Resource allocation capabilities of commercial project management software packages for resource leveling and resource constrained project scheduling problems: A comparative study

Abstract

In construction project management the critical path method (CPM) is the most used technique for project scheduling. Although this technique provides many advantages for project managers, it cannot efficiently deal with the allocation of the resources. Therefore, alternative techniques have been introduced to address resource allocation requirements of the projects. Of these techniques, Resource Leveling (RLP) aims to minimize the fluctuation in resource usage histograms while maintaining the duration obtained by CPM. Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP), on the other hand, aims to secure the shortest CPM duration without violating the resource constraints. RLP and RCPSP are vital for effective utilization of project resources (e.g., manpower, machinery, and equipment) as they help precluding intermittent usage or over-allocation of the resources. Keeping the resource usage at a relatively constant level through RLP would result in a decrease in the overall project cost as the additional costs required to demobilize and remobilize the resources will be minimized. Shortening the makespan while meeting the resource constraints through RCPSP would lead to improved resource utilization and cost savings as well. The main objective of this study is, therefore, to analyze effectiveness and efficiency of the most widely used commercial project management software packages in solving resource allocation problems. To this end, the most recent versions – as per the date of this study – of three software packages, namely, Microsoft Project Professional 2019, Primavera P6 Professional 2019, and Asta Powerproject version 15.0.01.489 are examined. The performance of the practiced software is evaluated based on thirteen different priority rules over a set of problem instances available in the literature. The practiced problems include 640 instances providing a diverse combination of network complexity, activity number, and resource type number. Results obtained by the software for RCPSP are also compared with the solutions provided by the Serial Scheduling Scheme – a heuristic method. The findings of this study reveal that whilst all the three software packages manage to provide comparable results, Asta PowerProject transpire to be the all-round best performing method while Primavera sports the fastest leveling module. This study also sheds light on the challenges and practical hurdles to utilization of the aforementioned software for resource allocation purposes.