CHAPTER 6

NETWORK SCHEDULING TECHNIQUES

 INTRODUCTION
 A project is a series of activities directed to
accomplishment of a desired objective
 Management is continually seeking new and better
techniques to cope with the complexities, masses of
data, tight deadlines of a project.
 The most common techniques are:-
 Gant charts
 Milestone charts
 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
 Arrow Diagram Method (ADM) or Critical Path Method
(CPM)
 Precedence Diagram Method (PDM)
 Graphical Evaluation and review Technique
 NETWORK FUNDAMENTALS
Network analysis is the general name given to certain specific
techniques which can be used for the planning, management
and control of projects.
Network are composed of events and activities. Terms in
understanding networks are:-
Events: a millstone indicating when an activity stars or finish
Activity: the element of work that must be accomplished
Duration: the total time required to complete the activity
Effort: the amount of work that is actually performed within
the duration
Critical path: the longest path in which the project is done
 3 weeks
A B

 Arrows  An arrow leads from tail to head

directionally
 Indicate ACTIVITY, a time consuming effort that
is required to perform a part of the work.
 Nodes  A node is represented by a
circle
 Indicate EVENT, a point in time where one or
more activities start and/or finish
 Cont….
 Advantage of network scheduling
techniques:
 Form base for all planning and predicting
 Help how to use their resources to achieve time
and cost goals
 Provide visibility and enable to control the
program
 Provide facts that be a basis for decision making
 They reveal interdependencies of activities
 Identify the longest path
 Aid in scheduling risk analysis
Program Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT)
•PERT was developed by the US Navy for the planning and
control of the Polaris missile,
•It is basically a management planning and controlling
tool in which all of the major elements (events) will be
identifies a with their interrelations
•Time is used as a common denominator to analyze those
events that directly influence project success.
•Questions to be answered in constricting PERT:
What job immediately precedes this job?
What jobs immediately follows this job?
What jobs can be run concurrently?
 Cont…
 PERT uses three time estimates to derive
expected time:

1. Optimistic time : activity time under ideal

conditions,

2. Most probable time : most likely activity

time under normal conditions,

3. Pessimistic time : activity time if

breakdowns or serious delays occur.
 Critical path Method (CPM)
 CPM was developed by Du Pont and the
emphasis was on the trade-off between
the cost of the project and its overall
completion time
 Both PERT and CPM
 Graphicallydisplay the precedence
relationships & sequence of activities
 Estimate the project’s duration
 Identify
critical activities that cannot be
delayed without delaying the project
 Estimatethe amount of slack associated
with non-critical activities
 PERT/CPM
PERT CPM

activity-on-arrow activity-on-node network

network construction construction
Multiple time estimates Single estimate of activity
time
Probabilistic activity Deterministic activity times
times
for non-repetitive jobs for the jobs of repetitive in
where the time and cost nature where the activity
estimates tend to be time estimates can be
quite uncertain. predicted with certainty
 GRAPHICAL EVALUATION AND REVIEW
TECHNIQUE (GERT)

 Similar to PERT, but

 Have advantages of looping, branching
between activities and multiple
project end result.

A B
 DEPENDENCIES
Links between project tasks. There are 3 types of
dependencies:
 Mandatory dependencies: Inherent in the nature
of the work being performed on a project;
sometimes referred to as hard logic.
 Discretionary dependencies: Defined by the
project manager; sometimes referred to as soft
logic and should be used with care because they
may limit later scheduling options.
 External dependencies: Involve relationships
between project and non-project activities beyond
the control of the project manager
 Dummy activity
 An imaginary activity with no duration, used
to show either an indirect relationship
between 2 tasks or to clarify the identities
of the tasks .
 When two activities begin and end at the
same time, a dummy activity is inserted
into the model to distinguish the two
activities
 SLACK TIME
 The amount of time a task can be delayed before
the project finish date is delayed.
 Total Slack = Latest Start - Earliest Start.
 a task with 0 slack is considered a critical task. If a
critical task is delayed, the project finish date is
also delayed.
 Critical Path: The longest time path through the
task network. The series of tasks that dictates the
calculated finish date of the project
 Cont…
 When slack time began to decrease it
indicate for the project manager:-
 Work taking longer time than
anticipated
 Or more highly skilled labor is needed
 Or a new critical path could be forming
 LAG

 The time period between early start or

finish of an activity and the early start
or finish of another activity
 Slack is measured within activities
 Lag is measured between activities, it
may be result of resource constraint
Example ABC co. is bringing a new product on line to be
manufactured in their current facility. They have identified
11 activities and their precedence relationships.

