PERT DIAGRAMS & CPM

• Project Scheduling
1 • Project Scheduling Objectives
• Phases of Project Scheduling
• PERT Diagrams & Dummy Activities
• CPM – Critical Path Method
Software Project Management
PROJECT SCHEDULING
 It is part of project management within the Planning phase of
the Systems Development Life Cycle.
 Project Scheduling: Allocate resources to execute all activities
in the project.

 Project: Set of activities or tasks with a clear beginning and

ending points. The amount of available resources (time,
personnel and budget) to carry out the activities is usually
limited. 2

Software Project Management

PROJECT SCHEDULING
 “A project is a series of activities directed to accomplishment
of a desired objective.”

Plan your work first…..then

work your plan

Software Project Management

 PROJECT SCHEDULING : GANTT DIAGRAM

Originated by
H.L.Gantt in 1918

Advantages Limitations

- Gantt charts are quite commonly - Do not clearly indicate details regarding
used. They provide an easy graphical the progress of activities
representation of when activities - Do not give a clear indication of
(might) take place. interrelation ship between the separate 4
activities
Software Project Management
PROJECT SCHEDULING
 Objectives:
 Establish beginning, ending and duration of each activity in the
project.
 Calculate overall completion time of the project given the
amount of usually limited resources.
 Determine the critical path and its duration.
 Determine the slack time for all non-critical activities and the
whole project.
 Guide the allocation of resources other than time such
as staff and budget.

Software Project Management

PROJECT SCHEDULING
 Phases:
 Define activities or tasks according to the project objectives.
 A task is an individual unit of work with a clear beginning and a clear
end.
 Identify precedence relationships or dependencies
 Estimate time required to complete each task.
 Draw an activity-on-arrow PERT diagram inserting dummy activities if
required.
 Apply CPM to calculate earliest and latest starting times, earliest and
latest completion times, slack times, critical path etc.
 Construct a GANTT chart.
 Reallocate resources and resolve if necessary.
 Continuously monitor/revise the time estimates along the project
duration. 6

Software Project Management

PROJECT SCHEDULING
 Phases:
 Define activities or tasks according to the project objectives.
 A task is an individual unit of work with a clear beginning and a clear
end.
 Identify precedence relationships or dependencies
 Estimate time required to complete each task.
 Draw an activity-on-arrow PERT diagram inserting dummy activities if
required.
 Apply CPM to calculate earliest and latest starting times, earliest and
latest completion times, slack times, critical path etc.
 Construct a GANTT chart.
 Reallocate resources and resolve if necessary.
 Continuously monitor/revise the time estimates along the project
duration. 7

Software Project Management

PERT DIAGRAMS
 Program Evaluation and Review Technique
 It is a network model that allows for randomness in activity
completion times.
 Tool used to control the length of projects.
 PERT was developed in the late 1950’s for the US Navy’s
Polaris Project.
 First used as a management tool for military projects
 Adapted as an educational tool for business managers
 It has the potential to reduce both the time and cost required
to complete a project.

Software Project Management

PERT DIAGRAMS

A F
1 2 5 6

Single start Single finish

node node
9

Software Project Management

PERT DIAGRAMS
 Activity-on-node diagrams:
 Maybe more than one single start and end node
 Nodes represent activities
 Arrows indicate precedence

 Activity-on-arrow diagrams:
 One single start and one single end node
 Arrows represent activities
 Nodes indicate beginning/end of activities

10

Software Project Management

PERT DIAGRAMS
Activity-on-node

Activity-on-arrow

11

Software Project Management

PERT DIAGRAMS
 Some basic rules for Activity –on-arrow:
 Tasks are represented as arrows
 Nodes represent the start and finish points of tasks
 There is only one overall start node
 There is only one overall finish node
 Two tasks cannot share the same start and end node.
B

A D
2 3

C
Tasks B & C share
the same start and
end node 12

Software Project Management

DUMMY ACTIVITIES
 Sometimes it is necessary to insert dummy activities (duration zero)
in order to maintain the clarity of the diagram and the precedence
relationships between activities.
 In activity-on-arrow PERT diagrams, each activity must be uniquely
identifiable by its start and end nodes.
 However, sometimes multiple tasks have the same predecessors
and successors.

13

Software Project Management

DUMMY ACTIVITIES
Case One
 A task should be uniquely identifiable from its start node and finish
node
 This means that two or more tasks cannot share the same start
and finish nodes

A D
1 2 3 4

Task D has C
immediate Tasks B and C
predecessors of have the same
B and C start and
finish nodes 14

Software Project Management

DUMMY ACTIVITIES
 Inserting a dummy activity can ensure that multiple
tasks have different successors.

