Project Calendar vs Resource Calendar for PMP Exam

In the Project Schedule Management knowledge area of the PMP Exam syllabus, there are at least two types of calendars: project calendar and resource calendar. There are some similarities and differences between these two types of calendars. This article will try to distinguish between Project Calendar and Resource Calendar according to the PMBOK® Guide so that Aspirants will understand these two calendars.

Project Calendar vs Resource Calendar

• Project Calendar: Project Calendar indicates the days, dates and time the project team is/planned to be working.
  • It shows which days/time of day the project team will be working and which days/time of day the project will NOT be working (e.g. holidays, etc.).
  • The project calendar is concerned about the project environment and constraints (e.g. noisy work will be restrained during the day).
  • Project calendars can be part of Organizational Process Assets (which are input to many processes).
  • e.g. non-urgent road enhancement projects can only be carried out during weekends when the traffic is low
• Resource Calendar: Resource Calendar indicates the days, dates and time a particular resource (human resources/machines/etc.) will work.
  • In the PMP Exam, Resource Calendar is mainly about Human Resources as it is mentioned in the Project Human Resource Management Knowledge Group.
  • This is because a particular resource may be required to work concurrently for several projects and its share of availability for a particular project is limited, or there are planned vacation for resources, etc.
  • Resource Calendar is included in the Staffing Management Plan (which is part of the Human Resource Management Plan)
  • Output of Acquire Project Team process — by updating the original Resource Calendar (which was created in Plan Human resource management) with the details of the team members which were acquired during Acquire Project Team process

The Project Calendar and Resources Calendars are continually updated during the planning and executing processes to reflect the changes in project environment and project team availability. These two types of calendars together help the Project Manager to develop the Project schedule.

Project Calendar vs Resource Calendar

Illustrated Example

Let’s take the PMP Exam prep as an example, for an Aspirant named David having a full-time project manager job:

• To balance study, family obligations and relaxation, David has decided to set the project calendar including only weekdays as the weekends are reserved for the family.
• David has also promised his kids for a short trip during Christmas vacation and therefore the second half of December is excluded from the Resource Calendar.

While developing David’s project schedule, he has to take into accounts the resource calendar and the project calendar in order to give a realistic and achievable schedule for his project.

Summary

As their name suggests:

• the Project Calendar is concerned about the Project
• the Resource Calendar is concerned about human resource (team members)

Additional FREE PMP resources: 47+ Commonly Confused Term Pairs with detailed explanations. If you found this article useful, you may wish to reference other Commonly Confused Term articles.