FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY OWERRI

PMB 1526 OWERRI, IMO STATE

TERM PAPER
ON
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
BY
ONUAH DICKSON CHIGAEMEZU
20151014806

SUBMITTED TO

DR. BEN AMADE

DEPARTMENT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT
FOR THE AWARD OF
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY (B. TECH) IN
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

FEBRUARY, 2021.

1
INTRODUCTION

Resources can be anything from people to machinery to facilities. They are whatever you need to
complete your project or task. For a construction company, a resource can include a special piece
of equipment or tools. A software company would need computers and developers. And an event
manager might need caterers and a venue. Because resources exist in every field, so does the
need for resource management. 

There are actually a number of different types of resource management.

There’s scheduling, planning, and management itself. The biggest difference between the three is
the depth of planning. 

While, maximizing efficiency is the official credo of resource management, maybe you have a
different goal in mind. Perhaps you’re seeking an overview of your resource allocation. Or say
you want more transparency in the planning process. Maybe you’re looking to forecast resource
availability 5 months down the line. Or you simply need a better way to track your project’s
progress. Resource management can help you with all these goals.

let’s now explore what resource management is and the various optimization techniques
involved.

2
ABSTRACT
While resource management can sometimes feel time-consuming or intimidating to undertake,
this stage of the project management process should not be taken lightly. The accuracy of your
resource management not only dictates the timeline of the project but also the project’s
profitability.
Resource management is about more than assigning resources to a project. Resource
management plays an important role in setting project expectations, improving project flow, and
increasing project profitability and success.

3
WHAT IS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT?
Resource management is acquiring, allocating and managing the resources, such as individuals
and their skills, finances, technology, materials, machinery and natural resources required for a
project. Resource management ensures that internal and external resources are used effectively
on time and to budget. Resources may be obtained internally from the host organization or
procured from external sources.
The APM Body of Knowledge defines resource management as 'the acquisition and
deployment of the internal and external resources required to deliver the project, program or
portfolio’.     
The project professional must identify the resources required to deliver the work, as part
of planning, and determine when the resources will be required, through scheduling. This forms
an essential part of the project management plan.

What are resources?

According to the APM Body of Knowledge, ‘the resources needed to deliver a project,
programme or portfolio include people, financial resources, machinery, materials, technology,
property and anything else required to deliver the work. Resources may be obtained internally
from the host organization or procured from external sources’. They can also be consumable
and/or re-usable.

Why is resource management important?

Defining of resources and their availability, linked with planning of resource demands and
related reporting, allows for effective use of limited resources. Standardization of procedures and
processes also saves resources being wasted and finances being spent on the wrong things – a
significant cost-saving factor. All of the above contribute to the
overall success of the project.

What is the best way to manage project resources?

The best ways to manage resources effectively is to follow the three step process set out below:
 Allocation
 Aggregation
 Scheduling
Allocation involves identifying what resources are needed to complete the work, ie. the quantity
required or the amount of effort required. Aggregation of resources on a daily, weekly or
monthly basis shows the total amount consumed at any point in time. Resource
scheduling is used to calculate the resources required to deliver the work and when they will be
required.
Once you know the resource allocation and understand the consumption, you can then manage
the schedule more effectively. In some instance you may need to apply specific scheduling
techniques to ensure the project meets its objectives. These include: resource smoothing (used

4
when time constraints take priority) and resource levelling, which is creating a balance of the
resource stock, i.e. reducing excess and shortages when the availability of resources. Sometimes
both techniques may need to be used. The fully-resourced schedule has to be achievable and
have the support of the management team.

RESOURCE LEVELING
Resource leveling is a technique in project management that overlooks resource allocation and
resolves possible conflict arising from over-allocation. When project managers undertake a
project, they need to plan their resources accordingly.
This will benefit the organization without having to face conflicts and not being able to deliver
on time. Resource leveling is considered one of the key elements to resource management in the
organization.
An organization starts to face problems if resources are not allocated properly i.e., some
resource may be over-allocated whilst others will be under-allocated. Both will bring about a
financial risk to the organization.
In any given project, you’ll work with several resources that need to be in use simultaneously. The goal of
resource leveling is to structure tasks in a project optimally so that none of your activities are blocked by
a lack of resources. Resources in this system include staff, materials and the tools needed to complete the
project.
In resource leveling, each resource is assigned a resource start (RS) and a resource finish (RF) date to
determine when it can be used for an activity. RS dates and RF dates are modified given the resources
available, and are mapped against the demand needed for the project.

