Resource Leveling 101: Master This PM Technique

Resource Leveling 101: Master This PM Technique

Resource leveling is a resource management technique that involves balancing available resources and schedules to complete projects on time. It involves a trade-off between two project constraints: time and resources. Resource leveling is used as part of project management methods such as the critical path method (CPM), critical chain management, project crashing and fast-tracking. It helps project managers better plan, schedule and execute projects. Project managers need to allocate the right amount of resources for critical path tasks during the planning stage, and then ask for more resources or reallocate available resources to make sure those tasks are completed on time.

Critical Chain Management and Fast-Tracking are two methods used to map out resource allocation and determine whether they have enough resources to execute their project scope. Project Crashing involves allocating additional resources for the completion of a task for faster execution. Project managers use resource leveling to make sure projects are completed on time, at the expense of higher costs. Resource leveling is the core of this schedule compression technique, as the overall project timeline is reduced by allocating extra resources. Examples of resource leveling include fast-tracking or project crashing. Fast-tracking involves identifying task dependencies, while project crashing involves estimating project resources and assigning additional resources.