CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM)

 IDENTIFIES TASKS THAT ARE NECESSARY FOR PROJECT COMPLETION

 DETERMINES SCHEDULING FLEXIBILITIES
 ESSENTIALLY LIMITED TO “FINISH-START” RELATIONSHIPS
 THE LIST OF ACTIVITIES IN THE WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE SERVES AS THE FOUNDATION FOR
THE REST OF THE CPM.
 DETERMINES THE TASKS THAT ARE DEPENDENT ON ONE ANOTHER.
 FOLLOWS A NETWORK DIAGRAM STRUCTURE, WHICH IS A FLOWCHART DISPLAYING THE
CHRONOLOGY OF ACTIVITIES.
 CALCULATES THE FLOAT. FLOAT, OR SLACK, REFERS TO THE AMOUNT OF FLEXIBILITY OF A GIVEN
TASK. IT INDICATES HOW MUCH THE TASK CAN BE DELAYED WITHOUT IMPACTING SUBSEQUENT
TASKS OR THE PROJECT END DATE.
 CRITICAL PATH CAN BE CALCULATED BY DETERMINING THE DURATION OF THE ENTIRE SEQUENCE.
A CRITICAL PATH IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT IS THE LONGEST SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES THAT MUST BE
FINISHED ON TIME IN ORDER FOR THE ENTIRE PROJECT TO BE COMPLETE. ANY DELAYS IN CRITICAL TASKS
WILL DELAY THE REST OF THE PROJECT.

PRECEDENCE DIAGRAMMING METHOD (PDM)

 NETWORK DIAGRAM THAT USES BOXES/NODES TO REPRESENT ACTIVITIES AND CONNECTS THEM
WITH ARROWS THAT SHOW THE DEPENDENCIES. IT’S ALSO CALLED A NODAL DIAGRAM.
 PERMITS A MORE ACCURATE DEPICTION OF RELATIONSHIPS AMONG VARIOUS ACTIVITIES COMPARED
TO CPM AND PERT
 DIAGRAM METHODS: THE PDM HAS FOUR WAYS FOR DEVELOPING THE DIAGRAM. THESE METHODS
ARE:
o FINISH-START: AN ACTIVITY CANNOT
START BEFORE A PREVIOUS
ACTIVITY HAS ENDED. (THIS IS THE
MOST COMMONLY USED
DEPENDENCY.)
o START-START: IN THERE IS A
DEFINED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THE START OF ACTIVITIES.
o FINISH-FINISH: THERE IS A DEFINED
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE END
DATES OF ACTIVITIES.
 o START-FINISH: THERE IS A DEFINED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE START OF ONE ACTIVITY
AND THE END DATE OF A SUCCESSOR ACTIVITY. (THIS DEPENDENCY IS RARELY USED.)
PROGRAM EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE (PERT)
 IDENTIFY THE TIME IT TAKES TO FINISH A PARTICULAR TASK OR ACTIVITY. IT HELPS IN THE PROPER
SCHEDULING AND COORDINATION OF ALL TASKS THROUGHOUT A PROJECT.
 A FLOWCHART IS USED TO DEPICT THE PERT. NODES REPRESENT THE EVENTS, INDICATING THE
START OR END OF ACTIVITIES OR TASKS. THE DIRECTORIAL LINES INDICATE THE TASKS THAT NEED
TO BE COMPLETED, AND THE ARROWS SHOW THE SEQUENCE OF THE ACTIVITIES.
 THERE ARE FOUR DEFINITIONS OF TIME
USED TO ESTIMATE PROJECT TIME
REQUIREMENTS:
o OPTIMISTIC TIME: THE LEAST
AMOUNT OF TIME IT CAN TAKE TO
COMPLETE A TASK
o PESSIMISTIC TIME: THE MAXIMUM
AMOUNT OF TIME IT SHOULD TAKE
TO COMPLETE A TASK
o MOST LIKELY TIME: ASSUMING
THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS, THE
BEST OR MOST REASONABLE
ESTIMATE OF HOW LONG IT SHOULD
TAKE TO COMPLETE A TASK.
o EXPECTED TIME: ASSUMING THERE ARE PROBLEMS, THE BEST ESTIMATE OF HOW MUCH TIME
WILL BE REQUIRED TO COMPLETE A TASK.
GRAPHICAL EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE (GERT)
 USED ON PROJECT ACTIVITIES THAT ARE ONLY PERFORMED IN PART, AS WELL AS,
 ACTIVITIES THAT MAY BE PERFORMED MORE THAN ONCE (LOOP).
 USES ACTIVITY-ON-ARROW NOTATION ONLY; EACH ACTIVITY IS DESCRIBED ON ARROW. THE NODES
ARE USED TO CONNECT ACTIVITIES, BUT ALSO TO DETERMINE TYPE AND CONDITIONS OF RELATIONS
BETWEEN THEM.
 EACH TASK HAS TWO PARAMETERS: DURATION AND PROBABILITY OF APPEARANCE.
o DETERMINISTIC: EVERY OUTCOMING ACTIVITY HAS
PROBABILITY EQUAL TO 1, WHICH MEANS THAT EVERY ONE
WILL BE PERFORMED
o PROBABILISTIC: EACH OUTCOMING ACTIVITY HAS SOME
PROBABILITY OF APPEARANCE.
 THERE ARE THREE LOGICAL OPERATORS WHICH CONCERN ACTIVITIES INCOMING TO THE NODE:
o XOR: ALTERNATIVE (ONLY ONE PATH POSSIBLE)
o OR: ALTERNATIVE (ONE OR MORE PATHS CAN BE
PERFORMED)
o AND: ALL PATHS HAVE TO BE PERFORMED

