Discussion 2

CONTEMPORARY PROJECT MANAGEMENT, 4E
Timothy J. Kloppenborg
Vittal Anantatmula
Kathryn N. Wells

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Resourcing Projects

Chapter 9

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Chapter 9 Core Objectives:
Show resource assignments on a RACI chart, Gantt chart, & resource histogram
Develop an effective project schedule, considering resource constraints
Describe methods of resolving resource overloads
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Chapter 9 Behavioral Objectives:
Create a Human Resources Management Plan including role descriptions & staffing management plan
Assign roles & responsibilities based on strengths
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Chapter 9 Technical Objectives:
Compress a project schedule using crashing and fast tracking & describe advantages and disadvantages of each
Compare various alternative scheduling methods
Using MS Project, assign resources, pinpoint overloads, & describe methods of dealing with them
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5

From manufacturer to service provider
Patti A. Soldavini, director, Corporate Marketing, Schawk, Inc.
“We identify and help remove process bottlenecks, offer online collaborative project management tools, and provide knowledgeable human talent to deliver what we call brand point management. Brand point management helps companies create compelling and consistent brand experiences across brand touch points.”
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6

Successful projects balance…

Technical
Abilities
Behavioral
Abilities
Must complement each other to develop a workable resource-based schedule that people will accept
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Technical Abilities Needed when Resourcing Projects
Identify person(s) with work overloads
Estimate resource demands
Compress a project schedule
Assign person(s) to each activity
Create a staffing management plan
Schedule a project with limited resources
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Behavioral Abilities Needed when Resourcing Projects
Select the right people

Identify needs to be accomplished

Ensure performance capability

Deal with work schedules

Schedule overtime
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Behavioral Abilities Needed when Resourcing Projects
Estimate amount of work per activity

Assemble effective team

Deal with people from diverse backgrounds

Decide where each person will work

Establish effective virtual relationships

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Key Resourcing Considerations
Project tradeoffs and priorities
Resource limitations
Personnel skill development
People cost
Project cost

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Activity vs. Resource Dominated Schedule Basis Comparison

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Use when client does not understand their needs
Rapid rate of change expected on projects
Team members should remain on project for at least one iteration
Budget is set based on people, and product is produced at pace team can maintain
Agile team is cross-functional with general expertise
Develop skills as needed
Work flows to the team rather than vice versa

Activity vs. Resource Dominated Schedule Basis Comparison
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Estimate Resource Needs
How many resources of each type & skill or knowledge level are needed?
Consider support needs such as information systems & human resources
Consider constraints placed upon how people are hired, scheduled, & released
Estimating activity resources– a process of assessing all types of resources—people, materials, tools, & equipment (along with quantities)—required for each activity to complete it as specified in project scope.
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Plan Resource Management

Identify potential resources
Determine resource availability
Decide timing issues
Staffing management plan – a proposal focused on acquiring, developing, and retaining human resources for as long as you need them on the project.
Plan Resource Management – the process of identifying resources and required skills for a project, defining and assigning roles and responsibilities to all resources, developing a reporting hierarchy, and communicating expectations.
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Plan Resource Management

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Identify Potential Resources

Work functions
Professional discipline
Skill level
Physical location
Organizational/administrative unit
job titles and range of
responsibilities
degrees and professional
certifications
experience and performance ratings
willingness to relocate and travel
costs & contractual issues
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Identify Potential Resources
Identify an adequate number and mix of people
Core team should participate in chartering the project
Available People
Resource needs

Available vs. needed
Specific skill gaps
Resource Breakdown structure (RBS)– grouping all resources into main categories in level one and populating each main category with resources based on either function or skill level….see Exhibit 9.3 in textbook
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Identify Potential Resources
Key subject matter experts (SMEs)
Diversity allows for more perspectives
Make opportunities equally available to qualified candidates
You may not get the specific people you want for your project, so it makes sense to identify all possible resources!

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Determine Resource Availability
Identify availability of desired people
Secure commitment
Full and part time resources
Internal vs. external resources
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Decide Timing Issues when Resourcing Projects
When to bring people on board
Get team functioning effectively
Plan for keeping team motivated & on schedule
When to reward & recognize the project team
When & how to release project participants

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Staffing Management Plan Issues
How will they deal with timing issues of building up & then releasing the project workforce?
How will project planners identify potential people for the project?
How will they determine which people are available & secure their services?
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Project Team Composition Issues
Cross-functional?
Co-located?
Virtual?

Outsourced?
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Assign a Resource to each Activity
Show resource responsibilities on RACI chart
Show resource assignments on Gantt Chart
Summarize resource responsibilities with histogram

WBS Activity Who 1? Who 2?

The work breakdown structure Project activities that correspond to the WBS Who will be involved May be more than one person

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Show Resource Responsibilities on RACI Chart
RACI is a form of RAM

Agile team members decide among themselves who will do each work activity; when finished, they begin next- highest-priority work
Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) – a matrix depicting work packages & assigned resources for completing activities required to produce work packages
RACI – a popular form of RAM that presents roles of key stakeholders and their roles defined as responsible (R), accountable (A), consult (C), and inform (I) for project activities in a matrix form

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Partial RACI Chart Example

Only one person accountable for each task
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Breakout session!
Create a RACI chart for your project. Each row may have several people involved, but be sure there in only 1 person Accountable (A) for each task
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Show Resource Assignments on Gantt Chart

Person responsible for each activity is listed next to the activity in the Gantt Chart Schedule
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Summarize Resource Responsibilities by Time Period With Histogram

