overallocation

Overallocation is the condition in which resources are allocated or demanded beyond what is available. It occurs when workload, budget, or capacity exceeds actual supply, leading to competition for scarce resources, reduced performance, delays, or quality problems. The term is used across domains such as project management, information technology, and finance.

In project management, overallocation happens when team members are assigned more work hours than their available capacity or when too many tasks are scheduled simultaneously. This can cause burnout, missed deadlines, increased errors, and elevated project risk. Causes include optimistic task estimates, incomplete resource calendars, dependencies, and insufficient capacity planning. Mitigation approaches include resource leveling, adding buffers, reassigning work, or hiring temporary staff.

In computing and IT, overallocation (often called overcommitment) refers to allocating more virtual or logical resources than exist physically. This is common in virtualization where memory or CPU can be oversubscribed. If all workloads demand peak resources at once, the host may resort to swapping, ballooning memory, or throttling, leading to degraded performance. Controls include setting resource limits, admission control, monitoring contention, and using memory ballooning or paging strategies.

In finance and budgeting, overallocation occurs when expenditures exceed the available budget or when funds are earmarked beyond actual cash flow. Preventive measures include tighter budgeting processes, approval workflows, contingency reserves, and regular financial reviews. Overallocation, if unmanaged, can impede operations and undermine strategic objectives.