PMI RMP – PMBOK GUIDE – FAST REVIEW part 6

7. RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Hi and welcome back again to a new knowledge area, the project resources management. As you are preparing for the PMI Rmp exam, you will not be asked directly about the project resources management, but you might face few terms related to the resources management and the exam questions. This is why I’m going to walk through the six processes of the project resources management. So the project resources management includes the processes to identify, acquire and manage resources needed for the successful completion of the project. These processes will help ensure that the right resources will be available to the project manager and the project team at the right time at the right place.

There is a distinction between the skills and competencies needed for the project manager to manage the project team resources versus the project physical resources. That 100% true as dealing with human resources will be different than dealing with the physical resources. The project manager should invest suitable effort in acquiring, managing, motivating and empowering the project team. Now the project manager should be both the leader and the manager of the project team. I explained the difference between the leader and the manager at starting of this course. As a leader, it is the project manager responsibility of developing the team skills and competencies while improving the team satisfaction and motivation.

The physical resources management is concentrated in allocating and using the physical resources needed for the successful completion of the project in an efficient and effective way. Physical resources includes the equipment, materials, facilities and infrastructure of the project. The team resources or the person refer to the human resources. We have six processes in the project resources management, two within the planning process group, the plan resources management and the estimate activity resources acquire resources, develop team and manage team as a part of the executing process group. Control resources as a part of the monitoring and controlling process group.

From this graph, you can see that the resources management knowledge area is within the planning, executing and monitoring and controlling process groups. As taken from the PM book, we have 9. 1 plan resources management, 9. 2 estimated activity resources as a part of the planning, 9. 3 acquire resources, 9. 4 develop team, 9. 5 manage team as a part of the executing, processing group and 9. 6 controlled resources as a part of the monitoring and controlling process group. So what are the trends and emerging practices when it comes to the resources management? Modern project resources approaches seek to optimize resource utilization.

Such trends includes first of all, the resources management methods due to scarce nature of critical resources, several trends have become popular scarce nature of critical resources such as the need of specialist engineers and few construction projects or the need of professional programmers for the It projects or the need for special equipments and so on. Now, such examples for the resources management methods include the Lean concept. Concept comes from lean manufacturing. This principle behind lean is to remove the waste from any business process. The goal of lean management is to eliminate waste of time, effort and resources.

To eliminate the waste from any process. This waste can be a waste of time, effort or resources. The chaisen that refers to the continuous improvement. This concept applies to quality management and resources management. I explained the chaisen is a Japanese word which I explained in the previous lecture. The jet also is a quality management approach. Just in time. It’s a system used for physical resources. It’s the zero inventory system. Emotional Intelligence it’s a trend in resources management as the project manager should invest in personnel by empowering inbound. Inbound means self management and self awareness and outbound that means the relationship management with others competencies.

This is the emotional intelligence. The self organizing Teams it’s commonly used in the agile projects. In projects that have self organizing team, where the team functions in an absence of a central account, the project manager role will be just providing the team with environment and support needed to get the job done. So as a project manager with a self organizing team, you just need to monitor the project team, the self organizing teams provide them with a suitable environment and the support needed. The last trend will be the virtual or the distributed teams. Due to globalization of projects, there is a need for virtual teams on the same project.

For example, I’m working on a project in Saudi Arabia while the interior design team is located in Lebanon and the hardscape and the external design team is located in Dubai. This is the mean of the virtual team. Tailoring Considerations because each project is unique, the project manager need to tailor the way the project resources management is applied. Such considerations are first of all the delivery of the project deliverables, the physical location of the project team, the industry specific resources, the acquisition of the team members are their internal or external, the management of the project team and the lifecycle approach used on the project.

If you are dealing with an agile environment project, the considerations you need to be aware of first of all, the projects with high variability. The projects with adaptive environment lifecycle will benefit from the team structures that maximize focus and collaboration, such as self organizing teams. Collaboration is intended to boost productivity and facilitates innovative problem solving. Collaborative teams may facilitate accelerated integration of distant tour activities, improve communication, increase the knowledge sharing between the selforganizing teams and provides flexibility of work assignments and addition to other advantages. Planning for physical and human resources is much less predictable in agile projects with high barriers.

Now, the first process of the resources management knowledge area would be the plan resources Management as a part of the planning process group. It’s the process of defining and documenting how we are going to estimate the resources required for the project, acquire them, manage them and use the team and physical resources on the project. The key benefit of this process that it will establish the approach and level of management effort needed for managing the project resources based on the type and complexity of the project and this process is performed once or at predefined points throughout the project life.  Resources planning is used to identify and determine an approach to ensure sufficient resources are available for the successful completion of the project plan.

Resources Management the imposts are the project charter, the project management plan, the project documents like the project schedule, the requirements documentation, the Rest register, the stakeholder register, the enterprise environmental factors and the organizational process assets. The tools and techniques used to plan the resources management are the expert judgment data representation techniques like the hierarchical charts, the Ram, the responsibility assignment matrix, text oriented format, organization theories and meetings. The outputs are the resources management plan, the team charter, the project documents updates like the assumption log and the Rest register.

