Critical Path Method –

Network Analysis

03AR1903 - Construction Management

Deepa Rani R
Dept of Architecture, CET
Can we improve on the Gantt Chart
and the PD?
Activity A
• Gantt Chart omits
relationships
Activity B
– What happens to
activity B and C if A is Activity C
delayed?

• PD does not have the Activity B

time element
Activity A
– On what day should C Activity C
start? Is it ok if it starts
a day later than
planned?
Historical Origins
g

• Developed by Dupont
and Remington Rand
in the 1950’s to
manage plant
maintenance projects
• Prof. John W. Fondahl,
Stanford University
adapted CPM for
Construction in 1961
 Concept 1 : 4 Key
y Dates

• Early Start Date (ESD or ES)

• Early
E l FiFinish
i hDDate
t (EFD or EF)

• Late Start Date (LSD or LS)

• Late Finish Date (LFD or LF)

ES EF LS LF

Activity A Activity A

TA TA

Total Time Available for Activity A

Early
y Finish Date

ES EF

Activityy A

TA

EFA = ESA + TA
Early
y Start Date

ESA EFA = 10
i
Activity A
j Activity C
i
Activity B
ESc ? = 10
ESB EFB = 8

ESJ = Max EFi

Late Finish Date
LSB =8 LFB
LFA =6 Activity B
j
Activity A i
Activity C
j

LSC =6 LFC

LFi = Min LSj

 Late Finish Date
LSB =8 LFB
LFA =6 Activity B
j
Activity A i
Activity C
j

LSC =6 LFC

LFi = Min LSj

 Concept 2: 12 Relationships
• 4 categories of relationships
– Finish-Start
Finish Start Relationships (F
(F-S)
S)
– Start-Start Relationships (S-S)
– Finish-Finish Relationships (F-F)
– Start-Finish Relationships (S-F)
• Three types for each category
– No lag
– Positive lag
– Negative lag
• 4 x 3 = 12 relationships
 Finish-Start Relationships

N llag
No +ve lag
1 day 1 day 1 day

14
Remove Slab
Place Forms Pour Roof Slab
Shoring

3 days 2 days

-1
1
Excavate
Pour
P -ve lag
l
Foundations
Start-Start Relationships
1 day
Place
Pl
Forms 1 day
No lag
Prepare
Rebar
3 days

Excavate
2d
days
+ve lag
1 day Pour
Foundations
6 months

Design
1 Year
3 months +ve lag
Construct
Finish-Finish Relationships

1 day
Grade
End-Sems
4 months No lag
Prepare
Final
Grades

1 day
Grade 1 day
End-Sems
4 months +ve lag
Prepare
Final
Grades
 Start-Finish Relationships
1 day
Interior Wood
Paneling
2 days No lag
Interior
Carpeting

1 It is probably easier to represent this as a

1.
Finish-Start Relationship
2. S
S-F
F relationships are rarely used – except
in showing combined relationships.
 More on Relationships
• Lags
g can be represented
p as p
percentages
g
• Most Relationships are “Can” relationships
2 days

A
2 days

– B CAN finish
fi i h when
h A fifinishes
i h
– B CANNOT finish before A
– B can be delayed and finish after A
– Second activity can usually be delayed
 Concurrent Activities

Test Mock-up Wall Build Forms

Get Wall Shop

Assemble Rebar
Drawings Approved
 Concurrent Activities

Erect Masonry Wall

1 day 1 day

Install In-Wall
Electrical Conduits

When will the construction of the wall finish?

 Concurrent Activities

Dig holes for trees

1 day 1 day

Plant Trees

When will the last tree be planted?

 Representing
g Activities

Activity
Early Start Number/Free Early Finish
Float

Activity Name and Duration

Late Start Total Float Late Finish

 An Example Network

1 2 3 4 5

A B D

Finish
Start E

F C
 Representation for CPM
Calculation

A 3 B 6 D 2

Finish
Start E 3

C 2
F 4
 The “Simple” Forward Pass

1. Start with the first activity on the network

2. Traverse the network through the relationship
arrows until yyou reach the end
3. For each activity, the early start is the
maximum of the earlyy finishes of the previous
p
activities
4. The early finish is the early start + activity
duration
5. Finish one level and then go to the next
 Forward Pass Results

