CVL742

Project Management
Module 1 (Part 4)
Schedule Development:
Activities and their Sequence

Instructor:
S. Madeh Piryonesi, PhD

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 Project Activities
• Activity or Task are used interchangeably

• Activity refer to specific, defined items of work and construction

process
• In construction defining activity is not independent from
construction method
• Example: pump concrete or use bucket?

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 Activity Definition
• Define separate tasks for activities that involve different
resources, or those that do not require continuous
performance
• For example:
o Place and cure concrete ➔ Place concrete and cure concrete
o Prepare and check drawings ➔ Prepare drawings and check
drawings
• A schedule activity has:
o Start and end
o Cost, duration and resource requirements
o Logical relationships to other activities

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 Activity Definition
• Usually more detailed definition allows more realistic scheduling
and better control
• For example, the activity of placing concrete on site would have
sub-activities associated with
o Placing forms
o Installing reinforcing steel
o Pouring concrete
o Finishing the concrete
o Removing forms
o Curing concrete
• You can even add more: cleaning concrete forms
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 Activity Definition
Discussion:

• Think about decomposing our last sub-activity, i.e., cleaning

concrete forms, into smaller sub-activities.

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 Activity Definition
• Activities may be defined subjectively or even anecdotally
• A more objective and systematic approach is to use WBS
• PCWBS and FWBS method

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 Project Control WBS: Deliverable-
Based Decomposition

Deliverable-oriented decomposition

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 Functional WBS: Function-Based
Decomposition

Deliverable-oriented decomposition

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 Activity Definition: PCWBS and FWBS

Project control WBS

Functional WBS

Deliverable-oriented decomposition

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 List of Activities
Duration Resources

Deliverable-oriented decomposition

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 Activity Sequencing

Source: PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide, Third Edition (Certification Press)
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 Steps for Scheduling
Work
List of Activity
Breakdown Network
Activities Dependencies
Structure

Activity
1
Activity
2

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 A Schedule Must be Precise

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 Activity Dependency
• Dependencies (or relations) among activities means that the
activities must take place in a particular order
• Many natural sequences exist for construction activities due to:
oRequirements for structural integrity
oRegulations
oOther technical requirements

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 Types of Dependency
• Mandatory (necessary) dependencies
• Discretionary dependencies
• External dependencies
• Internal dependencies

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 Types of Dependency
• Mandatory (necessary) dependencies usually cannot be modified.
They are:
o Contractually required or
o Inherent in the nature of the work
➔Example: Walls must be built after the foundations

• Discretionary dependencies may be modifiable

o Are based on best practices or project preferences.
o May be modified
➔Example: All electrical works should start after the completion of painting
➔Example: Two activities that may require the same piece of equipment

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 Types of Dependency
• External dependencies: Relationship between project activities and
non-project activities
o Usually cannot be modified
➔Examples: delivery of equipment from a vendor, the deliverable of another
project, the decision of a committee, lawsuit, or expected new law

• Internal dependencies: A relationship between one or more project

activities.
o May be modifiable.

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 Activity Sequencing
• The project schedule can be visualized after the activities are
sequenced.
• Activity Diagramming Method (ADM) also called AOA is a
method of constructing a project schedule network diagram that
uses arrows to represent activities and connects them at nodes to
show their dependencies
• Older network diagramming methods used “Activity-on-Arrows
(AOA)”
• More recent methods are based on “Activity-on-Nodes”

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 Activity Diagramming Method
Activity on Arrow (AOA)
• The arrow method is ‘event oriented’
• Events are shown as nodes and signify start and finish of activities
(events have no time duration)
• Activity is the work required to proceed from one event or point in
time to another event

Start event Finish event

Activity name
1 2
Activity duration

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 Activity Diagramming Method
Activity on Arrow (AOA)
• The end event of preceding activity is linked to the start of
succeeding activities
• When activity X is followed by activity Y, only one event is needed to
show the end of activity X and the start of activity Y

Start event of X Finish event of X Start event of Z Finish event of Z

Activity X Activity Y Activity Z
1 2 3 4

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 Activity Diagramming Method:
Activity on Arrow (AOA)
• Activities are drawn from left to right (no right to left)
• It is assumed that succeeding activity cannot start until the preciding
activity is completed (finish-to-start links)

Start event of X Finish event of X Start event of Z Finish event of Z

Activity X Activity Y Activity Z
1 2 3 4

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 Activity on Arrow (AOA) Example 1
• Activities A and B are independent; Activities C and D cannot start
until activities A and B have been completed; Activities C and D are
independent

1 4
A
C

3
B D
5
2

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 Activity on Arrow (AOA) Example 2

• Let’s now assume that the start of activity C depends only on the
completion of activity A (so C is independent of B)
X is a dummy activity

1 4 1 3 5
A C A C
X
B 3 D B D
2 5 2 4 6

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 Activity on Arrow (AOA) Method
• Dummy activities serve another purpose in arrow networks
• They are needed to identify activities by their correct event numbers

A
1 1
B A
X
3 C B C
4
2 4 6

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 Precedence diagramming method (PDM)
Activity on Node (AON) Method
• The precedence method has widely replaced AOA method as the
preferred scheduling technique
• AON method is activity-oriented (no events at all)

Preceding Succeeding
activity activity

Dependency Placing
Installing
formworks concrete

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 Precedence diagramming method (PDM)
Activity on Node (AON) Method
• The process of constructing an AON network is similar to that of
AOA
• The flow of works progress from left to right
• Dependency lines may be drawn up and down, but never from right
to left
• To show the direction of the workflow arrowheads are attached to
dependency lines
• Dummy activities are not required to maintain the logic of network
(milestones are like dummies)

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 Example of PDM or AON Method
• Create a precedence network for the following activities.

A D F
Start C
End
B E G

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 Precedence Diagraming vs Activity
Diagramming
Activity A Activity B
▪ Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) or or
Activity 1-2 Activity 2-3
▪ Activities are shown by arrows 1 2 3
▪ It is an event-oriented method
Event 1 Event 2 Event 3

▪ Activity-on-Node (AON)
▪ Activities are shown by nodes
▪ It is an activity-oriented method A B

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 Sequencing Activities: Types of
Dependencies
Finish to Start Finish to Finish
(FS) (FF)
Example: Example: Drawing
Construction of a the lines on a road
wall cannot start cannot finish until
Activity FS Activity FF
until the 1 placing the
1
foundation is pavement is
Activity
finished. finished.
2 Activity
2

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 Sequencing Activities: Types of
Dependencies
Start to Start Start to Finish SF is not
(SS) (SF) common in
construction.
Example:
Painting cannot
SS Activity Example:
start until the
1 Handover
scaffolding Activity Activity works are
begins. 1 2
Activity examples of
2 such
SF
dependency.

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 Dependencies with Lead and Lag
• Lead pushes the dependent activity to an earlier time: (–)
• Lag delays the dependent activity: (+)
• Assume A and B with durations of 5 and 3 days
19 19

Activity FS – 2 Activity FS + 2
A 20 –2 =18 A 20 +2 = 22

Activity Activity
B B
15 16 17 18 19 15 16 17 18 19

18 19 20
20 21 20 21 22
22 23 24
22
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