A B D
1 2 3 5

A new node is A dummy task is

4
inserted to give C inserted to
a different finish preserve the
node to B immediate 15
predecessors of D

Software Project Management

DUMMY ACTIVITIES
Case Two
 A task should be uniquely identifiable from its start node
and finish node
 This also means that a task cannot have more than one start
node and one finish node
 In other words… two different arrows cannot represent the
same task.

Software Project Management

DUMMY ACTIVITIES
Possible Solution One
 One option would be to insert activity E as shown below, but this
changes the precedence of E and provokes that D and E share both
start and end nodes.
Ending node of task B
and C, but task E has a
precedence ONLY task
C

Task D and E have

same start and end
nodes

Software Project Management

DUMMY ACTIVITIES
Possible Solution Two
 Another option would be to insert activity E as shown below, but
this provokes C to have two different end nodes.

Two ending nodes for

Task C

Software Project Management

DUMMY ACTIVITIES
Correct Solution!
 The solution is to insert a dummy task so that the precedence of E
is preserved and activity C remains uniquely identifiable.

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD
 It is determined by adding the times for the activities in each
sequence.
 CPM determines the total calendar time required for the project.
 If activities outside the critical path speed up or slow down (within
limits), the total project time does not change.
 The amount of time that a non-critical activity can be delayed
without delaying the project is called slack-time.

20

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD
 ET – Earliest node time for given activity duration and precedence
relationships
 LT – Latest node time assuming no delays

 ES – Activity earliest start time

 LS – Activity latest start time
 EF – Activity earliest finishing time
 LF – Activity latest finishing time
 Slack Time – Maximum activity delay time 21

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD
Step 1. Calculate ET for each node.
For each node i for which predecessors j are labelled with ET(j), ET(i) is
given by:
ET(i)= maxj [ET(j)+ t(j,i)]

where t(j,i) is the duration of task between nodes (j,i).

Step 2. Calculate LT for each node.

For each node i for which successors j are labelled with LT(j), LT(i) is given
by:

LT(i)= minj [LT(j) – t(i,j)]

where t(j,i) is the duration of task between nodes (i,j).

22

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

1 5

C(7)

3 4
23

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

1 5

C(7)

3 4
24

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

1 5

4 C(7)

3 4
25

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

1 5

4 C(7) 11

3 4
26

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3
13
2

1 5

4 C(7) 11

3 4
27

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3
13
8
2

1 5

4 C(7) 11

3 4
28

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3
13
max
8
2

1 5

4 C(7) 11

3 4
29

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

0 13

1 5

4 C(7) 11

3 4
30

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

0 13 13

1 5

4 C(7) 11

3 4
31

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

0 13 13

1 5

4 C(7) 11 11

3 4
32

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3 8

0 13 13

1 5

4 C(7) 11 11

3 4
33

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3 8

0 13 13

1 5

4 4 C(7) 11 11

3 4
34

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3 8
5

0 13 13

1 5

4 4 C(7) 11 11

3 4
35

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3 8
5
0
2

0 13 13

1 5

4 4 C(7) 11 11

3 4
36

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3 8
5 min
0
2

0 13 13

1 5

4 4 C(7) 11 11

3 4
37

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3 8

0 0 13 13

1 5

4 4 C(7) 11 11

3 4
38

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD
 An activity with zero slack time is a critical activity and
cannot be delayed without causing a delay in the whole
project.

39

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD
Step 3. Calculate processing times for each activity.
For each activity X with start node i and end node j:
ES(X) = ET(i)
EF(X) = ES(X) + t(X)
LF(X) = LT(j)
LS(X) = LF(X) – t(X)
Slack Time (X) = LS(X) – ES(X) = LF(X) – EF(X)
= LF(X) – t(X) – ES(X)

Where t(X) is the duration of activity X.

An activity with zero slack time is a critical activity and cannot be

delayed without causing a delay in the whole project.

40

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD
Step 3. Calculate processing times for each activity.

Task Duration ES EF LS LF Slack Critical Task

A 3 0 3 5 8 5 No
B 4 0 4 0 4 0 Yes
C 7 4 11 4 11 0 Yes
D 5 3 8 8 13 5 No
E 2 11 13 11 13 0 Yes

Reading: (Kendall&Kendall, chapter 3), (Dennis &Wixom, chapter 3) 41

Software Project Management

CPM – CRITICAL PATH METHOD

3 8

0 0 13 13

1 5

4 4 C(7) 11 11

3 4
42

Software Project Management