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Assess Resources

Resource assessment is used to determine whether sufficient resources, including funding, have been assessed and budgeted for a project. A resource assessment should be performed at the beginning of the supply chain management (SCM) process to determine whether sufficient resources or funding have been assessed and budgeted for the project.

Resources

There are five categories of resources that need to be assessed:

Funding - assess the current funding availability and compare it with the funding required to accomplish the project

People - ensure that there is sufficient human capital to develop, manage, and operate the project

Facilities - ensure that existing facilities can accommodate the project

Technology - analyze the organization's current state of technology, and determine what will be required to enable effective operation of the proposed project

Other resources - analyze other resources that the organization has, and determine which additional resources may be needed to carry out the project

During this stage, the Purchase/SCM Team will evaluate the need and determine the relative impact on available resources. The following should be reviewed at this stage in the process:

Ensure that total cost of ownership (TCO) is documented and that the likelihood of significant cost changes over the life of the project is explored.

Ensure that resources are available to carry out the project.

Ascertain whether the effort will/can be fully or incrementally funded (i.e., the budget for a given fiscal year is exhausted; must allocate funds from the following year's budget).

The resources available are organized to deliver objectives in the most economical, efficient, and effective way possible.

In the early stages of a project, costs are generally estimated. The three most common methods of cost estimation are:

Expert opinion - an estimate based on the personal experience of a subject matter expert (SME)

Analogy - a more formal approach to expert opinion, using direct comparison with one or more past projects

Rough order of magnitude (ROM) - an approximation of the project cost when high-level requirements are available, but not detailed data

The nearest calculation of real costs will be determined when calculating the TCO; the total cost incurred over the life cycle of a product or service. Requirements for funding must be revisited at this stage, to ensure that adequate funds will be available and realistically estimated. The organization's ability to fund a purchase is derived from the annual budget.

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Other Topics Considered

Develop Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Estimate topic, Conceptualize Need task, Process Step 1: Identify Needs

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