0 3 3 9 6 8
A 3 B 6 D 2

9 9
0 0 3 6 Finish
Start E 3

6 8
0 4
C 2
F 4
 The “simple” Backward Pass

1. Start with the last activity on the network

2. Traverse the network backwards through the
relationship
p arrows until yyou reach the start
3. For each activity, the late finish is the
minimum of the late starts of the previous
p
activities
4. The late start is the late finish - activity duration
5. Finish one level and then go to the next
 Backward Pass Results

0 3 3 9 6 8
A 3 B 6 D 2
0 3 3 9 7 9
9 9
0 0 3 6 Finish
Start E 3 9 9
0 0 4 7

6 8
0 4
C 2
F 4
7 9
3 7
 Introduce Floats

0 3 3 9 6 8
A 3 B 6 D 2
0 0 3 3 0 9 7 1 9
9 9
0 0 3 6 Finish
Start E 3 9 0 9
0 0 0 4 1 7

6 8
0 4
C 2
F 4
7 1 9
3 3 7
 The critical path

0 3 3 9 6 8
A 3 B 6 D 2
0 0 3 3 0 9 7 1 9
9 9
0 0 3 6 Finish
St t
Start E 3 9 0 9
0 0 0 4 1 7

6 8
0 4
C 2
F 4
7 1 9
3 3 7
 The final Algorithm

1. Draw a clear and logical PD or AoN diagram
Draw a clear and logical PD or AoN diagram
2. Enter Activity Durations
3
3. Perform a forward pass
Perform a forward pass
4. Perform a backward pass
5
5. D t
Determine floats
i fl t
6. Check the path for which floats are zero
7. Mark this as the critical path. 
 Another Example Network

A B

D H K Finish
Start

B E

F G
 Representation for CPM Calculation

A 3 C 2

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish

B 4 E 4

F 6 G 3
 Forward Pass Results
0 3 3 5
A 3 C 2

0 0 4 6 8 14 14 16 16 16

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4

4 10 10 13

F 6 G 3
 Backward Pass Results
0 3 3 5
A 3 C 2
3 6 6 8
0 0 4 6 8 14 14 16 16 16

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
14 16 16 16
0 0 6 8 8 14

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
0 4 4 8

4 10 10 13

F 6 G 3
7 13 13 16
 Introduce Floats
0 3 3 5
A 3 C 2
3 3 6 6 3 8
0 0 4 6 8 14 14 16 16 16

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
14 0 16 16 16
0 0 6 2 8 8 0 14

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
0 0 4 4 0 8

4 10 10 13

F 6 G 3
7 3 13 13 3 16
 The critical path
0 3 3 5
A 3 C 2
3 3 6 6 3 8
0 0 4 6 8 14 14 16 16 16

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
14 0 16 16 16
0 0 6 2 8 8 0 14

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
0 0 4 4 0 8

4 10 10 13

F 6 G 3
7 3 13 13 3 16
 Floats

• Free Float (FF)

• Total Float (TF)
• I t f i Float
Interfering Fl t (INTF)
• Independent Float (INDF)
• Start Float (SF)
• Finish Float (FNF)
 Free Float

• Free Float is the amount of time an activity

can delay but not delay the termination of
the project nor delay the start of any
following activity

• FFi = Min ESj – EFi

 What is A’s Free Float?
5 7
B 2
7 9

2 4
FFA = Min [(5-4), (6-4)]
A 2
5 7
FFA = 1

6 12

C 6
9 15
 Total Float

• Total Float is the amount of time an activity

can delay but not delay the termination of
the project

• TFi = LSi – ESi

What are A,B and C’s Total Float?

5 7
B 2
7 9

2 4
TFA = 5-2 = 3
A 2
TFB = 7-5 = 2
5 7
TFC = 9-6 = 3

6 12

C 6
9 15
 Interfering
g Float

• Interfering Float is the time span in which

the completion of an activity may occur
and not delay y the termination of the
project, but within which completion will
delay the start of some following activity
• The portion of total float which affects
other activities but not the project finish
d t
date.
• INTFi = TFi – FFi
What is A’s interfering
g float?
5 7
B 2
7 9

2 4
TFA = 3
A 2
FFA = 1
5 7
INTFA = 3-1 = 2

6 12

C 6
9 15
 Independent Float

• Independent Float is the time an activity

might delay and not delay the termination
of the project,
project not delay the start of any
following activity and not be delayed by
any preceding activity

