RESOURCE ALLOCATION – 3 EXAMPLES

QUESTION 1:
TABLE 1
ACTIVITY DURATION (WORKING DAYS) PRECEDENTS RESOURCES TYPE
A 3 days None System Analyst (SA)
B 1 day A System Designer (SD)
C 2 days A System Designer (SD)
D 4 days A System Designer (SD)
E 3 days B Software Coder (SC)
F 3 days C Software Coder (SC)
G 6 days D Software Coder (SC)
H 3 days E,F,G System Analyst (SA)

1.1 Use the information in table 1 to draw activity-on-node network, include all the node
calculations.

3 1 4 4 3 7
B E
9 6 10 10 6 13

0 3 3 3 2 5 5 3 8 13 3 16
START A C F H FINISH
0 0 3 8 5 10 10 5 13 13 0 16

* *
3 4 7 7 6 13
D G
3 0 7 * 7 0 13

* CRITICAL PATH: A-D-G-H = 16

1.2 Produce a resource table showing the number of specialists of each type needed on each day of
the project.
days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
SA1 A A A
SD1 B
SD2 C C
SD3 D D D D
SC1 E E E
SC2 F F F
SC3 G G G G G G
SA2 H H H
SD’s 3 2 1 1
SC’s 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
SA’s 1 1 1 1 1 1

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1.3 How many of each type of resource (minimum) will need to be recruited for the project as a
whole if the earliest finish date is to be preserved?
ANSWER: 1 System Analyst; 3 System Designers and 2 Software Coders

1.4 What impact would there be on the project in table 2 if there were only two system designers?

ANSWER:
days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
SA1 A A A
SD1 B C C
SD2 D D D D
SC1 E E E
SC2 F F F
SC3 G G G G G G
SA2 H H H
SD’s 2 2 1 1
SC’s 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
SA’s 1 1 1 1 1 1

• So if there were only two system designers, the completion date of the project will still be
16 weeks and the critical path is still the same, so there’s no impact on the completion
date.
• But now we have 5 staff members (1 SA, 2 SD, 2 SC) instead of 6 as before (1 SA, 3 SD, 2
SC) , which could result in reducing the project expenditure (cost).

1.5 What impact would there be on the project in table 2, if there were only one system designer
but you had three software coders?

ANSWER:
days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
SA1 A A A
SD1 D D D D C C B
SC1 E E E
SC2 F F F
SC3 G G G G G G
SA2 H H H
SD’s 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
SC’s 1 1 2 3 3 2
SA’s 1 1 1 1 1 1

• So if there were only one system designer but you had three software coders, the
completion date of the project still will be 16 weeks, so there’s no impact on the
completion date.
• But now we have 5 staff members (1 SA, 1 SD, 3 SC) instead of 6 as before (1 SA, 3 SD, 2
SC), which could result in reducing the project expenditure (cost).
• Also now we have 2 critical paths “start A‐ D‐ G‐H-finish” and “start A‐ C‐ F‐H‐finish”, instead
of only one critical path as before “start A‐ D‐ G‐H‐finish”.

1.6 Assuming that the systems designers were employed for the duration of the project, what
would be the % utilization of the systems designers in the case of both (1.4) and (1.5) above?
• 7/(13x2) x 100 = 27%
• 7/13 x 100 = 54%
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QUESTION 2:
TABLE 2
ACTIVITY DURATION (WORKING DAYS) PRECEDENTS RESOURCES TYPE
A 2 days None SA
B 10 days A SD
C 2 days A SD
D 2 days C SC
E 3 days C SC
F 2 days C SC
G 4 days B, D, E, F SA
SA = Systems analyst; SD = Systems designer; SC = Software coder

2.1 Draw up an activity network for the activities below, identifying the critical path

A
D

C
E

ACTIVITY ES DURATION EF LF LS FLOAT

A 0 2 2 2 0 0
B 2 10 12 12 2 0
C 2 2 4 9 7 5
D 4 2 6 12 10 6
E 4 3 7 12 9 5
F 4 2 6 12 10 6
G 12 4 16 16 12 0
Critical path is A-B-G

2.2 Draw up a resource table showing the number of each type of resource needed on each day of
the project and assuming that there is only one Systems Designer.

days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15-18
SD1 C C B B B B B B B B B B
SC1 D D E E E F F
SA A A G
Note: This illustrates that the best policy is not always to give priority to activities on the critical path when
allocating resources.

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QUESTION 3
With the information on the table 3, draw an activity-on-node network. Calculate earliest start (ES) and
Latest finish (LF).

TABLE 3
Activity Description Resources Duration (working days) Precedents
A Requirement analysis System analyst 5 None
B System design System Designer 9 A
C Programming Programmer 4 None
D Hardware installation Hardware Installer 2 A
E System testing Tester 5 C
F Training and Support Trainer and supporters 6 B

3.1 One of the final results of resource allocation is “Resource Schedule” which shows the dates
each resource will be required and the level of the requirement. Table 3 has activity description
and resources that are needed per activity.

a) Use the information on table 3 to draw activity-on-node network, include all the node
calculates.

5 9 14

0 5 5 B
* 5 0 14 * 14 6 20
A
F
* 0 0 5
5 2 7 14 0 20 *
START D FINISH
18 13 20
0 4 4
C
4 5 9
11 11 15
E
15 11 20

CRITICAL PATH: A-B-F = 20

b) Using a bar chart, schedule the resources of this project to the activities plan drawn
(i.e map out the resources indicated in column 3 of table 3 to the activity plan you
draw). Other thing being equal, assume all resources are required only once and each
activity has been scheduled to start at its earliest start date.

DAYS 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
A SYSTEM ANALYST
B SYSTEM DESIGNER
C PROGRAMMER
D INSTALLER

E TESTER
F TRAINER AND SUPPORTERS
 ACTIVITIES
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3.2 Why is it important to prioritize activities in projects?

ANSWER:
Allocating a resource to particular activity limits the flexibility for resource allocation and
scheduling of other activities. Therefore it is important to prioritize activities so that resources
can be allocated to competing activities in some rational order. The priority should always be to
allocate resource to critical path activities and then to activities that would most likely affect
others.

3.3 Discuss at least two ways of prioritizing activities.

ANSWER:
Total float priority: With this method, activities are ordered according to their total float.
Activities with smallest total float have the highest priority. This means that activities are
allocated resource in ascending order of total float.
Ordered list priority: this method allows activities that can proceed at the same time to be
ordered according to a set of simple criteria.