How to Plan for Project Resources Using Task Decomposition

Through decomposing a given project into tasks and smaller activities it is possible to identify and estimate resources required for this project. Task decomposition allows using a resource analysis of individual tasks and activities to develop a resource management plan for the entire project. The advantage of this method is that it lets create resource estimates from specific low-level tasks to general project processes and stages.

There are 8 steps in project resource planning through task decomposition:

1. Develop task decomposition that shows tasks and their goals and includes milestones for status tracking
2. Identify types of resources (labor, time, funds, materials & supplies, facilities, IT, equipment) required for every individual task to reach completion
3. Estimate number of resources necessary for individual tasks
4. Develop a summary of task resources
5. Perform an analysis of available project resources and figure out if they are sufficient to meet resource needs of decomposed tasks
6. Identify missing resources (if any) and define sources of acquiring those resources
7. Develop a resource management plan that explains what resources to involve, where to acquire them and how to use them throughout the project
8. Design a resource loading chart that reflects estimated effort of all project resources required to perform individual tasks in project breakdown.

CentriQS Task Decomposition Solution CentriQS lets users decompose large tasks into smaller sub-tasks for creating work breakdown structures. Task decomposition in CentriQS is a very simple process. Users can either add tasks as subtasks to the parent task or simply "drag'n'drop" them into parent task. When task becomes parent for other tasks its state and duration chages automatically depending on its subtasks.