrs of my work
time can I do it in a smaller time?
• Duration compression is not always possible and
if possible , we may require:
– Additional resources
– Or improvement in productivity level of individual
– Redefining the activity itself so that it requires less
effort.
 Time control
• Duration compression looks for ways to shorten
the project schedule in time dimension without
changing the overall project scope.
• This can be achieved by techniques such as :
– Fast Tracking and
– Crashing
Duration compression is relatively easier for
activities which have been performed
earlier but very difficult in R&D type of
projects with high degree of uncertainties.
 Fast Tracking
• If an activity C follows activity B and B follows activity A
and each activity has 4 wks duration, time taken to
complete these 3 activities will be 12 wks.
• In the best possible case, if activities A,B and C are all
independent and can be started simultaneously, the time
taken for completion of all 3 will be only 4 wks.
• It can be implied that time duration of completing the 3
activities will entirely depend on the logical relationship.
• While crashing is used to reduce the time duration of an
activity by increasing resources etc., the fast tracking
implies the restructuring of the logical relationship and
sequence of the activities.- doing activities in parallel.
• Fast tracking involves certain amount of risk and could
result in rework.
 Crashing
• It is a concept in which cost and schedule trade-
offs are analyzed to determine how to obtain the
greatest amount of compression for the least
incremental cost.
• Crashing does not always produce a viable
alternative and often results in increased cost.
• Since critical path is the longest path in the
network, it is logical that one should try to carry
out crashing only on those activities which fall on
critical path, that is saving time on critical path
will also shorten the project duration.
 •Let us look at the following network diagram of 8 activities A to H
ES EF ES EF ES EF
1 3 3 7 9 12
Dur 2 Dur 4 Dur 3
Act B Act C Ac D
6 8 8 12 12 15
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 1 Critical path 1 9 15 20
Dur 1 Dur 8 Dur 5
Act A Act E Act H
0 1 1 9 15 20
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF
1 6 9 15
Dur 5 Dur 6
Act F Act G
4 9 9 15
LS LF LS LF
 Crashing
• The critical path constitutes activities A,E,G and H
• Following table is given to us for crashing activities.
Which one would you prefer to crash?
Activity name Normal time Time duration Crashing
Duration After crashing cost
A 1 1 0
B 2 1 4000
C 4 2 3500
D 3 2 2500
E 8 5 12000
F 5 4 1500
G 6 4 7000
H 5 4 9000
 Crashing
• We should first examine activities A,E,G,H which are on
critical path
• Activity A - no crashing is possible as per table.
• Out of balance 3 activities which activity to be crashed
for crashing the project schedule by 1 week.
• Activity E, total cost of crashing is 12000 for crashing by 3
wks. Per week cost of crashing =4000.
• Similarly, Activity G per week cost of crashing is 3500
• For activity H, per week cost of crashing is 9000
• Thus activity G has least cost of 3500 for crashing 1 week.
• Thus by crashing the activity G by 1 week we reduce the
project time to 19 weeks. Now we must do the forward
and backward pass to calculate the critical path after the
crashing.
 •After crashing activity G by 1 wk- network diagram of 8 activities A to H
ES EF ES EF ES EF
1 3 3 7 9 12
Dur 2 Dur 4 Dur 3
Act B Act C Ac D
5 7 7 11 11 14
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 1 1 9 14 19
Dur 1 Critical path Dur 8 Dur 5
Act A Act E Act H
0 1 1 9 14 19
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF
1 6 9 14 Cost of crashing
Dur 5 Dur 5
For the project
Act F Act G
4 9 9 14 3500
LS LF LS LF
 Crashing
• We find that even after crashing G by 1 week
the critical path remains same A,E,G,H.
• If we need to reduce the project duration by
another 1 week, same procedure will be
followed and G will still be the main candidate
being the least cost option at 3500/week.
• With revised time duration of 4 weeks for G
we again calculate the critical path
 •Crashing of G by another week- network diagram of 8 activities A to H
ES EF ES EF ES EF
1 3 3 7 9 12
Dur 2 Dur 4 Dur 3
Act B Act C Ac D
4 6 6 10 10 13
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 1 1 9 13 18
Dur 1 Critical path Dur 8 Dur 5
Act A Act E Act H
0 1 1 9 13 18
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF
1 6 9 13
Dur 5 Dur 4 Cost of crashing
Act F Act G For the project
4 9 9 13 7000
LS LF LS LF
 Crashing
• The critical path constitutes activities A,E,G and H
• Following table is given to us for crashing activities.
Which one would you prefer to crash?
Activity name Normal time Time duration Crashing
Duration After crashing cost
A 1 1 0
B 2 1 4000
C 4 2 3500
D 3 2 2500
E 8 5 12000
F 5 4 1500
G 6 4 7000
H 5 4 9000
•Let us bring the project duration to 17 weeks by crashing 1 more week
•Activity G can not be crashed any more- we crash activity E, the next cheapest option
ES EF ES EF ES EF
1 3 3 7 8 11
Dur 2 Dur 4 Dur 3
Act B Act C Act D
4 6 6 10 9 12
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 1 1 8 12 17
Dur 1 Critical path Dur 7 Dur 5
Act A Act E Act H
0 1 1 8 12 17
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF
1 6 8 12 Cost of crashing
Dur 5 Dur 4
For the project
Act F Act G
4 9 8 12 11000
LS LF LS LF
•Let us bring the project duration to 16 weeks by crashing 1 more week
• we crash activity E, by another week being the cheapest option available
ES EF ES EF ES EF
1 3 3 7 7 10
Dur 2 Dur 4 Dur 3
Act B Act C Act D
2 4 4 8 8 11
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 1 1 7 11 16
Dur 1 Critical path Dur 6 Dur 5
Act A Act E Act H
0 1 1 7 11 16
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF
1 6 7 11
Dur 5 Dur 4 Cost of crashing
Act F Act G For the project
4 9 7 11 15000
LS LF LS LF
•Let us bring the project duration to 16 weeks by crashing 1 more week
• we crash activity E, by another week being the cheapest option available
ES EF ES EF ES EF
1 3 3 7 7 10
Dur 2 Dur 4 Dur 3
Act B Act C Act D

