NAME : YASHANA LALWANI

CLASS : TYBMS MARKETING

ROLL NO : 355

SUBJECT : OPERATIONS RESEARCH

TOPIC: STUDY ON CPM AND PERT AND HOW

THEY SUPPORT IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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  WHAT IS CPM AND PERT ?

The critical path method (CPM) is a technique where you identify tasks that are necessary
for project completion and determine scheduling flexibilities. 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.

CPM revolves around discovering the most important tasks in the project timeline,
identifying task dependencies, and calculating task durations.

CPM was developed in the late 1950 as a method to resolve the issue of increased costs due
to inefficient scheduling. Since then, CPM has become popular for planning projects and
prioritizing tasks. It helps you break down complex projects into individual tasks and gain a
better understanding of the project’s flexibility. 

The Program Evaluation Review Technique, or PERT, is a visual tool used in project
planning. Using the technique helps project planners identify start and end dates, as well as
interim required tasks and timelines. The information is displayed as a network in chart form.
PERT helps project planners identify:

 Start and end dates

 Anticipated total required completion time
 All activities, referred to as events on the chart, that impact the completion time
 The required sequence of events
 The probability of completion by a certain date

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  DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CPM AND PERT

S.No. PERT CPM

1. PERT is that technique of project CPM is that technique of project
management which is used to manage management which is used to manage
uncertain (i.e., time is not known) only certain (i.e., time is known)
activities of any project. activities of any project.

2. It is event oriented technique which It is activity oriented technique which

means that network is constructed on means that network is constructed on
the basis of event. the basis of activities.

3. It is a probability model. It is a deterministic model.

4. It majorly focuses on time as meeting It majorly focuses on Time-cost trade

time target or estimation of percent off as minimizing cost is more
completion is more important. important.

5. It is appropriate for high precision It is appropriate for reasonable time

time estimation. estimation.

6. It has Non-repetitive nature of job. It has repetitive nature of job.

7. There is no chance of crashing as there There may be crashing because of

is no certainty of time. certain time boundation.

8. It doesn’t use any dummy activities. It uses dummy activities for

representing sequence of activities.

9. It is suitable for projects which It is suitable for construction projects.

required research and development.

 USAGE AND APPLICATION OF CPM AND PERT

1. Research and Development Project (R and D Projects)

2. Equipment Maintenance and hauling
3. Construction Projects (Buildings, bridges, and Dams)

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 4. Setting up new industries
5. Planning and launching new products
6. Design of plants, machines, and systems  
7. Shifting the manufacturing location to another location
8. Control of production in large shops
9. Market penetration programs
10. The organization of big programs, conferences, etc.
 HOW IS CPM USED IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

For relatively simple projects with a few dozen tasks, you can determine the critical path with
pencil and paper, and this exercise can help you better understand the concepts. In the real
world, construction planners use software to do the calculations. Not only is this method
faster, easier, and less prone to error, but it makes updating the critical path simple.

Of course, a CPM analysis is only as good as the data behind it. That means you need to
include every project activity. You’ll identify these activities by developing a project work
breakdown structure (WBS), which is a hierarchical representation of all project deliverables.
The lowest level of a WBS is a work package, which comprises the tasks needed to complete
one deliverable. 

To make sure that the WBS includes all tasks involved in the project, cross reference it with
construction documents detailing the work to be performed by all contractors, subcontractors,
and vendors. 

Next, you’ll need to arrange the tasks in the order in which they should be performed, using
task end points called milestones to connect them. This is the process of determining job
logic, which is the network of relationships and interdependencies between tasks and
milestones. It tells us when tasks can be performed relative to other tasks. 

As James Kelley and Morgan Walker of consultants Mauchly Associates noted in

their pioneering paper on critical path (1959), for each task, you must answer three
questions:  

 What task(s) immediately precedes this task?

 What task(s) immediately follows this task
 What tasks can be concurrent with this task?

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Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be able to create a project task network or
network diagram, which shows job logic for the entire project.

You’ll also need to estimate the time required to complete each activity (the duration). CPM
works best with well-defined and highly repeatable tasks. On construction sites, this would be
the type of jobs that are performed over and over, like excavating or dry walling. 

 HOW PERT IS
USED FOR
CREATING A
WEBSITE
We will create a project around
building a website. The PERT
chart will allow us to visualize our project’s activities and milestones to quickly uncover the
critical path.We’re going to identify all the activities that make up the project and determine
the immediate predecessors for each. We’ll list them as shown in the table below.

Next, we figure out how long all the activities will take. The amount of time you estimate
with the PERT chart formula should be added to the arrows as shown in our PERT chart
example. We used weeks as our time unit, but it could be days or months, depending on Next,
we figure out how long all the activities will take. The amount of time you estimate with the
PERT chart your project.

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Once we have a time estimate for each task, we can draw our PERT diagram. We start with
the first node which is the “kick-off meeting” in our example. Then we represent the initial
activities with arrows and connect them to their corresponding milestone nodes. We continue
the process until we get to the final milestone node of our project.

 HOW CPM HELPS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CPM provides visibility into your project’s progress, allowing you to monitor tasks and their
completion times.

COMPRESS SCHEDULES

Though not ideal, there are times when project deadlines may be pushed up. In those
situations, there are two schedule compression techniques you can use: fast tracking and
crashing.

1. Fast tracking: Look at the critical path to determine activities that can be performed
simultaneously. Running parallel processes will speed up the overall duration. 
2. Crashing: This process involves allocating more resources to speed up activities.
Before obtaining more resources, make sure that it would still be within the project
scope and let the stakeholders know of any changes.
Having the critical path plotted out can help you choose the appropriate strategy to meet
updated deadlines. 

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RESOLVE RESOURCE SHORTAGES

Keep in mind that CPM doesn’t take resource availability into account. When there is a
resource shortage, like an overbooked team member or lack of equipment, you can
use resource leveling techniques to solve the issue. 
These techniques aim to resolve resource overallocation issues and ensure that a project can
be completed with the resources that are currently available. Resource leveling works by
adjusting project start and end dates, so you may have to readjust the critical path or apply
this technique to activities with float.

COMPILE DATA FOR FUTURE USE

The schedule created from CPM is subject to change since you’re working with educated
estimates for activity durations. You can compare the original critical path to the actual
critical path as the project runs.

This data can be used as a reference to get more accurate task duration estimates for future
projects. 

 HOW PERT HELPS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

ANSWERING THE WHAT-IF’S

A PERT chart enables you to create milestones for your project. During the time between
each milestone, you can use the chart to identify any possible outcomes or obstacles that your
project may face. This means you can quickly address them, or prepare for them, to help your
project stay on track.

EASY PROJECT ANALYSIS

A project leader, a member of the team or anyone who needs to know can quickly refer to the
chart to see where a project is, how it’s coming along and what stage the project is currently
at. This means managing the project is so much easier. This is perfect, especially when it
comes to resource allocation and budget.

IMPROVES COMMUNICATION
The process of creating a PERT chart also improves communication and enables an
organization to invest energy in projects that will enhance its strategic positioning

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https://www.shopify.com/blog/what-is-program-evaluation-review-technique

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-pert-and-cpm/

https://asana.com/resources/critical-path-method

https://www.prodyogi.com/pert-and-cpm-objectives-and-applications

https://www.projectmanager.com/guides/pert-chart

THANKYOU