Introduction
The Project schedule is the detailed plan of the crucial project activities, milestones and phases that form part of the stages at the estimated start of the project and the end of a project. It also incorporates the resources allocated to each of the project activities. They are the backhoes of the project as well as cornerstones of any project (Larson & Gray, 2014). They are an essential part of the project, and without them, the project won’t be a success. The project resource scheduling is similar to the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with the precedence relations, and by taking into consideration the resource limitations of the real project schedule solution, there are procedures which have to be followed (Burke, 2013).
Scheduling project resources and cost
Project scheduling will be used to represent the relations between the activities and giving a clear picture of the flow of activities with a given pattern of activities and the resources allocated for each activity and each activity can be decomposed. The project will take 13 days to be completed, and the resources are allocated according to the activity importance and need. The project may have some of the constraints which differ with a given project, or the kind of project one is undertaking. Delving needs the project backhoe for four good days which means the project may be delayed by those four days which should not be the case. The scheduling will be in favor for Delvin as he can have the backhoes and still the project be completed within the 13 days which is planned for the project completion and the scheduling of the resources will matter here for this to be possible (Larson & Gray, 2014).
The project resources are as follows; materials which will be used in the project delivery, the workforce who are the project team members carrying out the activities, the finance which is the most crucial part of the project to be done. The scheduling will have to take into consideration of the resources which are available for the project (Burke, 2013).
Resource loading chart
The project work assignment to a particular project member and the machine required to complete that particular activity and the time the resource is likely to take to be completed. The time will be days and the planned time is 13 days for all the activities to be completed. There will be crash activities which will require more resources allocated to them than other activities on the project due to their importance and impact to the project and should be implemented as the resources can’t be distributed (Larson & Gray, 2014). And this will include the more hours given to a particular activity and the borrowed staff which may delay the project delivery.
The following is the project network diagram.
This is the flow of activities which shows the sequence of activities to be followed to complete the project as required within the 13 days. The A to K represent the number of days.
The resource loading table
| The activity to be accomplished | Resource | The time in days | Early start(ES) | Slack | Late finish (LF) |
| A | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| B | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| C | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| D | 5 | 2 | 11 | 0 | |
| E | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| F | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 | |
| G | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| H | 8 | 3 | 0 | o | |
| I | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| J | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | |
| K | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| H | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Project resource loading chart
Delvin can have the backhoe in the four days according to the project schedule. The activity for those four days won’t cause the project delay. This is because the project activities are early and in line with the schedule and thus there won’t be any lateness of any of the project activities in those 13 days (Larson & Gray, 2014). I will be able to lend Delvin my project backhoe comfortably, and the project won’t experience any delays. The project schedule will allow me to do so with no much to worry as the chart shows the backhoes are all available for lending. The resource schedule table show all the days scheduled with the slack and the early start of the project and the late finish as to my schedule no activity will finish late. Due to this flexibility, Delvin will have the backhoe he needs, and I won’t be any pressure to finish the project within the allocated time. If in any case there was a project delay due to lending out my project backhoe Delvin won’t have had any possibility of accessing any of my backhoes as this are the main cornerstones of my project(Zecheru & Olaru, 2016). The project was allocated all the needed resources and the budget catered for all the project backhoe thus the sponsors won’t tolerate any delay due. I had to consider all my options well to ensure the project is not delayed in any way and this is the critical part of the project as it will determine the outcome and therefore care and caution have to be taken in making wise decisions (Burke, 2013).
The project scheduling chart will have to take into consideration the project scope which sets the stage for developing the project plan. The project scope is the definition of the end results or mission of the project thus this has to be taken into consideration to ensure all the activities go according to the defined plan in the project scope (Zecheru & Olaru, 2016).The quality of the project and the success is the main objective of any project development plan. Thus the project must be scheduled well to ensure the outcome is the expected one. The project has its constraints i.e. the original parameter is fixed, the project must meet the completion date, specifications and the scope or budget. The scope, quality, time and cost are the constraints that must be put in mind, and the project manager will have to stick to them strictly (Burke, 2013).
The above resource loading chart describes the amounts of individual resources to a specific amount of time. The resource constraints scheduling has the following approach that’s the heuristic method that will employ the rule of thumb that have been well in similar situations (Larson & Gray, 2014). The activities which were likely to take more time are started early in order to avoid the late completion of those activities, the schedule allocated the activities according to the period they likely to take until they are fully completed, and they were tactile very early to ensure they are completed faster, and that’s why Delvin will be able to take the project backhoe for the time that he needs it that’s a period of four days (Yaghootkar & Gil, 2012).
Each work lot must be defined in such a way that the only one organizational unit is responsible for its implementation. The resource scheduling should put into consideration all the activities that must be completed according to the project scope. The schedule should be well planned and activity allocated resources according to the requirement that is activities vary regarding needs, and due to that, they are not allocated the resources to the same portion (Larson & Gray, 2014).
Those activities that must need a lot of time are allocated more time and more resources. The activity plan that needs more attention such as the need to be frequently revised must be allocated more time, and the cornerstones of the project must be identified and allocated resources to ensure they flow correctly about the project plan and budget. The scheduling must be within the project budget as they are allocated the budget which is defined at the start of the project (Yaghootkar & Gil, 2012). If the project goes beyond the budget, there are high chances that it will not succeed, that’s why there is need to do project resources scheduling early to define what is needed for the project to succeed and what is needed to be added or borrowed during the project development. The schedule should give way forward on the plan and all the constraints defined. With the schedule, the project manager will know if there is room to lead some of his project backhoes for how long and the number that can be given out without causing problems to the project (Larson & Gray, 2014).
References
Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Larson, E. W. & Gray, C. F. (2014). Project management: The managerial process (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. ISBN-13: 9781259186400.
Yaghootkar, K., & Gil, N. (2012). The effects of schedule-driven project management in multi-project environments. International Journal of Project Management, 30(1), 127-140.
Zecheru, V., & Olaru, B. G. (2016). Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in Project Management. Revista de Management Comparat International, 17(1), 61.
Appendix
The work breakdown structure (WBS).
| WBS item | Description | Response | Deliverables |
| 1.0 | Schedule | The project manager | Project manager |
| 1.1 | Team work | ||
| 1.2 | Resource allocation | ||
| 2.0 | Marketing | ||
| 2.1 | Employment | Human resource manager | Human resource |
| 2.2 | Implementation | Technical team | project manager |