• INDFj = Min
Mi ESk – Max
M LFi - Tj
What is C’s independent float?
20 22
A 2 D 2
14

C 2

22 28

B 6 E 6
16
 C’s Independent Float

A
INDC = 20–16–2=2
B

C
D

14 16 18 20 22 Time
 Start Float and Finish Float

• SFi = LSi – ESi

• FNFi = LFi – EFi

• Is there any difference between SF, FNF

and Total Float?
 Find A’s SF and FNF

A 2

Lag = 3 Lag = 4

B 6
3 11
 A’s SF and FNF

0 2
SFA=0-0=0
FNFA=7-2=5 A 2
TFA=?
? 0 7

Lag = 3 Lag = 4
3 9

B 6
3 11
 Find TF, FF, INDF and INTF for all
activities
B 8 E 7

0 0
Start A 4 C 3 G 1 Finish
0 0

D 2 F 5
 Critical Path Calculations
4 12 12 19
B 8 E 7
4 0 12 12 0 19

0 0 0 4 4 7 19 20 20 20

Start A 4 C 3 G 1 Finish
0 0 0 0 0 4 9 5 12 19 0 20 20 0 20

4 6 7 12

D 2 F 5
10 6 12 14 7 19
 Floats
Activity ES EF LS LF TF FF INTF INDF
A 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 0
B 4 12 4 12 0 0 0 0
C 4 7 9 12 5 0 5 0
D 4 6 10 12 6 1 5 1
E 12 19 12 19 0 0 0 0
F 7 12 14 19 7 7 0 2
G 19 20 19 20 0 0 0 0
 Uses of Float
• The CPM can give the project duration
– The Critical Path has the longest duration
• The planner gets some insights on the
schedule
– Can understand how much buffer each
activity has
– Can allocate scarce resources better
– Also allows rescheduling activities while
retaining dependencies
 Float Analysis
y
• Float of a p
path = CPM duration – ppath duration
• Average Float = Average of total floats
• Is too much float a good thing?
–T
Too much h float
fl t iindicates
di t construction
t ti sequence is
i nott
efficient
• What if there is too little float?
– Too little or no float is a risk. Can indicate a schedule
drawn with “claims” in mind
• Floats are very useful when analyzing claims
– Independent floats belong solely to each activity
– Total float belongs to the entire path
– F
Free float
fl t belongs
b l tto an activity
ti it and
d it
its precedents
d t
– Interfering float belongs to downstream activities
 PDM with more complex
1 day relationships
A 3 C 2
3 days

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish

B 4 E 4

2 days
y
F 6 G 3
 Forward Pass
1 day

0 3 4 6
A 3 C 2
3 days

0 0 4 9 9 15 15 17 17 17

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4

2 days
y 6 12 12 15

F 6 G 3
 Backward Pass
1 day

0 3 4 6
A 3 C 2
3 days
0 3 4 6
0 0 4 9 9 15 15 17 17 17

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
9 15 15 17 17 17
0 0 7 9

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
1 5 5 9

2 days
y 6 12 12 15

F 6 G 3
8 14 14 17
 Introduce Floats
1 day

0 3 4 6
A 3 C 2
3 days
0 0 3 4 0 6
0 0 4 9 9 15 15 17 17 17

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
9 0 15 15 0 17 17 0 17
0 0 0 7 ? 9

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
1 1 5 5 1 9

2 days
y 6 12 12 15

F 6 G 3
8 2 14 14 2 17
 Critical Path
1 day

0 3 4 6
A 3 C 2
3 days
0 0 3 4 0 6
0 0 4 9 9 15 15 17 17 17

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
9 0 15 15 0 17 17 0 17
0 0 0 7 ? 9

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
1 1 5 5 1 9

2 days
y 6 12 12 15

F 6 G 3
8 2 14 14 2 17
 A short summary
y on CPM

• Complex Network based procedure

• Can tell us a great deal about the project
– Total duration
– When to start each activity
– Permissible delays
– Effect of delays on the entire network
– Reorganization
g and reschedulingg strategies
g
– Helpful in claims analysis
• Relationships are complicated so
represent them carefully when drawing
Thank You
Thank You