5
The Two Key Elements of Resource leveling
As the main aim of resource leveling is to allocate resource efficiently, so that the project can be
completed in the given time period. Hence, resource leveling can be broken down into two main
areas; projects that can be completed by using up all resources, which are available and projects
that can be completed with limited resources.
Projects, which use limited resources can be extended for over a period of time until the
resources required are available. If then again, the number of projects that an organization
undertakes exceeds the resources available, then it's wiser to postpone the project for a later
date.

Structure of Resource leveling

Many organizations have a structured hierarchy of resource leveling. A work-based structure is
as follows:

 Stage
 Phase
 Task/Deliverable
All of the above-mentioned layers will determine the scope of the project and find ways to
organize tasks across the team. This will make it easier for the project team to complete the
tasks.
In addition, depending on the three parameters above, the level of the resources required
(seniority, experience, skills, etc.) may be different. Therefore, the resource requirement for a
project is always a variable, which is corresponding to the above structure.

Establishing Dependencies
The main reason for a project manager to establish dependencies is to ensure that tasks get
executed properly. By identifying correct dependencies from that of incorrect dependencies
allows the project to be completed within the set timeframe.
Here are some of the constraints that a project manager will come across during the project
execution cycle. The constraints a project manager will face can be categorized into three
categories.
 Mandatory - These constraints arise due to physical limitations such as experiments.
 Discretionary - These are constraints based on preferences or decisions taken by teams.
 External - Often based on needs or desires involving a third party.

6
The Process of Assigning Resources
For resource leveling to take place, resources are delegated with tasks (deliverables), which
needs execution. During the starting phase of a project, idealistically the roles are assigned to
resources (human resources) at which point the resources are not identified.
Later, these roles are assigned to specific tasks, which require specialization.

Leveling of Resources
Resource leveling helps an organization to make use of the available resources to the maximum.
The idea behind resource leveling is to reduce wastage of resources i.e., to stop over-allocation
of resources.
Project manager will identify time that is unused by a resource and will take measures to
prevent it or making an advantage out of it.
By resource conflicts, there are numerous disadvantages suffered by the organization, such as:
 Delay in certain tasks being completed
 Difficulty in assigning a different resource
 Unable to change task dependencies
 To remove certain tasks
 To add more tasks
 Overall delays and budget overruns of projects

Resource leveling Techniques

Critical path is a common type of technique used by project managers when it comes to
resource leveling. The critical path represents for both the longest and shortest time duration
paths in the network diagram to complete the project.
However, apart from the widely used critical path concept, project managers use fast tracking
and crashing if things get out of hand.
 Fast tracking - This performs critical path tasks. This buys time. The prominent feature
of this technique is that although the work is completed for the moment, possibility of
rework is higher.
 Crashing - This refers to assigning resources in addition to existing resources to get
work done faster, associated with additional cost such as labor, equipment, etc.

Real World Example of Resource Levelling

7
Resource leveling is most important when you have to navigate a potential future project snag,
mitigate risk and ensure that the bottom line is being met efficiently. More specifically, it’s ideal
for those who deal with a lot of backlogs, like IT teams or Customer Support. For example, this
can be particularly useful for Internet Service Providers try to schedule when maintenance
workers can arrive at their customers’ homes.
Resource leveling can keep your fellow staffers appraised on what’s coming next, what is most
important to knock out sooner, rather than later, and keep your stakeholders satisfied with the
time it took to complete the task. At the end of the day, this method can mean the difference
between a project zooming well past its deadline, and a cleared backlog.

