Resource Leveling & Resource Smoothing

RESOURCE LEVELING &
RESOURCE SMOOTHING
Group Members
Hafiz M. Hamza 2017(F)-MS-IME-2
M. Wajahat Zafar 2017(F)-MS-IME-7

Table of Contents
Operations Scheduling
Resource Constrained Scheduling (RCS)
Time Constrained Scheduling (TCS)
Resource Leveling
Resource Smoothing
Similarities
Differences
Operations Scheduling
Operations Scheduling is critical to the success of an organization; however, it can
be a very complicated task. Effective schedules are needed to meet promised
customer delivery dates or inventory targets. [1]
There are two kinds of scheduling:

In RCS, a project is meant to be completed with the available resources, hence the
name, resource constrained. There will be an increase in the duration of the
project if resources arent available.
RCS considers both the supply (availability) and demand (requirement) of the
resources.
Resource leveling is used in resource constrained scheduling.

TCS emphasizes the completion of a project within a specified amount of time. In
TCS, project start and end dates are important and need to be respected.
TCS also considers both the supply (availability) and demand (requirement) of the
resources. Here, however, there is a predefined limit on demand of resources, which
cant be exceeded.
Resource smoothing is used in time-constrained scheduling.

Resource Leveling
A technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource
constraints with the goal of balancing demand of the resources with available
supply. [2]
Resource leveling can be used when:

Shared or critical resources are in limited quantities;
Shared or critical resources are available at certain times; or
Resources are over-allocated.
Resource Leveling (e.g.)
A project consists of the tasks A,B,F. with the duration. Gantt chart is made. The
human resources (R1, R2, R3, etc.) are needed for the project which are shown next
to the bars in the diagram.
Resource Leveling (e.g.)
As you can see, resource R1 is needed by activities A and C in the first three weeks of
the project. That means R1 is over-allocated. The critical path for the project is Start | C
| D | Finish, which has been highlighted in red.
Lets apply resource leveling so that all resources are properly allocated. Post-leveling,
the chart changes to the following:
The length of the original critical path has increased from seven weeks to 10 weeks.
Resource Smoothing
A technique that adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the
requirements for resources on the project do not exceed certain predefined limits.
In Resource smoothing, we want to have a constant resource usage (resource

profile) over time.
Project cost may increase when there are high fluctuations in demand of the
resources during a project.
When there are valleys (or troughs) in the resource profile.
In this case, resources will remain idle during those periods while still being
paid.
Resource Smoothing (Cont.)
In Resource smoothing;
The requirement of the resources dont exceed certain predefined limits.
The critical path wont be touched to ensure that the duration remains
unchanged.
It means we can adjust the resource profiles within the available float (or slack) for
the given activities.
If the floats are in short supply for the activities, then we may not be able to optimize
all the resources.
Resource Smoothing (e.g.)
Simple network diagram is shown below. Duration for the activities represents
weeks.
Using forward and backward pass calculation, the critical path runs this course:
Start | C | D | E | F | Finish. All activities on the critical path will have float (or
slack) of value zero.
For activity B, the total float is 11 weeks; you could delay activity B by 11 weeks
without delaying the project.
Similarly, for activity H the total float is 12 weeks; you could delay activity H by 12
weeks without pushing the end date of the project.
In the diagram, the
required number of
human resources
has been shown
along with the
activity names in
the diagram.
B(2R) means
activity B has a
requirement of two
resources.
At this stage, let us check the resource usage profile over the weeks. The number of
resources need in each are added up (also called resource aggregation) and shown
below the x axis under weeks. When put into a spreadsheet, the profile usage looks
like this.
There are peaks in weeks 4, 5 and 6 and valleys in the latter part of the project. Consider
that we that have a predefined resource limit, which is no more than seven resources in
a week. Lets apply resource smoothing.
Start with activity B later since it can be delayed by 11 weeks without any impact to the
project schedule. Similarly, activity H also can be started towards the end without
changing the critical path.
After making the changes, we get the following diagram.
When you lay that out in spreadsheet form, you can see that the valleys and peaks
of resource usage have been smoothed out.
It must be noted that in some situations, you may not be able to fully optimize the
resources.
Similarities
Resource Leveling Resource Smoothing

A schedule network analysis A schedule network analysis
technique. technique.
A resource optimization technique. A resource optimization technique.
Improves resource utilization. Improves resource utilization.
Differences
Resource Leveling Resource Smoothing
Aim is to adjust start and end dates Aim is to achieve optimal resource
of a project with resource usage by avoiding peaks and valleys
constraints. in the resource usage profile.
Used in resource-constrained Used in time-constrained
scheduling. scheduling.
Critical path of the project will be Critical path of the project won't
affected, and usually the length of change
critical path will increase.
Can be applied to resources on
Doesn't apply to resources on
critical path.
critical path.
References
[1] Production & Operations Management, Operations Scheduling; Available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/kiran2512/operation-scheduling-27876439 (Accessed on:
Nov 21, 2017)
[2] PMP Prep: Resource Leveling and Resource Smoothing; Available at:
https://www.mpug.com/articles/pmp-prep-resource-leveling-and-resource-smoothing/
(Accessed on: Nov 21, 2017)

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RESOURCE LEVELING &

Hafiz M. Hamza 2017(F)-MS-IME-2

M. Wajahat Zafar 2017(F)-MS-IME-7

There are two kinds of scheduling:

Resource leveling is used in resource constrained scheduling.

Resource smoothing is used in time-constrained scheduling.

Resource leveling can be used when:

In Resource smoothing, we want to have a constant resource usage (resource

Resource Leveling Resource Smoothing

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