Optimal Resource Adjustment Times in product development project

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-84).Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.Improving project schedule performance is critical to project success in many industries. Resource allocation has been used as a tool for improving project schedule performance. Common resource allocation policies allocate the same fraction of available resources to each activity as the fraction of total demand for resources created by the current backlog of work for that activity. Such a Proportional Resource Allocation Policy can be myopic because it does not account for future demand of resources. To consider future demand of resources to improve the resource allocation policy, a Foresighted Resource Allocation Policy model was proposed by Ford and Joglekar (2002) using system dynamics with control theory. Management delays, backlog changes created by processing work, and the rework cycle are primary drivers of project schedule performance. The backlog changes reflect the progress of development work and the nature of the project development processes. Project managers cannot directly control the change of backlog. However, management delays can be influenced by project managers directly. Therefore, the tuning of management delays is a potentially effective way to improve resource allocation policies to achieve shortened project duration. This research suggested a way of improving project performance with resource allocation policies. Two managerial decisions were considered: 1) proportional or foresighted resource demand estimates; and 2) the delay of management, and delay in resource allocation (i.e. resource adjustment time). Optimal Resource Adjustment Time is a management delay in resource allocation policies that results in minimum project duration. Hypotheses concerning the impacts of rework and uncertainty on Optimal Resource Adjustment Time and how management delays (i.e. resource adjustment time) impact schedule performance are tested with a dynamic simulation model. Results support the tuning of resource adjustment times to reduce project duration and explain how increasing uncertainty in adjustment time can reduce project duration. Impacts on practices and research are discussed