Conclusion
Resource leveling is aimed at increasing efficiency when undertaking projects by utilizing the
resources available at hand. Proper resource leveling will not result in heavy expenditure.
The project manager needs to take into account several factors and identify critical to non-
critical dependencies to avoid any last minute delays of the project deliverables.

8
RESOURCE SMOOTHING
Resource smoothing is one of the project management tools used in the resource optimization
techniques. It is defined as a technique that adjusts the activities of a schedule model so that all
requirements for the resources do not go beyond the resource limits already pre-defined during
the planning.

In project management, resource smoothing is defined by A Guide to the Project Management

Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) as a "resource optimization technique in which free and
total float are used without affecting the critical path" of a project. Resource smoothing as a
resource optimization technique has only been introduced in the Sixth Edition of the PMBOK
Guide (since 2017) and did not exist in its previous revisions. It is posed as an alternative and a
distinct resource optimization technique beside resource leveling.
The main difference between resource leveling and resource smoothing is that while resource
leveling uses the available float, thus may affect a critical path, resource smoothing uses free and
total float without affecting any of the critical paths. Thus, while resource leveling can be
considered a constraint in order to adjust with certain resource supply limitation, for example,
not to over-work some human resources, resource smoothing can be considered a useful method
to solve the problem of a more flexible constraint if time of a deadline is a stronger constraint.
Just like resource leveling, a resource smoothing problem could be formulated as
an optimization problem. The problem could be solved by different optimization algorithms such
as exact algorithms or metaheuristics.

9
There are only a few reusable resources that are limitless thus the time schedules have to be
imposed and adjusted to manage the limited availability of the resources in a given time.
Resource smoothing is one of the tools used to reconcile the limited resources and time but a
different approach than resource leveling. It is used when the time constraint takes important
priority in project planning. The objective of this project management tool is to complete the
work or activity within the required date and, at the same time, avoiding peaks and troughs or the
resource demand.

A smooth resource profile is usually achieved by delaying some tasks or works. This will reduce
the flexibility of the schedule when it comes to dealing with delays but it is very cost effective in
managing and using the resources.

Now, let us look at an example and try to understand how resource leveling and resource smoothing
works in a project.

Consider a project with 7 activities as shown in the table below. The predecessors of each
activity and the duration of the activities are given. The number of compressors (consider it as a
resource) required by each activity is also listed. The organization has only 6 compressors
available with them.

10
The first step is to draw the schedule network diagram and determine the critical path.

From the schedule network diagram, you can understand the critical path is A-B-C-E-G and the
total duration of the project is 20 days.

11
The problem with the critical path method is it does not consider the availability of resources. So,
now we need to check whether there are any resource conflicts in the schedule created by the
critical path method.

It will be easier if we present the schedule in the Gantt chart/ bar chart format to understand the
resource usage over time periods.

With the bar chart representation, it is easier for us to calculate the compressors needed on each
day. For example, we know that from day 1 to 3, only activity A is in progress; so, we need 6
compressors on each of these days. However, from day 6 to 9, activity C and activity D are
running in parallel. So, you need 7 compressors (5 for activity C and 2 for activity D) on each of
these days.

Let us plot the resources required as a histogram.

By drawing a line to show the resource limit, we can clearly see the days on which the resource
conflict occurs. You can see that the schedule requires more compressors than available on six
days; Day 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12.
12
Now, let us see how the application of resource leveling and resource smoothing helps to remove
the resource conflicts on these six days.

Application of Resource Smoothing to the Sample Project

Resource smoothing looks at removing as much resource conflicts as possible without delaying
the total project duration.

Let us again start to adjust the original CPM schedule to avoid resource peaks.

Activity D is shifted from day 6 to day 11. This removes the resource peaks from day 6 to 9.
However, there is still resource conflicts on day 15 and day 16. This conflict cannot be removed
without delaying the total project duration. So, resource smoothing will stop here.
Out of the six days of conflict, resource smoothing managed to remove 4 days of conflict.
However, if the organization wants to stick to the original schedule, they should bring additional
resources on day 15 & day 16.

