Network Diagrams: Project Management

NETWORK
DIAGRAMS
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION TO NETWORK DIAGRAM
• A network diagram is a flow chart of all tasks which make up a project
• The chart demonstrates how each task relates to another
• Provides a logical flow of events
• Network diagrams are made of a collection of task dependencies
known as network logic.
• Helps teams visualize the activities that need to be completed over the
duration of a project
• Gives crucial context like task duration, sequence, and dependency
Rules for Drawing the Network:
• 1. Each activity is represented by one and only one arrow in the network
• 2. All the arrows must run from left to right.
• 3. Dotted line arrows represent dummy activities.
• 4. A circle represents an event.
• 5. Every activity starts and ends with an event.
• 6. No two activities can be identified by the same head and tail event. Z D C A B 29
• 7. Do not use dummy activity unless required to reflect the logic.
• 8. Avoid Looping and crossing of activity arrows by repositioning.
• 9. Every Activity, except the first and the last, must have at least one preceding and one succeeding
activity.
• 10. Danglers, isolated activities must be avoided.
• 11. For coding use alphabets for all activities including the dummy activity and numbers for events.
• 12. Standard representation of the event :
Sample network diagram
Creating network diagram:
1. Determine the activities which need to be completed

2. Put these activities into sequence
3. Calculate how each activity should take
4. Establish dependencies i.e. Task which depend on the completion of a
previous task
5. Establish which tasks are to be completed first, any tasks with no
predecessors can start as soon as the project begins
Drawing the network diagram:
1. Begin drawing the diagram by drawing the relationship between the project
start and the first activity with no predecessor.
Start Activity 1
T=0 T=x
2. Then find all activities which have activity 1 as predecessor

3. Draw boxes to represent these activities, and draw arrows from activity 1 to
these activities
4. Repeat these steps for the remaining activities
5. After adding all the activities to the diagram, draws a box to represent End,
and draw an arrow from the last activity you have to complete to that box
Some of the common combination of activity in a project
is as follows;
SI No. DIAGRAM LOGIC
Activity “A” is preceding activity
of “B”. i.e. activity ‘A” need to be
1 A B completed before start of activity
“B”.
Activity “A” and “B” are
concurrent. Activity “C” cannot
2 A start until both the activities “A”
C and “B” are completed.
B
Activity “B” and “C” are
concurrent activities. Any one of
3 these cannot start until activity
B
“A” is completed.
A
C
A C Neither activity C nor D can
4 start until both the activities A
and B are completed. But C
and D can start independently.
B D
Activity D cannot begin until

both A & C are completed. But
A B B can start after A is complete.
5 The activity Z, represented by
dashed arrow, is a dummy
activity
C D
DUMMY ACTIVITY – Is an activity added to a project as a place holder. A dummy

activity is intended to show a path of action in a project activity diagram and is
employed when a logical relationship between two activities cannot be linked by
showing the use of arrows linking one activity to another.
SCHEDULING
A project schedule network diagram visualizes the sequential and logical relationship
between tasks in a project setting. This visualization relies on the clear expression of the
chronology of tasks and events.
A project schedule network diagram is an output type of the process ‘sequencing

activities’ according to PMI’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.
Project schedule network diagrams show the order in which activities should be
scheduled to address logical relationships between these activities.
Example;
PLANNING
PLANNING IS THE PROCESS BY WHICH A MANAGER LOOKS TO THE FUTURE AND

DISCOVERS ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION. A PROJECT PLAN SHOULD GIVE DETAILS ABOUT
PRODUCT/WORK (QUANTITY AND QUALITY), TIMESCALE, RESOURCES, COST AND ORGANIZATION; ALSO
MONITORING AND CONTROL. IT WILL INVOLVE:
• CONSCIOUS AND EXPLICIT AWARENESS OF THE ULTIMATE CORPORATE GOALS;

• ESTABLISHMENT OF PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
• ARTICULATION AND EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES;
• SELECTION OF MOST SUITABLE ALTERNATIVE: AND
• IDENTIFICATION OF ACTIVITIES REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVES.
STEPS IN PROJECT PLANNING
• IDENTIFY THE PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND COMPONENTS
• IDENTIFY THE ACTIVITIES
• IDENTIFY DEPENDENCIES
• PRODUCT ACTIVITY NETWORK
• DETERMINE TIME AND RESOURCE REQUIREMENT OF
ACTIVITIES
• TIME ANALYSE THE NETWORK
• RESOURCE AND COST ANALYSIS
COMPUTING THE EARLY START AND EARLY FINISH
Early Start represents the earliest date an activity can

possibly begin, based on all its predecessors and
successors.
Early Finish represents the earliest date an activity can
possibly finish, if all predecessors and successors also finish
on their respective early finish dates.
When you first create a task, its early start and early finish dates are the same as the scheduled start
and finish dates. As you link the task to predecessor and successor tasks and apply any date constraints,
the early start and early finish dates are calculated as the earliest possible dates this task could start and
finish if all predecessors and successors also start and finish on their respective early start and early finish
dates. If there is a leveling delay on the task, this delay is also figured into the early start and finish dates.
These calculations are based on a fixed duration.
In calculating the Early Start and Early Finish we should use the Forward pass
The formula used for calculating Early Start and Early Finish dates:
• Early Start of the activity = (Early Finish of predecessor activity + 1).
(The start point for any activity or step along the path is the end point of the
predecessor activity on the path plus one).
• Early Finish of the activity = (Early Start of activity + Activity duration — 1)

