Application of #Chain Equations to Resource Scheduling

Abstract

Chain (pronounced number chain) equations were applied in the resource scheduling of two projects. The first project involved the scheduling of one type of manpower with unlimited resource availability while the second involved categorized manpower with resource constraints. The Earliest Start (ES), Latest Start (LS) and Leveling methods were applied to schedule the first project and were characterized by plotting network diagrams to schedule the project. When the #Chain approach was employed to schedule the same project, plotting of network diagrams was obviated but yielded similar manpower profiles and project duration of 12 weeks as the other methods. The ES, LS and Leveling methods did not lend themselves to scheduling of the project with categorized manpower having constraints and were not applied for scheduling the second project. However, the #Chain equations were applied, with ease, to schedule the second project to generate manpower profiles for each type of manpower. Due to the constraints applied, the project duration was extended from 12 weeks to 14 weeks. Hence the #Chain approach proffers a simple and preferred methodology for scheduling categorized resources with their attendant constraints.