Means of Project Representation

• Project name and description.

• List of jobs that constitute the project.

• Gantt or Bar chart showing when activities take place.

• Project network showing activities, their dependencies and their

relation to the whole. (A-O-A and A-O-N representations)
 Why Use Project Networks ?

• A convenient way to show activities and precedence in relation to the

whole project.
• Basis of project planning: 
- Responsibility allocation
- Definition of subcontracting units
- Role of different players

• Basic scheduling and establishment of work time tables

• Critical path determination and selective management control

• Deterministic vs probabilistic activity times

 Why Use Project Networks……Contd

• Resource planning for projects

- Project crashing with time cost tradeoffs
- Resource aggregation
- Resource levelling
- Limited resource allocation

• Project implementation:
- Time table for implementation
- Monitoring and reporting progress
- Updation of schedules and resources
- Coordination of work with different agencies

- The project network is thus a common vehicle for planning, communicating and
implementing the project right from inception
 EXAMPLE 1: Organizing a one day Seminar

1. Generate the list of jobs to be done: 

A1. Decide date ,budget, venue for seminar.

A2. Identify speakers, participants.
A3. Contact and finalize speakers.
A4. Print seminar brochure.
A5. Mail brochures to tentative participants
A6. Estimate number of participants.
A7. Decide menu for lunch, tea & coffee 
A8. Arrange for catering
A9. Arrange projection facilities at venue.
A10. Receive guests at registration.
A11. Conduct seminar as per brochure 
A12. See off guests
Organizing a one day Seminar 
Drawing the project network (AOA)
Developing the project network (A-O-N)
 Example 2

Logical dummies are needed to complete the network

Example 3
 Role of Dummies (Contd…)

Dummies for uniqueness of activity representation

 Role of Dummies(Contd…)

Dummies for creation of single source

(S) and sink(T)
 Role of Dummies at a glance

I Correct representation of precedence

logic
II Uniqueness of activity representation
III Creation of single source/ sink

Logical dummies are not needed in AON

network-----advantage
 EXAMPLE 6: Inconsistent Network

A closed loop (2 - 3 - 4 - 6 - 2) in a project network is a logical

inconsistency.

In order to do a job, that job itself should be completed.

 EXAMPLE 7 : REDUNDANCY (A-O-N) 

Redundancy a in the predecessor set for activity d could be

removed thereby deleting arc a-d above
 Pre-Requisites for a Valid Project Network

• NECESSARY REQUIREMENT

The project network must not have any cycles or loops, since these
represent logical inconsistencies in representation.

• DESIRABLE FEATURES

The project network should have the minimum number of dummies and no
redundancies since these unnecessarily clutter the network.
 Developing the project network

• Alternative Project Representations

• Activity on Arc (A-O-A)

• Arrow diagrams
• Event oriented networks Developing the Project Network

• Activity on Node (A-O-N)

• Precedence networks
• Activity oriented networks
 Activity Durations

• Deterministic (as in Critical Path Methods)

• When previous experience yields fairly accurate estimates of activity
duration.
• eg construction activity, market surveys.

• Probabilistic (as in PERT)

• When there is uncertainty in times,
• as for instance in R&D activities, new activities being carried out for the
first time. 
 Time Estimates

• Deterministic times
A single time estimate is used for each activity. This is taken from experts
who have prior knowledge and experience of the activity.

• Probabilistic times
Three time estimates (optimistic, most likely and pessimistic) are
commonly used for each activity based on the consensus of the group.
Example 1
Project Network (A-O-A) for Example 1

Try to number the nodes of the above network

 Critical Path

• The longest path in the network.

• Lower bound on the project duration. ( Project cannot be accomplished in a

time smaller the length critical path)

• Selective control for management of project.

Can be determined by
- Enumeration of all paths in the network
- Event based computations (A-O-A networks)
- Activity based computations (A-O-N networks)
Node Numbering for AOA : Example 1

After Node Numbering, the above network becomes: 

Path Enumeration
 Forward Pass 

• Initialization:
Ei = 0
( Ei is Earliest occurrence time of first node or the project start time S.)
• This applies to all source nodes

• Ej= Max (Ei+ tij) for all i before node j

Set
B(j)
Forward Pass for AOA : Example 1 
Forward Pass for AOA : Example 1 
 Backward Pass

• Initialization:
Ln (Latest occurrence time of terminal node or the latest occurrence of all
ending nodes)
= Project duration, T as determined in the forward pass

Li (Latest occurrence time of all other nodes)

= Min (Lj-tij) over all successor nodes j of the node i being
investigated,set A(i)
Backward Pass for AOA : Example 1
 Activity Schedule from Event Times

Early start of activity ij = ES(ij) =

Ei
FORWARD PASS
Early finish of activity ij= EFij =
ES(ij)+ tij
Late finish of activity ij = LF(ij) =
Lj
BACKWARD PASS
Late start of activity ij = LS(ij) =
LF(ij) -tij
 Early and Late Schedule

Early Start( ES ) : It is the earliest time at which an activity may start.

Early Finish( EF ) : It is the finish time of an activity when started at its

ES.

Late Start ( LS ) : It is the latest time at which an activity may start without
delaying the project beyond the critical path duration.

Late Finish( LF) : It is the latest finish time of an activity when started at its
LS.

Total Float (TF) : It is the amount by which an activity may be slided

without increasing the project duration

TF=LS-ES or LF-EF

TF=0 , activities lies on critical path

Early and Late Schedule :
Example 1 
GANTT CHART : Showing Activity Schedule of critical
activities
CRITICAL PATH for AOA : Example 1
Path b-d-e-g-i is critical
path
 ACTIVITY FLOATS

Total float = F1(ij) = Lj-Ei -tij (maximum possible

time for performing an activity)

Safety float = F2(ij) = Lj- Li-tij 

Free float = F3(ij) = Ej -Ei -tij 

Independent float = F4(ij)= Max (0, Ej -Li- tij)

 FLOAT Computations 

Total float = LS - ES = LF-EF of activity

Safety float = Total float - Slack on preceding

node 

Free float =Total float - Slack on succeeding

node 

Independent float = Max (0, Total float - Slack

on preceding and succeeding nodes)
FLOATS : Example 1
 Interpretation of FLOATS 

• An activity , in general, has both predecessors and successors.

• Each of the four kinds of float depends on how these accommodate the
activity. 
 Interpretation of FLOATS 

• An activity , in general, has both predecessors and successors.

• Each of the four kinds of float depends on how these accommodate the
activity.