1. Know the tool's input data

Before planning a project, it's important to have a certain amount of data at hand:

• a work breakdown structure (WBS) which defines the scope of the work and is broken down into work packages;

• a breakdown of the project's resources and their availability; in fact, planning is only valid if the resources needed to carry out the work are available and in sufficient number; as a general rule, the planner draws up a task plan by breaking down work packages into elementary tasks, without taking resources into account; once this planning has been carried out, the resources (human and material) are defined and allocated to the tasks; it is at this point that the breakdown of resources and their availability become essential, guiding the smoothing or levelling work to optimize the use of these resources;

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