Resource Planning

Vladimir,



I thank you a lot.



Your explanation is clear.



Resource assingment, productivity and space limitation are essential ingrdient in planning.



This is specially true in acceleration or catch up in building construction, project turnaround in oil and gas construction to name a few. or maybe ship building or maybe nuclear powered submarine construction.



The acceleration or catch up or turnaround schedule must be check: resource allocation vs space limitation.



Cheers,



Charlie

I wrote that Spider will level resources basing on resource limitations including space.



Project planner may define

- that some activity may be performed by some resources that need certain space (per unit),

- that the number of assigned resources shall be larger than some minimal value and not exceed some maximum,

- that activity has some space limitation.

In this case if the minimal number of resources will be available they will be assigned, additional resources may join when they will finish their current work but the total number of assigned resources will not exceed defined maximal value. Besides resources will be assigned only if necessary space will be available. If (for an example) some resources are working at the same place performing some other activity they use necessary space and the remaining space may be too small for current activity to start (or additional resources to join those resources that started activity execution).

Space may be defined for the site.



There is one more option - you can define resources that may be used at some work type, each of them can have different productivity. These resources belong to some Role. Then you shall define the total number of Role resources to be used or total productivity of assigned resources. Spider will select and assign Role resources basing on their availability, productivity and cost.



Hope I answered your question.

Regards,

Vladimir

do you mean Spider will automatically assign resources and level if necessary?

Of course space limitations shall be defined by the planner. And space required by each resource also.

I did not write that Spider can do it.

But if it is known then Spider will assign resources taking into account space requirements and space limitations.

I am sorry that my message was not clear.

Regards,

Vladimir

Vladimir,



Spider can do it. How? Does it need special scanner to scan the plan or some sort of stylus to define the space limitation, or ???



Please explain. I doubt if Primavera got this add-in in P5 ver 5.0





Cheers,



Charlie

If space requirements for project resources are known and the total space on activity is known then the software can help with resource assignments.

the software is just a tool, and it can’t assign resources by itself! the Planner can anyway...

Hi Brij,



I got your point. This is one thing that planning software is not aware. Whatever data you place, the software will calculate and give you the answer. If the input is wrong, then, the output is wrong.



Perhaps it is high time to tell the IT wiseguys in the planning industry to consider your idea.



Cheers,



Charlie

Excuse me for the delay with the answer. I teached our customers in another town and did not have time to access Internet.



Kumar,

Primavera does not have the features that were discussed. The process described by Mimoune can help though it requires a lot of manual adjustments.



Mimoune,

I would be glad to discuss approaches used in Spider Project. Many of them may be of interest to serious project planners and for me it would be very interesting to learn other planners oppinions. Unfortunately I am afraid that such discussions may be considered as my attempt to sell Spider to PP members.

But I will be glad to answer any questions if you will write to me directly. My E-mail: spider@mail.cnt.ru.



Regards,

Vladimir

Hi..

Guys, one other major problem to ponder on...

I think what matters most is Resources deployment will always depend upon the Front available at a particular time and it will not follow a Mathametical formula.. i mean it will not be linear or normal distrubution..

Than the question is how exactly these software will guide us regarding the TRUE RESOURCE requirement to ensure the most optimum utilization???????

The other thing is, how to decide the maximum resources we can put for an activity??? There would always be a space constraints to saturate any resource.. Can any body tell from his experience the maths / thumb rules of deciding maximum resource we can put (without considering the optimum utilization)...



Cheers...

Wondering what it will be the answer of Vladimir; it is like asking Bill Gates how to use Firefox ,)



I think it will be a good idea to make a new section in this forum for spider project, actually I don’t use this software but I love living in a world of diversity, unfortunately Planner are famous to not like changing, they stick with one product and defending it as the best one, must have; the professional tool of choice stuff like that.



mimoune

Mimoune,

English is not the first language in mu country too. What matters is understanding of each other.

This feature is highly estimated by Spider Project users because it permits to implement corporate norms.

Your approach is not easy because you shall recalculate productivity field each time when the crew is changed.

You shall also monitor quantities and make changes to the quantity field for recalculation of remaining duration.

Spider Project also simulates shift work. Before scheduling it is hard to predict which part of the work will be done by which shift. Without modelling shift work you will need to adjust each shift quantities after project scheduling and to do it many times.

In Spider Project you can create standard crews and assign these crews to the work. At any moment you can change the crews and make global change. Productivities will be changed and you can estimate what will happen with the project schedule. It is very useful for What If analysis.

Regards,

Vladimir

Vladimir

This is really interesting that your software has this feature (from a newbie point of view as me),

actually what I do is defining two custom data item let say quantity( qty) and productivity per day(pro) then with global change I make original duration = qty/prod.

Of course for a particular productivity I assign a standard crew (group of resources, no driving) then I adjust my schedule if I need less duration for a given activity either I double the number of the crew or make a shift ( I hope this is the right word;)



But the idea that is implemented by default in the software is a great plus.



