Resource allocation is the scheduling of activities and the resources required by those activities while taking into consideration both the resource availability and project time. The resource allocation procedure mainly consists of two activities: Resource Smoothing and Resource Leveling.
Resource Smoothing:-
- If duration of completion of the project is the constraint, then resource smoothing should be applied without changing the total project duration.
- The periods of minimum demand for resources are located and the activities are shifted according to the float availability and the requirement of resources.
- Thus the intelligent utilization of floats can smoothen the demand of resources to the maximum possible extent.
- This type of resource allocation is called Resource Smoothing.
Resource leveling:-
- In the process of resource leveling, whenever the availability of resource becomes less than its maximum requirement, the only alternative is to delay the activity having larger float.
- In case, two or more activities require the same amount of resources, the activity with minimum duration is chosen for resource allocation.
- Resource leveling is done if the restriction is on the availability of resources.