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Recommended Practices for integrating resources and schedule risk analysis

Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:36 am
by Torelli
We have resource loaded schedules. Are there anything recommended practices for running risk analysis with resource loaded schedules.

Re: Recommended Practices for integrating resources and schedule risk analysis

Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:43 am
by Intaver Support
While resource loaded schedules and schedule risk analysis are not incompatible, how you approach a risk analysis depends upon your objectives as resource loading can introduce additional complications. Depending upon your objectives this could mean creating a specific schedule for your risk analysis that acts as a proxy for your management schedule.

It is important to clarify the objectives of your risk analysis as the type of data you require for a risk analysis differs from schedule you are using to manage your project. For regular management activities that occur on a daily basis can require a lot of information including notes, codes, actuals etc. For a schedule risk assessment most of this information is not required and can in fact overly complicate the analysis. At its most basic, schedule risk analysis requires task duration, start and finish time, and a high quality precedent network in addition to a list of risks and uncertainties. Rule of thumb is “As littles as possible, as much as required”. From this we can say if you are not running an integrated cost risk analysis, do not include resources.
During project execution, if you have a resource loaded schedule, we recommend that you use Task Type “Fixed Units”, % complete and Status Date to calculate both remaining duration, work, and costs. The key is to use task durations as the basis for schedule risk analysis. If you use work actuals, this can create added complications especially if you have multiple resources allocated to a task as this requires calculating remaining duration that can be based on resources whose progress is not been completed at the same velocity. In addition, you would then, need to calculate estimates for the low and high estimate. The added calculations can negatively impact the performance of the simulation as well as increase the level of effort required to manage and update your risk model.