Immediate Duration
Activity Description
Predecessor (weeks)
A Develop product specifications None 4
B Design manufacturing process A 6
C Source & purchase materials A 3
D Source & purchase tooling & equipment B 6
E Receive & install tooling & equipment D 14
F Receive materials C 5
G Pilot production run E&F 2
H Evaluate product design G 2
I Evaluate process performance G 3
J Write documentation report H&I 4
K Transition to manufacturing J 2
Diagram the Network for activities
Deterministic Time Estimates and Connected
Paths
 Calculate the Path Completion Times

Paths Path duration

ABDEGHJK 40
ABDEGIJK 41
ACFGHJK 22
ACFGIJK 23

 The longest path (ABDEGIJK) limits the project’s

duration (project cannot finish in less time than
its longest path)
 ABDEGIJK is the project’s critical path
 Cont…
 All activities on the critical path have zero
slack
 Slack = LF-EF or LS-ES
 Earliest Start (ES) = the earliest finish of the
immediately preceding activity
 Earliest Finish (EF) = is the ES plus the activity
time
 Latest Start (LS) = the latest an activity can start
(LS) without delaying the project completion
 Latest Finish (LF) = is the LS plus the activity
time
ES, EF,LS, LF Network
 Calculating Slack
Late Early Slack
Activity
Finish Finish (weeks)
A 4 4 0
B 10 10 0
C 25 7 18
D 16 16 0
E 30 30 0
F 30 12 18
G 32 32 0
H 35 34 1
I 35 35 0
J 39 39 0
K 41 41 0
 NETWORK REPLANING
 Many iteration during the planning phase
before the PERT/CPM chart is finished
 There are two ways of re planning
Resource leveling: eliminate manpower
peaks and valleys
Resource allocation: find shortest
possible path upon available resource
 ESTIMATING ACTIVITY TIME
 Determine the elapsed time between
events.
 They may estimate using three possible
completion assumptions:
Optimistic completion time. Every thing
will go according to the plan with
minimal difficulties
 Cont…
 Pessimistic completion time. Every thing will
not go according to the plan
 Most likely completion time. The time that
occurred most often reported over and over
again
Two assumptions will be undertaken In calculating
the expected time
1.Standard deviation, σ is one sixth of time
requirement range
2.Probability distribution of time for an activity be
expressed as beta distribution
 Cont…
 Expected time =

optimistic time + 4X most likely time + pessimistic time

6
 Example:

Expected time=
3 workdays + 4 X 5 workdays +7workdays = 5 days
6
2 workdays + 4 X 4 workdays +12workdays = 5 days
6
 Even if the expected time are equal in the later
case higher degree of uncertainty due to wider
spread between optimistic and pessimistic time.
 ESTIMATING TOTAL PROJECT TIME

Estimating total project time is useful for;

 It offers the advantage of predicting the
probability of project completion dates
 Establish a confidence interval for each
activity and the critical path
 Measure the risk in the estimate, the risk
in completing each activity and the risk
of completing each activity
 Cont…
 We have already calculated the expected time for
each activity by making three time estimates
 Now we need to calculate the variance for each
activity
 The variance of the beta probability distribution
is:
2
2ba 
σ  
 6 
– where b=pessimistic activity time estimate
a=optimistic activity time estimate
 Project Time Estimates

