Part 92: Resource Optimization
(Project Schedule Management: Develop Schedule)
(Project Schedule Management: Control Schedule)

  • Resource Optimization is a technique where we make sure we have enough resources to complete the work that we scheduled
  • There are a few ways to do this
    • Resource Leveling
      • Start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints
      • Goal is to balance supply and demand of resources
      • Used when shared or critical resources are limited to certain times or quantities, when they are over-allocated, or to keep resource usage constant
      • This can affect the Critical Path, and delay the project

    • Resource Smoothing
      • We adjust the activities so that the project’s resource requirements don’t exceed specific limits
      • We are trying to keep our resource use constant (fluctuations are bad)
      • For example, we don’t want to have 20 staff members at the start of the project, 10 in the middle, and 20 towards the end
      • We can set a level of 15 staff members, and then spread out the project activities to keep the level constant (move some activities from the beginning/end to the middle)
      • Activities are only adjusted within the total float, so resource smoothing may not optimize all resources
      • This does not affect the Critical Path