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Planning and Scheduling: Assigning Resources

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Quick Summary
This guideline focuses on identifying resources needed for each item in a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Includes a worksheet for tracking assignments or assignment data before entering scheduling information into another tool. Second in a series—see the Related Templates below for the others.


What this is

Second in a series of guidelines for project plan and schedule development. This step focuses on identifying resources needed for each item in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The file also contains a table that can be used to track the assignment of project work to an individual owner for smaller projects, or to capture resource assignment data on any project before entering scheduling information into another tool.


Why it's useful

Resource assignment and balancing among conflicting demands is a core project management responsibility. As work is defined and resources are identified and assigned, it is important to record the results so that all impacted parties are aware. Formalizing resource assignments and making these commitments visible helps to ensure:

NOTE: The first-pass assignment of resources does not necessarily constitute a resource commitment. Assignments must be reviewed with functional managers and balanced against the needs of other projects before they are considered committed. But the first pass is still valuable to give the project manager and functional managers a sense of what resource types, and specific people, will be required for different activities in the project.


How to use it

Use a format such as the table at the end of this file to identify resources for items in the Work Breakdown Structure your team has started. The table should be marked "draft" until the plan and schedule development activity is complete. Resource assignments are not true commitments until the full schedule has been developed, tradeoffs made, and the plan optimized among scope, schedule, and cost/resources. You can use this table in several ways: