12/2/2023

Zagazig University College of Engineering

Department of Industrial Engineering

Project Management
Chapter 9
Reducing Project Duration

Dr. Mansour Abou Gamila

December, 2023 Project Management, Chapter 9 1

Rationale for Reducing Project Duration

• Time Is Money: Cost-Time Tradeoffs
– Reducing the time of a critical activity usually incurs
additional direct costs.
• Cost-time solutions focus on reducing (crashing) activities on
the critical path to shorten overall duration of the project.
– Reasons for imposed project duration dates:
• Time-to-market pressures
• Unforeseen delays
• Incentive contracts (bonuses for early completion)
• Imposed deadlines and contract commitments
• Overhead and public goodwill costs
• Pressure to move resources to other projects

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Options for Accelerating Project Completion

• Resources Not • Resources Constrained

Constrained – Fast-tracking
– Adding resources – Critical-chain
– Outsourcing project – Reducing project scope
work – Compromise quality
– Scheduling overtime
– Establishing a core
project team
– Do it twice—fast and
then correctly

December, 2023 Project Management, Chapter 9 3

Explanation of Project Costs

• Project Indirect Costs
– Costs that cannot be associated with any particular
work package or project activity.
• Supervision, administration, consultants, and interest
– Costs that vary (increase) with time.
• Reducing project time directly reduces indirect costs.
• Project Direct Costs
– Normal costs that can be assigned directly to
a specific work package or project activity.
• Labor, materials, equipment, and subcontractors
– Crashing activities increases direct costs.
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Reducing Project Duration to Reduce

Project Cost

Identifying direct costs to reduce project time

Gather information about direct and indirect

costs of specific project durations.

Search critical activities for lowest direct-cost

activities to shorten project duration.

Compute total costs for specific durations and

compare to benefits of reducing project time.

December, 2023 Project Management, Chapter 9 5

Project Cost–Duration Graph

FIGURE 9.1

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Constructing a Project Cost–Duration Graph

• Find total direct costs for

selected project durations.
• Find total indirect costs for
selected project durations.
• Sum direct and indirect costs for
these selected project durations.
• Compare additional cost
alternatives for benefits.
December, 2023 Project Management, Chapter 9 7

Constructing a Project Cost–Duration Graph

• Determining Activities to Shorten
– Shorten the activities with the smallest increase in cost
per unit of time.
– Assumptions:
• The cost relationship is linear.
• Normal time assumes low-cost, efficient methods to complete
the activity.
• Crash time represents a limit—the greatest time reduction
possible under realistic conditions.
• Slope represents a constant cost per unit of time.
• All accelerations must occur within the normal
and crash times.
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Activity Graph

FIGURE 9.2

December, 2023 Project Management, Chapter 9 9

Practical Considerations

• Using the Project Cost–Duration Graph

• Crash Times
• Linearity Assumption
• Choice of Activities to Crash Revisited
• Time Reduction Decisions and Sensitivity

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Cost–Duration Trade-off Example 1

FIGURE 9.3

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Cost–Duration Trade-off Example 1 (cont’d)

FIGURE 9.3 (cont’d)

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Cost–Duration Trade-off Example 1 (cont’d)

FIGURE 9.4 (cont’d)

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Example 1: Summary Costs by Duration

FIGURE 9.5

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Example 2, Page 324

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Example 2, Page 324

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Example 2, Page 324

December, 2023 Project Management, Chapter 9 17

Example 3
Mohamed and Ali; computer consultants; are considering embracing on a joint project
that will involve development of a relatively small commercial software package for
personal computers. The program involves scientific calculations for a specialized
portion of the engineering market. They have broken down the project into 16
activities. The immediate predecessors, activity times in days, and activity costs in
pounds are given in table below.
a. Develop a network for this project.
b. Find the completion time and total cost using normal times? Identify the critical
path?
c. Suppose that the indirect costs of the project amount to be 3 L.E. per day. Find the.
optimal number of days to perform the project? What is the total project cost at the
optimal solution? What saving have been realized by crashing the project? Be sure
to identify exactly which activity, or activities should be reduced
Activity A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P
Predecessors - - - - A B C D E F G H K,L I,J M,N O

Normal time 3 5 4 6 12 5 9 7 5 11 7 4 8 7 6 12

Crash time 2 4 3 5 10 4 8 6 4 11 6 4 6 5 6 10
Normal cost 4 2 3 5 11 6 7 5 6 4 4 8 7 11 7 9

Crash cost 4.8 2.7 4.7 5.6 13.6 7.8 8.4 6 6.9 4 5.2 8 10 15 7 12

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‫‪Example 3 con.‬‬

‫‪December, 2023‬‬ ‫‪Project Management, Chapter 9‬‬ ‫‪19‬‬

‫)‪C‬‬
‫‪Example 3, con.‬‬
‫‪Activity‬‬ ‫‪A‬‬ ‫‪B‬‬ ‫‪C‬‬ ‫‪D‬‬ ‫‪E‬‬ ‫‪F‬‬ ‫‪G‬‬ ‫‪H I‬‬ ‫‪J‬‬ ‫‪K‬‬ ‫‪L M‬‬ ‫‪N O P‬‬
‫‪Crash‬‬ ‫‪0.8 0.7 1.7 0.6‬‬ ‫‪1.3 1.8‬‬ ‫‪1.4‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪0.9‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫‪1.2‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫‪1.5‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫‪1.5‬‬
‫‪cost/day‬‬

‫يتم تخفيض يوم ﻓﻰ ﻛﻞ مرة إذا ﻛﺎﻧﺖ تﻜﻠفﺔ التخفيض أقﻞ مﻦ التﻜﻠفﺔ الغير مﺒﺎﺷرة لﻠيوم الواحد =‪3‬‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫يوجد مسﺎران حرجﺎن‪ ،‬لذا أى تخفيض ﻷى ﻧشﺎط ﻋﻠﻰ أى منهمﺎ يستتﺒعه تخفيض ﻋﻠﻰ المسﺎر‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫اﻵخر‪ .‬أقﻞ تﻜﻠفﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ المسﺎر اﻷول هﻰ لﻠنشﺎط ‪ ،0.7 = B‬بينمﺎ لﻠمسﺎر الثﺎﻧﻰ هﻰ لﻠنشﺎط ‪K‬‬
‫بتﻜﻠفﺔ ‪ ، 1.2‬أى اذا تم تخفيض ﻛﻼ النشﺎطيﻦ يصﺒح اجمﺎلﻰ التخفيض يوم واحد بتﻜﻠفﺔ = ‪،1.9‬‬
‫وهﻰ أﻋﻠﻰ مﻦ تﻜﻠفﺔ تخفيض النشﺎط المشترك بينهمﺎ ‪P= 1.5‬‬
‫يتم تخفيض النشﺎط المشترك ”‪ “P‬بمقدار يوميﻦ بتﻜﻠفﺔ ‪ 1.5‬لﻠيوم‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫‪Total time = 46 - 2 = 44 days‬‬
‫‪Total cost= 99 -2(3-1.5) = LE 96‬‬
‫يتم تخفيض ﻛﻼ مﻦ النشﺎط ‪ B‬ﻋﻠﻰ المسﺎر اﻷول‪ ،‬النشﺎط ‪ K‬ﻋﻠﻰ المسﺎر الثﺎﻧﻰ بيوم واحد لﻜﻞ‬ ‫•‬
‫منهمﺎ ‪ ،‬ليعطﻰ التخفيض يوم واحد لﻠمشروع‪.‬‬
‫‪Total time = 44 - 1= 43 days‬‬
‫‪Total cost= 96 –(3- 0.7- 1.2) = LE 94.9‬‬
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Example 3, con.

،F=1.8 ‫أقل تكلفة تخفيض على المسار اﻷول هى للنشاط‬ •

،G=1.4 ‫أقل تكلفة تخفيض على المسار الثانى هى للنشاط‬
=1.8+1.4 = ‫أى أن تكلفة تخفيض يوم واحد على الشبكة‬
‫ لذا‬،3=‫ وهى أعلى من التكلفة الغير مباشرة لليوم الواحد‬3.2
‫لن يتم التخفيض ويعتبر الحل السابق أفضل الحلول للحصول‬
.‫على أقل تكاليف‬
‫ يوم‬43 = ‫الزمن الكلى‬ •
‫ جنيه‬94.9 = ‫إجمالى التكاليف‬ •
LE 4.1= 99-94.9 =‫إجمالى الوفر‬ •
December, 2023 Project Management, Chapter 9 21

Example 4
Three recent college graduates have formed a partnership and have opened
an advertising firm. Their first project consists of 16 activities. The
activity times in days and activity cost in pounds are given in table
below.
a. Develop the project network for this project?
b. Determine the completion time using normal times? Identify the
critical path?
c. What is the total project cost using the normal times?
d. Assume that the project must be completed in 41 days. Crashing of the
project is necessary. What activities should be crashed, and what are
the critical activities of the crashed network? What is the total project
cost required to meet this crashing?
Activity 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 2,6 3,8 4,7 5,9 6,10 7,10 8,11 9,11 10,12 11,12 12,13 13,14
Normal time 4 3 6 5 7 12 7 11 9 6 5 5 7 8 10 6
Crash time 3 2 5 4 6 10 5 11 8 6 4 4 5 6 10 6
Normal cost 3 4 5 2 4 11 5 4 7 8 6 6 11 7 9 7
Crash cost 4.5 4.8 5.6 2.7 5.2 14 7 4 8.4 8 7 8 16 12 9 7

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Example 4, Con.

Project Management, Chapter 9

December, 2023 23

Example 4, con.

Project Management, Chapter 9

December, 2023 24

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