Activity 11B (BADM 623) - Alark Batra (56512)
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Spring 2022 - Project Management Processes (BADM-623-M20) - Full Term
Activity 11B
Alark Batra (56512)
“Resource Leveling”
What is the impact on a project schedule when you level your resources?
A project requires resources to execute the activities. These resources include the labor,
equipment and materials required to get the work done. Labor is the people, such as craft,
engineers, programmers, systems analysts, etc. Equipment includes such things as cranes, test
rigs, process simulators, etc. Materials include such things as the concrete to be poured, the wire
to be installed, etc. In the ideal world, resources are unlimited and available as required. Yet,
resources are generally not unlimited and the project team needs to “level” out the use and
consumption of resources.
Your project timetable will be more accurate if you level your resources. Leveling your
resources ensures that everyone is focusing on tasks within their skill set and the time frame
you've specified for the project. There's a good chance that some of your team members may be
working on activities that are beyond their skill set, which could lead to schedule slippages.
Resources must be leveled to guarantee that the time and money allocated to a project are used
effectively. Each project has just a limited amount of time and money to work with. Any peak or
valley times are smoothed out in the schedule when resource leveling is conducted. Lack of
timely delivery can have a negative impact on projects with limited resources.
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Spring 2022 - Project Management Processes (BADM-623-M20) - Full Term
Activity 11B
Alark Batra (56512)
Why is resource leveling necessary and what is the impact on your resources when you do
not level?
Businesses use resource leveling when a project environment shifts and influences
resource levels. For example, if a team member leaves or a stakeholder requirement changes. It’s
also common to see resource leveling used in conjunction with a second technique — resource
smoothing. Both methods care about balancing resource allocation with work that needs to be
done. Resource smoothing — also called time-limited resource scheduling — is used when time
is the dominant consideration for a project.
The term "Resource Leveling" in Project Management refers to the practice of balancing
two or more projects with restricted resources, or a single project. The goal is to reduce the peaks
and valleys in resource scheduling and consumption by distributing tasks more evenly. If there is
a fixed deadline for project completion, resource smoothing delays tasks that are not on the
critical path to prioritize available resources for those that are. Only tasks that are on the critical
path affect project duration. Additional resources may also be used to help speed up activity
completion time. Resource leveling is most common when resource availability is the most
significant constraint. You can schedule tasks to fit the availability of limited resources and the
project duration shifts if required.
Resource leveling is important because it eliminates over-allocation: by balancing the
demands of project tasks with resource capacity, resource leveling removes the risks of over-
allocating resources. It enhances productivity and reduces burnout: by removing over-allocation,
the risk of resource burnout is reduced. Productivity is also improved as resources can focus on
the highest-priority work without juggling other tasks. It also ensures quality of output: when
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Spring 2022 - Project Management Processes (BADM-623-M20) - Full Term
Activity 11B
Alark Batra (56512)
resources can focus on a single task, the likelihood of a quality outcome increases. By ensuring
the right resources are working together at the right time, the sequencing of work is optimized,
decreasing the likelihood of error or something being missed.
Review the Agile manifesto and describe how Agile views resource leveling?
Leveling resources guarantees that each resource works on tasks they can finish within
the timeline you have established for your project. This helps to keep your project's timeline on
track. To keep the project on schedule, Agile emphasizes resource leveling as a technique to
ensure each resource is focusing on activities that are well within their capabilities.
Budget, timetable, and resources are all components of projects. To ensure success,
resources must be managed to a certain level. Resources leveling is the process of ensuring that
resources are not over-allocated in non-agile initiatives. To reduce the slack time between jobs,
it's best to have contingency resources ready when possible. Resource leveling is required in
order to make sure that your resources are working upon tasks that they really are capable of
completing. This ensures that your project's schedule does not get pushed back. Agile sees
resource leveling as a technique to guarantee that each person is working on activities that are
within their ability, which helps to ensure the project is completed on schedule. Project managers
can use the leveling algorithm to flatten or level out a project's resource workload and thereby
improve efficiency and productivity.
Resources (Labor, Equipment, and Materials) can be leveled by attempting to align them
based on their availability. As an example, a construction industry may have two bulldozers, but
it may be running four separate projects at the same time. Using both bulldozers for one project
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Spring 2022 - Project Management Processes (BADM-623-M20) - Full Term
Activity 11B
Alark Batra (56512)
and none for the others would be a bad idea. There aren't enough bulldozers available to finish all
of the projects on time. This means that you'll utilize one bulldozer today and another tomorrow
and so on. A particular quantity of labor is completed at regular intervals.
References
Robert K. Wysocki (2019).
Effective Project Management
(8th Ed.). Wiley.
Fundamentals of scheduling & resource leveling.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/schedu
L
ing-resource-leveling-project-progression-8006
How resource leveling can keep your projects on track.
https://monday.com/blog/project-manage
ment/resource-leveling/
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