Hello, could you please help with a response to the below discussion post, providing all references?

Resource leveling and smoothing are two techniques that can be used for resource optimization. Resource optimization is where a project manager or their team adjusts start or end dates of activities to adjust resource use to be equal or less than resource availability (PMI, 2017). In resource smoothing, activity dates for work packages are adjusted to balance the demand of resource supply (PMI, 2017); in other words, it can be used to balance resource utilization and avoid resource overloading by scheduling activities to fit available resources. This often allows a project manager or their team to delay non-critical activities or activities that have float to ensure critical path activities are completed on time. Resource leveling is similar to smoothing although start dates of critical path activities may have to be moved to balance the allocation of resources especially when resources are overallocated (PMI, 2017).

From my experience, a project that could use resource leveling and smoothing is the construction of a multistory skyrise building. A skyrise building project has a very large scope and various activities are happening concurrently. There is usually only 1 (sometimes 2) tower cranes on the site and every contractor and work package will need to use the crane to work on their individual scopes especially when the level of the floors gets higher and higher. Use of the tower cranes has to be scheduled and has to be balanced between various activities as a tower crane can only do so much in a day; the result of the scheduling and balancing is both smoothing and leveling. Start and end dates for tasks have to be scheduled around the crane and even the resource of the crane itself has to be smoothed to balance the demand of the resource.

Schedule crashing and fast tracking are two techniques used by a project team used to shorten or compress the project schedule due to some sort of constraint. In schedule crashing, extra resources are allocated to activities and work packages to speed up their completion and expedite delivery of critical path activities (PMI, 2017). In fast tracking, activities usually scheduled in a certain sequence are scheduled in tandem or in parallel to each other other (PMI, 2017). Fast tracking can also increase costs but also increases risks in quality or in having to rework certain tasks if coordination is impeded or work is redesigned during the process (PMI, 2017).

A project I have been involved in that required both schedule crashing and fast tracking occurred a couple of years ago due to a water main break that severely damaged the road in a busy intersection. The damage to the existing road was severe and we had to come up with a scope and budget on the spot to complete the repair of the project. The major constraint was time as the road had to be reopened as soon as possible. Normally a roadway project involves planning and then several phases. In the span of 18 hours, we had to schedule a contractor and design a fix while also performing the repairs. Fast tracking occured as several activities were done in parallel to each other: designing roadway fixes while also repairing a water line and also rebuilding a road. Normally these activities would be performed one at a time in sequence but time was not in our favor. Not only did we have to fast track, but we also had to schedule crash by bringing in several crews from the City and from our contractor to get the road opened much faster than usual.

References

Project Management Institute. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) - Sixth Edition. Project Management Institute.