Critical path
2 4 4 8 7 10
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES EF ES EF
0 1 1 6 10 15
Dur 1 Critical path Dur 5 Dur 5
Act A Act E Act H
0 1 1 6 10 15
LS LF LS LF LS LF

ES EF ES
EF
1 6 6
10 Cost of crashing
Dur 5 Dur 4
For the project
Act F Act G
4 9 6 10 19000
LS LF LS LF
Now there are 2 critical paths AEGH and AEDH
 Split
• It is always advisable to break activities into small time
units to the extent that they can be easily managed.
• Activity A site leveling, Activity B planting of grass , each of
5 days duration
• Split both into 1 day duration 5 activities a1,a2,a3,a4,a5
and b1,b2,b3,b4,b5
• Advantage of splitting is reduction in time duration. It is
possible only if there are no resource constraints.
• If the same person doing leveling has to plant the grass
then splitting will not compress the duration.
• Resource constraints play an important part in scheduling a
network.

leveling a1 a2 a3 a4 a5

b3 b4 b5
Grass planting b1 b2
 Scheduling with Resource constraints
• Every Organization has fixed resources- physical and
non physical. Human resource is the primary resource
to carry out project activities. We need Capital,
Machineries, material and other resources to carry out
complete project activities.
• Generally an organization will be carrying out many
projects at any given point of time.
• For each project manager, his project is most important
and would like to get all possible resources from the
management to make his project effectively. However,
the world is not so utopian as a project manager may
wish.
 Resource based scheduling
• The conventional critical path method may give a
critical path based on the interrelationship of various
associated activities. It presumes that resources are
available as and when needed, which is not true.
• Let us look at the resource based Scheduling option
– Determine the resources required for each activity on a
network
– Find out the availability of resources which would be
available to your project with respect to time
– Look at the floats available for different activities
 Resource based scheduling
• Draw a resource histogram with a time baseline.
– Draw up the difference between requirement and
availability of resources at different time periods.
– Look at the deficiency in resources on the critical path
activities.
– Examine the alternatives of shifting critical resources
required to activities on the critical path from non critical
activities.
– Draw up final resource deficiency list for critical path
activities.
– Draw up final resource deficiency for non critical path
activities
– Manage to obtain resources or else outsource some of the
work or have resources work overtime or employ other
innovative strategies.
 Resource based scheduling
– Change time schedule of both critical and non critical
activities based on the resource constraints.
– Draw up a new network with revised time duration based
on resource constraints
– Complete the exercise of resource constrained scheduling
once again to verify all the previous assumptions.
– In real life, in case of human resources, it is not merely a
matter of the number of people available but the time
duration will also be heavily dependent on the capabilities
of the human resources.
– In resource constraint scheduling techniques, one should
take into account both the quantitative and qualitative
aspects of the human resource to arrive at a meaningful
time duration
 Resource management
• Resource Planning and allocation- Planning,
allocating and scheduling resources to tasks is
another fundamental requirement of effective
Project Planning and management. Resources
include Men, Money and machines and
materials.
• Resource management covers resource allocation
and its impact on schedules and budgets, and
resource levelling and smoothing.
 Resource Scheduling
• Resource scheduling is the activity which
constitutes of making the resources available at
the time of their requirement during the project
life cycle.