13
RESOURCE LOADING
Resource loading is a critical project metric. Get it wrong and you could inadvertently commit to
a seriously unrealistic project launch date. Overloading people with work can quickly double or
even triple your project timeline.
The good news is that with the right tools it's relatively simple to understand the load on project
resources within and across projects...
Setting realistic loads on people's time makes for a much more productive, efficient and positive
work environment.

What is resource loading?

Resource loading is your total assigned hours of work divided by the number of hours you have
to do the work. Resource loading is looked at on a per day, per week, per month, or per the
duration of the project basis.

14
Resource loading = hours of work per time period / hours of capacity per time period

For example, as project managers we expect a resource loaded to 75% to complete 30 hours of
planned work each week (40 hours of capacity), or 6 hours a day. The other 10 hours that week
is expected to be spent doing other stuff that isn’t in the plan, or isn’t related to the project (e.g.,
training, department meetings, etc.).

How to calculate resource loading

There are two options

1. estimate all the work needed (each day) and divide by the resource’s full capacity (8 hrs
per day).
2. Alternatively, estimate the work needed on the project tasks and divide by the resource’s
availability to do those project tasks (usually much less than 8 hrs per day).

Either way, you must account for time that isn’t available for completing the project tasks in
your plan including:

 project-related meetings and ad-hoc discussions (which aren’t included in the plan)
 regularly scheduled staff meetings
 work that the person is assigned to on other projects
 time spent supporting products that have already launched
 vacation time
 even bathroom breaks, and a lot more.

In fact, the more diverse a person's activities are, the more time is added in the form of switching
costs which are also quite significant. These other activities are largely unavoidable, and often
take priority over project tasks. The time left for our planned project tasks is almost always a lot
less than we planned for.

Some examples to demonstrate the negative impact of overloading resources

The length of time it takes someone to complete a task is a function of the total work required to
complete it divided by their availability to perform that task.

15
Duration (days) = Total work (hours) / Availability (hours per day)

For example, if you have a 12 hr task and 4 hrs/day to work on it, the task takes 3 days.

And if you are looking across a whole project team, simply put, your project duration is the sum
of everyone’s work divided by the sum of everyone’s availability. However, most activities
require specialized resources, so project duration is often determined by those people who have
the most work to do, relative to their availability (the critical resources).

How much should you load a resource?

How much you load a resource depends on two very important factors:

 First, how much you may have underestimated the number of hours needed for project tasks;
and second
 how much you may have over-estimated the resource’s availability to work on those tasks.
Let’s start with the latter.

Let's look at what can happen by using an example scenario. Let's say you have the work
estimated correctly, and are expecting a person will be available to do the estimated work for 6
hours a day.  You've planned for 6 hours of work to take one day, and every 30 hours to take 1
week. In this scenario you are starting with a resource load of 75%. 

But then something happens (insert usual fire to put out!) which impacts the person's availability
to work on the project. The project timeline is impacted -- but the impact may be more than you
think.

For example, when the person's availability to work on the project work is reduced to 4 hours a
day (50%) for the work week, the person will only be able to complete 20 of the 30 hours that
had been planned for them. If the following week the resource's availability is still reduced to 4
hours, that week of work will take 8 days. The result is a 60% delay due to a 25% overestimate
of a person's availability. And to make matters worse, even if a resource gets back to their usual
6 hours a day the following week, they are still 2 days (10 hours) behind. 

16
If we keep playing this out, the resource would need to complete the entire next week’s worth of
project work (30 hours) and the remaining 10 hours of the previous week’s work. And don't
forget they may still have 10 hours of unavoidable ‘other stuff’ to do each week for a total of 50
hours that week. 2 extra days of work. 

The result... Bye-bye weekend. See you later family? In reality, the project gets delayed, because
weekends and evenings with family and friends are important too. 

Why is resource availability important?

If the impact on the project was just one week, that may be ok, but when we chronically under-
estimate people’s availability it ultimately impacts our timeline. For every day the resource
spends a couple of extra hours in meetings or firefighting production issues, etc. they must spend
one full 8 hour day only on the planned project tasks to keep the project on track. But we end up
losing a couple of hours more than we expect quite often, and almost never get the chance to
make it up.

