DEVELOPING A PROJECT PLAN

MGMT 6084 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

MODULE
SIX

Prof. Mohamed Soliman

Project Management by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

The following content was prepared by Prof Robert Brookes and reproduced
from Larson, Gray (2018) Project Management: The Managerial Process.
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO TODAY?

WBS

 Review last week’s work.

 Today you will learn what
a project network is, and
how to draw one!
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

You are here!

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PROJECT NETWORK

The project network is a flow chart that graphically depicts the

sequence, interdependencies, and start and finish times of the project
job plan of activities that is the critical path through the network.

 Provides the basis for scheduling labor and equipment.

 Enhances communication among project participants.
 Provides an estimate of the project’s duration.
 Provides a basis for budgeting cash flow.
 Identifies activities that are critical.
 Highlights activities that are “critical” and can not be delayed.
 Help managers get and stay on plan.
WBS TO ACTIVITY NETWORK
WBS FOR YOUR PARTY PLAN

Celebration Party

1.0 Food 2.0 Beverages 3.0 Invitations 4.0 Location

1.1 Order 2.1 Bought 3.1 4.1

the food beverage Design Find

1.2 2.2 3.2 4.2

Cutlery / Made Print or Secure
Plates beverage setup approval

1.3 4.3
3.3
Washing Setup /
Send
the dishes cleanup
 PARTY PLAN PROJECT LOGIC

Order cutlery
Order Food
/ plates

Send /
Design Secure Setup Clean-
Process Find Location
Invitations location Party up
Invitations

Buy beverages

Relationship
Activity
PROJECT LOGIC

A, B, C, D are nodes that

represent activities.

The arrows represent the logical

A B D flow, and when activity durations
are added, the critical path of
your project.

Compared to activity B:
C
‘A’ is a predecessor activity.

‘D’ is a successor activity.

‘C’ is a concurrent/Parallel
activity.
PROJECT LOGIC
PROJECT LOGIC
DEVELOPING A PROJECT NETWORK

1. Networks flow from left to right.

2. An activity cannot begin until a preceding connected activity has completed.
3. Arrows are used to indicate precedence and flow. Arrows can overlap.
4. Each activity should have a unique identifier (WBS).
5. An activity ID number must be larger than subsequent activities.
6. Looping is not allowed.
7. Do not use conditional statements.
8. Try to have a single start and single end node
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE EXAMPLE
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE – FIRST SECTION

Try drawing the rest of the project

logic diagram using the WBS.

Once you are done, compare your

work with a partner.
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE – FULL DIAGRAM
NETWORK COMPUTATION PROCESS

Forward Pass—Earliest Times

 How soon can the activity start? (early start—ES)
 How soon can the activity finish? (early finish—EF)
 How soon can the project finish? (expected time—ET)

Backward Pass—Latest Times

 How late can the activity start? (late start—LS)
 How late can the activity finish? (late finish—LF)
 Which activities represent the critical path?
 How long can activity be delayed? (slack or float—SL)
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE EXAMPLE
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE -- DURATIONS
THE FORWARD PASS

 Add activity times along each path in the network

(ES + Duration = EF).

 Carry the early finish (EF) to the next activity

where it becomes its early start (ES) unless…

 The next succeeding activity is a merge activity, in

which case the largest EF of all preceding
activities is selected.
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE – FORWARD PASS
THE BACKWARD PASS

 Subtract activity times along each

path in the network (LF -
Duration = LS).

 Carry the late start (LS) to the

next activity where it becomes
its late finish (LF) unless

 The next succeeding activity is a

burst activity, in which case the
smallest LF of all preceding
activities is selected.
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE – BACKWARD PASS
FLOAT / CRITICAL PATH
Slack (or Float)
 Is the amount of time an activity can be delayed after the
start of a longer parallel activity or activities.
 SL = LS - ES

 Is how long an activity can exceed its early finish date

without affecting early start dates of any successor(s).
 Allows flexibility in scheduling scarce resources.

Sensitivity
 The likelihood the original critical path(s) will change
once the project is initiated.
 The critical path is the network path(s) that has (have)
the least slack in common.
FREE SLACK / CRITICAL PATH

Critical Path:
It is the network path
that adds up to the
longest duration. This
means if ANY activity
on this path is delayed,
the whole project is
delayed.
BREAK TIME

 10 minutes

Licenced under CC
3.0
NOW YOU TRY…

 Questions?

