PERT/CPM

NETWORK TECHNIQUES
 NETWORK TECHNIQUES

PERT CPM

 Program Evaluation and  Critical Path Method

Review Technique  Developed by El
 developed by the US Dupont for Chemical
Navy with Booz Plant Shutdown
Hamilton Lockheed Project
 on the Polaris  about same time as
Missile/Submarine PERT
program 1958
PERT vs. CPM: The differences
■ PERT/CPM is used to plan the scheduling of individual activities that make up
a project.
■ PERT/CPM can be used to determine the earliest/latest start and finish times
for each activity, the entire project completion time and the slack time for each
activity.
■ PERT and CPM are similar in their basic approach, they do differ in the way
activity times are estimated.
■ For each PERT activity three times (optimistic, pessimistic and most likely
times) are combined to determine the expected activity completion time and its
variance. Thus, PERT is a probabilistic technique: it allows us to find the
probability of the entire project being completed by any given date.
■ CPM, on the other hand, is called a deterministic approach. It uses two time
estimate, the normal time and the crash time, for each activity
PERT and CPM: The answer to poor
scheduling.
1. When will the entire project be completed?
2. What are the critical activities or tasks in the project, that is, the ones that will delay the
entire project if they are late?
3. Which are the noncritical activities, that is, the ones that can run late without delaying
the whole project’s completion time?
4. What is the probability that the project will be completed by a specific date?
5. At any particular date, is the project on schedule, behind schedule, or ahead of the
schedule?
6. On any given date, is the money spent equal to, less than, or greater than the budgeted
amount?
7. Are there enough resources available to finish the project on time?
8. If the project is to be finished in a shorter amount of time, what is the best way to
accomplish this at the least cost? (crash analysis)
NETWORK: The definition.

■ Graphical portrayal of activities and event.

■ Shows dependency relationships between tasks/activities in a
project.
■ Clearly shows tasks that must precede (precedence) or follow
(succeeding) other tasks in a logical manner.
■ Clear representation of plan – a powerful tool for planning and
controlling project.
A
SIMPLE
NETWORK.
A
COMPLEX
NETWORK.
The Elements: as defined.
■ Network (precedence) diagram – diagram of project
activities that shows sequential relationships by the use
of arrows and nodes.
■ Activity-on-arrow (AOA) – a network diagram
convention in which arrows designate activities.
■ Activity-on-node (AON) – a network diagram
convention in which nodes designate activities.
■ Activities – steps in the project that consume resources
and/or time.
■ Events – the starting and finishing of activities,
designated by nodes in the AOA convention.
The Elements: as defined. (cont’d.
■ Path
– Sequence of activities that leads from the
starting node to the finishing node
■ Critical path
– The longest path; determines expected project
duration
■ Critical activities
– Activities on the critical path
■ Slack
– Allowable slippage for path; the difference the
length of path and the length of critical path
The CRITICAL PATH METHOD.
■ Finding the critical path is a major part of controlling a
project.
■ The activities on the critical path represent tasks that
will delay the entire project if they are delayed.
■ Manager gain flexibility by identifying noncritical
activities and replanning, rescheduling, and
reallocating resources such as personnel and
finances.
Be LOGICAL.
■ Construction of network should
be based on logical or
technical dependencies among
activities
■ Example - before activity
‘Approve Drawing’ can be
started the activity ‘Prepare
Drawing’ must be completed
■ Common error – build network
on the basis of time logic (a
feeling for proper sequence )
see example below
A SIMPLE NETWORK. Example 1.
Consider the list of four activities for making a simple
product: Immediate
Activity Description
predecessors
A Buy Plastic Body -
B Design -
Component
C Make Component B
D Assemble A,C
product

Immediate predecessors for a particular activity are the activities that,

when completed, enable the start of the activity in question.
Sequence of activities.
Activity Description Immediate ■ Can start work on activities A
predecessors
and B anytime, since neither
A Buy Plastic Body - of these activities depends
upon the completion of prior
B Design -
Component activities.
C Make Component B ■ Activity C cannot be started
until activity B has been
D Assemble A,C
product completed
■ Activity D cannot be started
until both activities A and C
have been completed.
The NETWORK.

A D
1 3 4

B C

2
A SIMPLE NETWORK. Example 2.
Construct a Network Diagram from the following
information.
Activity Precedes Immediate Time
(weeks)
A B 15
B C,D 13
C E 8
D END 5
E END 3
A SIMPLE NETWORK. Example 3.
Develop the network for a project with following activities and
immediate predecessors:
Activity Immediate
predecesso
rs
A -
B -
C B
D A,C
E C
F C
G D,E,F
Network of first five activities

A D
1 3 4

E
B

C 5

2
We need to introduce
a dummy activity
The NETWORK of seven
activities.
1 A 3 D 4 G
7
dummy E
B
C 5 F
2 6

•Note how the network correctly identifies D, E, and F as the

immediate predecessors for activity G.

•Dummy activities is used to identify precedence relationships

correctly and to eliminate possible confusion of two or more
activities having the same starting and ending nodes

•Dummy activities have no resources (time, labor, machinery, etc)

– purpose is to PRESERVE LOGIC of the network
DUMMY ACTIVITY: The correct use.
Network concurrent activities
a
a 2

1 2 1 Dummy

b 3
b
WRONG!!! RIGHT ✓

Activity c not
required for e
a
a e
d
1
b 1 b
e
d
c
2
c
WRONG
RIGHT
!!!
✓
 WRONG!!! RIGHT!!!

a d a d
1 1

b e b
2 2 4
e

c f c f
3 3

a precedes d.
a and b precede e,
b and c precede f (a does not precede f)
SCHEDULING WITH ACTIVITY TIME.
ACTIVITY IMMEDIATE COMPLETION TIME
PREDECESSORS (WEEK)
A - 5
B - 6
C A 4
D A 3
E A 1
F E 4
G D,F 14
H B,C 12
I G,H 2
1. What is the critical path?
2. How long will the project be completed?
MORE EXAMPLES.
CRITICAL PATH METHOD.
PROBLEM 1.
 ACTIVITY ESTIMATED TIME (DAYS)

1-2 5

2-3 6

PROBLEM 2. 2-4 4

Using the following

information, perform the 3-6 10
following:
a. Network diagram 6-7 3
b. Determine which activities
are on the critical path. 4-5 5
c. Compute the length of the
critical path. 4-7 16

5-7 10
CONCLUSION
 No two diagrams are exactly alike. Each network diagram is unique.
 Drawing the CORRECT and LOGICAL diagram cannot be done at once
particularly for complex networks.
 The network does not describe time relationships but rather
dependency relationships.
 The use of dummy activity preserves a LOGICAL network.
 Some activities can be done simultaneously.
 The project duration is not determined by summing up all the duration
of activities in the network but by adding the time of critical activities
only.
 The longest path is the critical path thus dictates the total time to
complete the project.