Early Start and Early Finish Dates for the path Start -> A -> B -> C -> End
Early Start of activity A = 1 (Since this is the first activity of the path)
Early Finish of activity A = ES of activity A + activity duration —1
= 1 + 10 — 1 = 10
Early Start of activity B = EF of predecessor activity + 1
= 10 +1 = 11
Early Finish of activity B = ES of activity B + activity duration —1
= 11 + 12 — 1 = 22
Early Start of activity C = EF of predecessor activity + 1
= 22 +1 = 23
Early Finish of activity C = ES of activity C + activity duration —1
= 23 + 9 — 1 = 31
Early Start and Early Finish Dates for the path Start -> D -> E -> F -> End
ES of activity D = 1 (Since this is the first activity of the path)

EF of activity D = 1 + 5 — 1 = 5
ES of activity E = EF of predecessor activity + 1
Since the Activity E has two predecessor activities, which one will you select? You will select
the activity with the greater Early Finish date. Early Finish of activity D is 5, and Early Finish of
activity G is 3.
Therefore, we will select the Early Finish of activity D (Greater Value).
ES of activity E = EF of predecessor activity + 1= 5 + 1 = 6
EF of activity E = 6 + 7 — 1 = 12
ES of activity F = 12 + 1 = 13
EF of activity F = 13 + 6 -1= 18
Early Start and Early Finish Dates for the path Start -> G -> H -> I -> End
Early Start of activity G = 1 (Since this is the first activity of the path)
Early Finish of activity G = 1 + 3 — 1 = 3
Early Start of activity H = 3 + 1= 4
Early Finish of activity H = 4 + 4 — 1= 7
Early Start of activity I = 7 +1 = 8
Early Finish of activity I = 8 + 6 — 1 = 13
COMPUTING THE LAST START AND LAST FINISH
Late Finish represents the latest date an activity can finish, without delaying
the finish of the project. Likewise,
Late start represents the latest an activity can start without affecting the
planned project finish date.
When you first create a task, its late finish date is the same as the project finish date, and its late start date
is calculated as the project finish date minus the task duration. As you link the task to predecessors and
successors and apply any other constraints, application calculates the late start date as the last possible
date this task could be started if all predecessor and successor tasks also start and finish on their late start
and late finish date
To calculate the Late Start and Late Finish, we use 'backward pass' (start from
the last activity and move back towards the first activity).
The formula used for Late Start and Late Finish dates:
• Late Start of Activity = Late Finish of activity — activity duration + 1
• Late Finish of Activity = Late Start of successor activity —1
Late Finish of the last activity in any path will be the same as the Late Finish of
the last activity on the critical path, because we cannot continue any activity
once the project is completed.
Late Start and Late Finish Dates for the path Start -> A -> B -> C -> End
• Late Start of Activity = Late Finish of activity —activity duration + 1

• Late Finish of Activity = Late Start of successor activity — 1
On a critical path, Early Start, and Early Finish dates will be the same as Late Start
and Late Finish dates.
Late Start and Late Finish Dates for the path Start -> D -> E -> F -> End
Late Finish of activity F = 31 (because you cannot allow any activity to cross the project
completion dote)
Late Start of activity F = LF of activity F — activity duration + 1

= 31 — 6 +1 = 26
Late Finish of activity E = LS of successor activity —1
= LS of activity F —1
= 26 — 1 = 25
Late Start of Activity E = LF of activity E — activity duration + 1
= 25 — 7 + 1 = 19
Late Start and Late Finish Dates for the path Start -> G -> H -> I -> End
Late Finish of activity I = 31 (because you cannot allow any activity to cross the project completion dote)
Late Start of activity I = 31— 6 + 1= 26
Late Finish of activity H = 26 — 1 = 25
Late Start of activity H = 25 — 4 + 1 = 22
Late Finish of Activity G = 19 — 1= 18 (we will choose the late start of activity E, not activity H, because the Late Star
of activity E is smaller than the Late Start of activity H) Late Start of activity G = 18 — 3 + 1 = 16
CALCULATION OF SLACKS / FLOATS
Slack or float is used to indicate the spare time

available with in a non-critical activity. However,
in general slack relates to an event and floats to
an activity. These are important for smoothening
the resource utilization in a project.
The various floats and slacks are computed as follows:
A. Event Slack = LST-EST
B. Total Float is the time available for an activity over and above the requirement for its
completion.
Total Float = LST of end event – EST of Starting event- Duration of reference activity
C. Free Float is the time available for an activity to expand without influencing the later
activities.
Free Float = EST of end event – EST of starting event – Duration of reference activity.
D. Independent Float is the time with which an activity can expand without influencing the
preceding or succeeding activities. Seldom the independent float could be negative. In such
cases it would be considered to be equal to zero.
Independent float = EST of end event – LST of starting event – Duration of reference activity

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NETWORK

1. Determine the activities which need to be completed

2. Then find all activities which have activity 1 as predecessor

Activity D cannot begin until

DUMMY ACTIVITY – Is an activity added to a project as a place holder. A dummy

A project schedule network diagram is an output type of the process ‘sequencing

PLANNING IS THE PROCESS BY WHICH A MANAGER LOOKS TO THE FUTURE AND

• CONSCIOUS AND EXPLICIT AWARENESS OF THE ULTIMATE CORPORATE GOALS;

Early Start represents the earliest date an activity can

• Early Finish of the activity = (Early Start of activity + Activity duration — 1)

ES of activity D = 1 (Since this is the first activity of the path)

• Late Start of Activity = Late Finish of activity —activity duration + 1

Late Start of activity F = LF of activity F — activity duration + 1

Late Finish of activity H = 26 — 1 = 25

Late Start of activity H = 25 — 4 + 1 = 22

Slack or float is used to indicate the spare time

A. Event Slack = LST-EST

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