Question

You have been assigned to manage a time-constrained project. The project absolutely must be finished by the customer-imposed deadline. No exceptions will be made, even if it means additional expenses must be incurred. As the project manager, you are busy developing the project schedule and budget. You notice that the demand for a particular resource, XT-002 Deconstructor, varies greatly over the course of the project. In an attempt to make an optimal project schedule, which of the following methods should you use to manage the XT-002 resource?
A. Smooth the demand for XT-002 to minimize fluctuations
B. Use the parallel method to schedule activities with resource constraints in mind
C. Remove all activities that use XT-002 from the project
D. Add optional overtime for all workers assigned to the project

Answer 1

Option A is the answer as this is a time-constrained problem and in time constrained problems resource smoothing is used to smooth the demand and ensure that the project is completed on time.

The option B cannot be used because using the parallel method to schedule activities with resource constraints in mind would lengthen the time of the project which is not possible as the project has strict timelines.

Options C and D are eliminated because they would increase the cost and removing all activities is also not an option.