Underestimating resource loads impacts the timeline

Compounding the delays from underestimated availability, the actual hours spent on the project
will almost always be more than what we have planned, because some of those planned tasks
will be more work than we thought, and because there will be some surprise tasks we can’t really
see coming which aren’t in our plan. 

Inaccurate resource loading increases risk

When there is a time-crunch on a project due to any of these factors, people take more risks,
which just ends up being more work and more delay later (not to mention extra stress).

The resulting ‘work growth factor’ is usually between 20% and 60% but it is very often a lot
more. So, if there is a 33% work growth rate, you must reduce the resource’s expected loading an
additional 33% (of what you think it is to begin with) or you create the time-crunch and probably
still delay the project.

Conclusion
17
In conclusion, you can compare loading to a running race. If you expect a person running a race
to go faster than they can, they end up burning out and/or faltering along the way and getting
done later than they would if you expected them to run it at a reasonable pace.
When you consider that the road of product development is really an obstacle course and you
don't get to see all of the obstacles beforehand, the only way to run this race effectively is to
reduce people’s loading – plain and simple. Finding the right pace isn’t difficult, with the right
tools. Without them, it is a bit of a guessing game, and we usually guess wrong.
Plan well and ensure people have realistic workloads. In the end the team will be happier and the
project will run on time -- or launch early.

RESOURCE SCHEDULING
Scheduling resources can be a complicated and time consuming process, but it’s also a crucial
piece of the puzzle when it comes to getting projects done.

That's because the very essence of resource scheduling involves organizing your team. Your
team is made up of living, breathing people, who work hard, yes, but there are still limitations on
how much they can get done in a day. They probably also sometimes like to take holidays and
have a life outside the office too!

What is resource scheduling, and why is it important?

Resource scheduling is a process used by teams to organize and structure their employees so the
tasks they need to complete are scheduled based on availability and capability. Using this
process, team leaders can allocate and assign people tasks without over (or under) allocating
their schedules. In return, team members are always working on an optimized schedule (without
being pushed to their limits), and project managers have greater flexibility should something go
awry.
1. Resource scheduling can be used to:
2. Assign and monitor projects from start to finish
3. Schedule people based on skills and availability
4. Assess time delays and speed bumps so you can reshuffle tasks and deadlines to stop a
project going off the rails
5. Analyze how well resources are being utilized and reassign tasks to people who are not
working to their full utilization rates
6. Track project estimations and outcomes to make future scheduling easier

Resource scheduling in 5 steps

Step 1. Break down tasks within a project

18
The first step to resource scheduling is figuring out what tasks you need to tackle on a project.
Start by looking at the project as a whole, and then breaking down each part into individual
tasks. If your agency is auditing and rebranding a company's social media channels, your task list
might look like this:

 An audit of all the channels the company is currently using to show traffic and
impressions

 Reviewing each channel’s assets and branding to make sure they fit within the client's
guidelines

 Analyzing competitor social media channels to see what the client is missing

 Updating content across each channel and removing any outdated information

 Setting up advertising, analytics, and tracking on each channel (if the client hasn't already
done so)

Once the list is complete you can start to estimate what resources (ahem, people) you'll need to
tick them off.

Step 2. Look at your resource capabilities

Next, confirm who is available to take on tasks.

This step goes beyond just looking at who has space on their calendar for a project. You need to
make sure people with space on their calendars also have the skills required to get the work done.

Let's take the earlier example of auditing a client's social media channels. A person on your team
might have time to spare on their calendar, but unless they can audit your client's Twitter channel
or set up analytics, they won't be able to work on the tasks efficiently. Instead, you should create
a schedule around the availability of people on your team who have skills that match the tasks
you listed in step 1.

The easiest way to do this is to have a database that tracks the skills of all of your team members
so you can quickly match up tasks with their schedules. For example, using Float, team leaders
can search and filter the schedule based on individual skill tags. If a designer is needed to make
sure all of the client's social media branding matches guidelines, all a team leader has to do is
type in "design".

