NETWORK BASED PROJECT

PLANNING

Dr. Ramya Kumanayake

What is a network?
A network shows the sequence &
interdependence of project activities in
a diagrammatic form using standard
symbols.

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⦿ There are two main network based project
planning techniques.
⚫ Program Evaluation & Review Technique
(PERT)
⚫ Critical Path Method (CPM)

CPM is the commonly used method in

the construction industry.

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Networks vs. Bar charts
⦿ When comparing with bar charts,
networks have the following advantages.
⚫ Networks show logic relationships among
activities.
⚫ Networks can better represent large &
complicated projects.
⚫ Networks can estimate or predict completion
date of the project, or other dates on the basis
of mathematical calculation.

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 Networks vs. Bar charts….
⦿ Bar charts have the following advantages over
networks.
⚫ Bar charts are time scaled (length of the activity bar
represent the time duration of the activity). But
arrows or nodes in networks are not time scaled.
⚫ Bar charts are simple to prepare.
⚫ Bar charts are easy to understand.
⚫ Bar charts are more acceptable for presentations,
especially for field people & people who are
unfamiliar with the CPM.
⚫ Bar charts can be loaded with more information,
such as cash flow diagrams & man hours.

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 Critical Path Method (CPM)
⦿ CPM is a technique used to identify the most
critical activities in respect to the completion
of a project.
⦿ There are two techniques used for the
identification of critical activities;
⚫ Activity-on-Arrow diagrams
⚫ Activity-on-Node (Precedence) diagrams

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Activity on Node (precedence) diagrams

Activity on Arrow (arrow) diagrams

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 Activity
⦿ An identifiable, quantifiable, measurable,
discrete, lowest level element of work .
⦿ An activity is represented by an arrow marked
in the forward direction.
⦿ Length of the arrow is not drawn to scale.
⦿ Whenever possible networks should be drawn
in such a way that activity arrows do not cross
each other.

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Event
⦿ A status that marks completion of a
preceding activity & beginning of the
succeeding one.
⦿ It has no duration, it represents only a point
of time.
⦿ An event is shown by a circle or an ellipse.
Events are labeled numerically to identify
them & describe the connecting activities.

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Milestones
⦿ An event of significance, such as
‘buildings ready for occupation,
‘finishes completed’, is called a key
event.
⦿ The occurrence of a key event is
termed as a milestone.

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⦿ The stage of an activity before commencement
& after completion is represented by a circle
and referred to as tail and head events.
⦿ They are also referred as
⚫ starting event & end event
⚫ preceding event & succeeding event
⚫ ith event & jth event.

Tail event
Head event
ith event
Activity Jth event
Starting event i j End event
Preceding event
Succeeding event

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⦿ An activity is identified in 2 different ways.
⚫ By writing activity name above the arrow, or by labeling
it as A, B, C etc, & the duration below the arrow. If
labeling is used, the description must be given in a
separate chart.
⚫ By numbering the events in such a way that head event
number> tail event number. Usually numbers are
allocated in steps of 10, so as to enable the
introduction of additional activities at later stage
without changing whole numbering system.

Excavation
A
10 20
10 20

5 5

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A - Excavation 12
⦿ Following diagrams indicate how various logic
relationships are represented.
⚫ basic activity Activity
i j

⚫ independent activities
A B
2 4 6 8

⚫ dependent activities

A B
3 6 9

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 2
⚫ a merge A
C
6 8
B
4
B 6
A
⚫ a burst 2 4
C

2 A C 8

6
⚫ a cross
B D
4 10

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⦿ Errors
⚫ Looping – the situation shown below must not occur
as it represents impossible situations.

2 4 6 10

⚫ Dangling- all event except the 1st and the last must
have at least one activity entering and one activity
leaving them.
2 6 10 12

4 8

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Dummy activity
⦿ A dummy activity is a logical link or
constraint which does not represent any
specific operation.
⦿ It has zero duration & consumes no
resources.
⦿ Two purposes for using dummy activities
⚫ To provide a logical link to maintain the correct
relationship of activities (Logic dummy)
⚫ To simplify the description of concurrent activities
in terms of event numbers (Identity dummy)

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Identity Dummy
When two or more parallel independent activities
have the same head and tail events, no identity
of the activities as given by the event numbers
could be lost. To overcome this problem, an
identity dummy is introduced.

A A A
10 20 10 20

10 20
B B
15 15

B Dummy Dummy

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Logic Dummy
When two activities have a common event,
yet they are in themselves two activities
wholly or partly independent in each other,
then an error in logic can occur as follows.

A C
2 6 8
2 A C 8

6
B D B D
2 5 10
4 10

Both C & D depend on A & B C depends on both A & B

D dependent on only B
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Development of a project network
⦿ Defining scope of network
⦿ Determining activities
⦿ Establishing activity logic
⦿ Developing network logic diagram
⦿ Structuring model
⦿ Incorporating activity durations
⦿ Numbering events
⦿ Analysing time

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Network Modelling
⦿ The development of a network can be
done by first tabulating the network
logic & then drawing the arrow diagram
step by step.

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Example 1:
⦿ Consider a work package consisting of 9
activities: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J. Their
durations are 4, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 3, 3 & 2 units
respectively. Activities A, C & D can start
at beginning of the project; B follows
completion of A; G starts after B & D are
completed; E starts after completion of D,
& is succeeded by F; H follows
completion of A & C; J succeeds H. The
work is over when F,G & J are completed.

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⦿ The logic of activities can be tabulated by
questioning each activity as follows.
⚫ Which activity precede this activity?
⚫ Which activity succeed or follow this activity?
⚫ Are there any logic constraints imposed on this
activity?
⚫ Is it the final activity?