Add up demands for each worker at each time period
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Dealing with Resource Overloads
Identify which activities are involved
Compare resource histogram to Gantt Chart Schedule
Project scheduling software pinpoints when overloads occur for each worker
Management decisions required to solve the problem
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Partial Schedule and Resource Histogram Example

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Methods of Resolving Resource Overloads

Reorder activities
Acquire or borrow additional resources
Reduce project scope or extend project schedule
Inform sponsor of severe overloads
Resource- level the overloaded person’s schedule
Assign certain activities to other workers
Split an activity into two activities
Perform 1st part as scheduled
Delay 2nd part of activity
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Resource Leveling
Delay activities so person doesn’t perform as many activities at the same time (most common)
Delay noncritical activities by an amount no more than their slack
Allow project to slip
If non-critical activities must be completed at rate of effort in original schedule, reassign activities to another worker
Resource leveling is a combination of art & science

Resource Leveling – a project execution technique of adjusting the use of resources based on availability and the amount of float on activities to accomplish work as soon as possible, given the limited resource availability.
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Resource Leveling Example

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Partially Leveled Resource Schedule

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Breakout session!
Practice Scheduling & Resource Leveling by hand (without software), using either Exercise 5 or another provided by your instructor
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Compress the Project Schedule
Actions to reduce the critical path
Crashing
Fast tracking
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Actions to Reduce the Critical Path
Reduce project scope and/or quality.
Overlap sequential activities
Partially overlap sequential activities
Increase number of work hours/days
Schedule activities at same time.
Shorten activities by assigning more resources.
Shorten activities that cost least to speed up.

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Compress the project schedule
Crashing may cost more money to speed up the schedule
Fast tracking may increase the risk to speed up the schedule

In agile, crashing is called “swarming,” since team members swarm on a problem to help get back on track
Crashing – speeding up the critical path often by adding additional resources or employing existing resources for longer hours and/or more days per week
Fast Tracking – a method to expedite a project by executing activities at the same time that would ordinarily be done one after the other

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Crashing
Certain activities are performed at a faster than normal pace

Which activities are on the critical path?
Which critical path activity costs the least on a per day basis to speed up?
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Crashing

The enumeration method was used to identify each path and its duration.

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Crashing

Activity B on the critical path is the least expensive choice

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Crashing
After 2 rounds, both critical paths are 23 days.

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Crashing – “All-Crash” Mode
Continuing to crash activities until it is not worthwhile

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If there is a bonus of $225 per day for finishing early, what would I crash and how fast would I get done?
Crashing Consideration Questions

How fast can the project be completed?
To crash the project one day, what activity would be crashed and what would it cost?
To crash the project two days, what activities would be crashed and what would it cost in total?

If there is a bonus of $125 per day for finishing early, what would I crash and how fast would I get done?

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Breakout session!
Practice Crashing, using Exercise 2 at the end of this chapter in your textbook
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Fast tracking
Activities normally performed in series are performed at the same time

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Alternative Scheduling Methods
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)
Reverse Phase Schedules
Rolling Wave Planning
Agile Project Planning
Auto/Manual Scheduling
Methods are not mutually exclusive!
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Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)
Incorporates calculations on resource availability
The resource most in demand is identified
Keep that resource appropriately busy on critical chain activities
Critical chain method – an alternative scheduling technique that modifies project schedule by taking resource constraints into account…allows the project team to place buffers on any project schedule path to account for uncertainty and limited resources
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CCPM Components
Avoid multitasking
Estimate aggressively activity completion time
Feed time buffer in front of critical chain activities
Put time reserved for uncertainty at project end
Finish activities early if possible
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Reverse Phase Schedules
a.k.a. Last Planner System
Developed by people closest to the work
Start with final project deliverables
Ask what needs to be completed prior to starting work on this deliverable
Think from end of the project to the beginning
Often used in construction projects
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Rolling Wave Planning
Plan first part of project in detail
Plan later parts at a high level/ use placeholders
Focus on the near term
Extreme of rolling wave planning is Agile
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Agile Project Planning
Collaborative approach with workers and stakeholders
Stakeholders want cost, schedule, & functionality data before approving a project
Avoid stringent change control
Projects planned in short increments called sprints

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Auto/Manual Scheduling
MS Project now allows manual scheduling
Enables users to emulate MS Excel
When showing few milestones without dates (i.e. during Chartering), manual scheduling may be good option

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Using MS Project for Resource Allocation
Defining resources
Set up a Resource Calendar
Assigning resources
Finding Over-allocated resources
Dealing with Over-allocations
Crashing a Critical Path Activity
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1. Defining Resources
Describe available resources in the MS Project data base
As a single unit or a pool of like units
Resources include:
People
Buildings
Materials
Facilities
Supplies
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1. Defining Resources
Enter resource information before time of assignment to a task
Minimum field requirements for defining resources
Name
Max Units
If costs are to be modeled, must provide:
Rates
Cost per Use
Accrue At values

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1. Defining Resources
Max Units Field
Determined before resource is assigned to activities
Defines availability of a resource for project work
Default 100%, but individual resources not usually 100% available
Considerations:
What is considered project work?
What is not considered project work?
Organizational holidays accounted for in the Standard (Project) calendar.
Vacation days accounted for in each resource calendar.

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1. Defining Resources

On View tab>> Resource Views group, click Resource Sheet.
In first blank row, enter resource name in Resource Name cell.
In Initials cell, enter initials of the resource.
Click Max Units cell and enter resource’s maximum availability.

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2. Set up a Resource Calendar
View Tab>>Resource Sheet
Double-click row of resource to activate dialog
Click Change Working Time…
Make Revisions
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Use to block out vacation days and …