QUEUE - GRAPHICAL EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE (GERT)

  RECOGNIZES SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE MULTIPLE NUMBERS OF THE PROJECT TEAMS OR
ACTIVITIES MUST BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION SIMULTANEOUSLY.
 SPECIAL QUEUEING OPTIONS WHICH IT HAS AVAILABLE FOR MODELING SITUATIONS IN WHICH QUEUES
BUILD UP PRIOR TO PROJECT ACTIVITIES.
 ALLOWS THE MODELER TO ASSIGN UNIQUE NETWORK ATTRIBUTES (I.E. ACTIVITY TIMES, MODAL
BRANCHING PROBABILITIES)
SIMULATION LANGUAGE FOR ALTERNATIVE MODELLING (SLAM)
 DISCRETE CHANGE SYSTEM CAN BE MODELED WITHIN AN EVENT ORIENTATION, PROCESS
ORIENTATION, OR BOTH.
 CONTINUOUS CHANGE SYSTEMS CAN BE MODELED USING EITHER DIFFERENTIAL OR DIFFERENCE
EQUATIONS.
 COMBINED DISCRETE-CONTINUOUS CHANGE SYSTEMS CAN BE MODELED BY COMBINING THE EVENT
AND/OR PROCESS ORIENTATION WITH THE CONTINUOUS ORIENTATION.
 NETWORK IS MADE UP OF NODES AT WHICH PROCESSING IS PERFORMED. NODES ARE CONNECTED
BY BRANCHES CALLED "ACTIVITIES", WHICH DEFINE THE ROUTING OF THE ENTITIES THROUGH THE
SYSTEM.
 ROUTING MAY BE DETERMINISTIC, PROBABILISTIC, OR BASED ON SYSTEM VARIABLES.
 ENTITIES WHICH PROCEED FROM NODE TO NODE OVER ACTIVITIES MAY HAVE UNIQUE
CHARACTERISTICS, CALLED "ATTRIBUTES", WHICH CONTROL THEIR PROCESSING. ENTITIES MAY
RESIDE IN "FILES", OF ORDERED LISTS OF ENTITIES WHICH ARE WAITING FOR SOME CHANGE IN
SYSTEM STATUS.

DYNAMIC PLANNING AND CONTROL METHODOLOGY (DPM)

 SUPPORTING MECHANISM FOR BOTH STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENTS.
 INTEGRATES APPLICATIONS OF AXIOMATIC DESIGN CONCEPTS TO CREATE A PROJECT PLAN BASED
ON THE SELECTED WORK METHODOLOGY.
 INTEGRATES CONCURRENT ENGINEERING CONCEPTS TO DEVELOP A FAST-TRACKING FRAMEWORK.
 INTEGRATES GRAPHICAL EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE (GERT) TO CALCULATE THE PROJECT
DURATION PROBABILISTICALLY BY INCORPORATING THE POSSIBLE BRANCHES AND LOOPS IN THE
PROJECT.
  INTEGRATES THE SYSTEM DYNAMICS MODELING TECHNIQUE TO ANALYZE THE CAUSALITY LINKS OF
RELEVANT FACTORS IN THE CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM AND IDENTIFY THE IMPORTANT VARIABLES THAT
DETERMINE THE SUCCESS OF A PARTICULAR OVERLAPPING STRATEGY.

CRITICAL CHAIN PLANNING/ CRITICAL CHAIN PROJECT MANAGEMENT(CCPM)

 EMPHASIZES THE RESOURCES (PEOPLE, EQUIPMENT, PHYSICAL SPACE) REQUIRED TO EXECUTE
PROJECT TASKS.
 STRIVES TO KEEP RESOURCES LEVELLED AND REQUIRES THAT THEY BE FLEXIBLE IN START TIMES.
 IDENTIFICATION AND INSERTION OF BUFFERS:
o PROJECT BUFFER: THE TOTAL POOLED BUFFER.
o FEEDING BUFFERS: THE POOLED BUFFER ON EACH PATH REPRESENTS THE FEEDING BUFFER
TO THE CRITICAL PATH, RESULTING IN PROVIDING SOME SLACK TO THE CRITICAL PATH.

o RESOURCE BUFFERS: VIRTUAL TASK INSERTED JUST BEFORE CRITICAL CHAIN TASKS THAT
REQUIRE CRITICAL RESOURCES. THIS ACTS AS A TRIGGER POINT FOR THE RESOURCE,
INDICATING WHEN THE CRITICAL PATH IS ABOUT TO BEGIN.
 MONITORS PROJECT PROGRESS AND HEALTH BY MONITORING THE CONSUMPTION RATE OF THE
BUFFERS RATHER THAN INDIVIDUAL TASK PERFORMANCE TO SCHEDULE.
RESOURCE LOADING
 PROCESS OF LOADING EMPLOYEES’ TOTAL AVAILABLE HOURS WITH ASSIGNMENTS.
 EMPLOYEES END UP OVERLOADED AT SOME POINT. THIS CAN HAPPEN WHEN UNEXPECTED
RESPONSIBILITIES COME UP DURING A PROJECT.
 A RESOURCE LOADING CHART CAN HELP PROJECT MANAGERS DISTRIBUTE ASSIGNMENTS AND
RESOURCES BY VISUALIZING EACH TEAM MEMBER'S AVAILABLE TIME AND THE PROJECT SCHEDULE