Now, it's easy to see which designer has room on their calendar to work on the task, and you can assign
tasks to the best fit resources.

Step 3. Schedule tasks to team members based on their availability

19
Now that you know which tasks need to be worked on and you’ve verified your team has the capacity to
get things done, it’s time to start assigning tasks to your team based on their availability.

It’s important that you have an accurate estimate of how long these tasks will take while you're
assigning them. Take a look back at past projects that are similar to the one you are scheduling to
get an idea of how long you should allow for each task on your team's calendars.

If you don't have any past data for tasks, don’t be afraid to ask your team directly for an estimate.

Step 4. Manage and monitor resources as the project progresses

Alas, your work isn't done once a project kicks off.
It's crucial to monitor how individual tasks are progressing so your project doesn't get knocked
off course. 

 If a team member calls in sick or takes some vacation time, you'll need a plan to reassign their
tasks or move their deadlines forward. This is why resource utilization is so important. If every
creative on your team is working at 100% capacity, there's no room for error.

In Erin's case, she needs to take some time off to attend her sister’s wedding. Using Float, a team leader
can reassign her task to another social media guru with space by dragging and dropping it onto their
calendar. Then, they can block Erin's calendar for the week while she takes time off to celebrate the
happy couple.

Step 5. Track the actual time spent on tasks and activities

Finally, track everything so you make the project run even smoother.
By tracking how many resources you used on each task, as well as the time it took to complete
them, you’ll be able to use that data to tighten up your future schedules. Adding time tracking to
your resource scheduling software is the easiest and most effective way to do this. See if a
project task is taking your team longer than expected,  or if your resources are being
underutilized.

This data can help you course correct along the way, and schedule projects that help your team
work more effectively—without burning out.

20
RESOURCE ALLOCATION
Resource allocation means determining which resources are required for which activity,
deciding on the total amount needed, and making sure they are available when they are needed.
Whichever resources the project manager allocates, she must ensure she procures enough to
complete the project and they are available during the desired time period.

Resource allocation helps you to choose the best available resources for your
projects and manage them throughout the work, so you can avoid under or
overutilization of your employees. Sadly, not all project managers use it to their
advantage.
How do we know that?
Only 26% of companies always use resource management to estimate and allocate
resources, and 36% of them do it often, according to last year’s PMI’s survey.
At the same time, less than 60% of projects meet the original budget and barely
50% of them are being completed on time, the same study says.

21
Resource allocation definition
Resource allocation—part art, part science as some call it—is recognizing the best available
resources for the project, assigning them to your team and monitoring their workload
throughout the work, and re-assigning resources if needed.
“In project management, resource allocation or resource management is the  scheduling of
activities and the resources required by those activities  while taking into consideration
both the  resource availability and the project time”  –  Wikipedia
Proper allocation of resources increases the effective use of resources available across the
company to maximize their utility.
Gone are the days of using Excel spreadsheets to manage resources. Today, there are many
tools meant specifically to improve resource allocation with calendars, time trackers and
custom reports.

Manage employee bookings, timesheets, availability and days off in one place.
But, as always, there are some pitfalls to avoid. Let’s take a look at them now, before we
move any further.

22
Common challenges of resource allocation
Resource management is prone to several challenges that you need to be aware of to
properly allocate resources and manage them throughout the project.

1. Client changes
As a project manager you might have already experienced how changes to the
scope, timeline or budget can affect project delivery. With resource allocation it’s actually
the same – having an up-to-date resource calendar will help you to smoothly adjust
resources once the changes appear.

2. Availability of resources
Starting off a new project, ideally you could use any resources you need that are available at
your company. But what if your agency is running multiple projects and you have to
negotiate over the same resources with another PMs? Or what if a given team member is out
on their sick leave? Availability changes and you have to monitor it all the time to spot
threats to your project’s delivery.

3. Project dependencies
Allocating resources, you need to include project dependencies, which are a form of a
relationship between the tasks or activities in the project. For example, in IT projects there
are tasks that can only be done after some other ones are completed, so there’s no point to
hog resources early on.