Optimistic Most likely Pessimistic

Activity Description
time time time
A Develop product specifications 2 4 6
B Design manufacturing process 3 7 10
C Source & purchase materials 2 3 5
D Source & purchase tooling & equipment 4 7 9
E Receive & install tooling & equipment 12 16 20
F Receive materials 2 5 8
G Pilot production run 2 2 2
H Evaluate product design 2 3 4
I Evaluate process performance 2 3 5
J Write documentation report 2 4 6
K Transition to manufacturing 2 2 2
 Calculating Expected Task Times
Optimistic Most likely Pessimistic Expected
Activity
time time time time
A 2 4 6 4
B 3 7 10 6.83
C 2 3 5 3.17
D 4 7 9 6.83
E 12 16 20 16
F 2 5 8 5
G 2 2 2 2
H 2 3 4 3
I 2 3 5 3.17
J 2 4 6 4
K 2 2 2 2

optimistic  4most likely   pessimistic

Exp. time 
6
Network Diagram with Expected Activity Times
 Estimated Path Durations through
the Network
Activities on paths Expected duration
ABDEGHJK 44.66
ABDEGIJK 44.83
ACFGHJK 23.17
ACFGIJK 23.34
 ABDEGIJK is the expected critical path &
the project has an expected duration of
44.83 weeks
 Project Activity Variance
Activity Optimistic Most Pessimistic Variance
Likely
A 2 4 6 0.44
B 3 7 10 1.36
C 2 3 5 0.25
D 4 7 9 0.69
E 12 16 20 1.78
F 2 5 8 1.00
G 2 2 2 0.00
H 2 3 4 0.11
I 2 3 5 0.25
J 2 4 6 0.44
K 2 2 2 0.00
 Variances of Each Path through
the Network
Path Activities on Path Path Variance
Number (weeks)
1 A,B,D,E,G,H,J,k 4.82

2 A,B,D,E,G,I,J,K 4.96

3 A,C,F,G,H,J,K 2.24

4 A,C,F,G,I,J,K 2.38
 STEPS OF PREPARING PERT
SCHEDULE
 Step1; list of activities to be performed
 Step2; placing these activities in order of
precedence by the project manager either
in chart or arrow diagram
 Step3; review the arrow with the experts
 Step4; functional manager convert the
arrow in to PERT chart by identifying the
time duration for each activity
 Cont…
 Step5; Iteration on the critical path by
the project manager
 Step6; the PM place calander date on
each events and convert planning under
unlimited resource to limited resource
 Finally re planning be an ongoing
function during project execution
 Schedule Compression
 Achieve the greatest amount of schedule
compression for the least incremental cost while
maintaining project scope.
 The project manger consider Schedule compression
during:
– Planning phase: see if desired completion date
can be met and what will have to change to
make that date.
– Integrated change control: look at the schedule
impacts or changes to time, cost, scope and risk
 Methods:
– Crash time
– Fast Tracking
 Crash time
 Project completion times may need to be
shortened because
– Different deadlines
– Penalty clauses
– Need to put resources on a new project
– Promised completion dates
 Shifting resources to reduce slack time so
the critical path is as short as possible.
Always raises project costs and is typically
disruptive –
 Cont…
 a project should be crashed with caution.
 Options:
– Add resources to a project.
– Move resources around within a project.
 Results:
– Increased costs
– Add management time for PM
 Cont…
 Crashing a project needs to balance
– Shorten a project duration
– Cost to shorten the project duration
 Crashing a project requires you to know
– Crash time of each activity
– Crash cost of each activity

Crash cost/duration = (crash cost-normal cost)

(normal time – crash time)
 Fast-tracking
 Doing critical path activities in parallel that were
originally planned in series.
 Choose activity on the critical path to shorten
project length.
 Results:
– Attention on communications
– More management time for Project Managers
– Necessary rework
– Increased risk
PROJECT NETWORK DIAGRAM BEFORE FAST TRACKING

5 days 4 days 9 days = 18 days

PROJECT NETWORK DIAGRAM AFTER FAST TRACKING

5 days

9 days = 14 days
Perform activities in parallel.

4 days
 PERT/CPM problem areas
 Decision making ability reduced
 After the PERT is planned managers become
observer
 Lack of historical data for time cost estimates
 Time and labor intensive
 Assumes unlimited resource
 Cost control problem arise when its not
compatible with company polices
 Over emphasis on critical paths
 Requires too much details
 Cont…
 Clearly defined, independent and stable
activities
 Specified precedence relationships
 Over emphasis on critical paths
 Requires too much details
 Alternative PERT/CPM models
 Reconstructing PERT/time into PERT/cost
and PERT/performance models
 PERT/cost was developed for Project
managers could identify critical slippages
and cost overruns in time to correct them.
 PERT/performance for understanding the
relationship between cost and schedule
performance