Tabulate the activity logic for the work package.

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 Logic table of work package
Activity Preceding Succeeding Remarks
A - B,H
B A G
C - H
D Nil E,G
E D F
F E - Last Activity
H B,D - Last Activity

G A,C J
J H - Last Activity

Draw the network for the project.

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Numbering events
⦿ For each activity, as far as possible, number of
preceding event (i) should be less than that of
succeeding event (j).
⦿ If the effort required in renumbering is high, (like
inserting an event after finalizing the network
would require numbering of all subsequent
events), then the next higher number can be
given to the new event without changing other
existing numbers.
⦿ Alternatively, events can be labeled in even digit
sequence like 0,2,4,6 so that new events can be
inserted if necessary.

Number the nodes of the network in example 1.

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Example 2: Draw the arrow network for the following.
Activity Immediate preceding activity
A -
B A
C A
D B
E C,D

Activity Immediate preceding activity

A -
B A
C -
D -
E D
F B,C,E
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Example 3: Draw the arrow network for the following.

Activity Immediate Activity Immediate

preceding preceding
activity activity
A - A -
B A B -
C A C -
D B D C
E B E A
F C F B
G D G E
H D H F,G,J

I G I A

J E,F,H,I J D,I

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Example 4:Draw the Activity-On-Arrow network for
the following project.

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Activity – on - Arrow network
analysis
⦿ When an arrow diagram is prepared and
duration of each activity is established,
the network can be analyzed.
⦿ The network analysis:
⚫ determines duration of project
⚫ identifies activities which should be carefully
controlled
⚫ determines the time at which individual
activities can take place
⚫ determines how the project can be
accelerated

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Earliest Event Time (EET)

⦿ The earliest time an event can take place,

assuming that all the events prior to it also
occur at their earliest time.
⦿ Generally, the EET of the first event is set to
zero.
⦿ The other values are established by
performing the “Forward Pass”.

EETj = EETi + d ; largest value if more than

one path

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Latest Event Time (LET)

⦿ The latest time by which an event can occur,

if the project is to be completed within the
specified time.
⦿ Generally the LET of the last event is
assumed to be equal to the EET of that event.
⦿ The other values are established by
performing the “Backward Pass”.

LETj = LETi - d ; lowest value if more than

one path

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Example 6: Determine the EET and LET of the
events in the following network.

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 t1 t2 t3 t4

2 4
d

Slack
⦿ Difference between the LET & EET of an event
is called the slack.
⦿ It gives the range of time available within
which the event must take place if the project
is to be completed on schedule.
⚫ Slack of event 2 = t2 – t1 (Tail slack)
⚫ Slack of event 3 = t4 –t3 (Head slack)

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Critical events
⦿ The events having zero slack are called
critical events.
⦿ They must take place at a scheduled time
without fail. There is no flexibility in their
schedule.
⦿ Any change in their occurrence would affect
the project completion time.

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Activity times

Earliest Start Time (EST)

⦿ The earliest time an activity can be started,

assuming that all the activities prior to it have
taken place as early as possible.
⦿ The EST of an activity is equal to the EET of the
preceding event.
EST = EETi

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Latest Start Time (LST)

⦿ The latest time an activity can start , with the

completion of the project in the stipulated time.
⦿ The LST of an activity is determined by
subtracting the activity duration from the LFT
of the succeeding event.

LST= LETj - d

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Earliest Finish Time (EFT)

⦿ The earliest time by which an activity can be

completed, assuming that all the activities prior
to it begin at their ESTs.
⦿ The EFT is calculated by adding the activity
duration to EST.
EFT = EST + d = EETi + d

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Latest Finish Time (LFT)

⦿ The latest time by which an activity must be

completed to ensure the completion of project
within the stipulated time.
⦿ The LFT of an activity is equal to the LET of the
succeeding event.
LFT = LETj

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 Checking of calculations

1. All activities with the same tail-event number

have the same early start.
2. All activities with the same head-event
number have the same late finish.
3. EST should not be greater than LST
4. EFT should not be greater than LFT

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Floats
⦿ The difference between the latest start time
(LST) & the earliest start time (EST) of an
activity is called float, total float or activity
float.
⦿ Float is a measure of the amount of time by
which the start of an activity can be delayed
consistent with the completion of the project
on time.
t1 t2 t3 t4

2 4

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 t1 t2 t3 t4

2 4

⦿ Float (Total float) = LST – EST = LETj – d - EETi

= t 4 – t1 – d
Also, Total float = LFT - EFT

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Example 7: Determine EST, LST, EFT,
LFT, TF, FF and IF for the following
network.

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Critical activities
⦿ The activities having a zero float are called
critical activities.
⦿ The term zero float implies that the activity
must commence & terminate at the specified
time.
⦿ Any delay in the start & completion time of a
critical activity will increase the duration of
the project by that much time.

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Network critical path
⦿ The path of critical activities (including dummy
activities) which links the start & end events is
called the critical path.
⦿ It is the path of activities having zero float &
events having zero slack.
⦿ Critical path is the longest path in the network.
⦿ The sum of the duration of the critical activities
along a critical path gives the duration of the
project.
⦿ There can be more than one critical path in a
network.

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Example 8: Determine the critical path of
the following networks.

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Significance of critical path
⦿ It is the longest path in the network. However, it
is possible for a network to have more than one
critical path. The sum of the duration of the
critical activities along a critical path gives the
duration of the project.
⦿ It is the most sensitive path; any changes in the
duration of a critical activity along the critical
path will affect the duration of the entire project.
⦿ By isolating the critical path, the project
management can focus attention on the critical
activities.

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