what is resources in gantt chart for IT project

Question

I want to schedule tasks using the Gantt chart. The project is developing a Web application. I was stuck in the selection of resources for each task; knowing the developer for these tasks is only one person.

What is the semantics of a resource in GANTT?

Are there other types of resources than human resources?

Answer 1

It sounds as though the project is quite small, so I would personally not be assigning resources to tasks - it's not mandatory and, as you say, you are looking to schedule tasks.

Also, to say "what are the semantics of a resource in GANTT" isn't quite hitting the nail on the head...a GANTT chart is a project planning tool, and MS project is one software package (I've assumed you're using MS Project) that allows you to assign resources to the tasks that you are planning in a GANTT chart.

Having said all this, if you still want to assign resources, they are generally broken down into: Costs, Materials, Work.

Regards,

G

Answer 2

A resource can be anything that is used in the project. In your project you have one Developer resource, but you could have many. It is impossible to define what resources you need for your project, only you know that, but examples of resources that often appear on IT Projects are:

• Project Manager
• Business Analyst
• Developer
• Development Lead
• DBA (Database Adminstrator)
• Tester
• Test Lead

Essentially your resources are defined by the role they play in the project (their Type) and there can be many roles and you may have many of them in any given project.

Answer 3

A "resource" is anything that has to be assigned to a project in order to deliver the project's products.

As you infer, there is a bias towards documenting the team members who are going to be doing the work. I think Gregg has done a good job at identifying the broad categories:

• Materials. This includes the hardware and equipment that are required to deliver a product and are temporarily assigned to the project. The most tangible examples are from the construction industry (e.g. front-end loaders, dumptrucks, power tools). Other examples could include physical space (e.g. if you have a designated "project meeting room"), project-specific servers, project-specific workstations, new development tools, etc.
• Costs. IMO better called "Consumables". I see this as consisting of what will be used up by the project to product it's products. Again construction gives easy examples (e.g. concrete, ashphalt, shingles, nails, lumber). Outside of that if you could have things like printing costs (for delivery of a report) or data storage fees or whatever.
• Work. So the labor costs that you have. Marv has given some good examples from an IT perspective.