Developing a Project Plan

Networking

W S William,
Professor, XIMB

WSW-BM-PM-2020
Types of Network
Basic Rules to Follow in Developing Project Network

• Network flow typically from left to right.

• An activity cannot begin until all preceding connected activities have been completed.
• Arrow on network indicates precedence and flow. Arrow can crossover each other
• Each activity should have a unique identification number.
• An activity identification number must be larger than that of any activities that
precede it.
• Looping is not allowed
• Conditional statements are not allowed
• In case of multiple starts, a common start node can be used. Similarly a single project
end node can be used.
Automated Warehouse

Activity Description Preceding Activity Activity Time

(days)

A Define Requirements None 10

B Assign Team A 5

C Design Hardware A 25

D Code Software B 20

E Build and Test Hardware C 50

F Develop Patent Request C 15

G Test Software D 35

H Integrate Systems E, F, G 15
Network Computation Process
Forward Pass – Earliest Times
• How soon can the activity start? (Early Start –
ES)
• How soon can the activity finish? (Early Finish
– EF)
• How soon can the project be finished?
(Expected Time –TE)
Backward Pass – Latest Times
• How late can the activity start? (Late start –
LS)
• How late can the activity finish? (Late Finish –
LF)
• Which activities represent the critical path
(CP)? This is the longest path.
• How long can the activity be delayed? (Slack
or Float – SL)
Activity-on-Node
Network
Forward Pass
Backward
Pass
Forward and Backward Pass with Slack Times

Total Slack =
LS – ES
Or
LF - EF
Total Slack or Total Float:
Total slack tells us the amount of time an
activity can be delayed and not delay the
project.
EF – ES or LF - LS
Free Slack or Free Float
Free Slack (FS) is unique. It is the amount of
time an activity can be delayed without delaying
any immediately following (successor) activity.
Or
Free slack is the amount of time an activity can
exceed its early finish date without affecting the
early start date of any successor(s).
As shown G has a FS of 15 days and F has a FS of
35 days.
 Laddering

To maintain
Finish to Start
logic,
activities can
be broken into
segments
Concurrent Engineering
Exercises for Practice

Chapter- 6 (Textbook) [ pages: 313 to 319]

You are encouraged to do all the problems. However, at least the
following must be attempted:
Exercise Numbers: 5, 7, 9, 12, 14

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