 Work on exercise 6:
 Draw the network. Which is a burst activity? Which is a merge
activity?
 Complete the forward and backward pass, and float.
 Identify the critical path.
 Get a partner and see if you go the same result, modify and agree. (5
minutes)
 Bonus: try drawing a Gantt chart!
 We will review the answer together. (5 minutes)
EXERCISE 6 – GANTT HINT
EXERCISE 6 – PROJECT LOGIC
EXERCISE 6 -- DURATIONS
EXERCISE 6 – FORWARD PASS
EXERCISE 6 – BACKWARD PASS AND FLOAT
EXERCISE 6 – CRITICAL PATH
EXERCISE 6 -- GANTT

Can you see the critical path and float here?

EXERCISE 6 -- GANTT

Can you see the critical path and float here?

 HAMMOCK ACTIVITIES

 Added after the

network plan is drawn
up.
 Occurs between
activities during
segment of the project.
EXTENDED NETWORK TECHNIQUES

Laddering
 Activities are broken into segments so the following
activity can begin sooner and not delay the work.

Lags
 The minimum amount of time a dependent activity must
be delayed to begin or end.
 Lengthy activities are broken down to reduce the delay
in the start of successor activities.
 Lags can be used to constrain finish-to-start, start-to-
start, finish-to-finish, start-to-finish, or combination
relationships.
LADDERING

Trench
9 Lay pipe
6 Refill
3
LAG RELATIONSHIPS

Finish-to-Start Use when there

Relationship is a ‘wait time’
after the activity.

Start-to-Start Use when you

Relationship can start one
activity once
another activity
has started.

Introducing a lag
time simulates
the ‘laddering’
approach
presented
FIGURE 6.14 earlier.
 LAG RELATIONSHIPS

Finish-to-Finish Start-to-Finish Combination

Relationship Relationship Relationship

Use when you can

start the activities at
the same time, but you
still need a period of
time to elapse when
the predecessor
activity is complete.
Similar to finish-to-
start but some of the
activity can be
concurrent.
Combination bounds both the
start and finish times!
The activity In this example, debugging the
cannot finish software code can’t START
until three days until 2 days after the coding
after the has begun, and cannot FINISH
preceding until 4 days after the coding is
activity has complete.
started.
INCORPORATING LAGS INTO A NETWORK
DESIGN
EXERCISE

 Complete the exercise and hand in.

 This is a graded assignment (5%) – no talking or sharing.
SUMMARY

 How to turn a WBS into a project network.

 The logic of the project network.
 How to calculate the forward pass, backward pass and critical path.
 How to create a basic Gantt chart.
 Introduction to more complicated forms of sequence logic.
 THINGS TO DO BETWEEN NOW AND THE NEXT
CLASS…
 Don’t forget about the midterm exam!
 It will cover modules 1-6.
 Material might come from the text, assignments, lectures, or Powerpoint decks.
 So for week ONE: review modules 1-6.
 To practice today’s material, try completing exercises 3, 11, and 13 (the solutions are in
the text).
 Exercise 7 in text

 Week 2 (post mid-term)

 Case study 6.2 (5%).
 READ Chapter 7 (162-189)
 Videos for assistance
OPTIONAL
YOU DON’T HAVE TO STAY
EXAM

 Time constrained exam:

 You have 1.5 hours to complete the exam.
 The test is in 2 sections:
 Multiple Choice (50 marks)
 Short Answer (25 marks)
 2. Bill is looking at a document that outlines the specific deliverables and sub-
deliverables required to complete the writing of a technical support manual. He is
most likely viewing the
(A) Organization breakdown structure.
(B) Work package.
(C) Work breakdown structure.
(D) Responsibility matrix.
(E) Priority matrix.
 3. The assessment of the external and internal environments is called ________
analysis.
(A) SWOT
(B) Industry
(C) Market
(D) Competitive
(E) Strategic
 . A(n) ________ activity has more than one dependency arrow flowing from it.
(A) Merge
(B) Critical path
(C) Independent
(D) Parallel
(E) Burst
 ________ organization is a hybrid form in which a horizontal project
management structure is "overlaid" in the normal functional hierarchy.