A ‘Peak shaving’ approach to project staff reallocation

This paper presents an analytical model, which recomputes monthly staffing profile by truncating the original peak allocation and staffing the project before its actual start date. This staff leveling approach, which assumes the same completion date as the original one, has the benefit of avoiding delays resulting from small to no staff allocated at the scheduled start date. The approach uses the Lead Time concept from Inventory Theory to first compute the person-month value needed by the project under study at the scheduled start date. Next, it reduces (‘shaves’) the peak using an analytical equation from the original staffing allocation and adjusts the remaining person-month values by keeping the target date constant. The presented model was actually implemented in an industrial setting, but due date sensitivity, both the firm name and actual data are disguised.