DPM 1200

ADMINISTRATIVE
TECHNIQUES
Lecture 2
Donna Keiller-Mc Kinnon

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Learning Objectives
Student’s will:
• Describe Programme Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT)/ Critical Path Method (CPM) as a
quantitative decision making tool.

• Justify the use of and apply PERT/CPM as a project

management tool.

• Complete a PERT exercise.

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 Program Evaluation &Review Technique/
Critical Path Method

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 Program Evaluation &Review Technique/
Critical Path Method
What is PERT/CPM?
 Program Evaluation & Review Technique(PERT)/Critical Path Method
(CPM)-
 It is a network approach for scheduling project activities. The PERT chart is
also used to organize and coordinate tasks within a project

 Quantitative project management tools, such as PERT/CPM deals with

three things: time; cost and performance.

• PERT/CPM seeks to determine the critical path of a project and

to identify all the critical activities that must be completed in
order for the project to be successful.
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• PERT presents a logical methodology for project control. Project control is a
necessary tool for outlining tasks/activities related to a project and the relationships
between those tasks. It also gives estimations (costs & quantity) of key resources that
will be utilized in these activities/ tasks.

NB PERT employs three estimate for each activity (is treated as a

random variable), whereas CPM uses one time factor per
activity (single deterministic time value)

• Both Techniques seek to find the critical path of a project

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 Calculating Time Estimates for PERT

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• Operate with THREE time estimates:

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 Calculating Time Estimates for Activities
(Project Uncertainty)
To estimate required time for each activity,
calculate Time Expected

Three time estimates are needed:

 a = optimistic time
 m = most likely time
 b = pessimistic time

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 Calculating Time Estimates for Activities
•Optimistic time (a)- is the time an activity can
be completed if everything goes right (no
problems/ unexpected events occur)

•Most likely time (m)-is the most realistic

estimate of how long an activity might take

•Pessimistic time (b)-is the time required to

complete an activity if everything goes wrong.

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Time expected=

Most likely time

Optimistic time a + 4 (m) + b Pessimistic time

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 Calculating Time Estimates for Activities
• E.g.
• Activity ‘A’ laying the foundation has the following
time estimates:

• Optimistic: 3 days; Pessimistic 3 days;

Most likely: 2 days

Solving for the time expected: a + 4 (m) + b

6

3 + 4 (2) + 3 Te= 2.3 days

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 Determine the time estimate for the following:
Activity Description Immediate Optimistic Most Pessimist Time
Predecessors a Likely ic (Weeks)
m b

A Meet with board - 1 1 2

B Hire coaches A 4 6 8

C Reserve pool A 2 4 6
Announce
D program B,C 1 2 3
Meet with
E coaches B,C 2 3 4

F Order team suits A 1 2 3

Register
G swimmers D 1 2 3

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 Activities vs. Events
• Activity – a chunk of work that is part of the project; an
activity may be broken down into multiple sub-activities

• Event – a significant point in time during the project, such

as a milestone event; an event could be the time at which
an activity is completed or the time at which related
concurrent activities have all completed

• Dummy Activity – an artificial activity with zero time

duration that only shows a precedence relationship among
activities

13
 Constructing PERT

Activity-on-node (AON)
nodes represent activities, and arrows show
precedence relationships.

A B

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 Constructing PERT

Activity-on-arrow (AOA)
arrows represent activities and nodes are events
for points in time.

0 1

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some of the basic differences would be as
follows.
1. A significant drawback of AoA networks is having
several different possible networks describing the
same project. In contrast, the Activities on Nodes
(AoN) representation is unique.

2. Having both AoA and AoN networks of a project is an

advantage since some planning and optimization
techniques strictly require AoA format while others
require AoN format.

3. AoN diagrams are generally easier to create that AoA

diagrams.
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Differences con’t
4. When it comes to inexperienced users, AoN diagrams
is easier to understand than AoA diagrams.

5. If there are changes, it would be easier to do them on

AoN diagrams than AoA diagrams.

6. AoN networks focus on tasks while AoA focuses on

events.

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 Activities-on-Nodes
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 A B C

A comes before B which comes before C

AON
A

A and B must both be completed before C can start

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 B

B and C cannot begin until A is completed

A C

B D

C and D cannot begin until both A and B are completed

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 A C

B D

C cannot start until A and B are completed

D cannot begin until B is completed
B
D
A

B and C cannot begin until A is completed

D cannot begin until both B and C are completed
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Instructions:
Draw an AON network for Beharry Ltd from the information provided:
Activity Description Immediate Time (Weeks)
Predecessors
A - 3
Meet with board
B A 6
Hire coaches
C A 7
Reserve pool
D A 5
Announce program
E B,C 13
Meet with coaches
F C,D 8
Order team suits
G D,F 11
Register swimmers
H G,E
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Collect fees
Earliest Start and Earliest
Finish Times

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 Earliest Start Time
• Earliest Start Time (EST) of an activity is the earliest
time an activity can start assuming predecessors are
completed.

• To determine the EST, a forward pass must be done

i.e. add the ES Times and durations moving from
Left to Right.

Note: To determine the EST of an activity which is

connected to several predecessors the time for the
longest path to that activity (the maximum of all
ESTs) must be used.
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 Activity Description Immediate Time (Weeks)
Predecessors

A - 3
Meet with board
B A 6
Hire coaches
C A 7
Reserve pool
D A 5
Announce program
E B,C 13
Meet with coaches
F C,D 8

Order team suits

G D,F 11

Register swimmers
H G,E 6
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Collect fees
•Earliest Finish Time (EFT) -
earliest time by which an activity
can be completed.

•It is found by adding the duration

of the activity to its EST.

i.e. EFT = EST+ Duration

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Latest Finishing &Latest
Starting Time

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 LFT and LST
 Latest Finish Time (LFT) is the latest time an
activity can start without affecting the finishing
time of the activities that immediately follow or
the completion of the project.

To determine the LFT, a backward pass must be done i.e.

continuously subtracting Durations from the last determined
LFT moving from Right to Left.

Note: To determine the LFT of an activity which is connected to

several paths the time for the longest path to that activity
(the minimum of all LFT) must be used.

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 LFT and LST

• Latest Start Time (LST) is the latest

finish time minus the activity’s estimated
duration
i.e. LST = LFT-Duration

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Slack Time
This is the length of time an activity can be
delayed without affecting the completion date
for the entire project.

It is computed as follows:
LST – EST=0
or
LFT – EFT=0

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Computing Slack Times

EST EFT

Task = duration
slack = xxxx

LST LFT

Part 5 - Project Scheduling 31

 Critical Path
• The critical path (time) represents the shortest
possible time in which the entire project can
be completed. It is the chain of activities with
the longest duration times.
•
• The critical path is a continuous path in the
project that network that:
• Starts at the first activity
• Ends at the last activity
• Include all critical activities
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 Critical Path
•Critical Activities
•All of the activities that make up the
critical path. Critical activities are those
with “0” slack time.

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Draw the PERT Diagram

Activity Name Duration (Days) Predecessor

A 4 None

B 3 A

C 1 A

D 5 B

E 2 C

F 6 D, E

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