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AON vs. AOA

Both activity-on-arrow (AOA) and activity-on-node (AON) network diagrams have advantages and disadvantages for project planning - AOA networks are better suited for analytical techniques but can require dummy activities, while AON networks provide a more natural representation but are more difficult for path tracking. Although AOA networks may require dummy activities, they can be represented as a total unimodular matrix and are suitable for formulations that use node variable subtractions.

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Subbaramaiahamu Venkataramaiah
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16K views3 pages

AON vs. AOA

Both activity-on-arrow (AOA) and activity-on-node (AON) network diagrams have advantages and disadvantages for project planning - AOA networks are better suited for analytical techniques but can require dummy activities, while AON networks provide a more natural representation but are more difficult for path tracking. Although AOA networks may require dummy activities, they can be represented as a total unimodular matrix and are suitable for formulations that use node variable subtractions.

Uploaded by

Subbaramaiahamu Venkataramaiah
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AON: Advantages:  Network diagram is unique  Construction of network diagram is easier  AON representation is natural and does not

contain artificial elements on the network  No dummy activities are used  Events are not used  Easy to understand at every level of management  AON are easier to revise that AOA when there are changes in the network.  Easier to show complex relationships  All the information about the activities is contained within the box Disadvantages:  Path tracking by activity number is difficult  Drawing and understanding are more difficult when dependencies are numerous AOA: Advantages:  Each AOA arrow has its distinct origin and destination nodes.  The network structure is suitable for analytical techniques and optimization formulations  Path tracking is simplified by event numbering  Easier to draw if dependencies are intense  Key events are easy to identify  Milestone events are easily marked  Multiple precedence relationships are much more clearly illustrated Disadvantages:  Network diagram is not unique for a given project.  Construction of network diagram is relatively difficult due to dummy arrows and implicit precedence relations.  Emphasis on events can detract from activities and delays, which can cause projects to be late

Having both AOA and AON networks of a project is an advantage since some planning and optimisation techniques strictly require AOA format while others require AON format. AOA networks could be arranged in a total unimodular "node-arc" matrix that ensures an integer solution for integer data. (3) AOA is suitable for some popular formulations that use pairwise subtractions of AOA node variables. However, due to their importance, AOA networks have been drawing many research trials to generate AOA networks with minimal number of dummy arcs. Examples of dummy minimization heuristic methods can be found as early as in [7, 11, 12]. In the 1970's Corneil et. al. [4], claimed to have an optimal algorithm, but Syslo [20] disproved their claim. Krishnamoorty and Deo [13] showed that finding the minimum dummy problem is NP-hard. In the 1980's [19, 20, 21] offered more heuristics. In the 1990's [1, 5] proposed AOA networkgenerating methods but they did not consider the redundancy and other problems brought up by dummy activities, and therefore, are considerably impaired. A different direction was opened when Elmaghraby and Herroelen [8] developed a complexity index as a measurement tool for the complexity in activity networks. Kamburowski et. al. [14, 15] developed a method that generates minimal complexity-index AOA networks. Note however, that a single AON network may be represented by several different AOA networks with the same minimal complexity index. The first step in constructing an AOA network is to list the immediate predecessors of each activity and to sequence the activities in a table according to the precedence constraints. The resulting precedence table, corresponds directly to an Activities on Nodes (AON) network diagram [16]. In an AON diagram, the activities are represented on nodes and the precedence constraints by the arcs connecting the nodes. Therefore, in AON the number of nodes is the number of activities, and the number of arcs is the number of immediate predecessors. As a result each project can have multiple AOA representations [10]. The different representations have actual and undesirable effect on the slack measures (time flexibility measures) of certain activities [6, 9]. AON  Emphasizes the process (i.e. QA) more than the end result  Dominates in more Bay Area relevant industries (software and consulting) Advantages:

Its ability to cope with change (information rather than the network needs to be revised) Its ability to provide the project manager with information Its speed (computer versions) Disadvantages: Complex calculations Network diagrams that are not easy to follow Considerable training and experience for its effective use AOA  Is supported by MSProject  Lends itself to post-it notes on the whiteboard brainstorming  Doesnt require use of dummy activities or other confusing conceits  An arrow denotes passage of time and therefore is better suited (than a node) to represent a task.  Scheduling (manually) on a TOA diagram is easier than on a TON diagram.  In general, TOA needs fewer arrows than TON and therefore will be more clear. Consider the project: It needs a dummy arrow. Despite the difficulty with dummy arrows, the TOA diagram is better suited than the TON for manual work, because of its manual scheduling advantages. Computer programs use the TON diagram, because of the trouble with dummy arrows.

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