ase Study: PERT / CPM - Calculating Floats 88

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By hafeezrm

Case Study: Using CPM or PERT in time planning & control

This hub is an extension to my previous hub CPM/PERT. It would be followed by another hub. The three have inter-links. These have been broken into three parts for ease of reading.

NET WORK # 1

This is in continuation of my previous Case Study on CPM & PERT. Here I would describe ways and means to calculate Floats or Slacks. A little change has been made in Sketch # 3 in the previous article. Description has been reduced to one cell. Since there is not enough space for full description, identifying letters have been inserted in the respective Cells. Two more Cells have been introduced for accommodating Free Float (FF) and Total Float (TF). All other figures are the same as shown in Net Work #1.

WHAT IS A FLOAT?
A float shows time available for delaying an activity without delaying Finish Date of the Project. In other words, delay in some activity would not increase the project duration. Please note that Critical Activities cannot be delayed. However, Non-Critical Activities can start late or finished late within the given limitation. Other names for float are: slack, cushion, margin, excess time or flexibility. For calculating floats, there are different Methods depending upon format of the Network used. There are two types of Net Works: Activity-On-Node (AON) and Activity-on-Arrow (AOA). Results are same in both cases.

Net Work # 2

 Arrow Diagram - ASQ

The arrow diagram shows the required order of tasks in a project or process, the best schedule for the entire project, and potential scheduling and resource problems and their solutions. Difference between AOA & AON Method for constructing a unique AOA net with a node for each precedence constraint of its corresponding AON network (yielding small number of dummy arcs).

TWO TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS

For better understanding, two versions of the same net work are given as per Network #1 and #2 and briefly described below:

AON ( see Net Work #1) A new format used by project management softwares. Better at showing different types of dependencies. Easy to understand. Can be constructed through placing cards each with name of an activity. Good for group discussion. AOA (see Net Work # 2)

Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of activities. Activities are represented by arrows showing relationships between activities. Sometimes, dummy activities (dotted lines) are used for linking two activities. Can only show finish-to-start dependencies.

THREE TYPES OF FLOATS INDEPENDENT FLOAT (IF)

Shows the time available even if an activity has a Late Start and Early Finish.

It is most adverse type of float and often results in a negative figure. FREE FLOAT (FF) Also called Normal Float, it shows time for which an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of successor activity/activities. If there are more than one succeeding activities, minimum of the floats would be taken as free float.

FF will always be less than or equal to TF and never more. In all critical activities, FF is always zero. TOTAL FLOAT (TF)
It shows time for which an activity can be delayed from its ES without delay in

SUB-SET OF AON

project completion. (In FF, when one activity was delayed, the succeeding activity was started on time as per its ES and not delayed.) As in FF, in case of more succeeding activities, minimum to be taken. in TF, however, if one activity is delayed, the succeeding activity or activities would be affected or re-scheduled. On Critical Activities, TF is always zero ( as well as FF)

CALCULATIONS OF FLOATS UNDER AON

1. INDEPENDENT FLOAT (IF) : EF LS = 10 -4 =6 2. FREE FLOAT (FF) : G(ES) D(EF)= 10 4 =6 3. TOTAL FLOAT (TF): D (LF) D(EF)= 13 4 = 9
In case of free float, the formula is: Early Start of Successor Activities (G) minus Early Finish of Existing Activity (D). Naturally, if we can finish an activity early but the next will start sometimes later, we have a free float to delay our activity.

CALCULATION OF FLOAT UNDER AOA

1. INDEPENDENT FLOAT (IF) : EF LS = 10 -4 =6 2. FREE FLOAT (FF) : G(ES) D(EF)= 10 4 =6 3. TOTAL FLOAT (TF): D (LF) D(EF)= 13 4 = 9
formulae are: 1. IF(i,j)=EF(j) -ES(i)-D(i,j)

FLOATS

2. FF(i,j) = EF(j) - ES(i) - D(i,j), (If there are more than one activities, minimum
thereof) 3. TF(i,j) = LF(j) - ES(i) - D(i,j) (If there are more than one activities, minimum thereof)

DISPLAY OF CALCULATED FLOATS UNDER BOTH FORMATS

Network # 3 and Table #1 show calculated floats in their respective places. AON is verstile format and can accommodate all type of floats. ( I have given only two types TF & FF but it can be expanded.) In case of AOA, the floats are to be shown separately which makes it rather inconvenient to follow.

NET WORK # 3

TABLE 1

TABLE #2

Gantt Chart

 CASE STUDY - Probability in PERT

Next article on PERT has been added.

CONFLICTS IN CALCULATION & COMMON SENSE

Sometimes, floats given by formulae do not appeal to the common sense. It happens in both cases whether AON or AOA. The floats are, however, result of a natural flow and a visionary project manager would easily spot a flaw in calculation. For example, FF in case of activity 2-3 in AOA is different from the one shown under AON. The reason is that in AOA, dummies are used which distort the straight calculation. Here we can resort to Gantt Chart to reconcile the difference as shown in Table #2.

Interference Float
Interference float is the difference between total float and independent float. Supposing there is a conference of 5,000 participants in an Island. The conference would be for 5 days starting from 17th June and ending on 21st June. To transfer a large number of people, the flights to island would start from 1st June to 16th June and the return would be from 22nd June to 30th June. Suppose further that the Island has a lot of sight-seeing opportunities on the side. Now if some big boss is interested only in conference, he or she can leave on 16th June and return by 22nd June. In this way, one day would still be available for shopping or sightseeing calculated as follows: (22 16 - 5). This one day is called Independent Float and is available in any case. On other hand, total float (or total time for sightseeing) would be for 24 days when someone starts on 1st June and returns on 30th June. So one cannot devote more than 24 days for sight-seeing while one has to spend one day because of flight schedule. It is evident that one can interfere or modify the schedule for sight-seeing for 23 days ( 24 -1).

WHY FLOAT IS IMPORTANT?

If every activity had a fixed start date and a fixed end date, it would be very difficult to complete the project in time. Problems do occur such as shortage of funds or workers or machines. If there are floats, the manager can decide which activity to give priority and which one to re-schedule. In this way,

it is possible not to let the project suffer because of shortages. Some activities can be slipped or splitted for a good cause. In some other article, I would explain how these floats are used for a sound management. A case study on floats is given at another hub Floats in a Network