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152 PRACTICAL RESOURCE SCHEDULING

support the key dates as outlined in the Project Milestone Schedule. Also,
through the use of Work Breakdown Structures and Organizational Breakdown
Structures, the defined work should be organized and coded in ways to assist
later in assigning resources. The why and how of this type of scheduling is dis-
cussed in Section 3.

Resource Database You will need to build a Resource Database (sometimes
called the resource dictionary or resource library). This consists of knowing what
your resources are and certain information about skills and availability. The data
elements associated with this list of resources will vary, and may include any of
the following:

• Resource name—Can be individual resource or class of resource.
• Hierarchical structure (parent/subordinate)—A Resource Breakdown

Structure (RBS).
• Information about the resource (some of this can come from or be linked to

an HR database).
• Resource’s skills.
• Productivity by skill (rare—with good reason—see Trap).
• Charging and billing rates.
• Availability schedule.

Trap Caution is advised when you are working with the pro-
ductivity of skills. This is usually very sensitive information,
which should not be available to the general public. Before at-
tempting to add these data, the situation should be reviewed
with the human resources and legal departments and ap-
proved at a high level of management. At the least, such data
should be restricted to need-to-know personnel. In practice,
most users do not use a productivity feature and many prod-
ucts do not support such a function.

Assign Resources Next, from this resource database, you will select which re-
sources are to be assigned to which tasks. This assignment can be by individ-
ual, that is, Jack and Betty. Or it may be by class or skill, that is, Plumber or
System Analyst.

The assignments will need to be quantified. Jack is assigned full time to the
task but Betty is assigned only at half time. Also, Betty cannot start work on the