• It requires a very good understanding and
experience of resource management and needs
for affecting timely delivery.
• He would be required to asses in advance various
resources required for various tasks occurring at
different time of the project to maintain the
smooth execution of the project.
 Resource aggregation
• Resource aggregation:-On a bar chart when the
activities are plotted as per their early start date
and then a particular resource/skill required for
each task is aggregated at the bottom, without
taking advantage of any float then this type of
schedule is called resource aggregation.
• This always leads to a schedule that demands
uneven use of resource.. There will be peak
overloads and there may be under-utilisation at
different time phase.
 DAYS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Task
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Aggregated
resources
• It is possible to produce alternative schedules
using the latest permissible start dates rather
than early start dates .
• This will delay /avoid the peak overloads.
• However, modern software takes care of these
and allows resource scheduling based on
more effective task priority rules.
 DAYS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Task
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Smoothed
resources
 Leveling and Smoothing
• Resource smoothing is used when the time constraint
takes priority. The objective is to complete the work by
the required date while avoiding peaks and troughs of
resource demand. (time limited resource scheduling)
• Resource leveling is used when limits on the
availability of resources are paramount. It simply
answers the question ‘With the resources available,
when will the work be finished?’ (Resource limited
time scheduling)
• Resource smoothing can be very effectively done
manually since un programmable factors like
personality traits of work force, working space,
complication in a task etc. can only be considered by
human .
 Smoothing
• Smoothing operation must follow the logical pattern as
under:-
– Advantage should be taken of existing float. Activities with
free float should be first extended. Floats on a bar chart
can be shown as dotted lines.
– If the peeks still exceed the available resources, logical
changes will be required in the network.
– When the floats have been absorbed, and resources
distributed, a new histogram diagram can be drawn.
– S Curve- is the plotting of cumulative resources with time
base – which provides a clear idea of resource build up
over the period of the project. It keeps on increasing till
become constant
 S - Curve
Week HP Cumulative
number Welders
Required
1 4 4

Cumulative HP welders
2 8 12
3 10 22
4 12 34
5 8 42
6 6 48
7 4 52
8 1 53
9 0 53
Weeks
10 0 53
 Expected pattern of resource usage
Rate constant Resource Usage- If 4 fitters are specified to work on
assemble activity for ten days, then it is taken to mean that all 4 will
be deployed full duration , at a constant rate for 10 days. As shown
in Network A.
Fitters DAYS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Assemble trailer
Network A for 2nd test unit
10d 4FT
 Expected pattern of resource usage
Non-rate constant usage- It allows planners to specify different level
of usage for an activity as it proceeds. In the example above ,
the planner might wish to deploy 2Fitters for first 2 days, the 6 fitters
for next 4 days and then 3 fitters for balance 4 days. This can be as
shown in the Network B and resource histogram .
Fitters DAYS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7
6
5
4
3
2

Network B 1
Assemble trailer for Assemble trailer for Assemble trailer for
2nd test unit ph 1 2nd test unit ph 2 2nd test unit ph 3
2d 2FT 4d 6FT 4d 3FT
• In the software based resource scheduling
rate constant resource usage is a default
setting. However, better programs allow
planners to specify different level of usage as
it proceeds – called non rate constant usage.
Questions??
Thank You