---
title: "Resource leveling and smoothing"
subject: "Project Engineering"
chapter: 3
key: "semester_7/project_engineering:resource-leveling-smoothing-wbs-4level"
source: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_7/project_engineering/resource-leveling-smoothing-wbs-4level
site: BCT Engineering
---

# Resource leveling and smoothing

Project Engineering · Chapter 3: Project Planning and Scheduling

- Asked in: 2076 Chaitra, 2 marks
- Video: [Resource Leveling versus Resource Smoothing - Key Project Management Concepts from the PMBOK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnYhXHcn2zs) — David McLachlan
- Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort) on 2026-10-14
- Page: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_7/project_engineering/resource-leveling-smoothing-wbs-4level
- Whole chapter: https://www.bctengineer.com/md/semester_7/project_engineering/chapter-3

## Question

Define resource leveling and smoothing.

## Short answer

Resource leveling reschedules activities to make daily resource demand uniform and within availability; it may delay activities beyond float and increase project duration. Resource smoothing adjusts only non-critical activities within float to reduce peaks without changing project duration.

## Answer

**Resource levelling** is the rescheduling of activities so that the daily demand for a resource becomes as uniform as possible and does not exceed the amount available. Non-critical activities are first shifted within their float; if the demand still exceeds the limit, activities are delayed beyond their float, so the project duration may increase (resource-limited).

**Resource smoothing** is the adjustment of non-critical activities only within their float, to reduce the peaks and valleys of the resource histogram, without changing the project duration or the critical path (time-limited).

(Some textbooks use the term levelling for the time-limited case as well; the key difference is whether the project duration is held fixed.)

## Check yourself

The answer's key points as multiple-choice questions, with the correct option and why.

1. What is resource levelling?
   A. Rescheduling non-critical activities within float to make resource use uniform
   B. Adding more resources to every activity
   C. Shortening the critical path by crashing
   D. Dividing the project into work packages
   Answer: A. Levelling reschedules non-critical activities within their float to remove sharp peaks and valleys in the histogram. (Key point: Resource levelling)

2. What happens to project duration in resource smoothing?
   A. It increases by the peak amount
   B. It decreases
   C. It stays the same and the critical path is unchanged
   D. It becomes equal to total float
   Answer: C. Smoothing adjusts non-critical activities within total float, so duration and the critical path are not changed. (Key point: Effect on duration)

3. Which activities are adjusted in smoothing?
   A. Critical activities only
   B. All activities equally
   C. Only the first activity
   D. Non-critical activities, within their total float
   Answer: D. Only non-critical activities have float to use, so only they are shifted. (Key point: Which activities are moved)

## Related in Project Engineering

- [Resource schedule; leveling vs smoothing](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fproject_engineering%3Aresource-schedule-leveling-smoothing) — Project Engineering, chapter 3, asked 2×
- [Short note: Resource leveling](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fproject_engineering%3Aresource-leveling-note) — Project Engineering, chapter 3, asked 3×
- [Short note: Resource allocation and smoothing](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fproject_engineering%3Aresource-allocation-smoothing-note) — Project Engineering, chapter 3, asked 4×
- [Gantt chart; resource allocation and smoothing](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fproject_engineering%3Agantt-chart-resource-allocation-smoothing) — Project Engineering, chapter 3
- [Limited resource allocation and smoothing](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fproject_engineering%3Alimited-resource-allocation-smoothing-application) — Project Engineering, chapter 3
- [Resource histogram, leveling, limited allocation, WBS](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fproject_engineering%3Aresource-terms-histogram-wbs) — Project Engineering, chapter 3