Benefits of resource leveling
Resource leveling has a variety of potential advantages for project managers and their teams. Advantages of using this technique may include:
What is resource leveling?
Resource leveling is a project management technique that involves making the best use of the resources that are available to avoid either overusing or underusing them. Limited resources make it difficult for project managers to complete their tasks. Due to this, they must devise plans for maximizing their resources.
Using this technique will help you finish your project without using any additional resources or capacity. Project managers and teams can deliver projects on schedule with few conflicts or delays by using resource leveling. Project managers can use this method to improve decision-making and resource management.
Resource leveling vs. resource smoothing
Resource leveling seeks to achieve this balance so that you can use the resources at your disposal to finish the task. Another optimization method is resource smoothing, which modifies activities to fit the available resources and guarantees project completion within the budgeted resources. The goal of resource-constrained scheduling (RCS), also known as time-constrained scheduling (TCS), is to modify project tasks so that teams can use resources effectively and finish the project on time. Typically, you implement resource smoothing after resource leveling.
When you have few resources for a project, resource leveling may be used. As an alternative, resource smoothing can be used when time constraints prevent timeline extensions. Resource smoothing can aid in addressing and preventing delays, which can lead to cost savings and the effective use of resources. When managing a project, you can use one or both techniques to balance time restrictions and resource limitations.
Resource leveling examples
Here are some practical examples of how to implement resource-leveling:
Reduce the project timeline
You can shorten the project timeline while still meeting the requirements and making efficient use of the resources by using resource leveling. Consider a situation where you need four team members to work on a project for 30 days, but you only need their input for 10 of those days. By hiring two people to work on the project for 20 days, you can lower the cost.
Combine tasks
Think about a scenario where you want to optimize resource usage to cut project costs. For instance, you are aware that an excavator is needed for both surveying and excavation on the project. You can plan your day so that you can complete those two tasks simultaneously. You can adjust the project schedule so that the excavator has enough time to complete the two tasks without raising the cost of the project rather than hiring another one to handle the second activity.
Reorganize project priorities
Additionally, you can rearrange project priorities to maximize the use of your resources. To ensure you have enough resources or tools for another area of the project, you might, for instance, postpone one area. Let’s say you’re building a four-story apartment and discover that your scaffolding is only adequate for the first floor. You can postpone construction of the additional floors by a week or two until another part of the project is finished and the additional scaffolding is ready.
Resource leveling vs. resource allocation
Another term related to resource leveling is resource allocation. This method can be applied during the project planning stage to illustrate the various resources needed to complete a particular task. One project stage, for instance, might need different resources and time considerations than the stage that comes after it. The distribution of resources determines who completes a task and the tools they can use to complete it successfully. By taking into account their skills, availability, and competencies, this commits team members to specific roles in the project and assigns them the resource needed to complete the task.
Resource leveling, which aims to resolve resource conflicts during the project implementation phase, can be used during the project even though project managers typically perform resource allocation before a project starts. For instance, you could allocate a programmer six hours each day using resource allocation. You can use resource leveling if you later learn that they have three separate six-hour tasks scheduled for the same day. You schedule the three distinct tasks to occur on various days. This helps to solve the problem of over-allocation of resources.
Resource leveling approaches
You can accomplish resource leveling in different ways. Some approaches you can employ include:
Critical pathway analysis
You can use the algorithm known as critical pathway analysis to plan production. The shortest and longest estimated time duration paths are evaluated. This strategy enables you to assess resource dependencies and determine a reasonable timeline for completing a particular project task. You want to find activity dependencies and combine them with resource collaboration when you analyze the paths. Finding tasks that share resources is crucial, as is determining the most effective schedule for them.
In businesses with complex production processes, critical pathway analysis is frequently used by project managers. They frequently use critical path analysis prior to taking into account any other technique when implementing resource leveling in any project. By using critical path analysis, you might avoid having to use other strategies later on in the project.
Fast-tracking
By finishing parallel tasks, project managers and their teams can use the resource leveling technique known as “fast-tracking” to avoid delays. This strategy can only be used if two or more activities can overlap. You are able to complete the tasks quickly and without spending additional money.
Consider a situation where you are creating prototypes for a new product. Here, you could cram more work into your schedule to avoid doing things twice that you can do once, like adding two features to the product at once. You could release the product into the market faster than you anticipated by using this technique.
Crashing
When employing this technique, take into account the project’s most valuable tasks. Find the tasks that, with more resources, might result in higher productivity to accomplish this, even if it means rearranging your project schedules. You can implement crashing in several ways, including:
What is Resource Levelling? Project Management in Under 5
FAQ
How do you do Resource Levelling?
In order to ensure that a project can be completed with the available resources, resource leveling is a project management technique that involves resolving overallocation or scheduling conflicts. Resources are the time, supplies, or equipment required to complete a project.
What is resource leveling PMP?
Create a baseline start and end date with flex deadlines in between before performing resource leveling. Prioritize the activities in order of importance, then schedule the lower priority activities. In this case, the total float value of each activity determines the priorities.
What is resource smoothing vs resource leveling?
Resource leveling is a resource optimization technique in which the project manager modifies the start and end dates of various activities to strike a balance between the demand for resources and the supply that is currently available.