Mimoune



Ps: sorry English is the third language in my country ;)

Kumar,



My friends limit is maximum of 2,000 USD/month.



So, you dont have to sent your cv.



As for the exercise, it just show that you know how to answer your question, the basic only.



I’ll try to pick some live exercise, but this time, it will be multiple resources.



I’ll make it as quick as possible so that it will not consume lots of time.



Cheers



Charlie

In Spider Project activitiy can be defined as productivity driven (there are also duration, hammock and milestone types).

Productivity is the quantity that resource can do in an hour. Productivity can be assigned to the individual resource assignments or to resource crews (multi-resources in Spider Project terminology).

You can use more than one driving resource (different machines or people that have different qualifications).

If activity is productivity driven the its volume (quantity of work) shall be defined. Activity duration is calculated in the process of scheduling basing on the total productivity of all assigned resources.

Usually productivities for typical assignments are stored in the database and it is sufficient to define activity and resource types and activity volume.

Spider Project also permits to assign not individual resources but roles and selects available resources in the scheduling process. That is why activity duration is calculated during project leveling and not before.

If you will have additional questions I will be glad to answer.

Vladimir wrote



"Yes, and in Spider Project activity duration (if an activity is of Productivity type) is calculated basing on the quantity (volume) of work to be done and the total productivity and workload of assigned resources "



please can you explain more, you mean the productivity of the driving ressource ( or what ever you call in your case)



mimoune

Kumar wrote:

"If that is case..there are other factors to be considered..

eg.,

1.Efficieny of the Loader.

2.Job efficieny

3.Operators Efficieny....."



Yes, and in Spider Project activity duration (if an activity is of Productivity type) is calculated basing on the quantity (volume) of work to be done and the total productivity and workload of assigned resources. This is easy.

I understood that the problem was about creating a schedule where resources will be assigned to the new location activities only after finishing the works at the initial location.

Kumar,



a very simple computation: manual excavation = 20 cu m. plan productivity: 1 cum per mandays.



Total mandays = 20/1 = 20 mandays.



1 team = 2 labourer



Duration = 20 / 2 = 10 days per team of 2 labourer



After two days work, the team only accomplish 2 cu. m. So how are you going to control in such a way the the original duration of 10 days will be achieve.



If you add three more team with 2 labourer for each team then, how long do you think excavation will be finish.



Using the same analogy, consider 150,000 cu m of road excavation with one gang composed of 1-payloader, 2-dumptrucks capacity 6 cu m each dumptrucks with cycle time of one hour (from loader - to dumping - and return of dumptruck).



How long do you think it will complete the whole excavation?



If you got the correct answer and if and only if you are looking for a new job with salary of around 2,000 US dollar per month, then and only then, please submit your cv. I friend of mine maybe interested to call you for an interview.



cheers,



charlie

dear Kumar Siva

I think you might want to check LINE-OF-BALANCE or LINEAR SCHEDULING METHOD to schedule and minimize your workforce. Basically,You will use production rates to determine the number of labors for each type of activity and the pace of your project. And of course using leadtime or space to control work flow smoothness. I believe you can find free academic software to solve your problem, just try keyword Line-Of-Balance, or Linear Scheduling Method, or Repetitive Scheduling Method (pick one). Let me know if you want me to explain more about the concept. :)

The query seems simple. If u have any previous programme made on similar logic, ma not be same, will remain helpful.

Kumar,

I don’t know what software do you use and thus don’t know if my advice will be helpful.

If you want to restrict movements from one location to another until the work at each location will be finished:

1) Create artificial resources Location A, Location B, etc. The total quantity of these resources shall exceed the potential number of parallel activities at each location.

2) Create hammock activities that last from the beginning to the end of work at each location.

3) Assign one unit of current location resource at each work at this location.

4) Assigh total quantities of other location resources on hammock activities.

Now activity can be performed if both necessary resources and location resource are available. New Location resource will be available only when the work on other location is finished.

You can create not one but several location resources and corresponding hammocks for different types of machinery and people.

In Spider Project the same approach may be realised easier because it simulates resource production.

Inform me if this approach is helpful in your case.

Regards,

Vladimir

Kumar,

it depends on the software that is used.

For an example, in Spider Project you can create unlimited number of WBSs for the same project organising activities by results, by locations, by types of work, by responsibility, etc.

You can use activity codes for organizing activities in Primavera.

We usually suggest to define not only unique activity codes but also activity types (like Excavation) to be able to apply norms (resource productivity, material requirements per volume unit, etc,) and other common characteristics from the corporate databases (reference-books).

In Spider Project your gangs are called multi-resources. And activity duration is calculated basing on muti-resource productivity. Changing the number of resources in the multi-resource you’ll automatically change total multi-resource productivity and activity durations. It is very useful for what if evaluations.



But I see another problem. The program shall understand that moving resources from one location to another takes time and money. It is not reasonable to use some resource one day at one location, next day at the other and then again at the first location. You shall add links or use some other tools to avoid this situation.

Did you meet this problem?

Hi Kumar,

please clarify your question. Best suited for what?

Regards,

Vladimir