Now the resources management plan a subsidiary plan of the project management plan documenting how we are going to deal and manage and control the project resources. The team charter is like a contract between the project manager and the project team members on the accepted behavior on the project. Here is an example of a data presentation technique the obs or the organizational breakdown structure dividing the resources of the project per department. The project will include the marketing department, the It department and the engineering department. The It department will be responsible for the work packages WPS 2. 2. 5 and the security plan WPS 2. 4. 2.

This is the organizational breakdown structure and this is the RBS or the resource breakdown structure dividing the project resources as per category like the people, materials and equipment. The second resources management process will be the estimate activity resources. It’s also a part of the planning process group, the process of estimating the team resources and the type and quantities of materials, equipment and supplies necessary to perform the project work. The key benefit of this process that it identifies the type, quantity and characteristics of resources required to complete the project work. This process is performed periodically throughout the project as needed.

The estimated activity resources process is closely related to other estimation techniques like the estimated activity durations and the estimate activity costs. These three processes almost share the same tools and techniques. This process includes the estimation of human resources required to complete the packages in the Wbs. It also includes any equipment or materials needed. The inputs are the project management plan, the project documents, the enterprise environmental factors and the organizational process assets. The tools and techniques are the expert judgment, the estimation techniques, the analogous or, the top down, the parametric estimating and the bottom up estimating all explained in the schedule management.

They will apply to the schedule cost and resources data analysis techniques like the alternative analysis PMIs, project Management information system and the meetings. The outputs of this process are the resource requirements, the basis of estimates, the resource breakdown structure and few project documents updated. The third resources management process is the acquire resources. It’s the first executing process of the resources management knowledge area, the process of obtaining the team members facilities, equipment, materials, supplies and other resources necessary to complete the work packages within the work breaks structure. The key benefit of this process is that it outlines advise the selection of resources and assigns them to their respective activities.

This process is performed periodically throughout the project as needed and the resources needed for the project can be internal or external to the project performing organization. Internal resources are acquired from functional or resource managers like the CFO for the finance or the It manager for the It or the developers or testers. The accenture resources are acquired through the procurement management knowledge area processes. The inputs needed for the acquired resources process are the project management plan, the project documents, the enterprise environmental factors and few organizational process assets, while the tools and techniques are the decision making techniques, multicariter decision analysis, interpersonal and team skills like the negotiation, the preassignment and the virtual teams.

The primary outputs of this process are the physical resources assignments, the project team assignments, the sources, calendars change requests, few project management plan components updated project document updates, enterprise environmental factors updates and organizational process assets updates. The 40 process of the resources management is the developed team as a part of the executing process group. It’s the process of improving competencies, team member interactions and the overall team environment to enhance the product performance. The key benefit of this process is that it results in improved team work, enhanced interpersonal team skills, motivated employees and overall project performance.

This process is performed throughout the project and the project manager requires the skills to identify, build, maintain, motivate, lead and inspire the project teams to achieve that high team performance. This process shall result in decreased turnover. Turnover represents its term, represents people or resources leaving the organization and the development team process shall result in decreased turnover. Teamwork is a critical factor for project success and developing effective project teams. The inputs develop the project team and the project management plan. Few project determines the enterprise environmental factors and the organizational process assets.

The tools and techniques of this process are the collocation, which means putting all the team members in the same room. It’s also called the war room, virtual teams, communication technologies, interpersonal and team skills like the conflict management techniques influencing motivation, negotiation and team building, the recognition and rewards training for the team members, individual and team assessments meetings and the primary output actually will be the team performance. Assessments would change requests, few project management plan components updated project documents, updates and enterprise environmental factors with the organizational process assets updated.

So what are the conflict resolution techniques used as a part of the managed team process? First of all, avoidance or withdrawal retreating or withdrawal from a potential disagreement. Usually it results in a loose leave outcome. It’s not recommended as old. The second technique is the smooth or accommodate. De emphasizing or avoiding areas of the francis and emphasizing areas of agreement usually results in a losing outcome. The compromise or recount bargaining and searching for solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to the parties on dispute characterized by give and take attitude usually results in a lose lose outcome.

The force or diet exerting one’s viewpoint at the potential expense of another usually results in a win lose situation. Confront or collaborate face the conflict directly which involves a problem solving approach usually results in win win situation. These are the five resolution techniques used in conflict management. The most recommended ones are the compromise and the compromise. The last resources management process is the control resources as a part of the monitoring and controlling process group. The process of ensuring that the physical resources assigned and allocated the project are available as planned as well as monitoring the plant versus actual utilization of resources and taking corrective actions as necessary.

The control resources process is concerned with managing the physical resources on the project. The key benefit of the process is ensuring that the assigned resources are available to the project at the right time and the right place and are leased when no longer needed. This process performed throughout the project as the monitoring and controlling process group processes control resources process is concerned with physical sources such as equipment, materials, facilities. Team members are addressed in the managed team process.

The inputs of this process are the project management plan, few project documents, the work performance data agreements, contracts for acquiring external resources and the organizational process assets. Tools and techniques are primarily the data analysis techniques, alternative costs benefit performance reviews and trend analysis, problem solving techniques, interpersonal and team skills like the Negotiation and influencing project management information system PMIs. The outputs of this process are the work performance information change requests, project management and update and project documents update.