In resource planning, load is a way to express capacity requirements. Load is the number of hours of work allocated to a task or project versus the time available. This figure, usually expressed as a percentage, represents overload or underload, as explained in David Frederick Ross’ “Distribution Planning and Control: Managing in the Era of Supply Chain Management.”
To calculate the capacity load ratio you must divide the required hours on a project by the amount of time available to complete it and multiply it by 100. For instance, if a project designer requires 80 hours to complete a project but they only have 60 hours available, they are at 133% — meaning they are overloaded.