4. Project uncertainties
Even if you’ve checked all the boxes when starting off a project, agreed on the  timeline, the
budget and the scope, there’re always things you can’t predict.  Resource
management requires you to be able to respond to project uncertainties, e.g. by shifting
resources from other projects or re-assigning them.

5. Priorities across the company

If your company runs multiple projects simultaneously, you and your peers may have to
share limited resources, very often in a similar timeframe. But even if you manage to

23
negotiate over resources you both need, there may be a change in priorities regarding one of
the projects.

Resource allocation in project management: how to allocate resources

Let’s take a look at how to effectively use resources at your disposal.

1. Know the project and the team

Only knowing the scope and resources available at your company, you can properly assign
team members to your project.
Start by creating a high level plan of the project, consisting of its requirements and
deliverables. Then, as you know exactly whom you will need to complete the project, you
can use a skills matrix to discover which employees at your company to involve.

2. Uncover risks early on

We’ve talked about it a bit in the challenges section. As a project manager you are well
aware of risks like client reviews, delays, personal emergencies, competing projects, etc.
They interfere with allocation of resources, too.
Once one of the above-mentioned challenges occur, you need to adjust your bookings.
Having a high-level overview of resources at your organization will help you find other
resources more quickly, re-allocate resources, extend or cut existing bookings, or even
delete some if needed
3. Keep track of the project
Remember how resource allocation is about improving the effectiveness of your team’s
utility? Now is the time to check how your team is doing.
Start with tracking the time and workload
Measuring resource utilization, you can also use a simple formula:
Resource utilization = Busy time / Available time
This way you can quickly find out whether your team is booked to their full potential, or
not.
During the project it’s also recommended to compare estimates with actuals once in a while,
and re-allocate resources if you need to. Chances are that because of some changes you need

24
to adjust bookings to avoid under or overutilization of your resources, and to meet project’s
requirements.
Setting up regular check-ins with your team will help you to spot these threats, too.
As a project manager, you may also be responsible for  tracking your project’s budget. You
can do it based on your team’s timesheets, multiplying the number of hours they’ve spent on
the project by the rate you change your client per hour. Again, by comparing estimates with
actuals, you can see if you’re on the budget, or not.

4. Analyze the project

Using the data, you’d gathered during past projects will give you a huge advantage. Based
on that data, you will be able to better plan and manage your future projects. Having a tool
with custom reports helps a lot, as you can then organize that data to calculate different
metrics, like employee payroll or sales KPIs.

Benefits of resource allocation

As you can see, following the right processes and using a complete resource management
tool, you can make resource allocation easier and benefit from it in many ways:
 It improves visibility of all resources across the company
 You can avoid under and over-utilization easier
 It helps to keep bookings more accurate
 It’s easier to negotiate bookings with other PMs

25
CONCLUSION
Resource management as part of project management is all about doing more with less. Nobody
likes waste, especially in business. Resource management is centered around optimization and
efficiency. When you know what you need to make a project successful, you can effectively
understand how to plan resources in an efficient way.

To some companies, optimum efficiency is so important that they hire someone solely devoted to
resource management; also known as a resource manager. What does a resource manager
do? While project managers are responsible for creating and assigning tasks to get the project
done, resource managers are accountable for allocating the resources needed to make the project
a success.

26
REFERENCES
1.  "6.5.2.3 Resource Optimization". A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (6th ed.). Project Management Institute. 2017.
p.  720. ISBN 978-1-62825-382-5.
2. (Building), CIOB (The Chartered Institute of (2010-11-09).  Guide to Good Practice in
the Management of Time in Complex Projects. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-
2961-2.
3. Woodward, John Frank (1997).  Construction Project Management: Getting it Right
First Time. Thomas Telford. ISBN 978-0-7277-2557-8.
4. Carmichael, David G. (2006-05-10). Project Planning, and Control.
Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-27752-0.
5. Levine, Harvey A. (2002-10-15). Practical Project Management: Tips, Tactics, and
Tools. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN  978-0-471-25638-0.

27