Project Management
Chapter 8. Resource Management
,8.0 Learning Objectives & Overview
Learning Objectives
1. Describe how to create a project resource plan.
2. Define the resources that will be utilized in a project, including the project team
members.
3. Elaborate on resource loading, leveling, and crashing to conduct resource allocation
effectively.
4. Practice on Microsoft Project to determine and allocate the resources, and solve
resource overallocation and conflict problems as well as scheduling issues.
Overview
A project manager is responsible for planning, developing, managing, and monitoring and controlling
the resources to ensure that project objectives can be achieved. Effective resource management is
integral to overall project success. The objective is to identify and allocate resources effectively and
efficiently to project activities to complete the project to the satisfaction of the stakeholders, in
particular, clients and customers. Whereas scope, time, and cost are the main constraints of a project,
they are tightly linked to the resources. After the scope and schedule are delineated, the project
manager can continue with the identification and allocation of resources based on the scope (product
requirements and project activities) and the schedule (how project activities are sequenced on a
timescale). Allocation of resources allows the project manager to determine the overall project budget
most of which is spent on resources.
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, Project Management
8.1 Resource Management
Resource management is the efficient and effective deployment of an organization’s resources when
they are needed. We can classify the resources into three main categories:
1. Human resources (HRs)
a. Project team members (core team)
b. HRs outside the core team required for project activities
2. Physical resources
a. Equipment
b. Materials (Raw materials, supplies, consumables)
c. Inventory
d. Facilities
e. Infrastructure
f. IT hardware
g. IT software
h. Cloud computing resources
3. Services
a. Contractors and subcontractors
b. Consulting
Every activity in our activity list needs to have resources assigned to it. Before we can assign resources
to the project, we need to know their availability. To assess resource availability, a project manager
needs information about what resources we can use on our project when they’re available to us, and the
conditions of their availability. This is why a WBS (see Chapter 4) and an activity list (see Chapter 7) are
critical in our project to plan for the resources.
The most important resource to a project is its people—the project team. We discussed the development
and management of project teams in section 6.7 of Chapter 6. Projects have a core team that includes a
project manager and key members with functional expertise. There may be also administrative
personnel and members who assist the project manager. Core team members provide continuity and
“corporate memory” throughout the project, particularly to external hires who may not be as familiar
with the strengths and weaknesses of the organization’s previous projects. Projects require specific
expertise at specific moments in the schedule, depending on the milestones being delivered or the given
phase of the project. An organization can host several strategic projects concurrently over the course of
a budget year, which means that its employees can be working on more than one project at a time.
Alternatively, an employee may be seconded away from his or her role within an organization to become
part of a project team because of particular expertise. Moreover, projects often require talent and
221
Chapter 8. Resource Management
,8.0 Learning Objectives & Overview
Learning Objectives
1. Describe how to create a project resource plan.
2. Define the resources that will be utilized in a project, including the project team
members.
3. Elaborate on resource loading, leveling, and crashing to conduct resource allocation
effectively.
4. Practice on Microsoft Project to determine and allocate the resources, and solve
resource overallocation and conflict problems as well as scheduling issues.
Overview
A project manager is responsible for planning, developing, managing, and monitoring and controlling
the resources to ensure that project objectives can be achieved. Effective resource management is
integral to overall project success. The objective is to identify and allocate resources effectively and
efficiently to project activities to complete the project to the satisfaction of the stakeholders, in
particular, clients and customers. Whereas scope, time, and cost are the main constraints of a project,
they are tightly linked to the resources. After the scope and schedule are delineated, the project
manager can continue with the identification and allocation of resources based on the scope (product
requirements and project activities) and the schedule (how project activities are sequenced on a
timescale). Allocation of resources allows the project manager to determine the overall project budget
most of which is spent on resources.
220
, Project Management
8.1 Resource Management
Resource management is the efficient and effective deployment of an organization’s resources when
they are needed. We can classify the resources into three main categories:
1. Human resources (HRs)
a. Project team members (core team)
b. HRs outside the core team required for project activities
2. Physical resources
a. Equipment
b. Materials (Raw materials, supplies, consumables)
c. Inventory
d. Facilities
e. Infrastructure
f. IT hardware
g. IT software
h. Cloud computing resources
3. Services
a. Contractors and subcontractors
b. Consulting
Every activity in our activity list needs to have resources assigned to it. Before we can assign resources
to the project, we need to know their availability. To assess resource availability, a project manager
needs information about what resources we can use on our project when they’re available to us, and the
conditions of their availability. This is why a WBS (see Chapter 4) and an activity list (see Chapter 7) are
critical in our project to plan for the resources.
The most important resource to a project is its people—the project team. We discussed the development
and management of project teams in section 6.7 of Chapter 6. Projects have a core team that includes a
project manager and key members with functional expertise. There may be also administrative
personnel and members who assist the project manager. Core team members provide continuity and
“corporate memory” throughout the project, particularly to external hires who may not be as familiar
with the strengths and weaknesses of the organization’s previous projects. Projects require specific
expertise at specific moments in the schedule, depending on the milestones being delivered or the given
phase of the project. An organization can host several strategic projects concurrently over the course of
a budget year, which means that its employees can be working on more than one project at a time.
Alternatively, an employee may be seconded away from his or her role within an organization to become
part of a project team because of particular expertise. Moreover, projects often require talent and
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