A project is composed of a network of activities that are interrelated and directed toward an output or a common goal. Usually, projects need a significant time commitment to ensure that they are completed as scheduled. Therefore, management ought to make sound decisions regarding resource allocation to ensure that the project ends on a budget as well as on time despite the constraints placed on them. In project management constraint refers to restraints that define the limits of the project. There are numerous types of project constraints. However, this paper will only cover time and resource constraints. The paper will delve at describing how project schedules can be modified to account for time and resource constraints.
Time constraint refers to the limitations on the start and end of the each of the different tasks in the critical path of the project whereas resource constraints refer to the limitation on labor, technology or equipment and other resources required to complete the different tasks of the project. An example of time constraint is completing a financial audit before the fiscal year-end. Examples of resource constraints include limited staff, labor, technology, and equipment. In a time-constrained project, delays in the critical steps of a project are unacceptable since they can affect the schedule for the completion of the project. Although some delays in resource-constrained projects are acceptable, a project will need more resources the longer it is behind schedule. This will result in an increase in costs as well as put pressure on the businesses’ other projects.
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Project schedules can be modified to account for time and resource constraints through crashing, fast-tracking, delaying some tasks so as to reallocate resource expenditures, and reducing scope. Crashing involves trade-offs between prolonging the schedule of a project or adding resources to shorten its schedule. However, this requires the project manager to have some knowledge of the cost of reducing task duration. This is because some task can be shortened easily while others cannot. Fast-tracking refers to scheduling two or more activities of the project simultaneously. It can either be applied independently or together with scope reduction and crashing to shorten the duration of the project.
To even-out resources, non-critical activities can be delayed. This process is referred to as time-constrained resource smoothening. It involves reallocating resources as well as float within the schedule. The critical path activities are scheduled first followed by the noncritical activities. Since there is variation in the demand for resources over the lifetime of a project, it is necessary to manage resource utilization by using slack (delaying noncritical activities). The activities are compared based on the float and the one with the least float is given the highest priority. In case there is a tie between two or more activities based on the float, the shorter activities near the start of the project are given the highest priority.
To modify the schedule when there is resource constraint, all the activities that are eligible to begin are identified, and the ones with the least float are given the highest priority. In case there is a tie between two or more activities based on the float, it reasonable to select the activities that bring the load closest to reaching the limit or those that complement loads of other eligible tasks. It is inappropriate to automatically schedule the critical path of the project in resource-constraint allocation problems. Thus, the project manager ought to consider other project-specific factors.
Businesses should carefully manage project specifications. With the help of the project manager, the project team can handle the uncertainties as well as the adjustments easily by taking care to investigate, analyze, and monitor the schedule of the project. By understanding how the activities of the project are interrelated, the project manager can allocate resources appropriately to ensure that the project ends on budget as well as on time despite the constraints placed on them.
