10/11/2019

Project Schedule Management

(Lecture 7) – 6.3 Sequence Activities
Naeem Iqbal, MCS, MBA, PMP, LIMC
[email protected]

Recap
Schedule
Project Life
Management Why Scheduling
Cycles
Basics

Scheduling Emerging
Tailoring
methods, tools, trends in project
considerations
and techniques scheduling

Scheduling for Schedule 2

adaptive Management Define Activities

environment Plan

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6.3 Sequence Activities:

Key Concepts
process of identifying and documenting
relationships among the project activities

it defines the logical sequence of work to

obtain the greatest efficiency given all project
constraints

performed throughout the project. 3

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6.3 Sequence Activities: Inputs

 Project Management Plan
 Schedule Management Plan: defines the
schedule methodology, the duration of waves for
rolling wave planning, and the level of detail
necessary to manage the work

 Scope Baseline: WBS, deliverables,

constraints, and assumptions documented in the
scope baseline are considered explicitly while
defining activities

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6.3 Sequence Activities: Inputs

 Project Documents
 Activity attributes: describe a necessary
sequence of events or defined predecessor or
successor relationships, as well as defined lead
and lag and logical relationships between the
activities
 Activity List: contains all schedule activities
required on the project that are to be sequenced

6.3 Sequence Activities: Inputs

 Project Documents
 Assumption Log: Assumptions and constraints
recorded in the assumption log may influence
the way activities are sequenced, the
relationship between activities, and the need for
leads and lags, and may give rise to individual
project risks that may impact the project
schedule
 Milestone List: may have scheduled dates for
specific milestones, which may influence the
way activities are sequenced
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6.3 Sequence Activities: Inputs

 Enterprise Environmental Factors

 Government or industry standards,

 Project management information system (PMIS),
 Scheduling tools, and
 Organization work authorization systems.

6.3 Sequence Activities: Inputs

 Organizational Process Assets

 Portfolio and program plans and project

dependencies and relationships;
 Existing formal and informal activity planning-
related policies, procedures, and guidelines
 Templates that can be used to expedite the
preparation of networks for project activities; and
 Lessons learned repository containing historical
information that can help optimize the
sequencing process. 10

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6.3 Sequence Activities:

Tools & Techniques
 Precedence Diagramming Method

 a technique used for constructing a schedule

model in which activities are represented by
nodes and are graphically linked by one or more
logical relationships to show the sequence in
which the activities are to be performed;

 Four types of dependencies are used

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6.3 Sequence Activities:

Tools & Techniques
 Finish-to-start (FS). A logical relationship in which
a successor activity cannot start until a
predecessor activity has finished.
For example, installing the operating system on a
PC (successor) cannot start until the PC hardware
is assembled (predecessor).
 Finish-to-finish (FF). A logical relationship in
which a successor activity cannot finish until a
predecessor activity has finished.
For example, writing a document (predecessor) is
required to finish before editing the document 12
(successor) can finish.

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6.3 Sequence Activities:

Tools & Techniques
 Start-to-start (SS). A logical relationship in which a
successor activity cannot start until a predecessor
activity has started.
For example, level concrete (successor) cannot
begin until pour foundation (predecessor) begins.
 Start-to-finish (SF). A logical relationship in which
a successor activity cannot finish until a
predecessor activity has started.
 For example, a new accounts payable system
(successor) has to start before the old accounts
payable system can be shut down (predecessor). 13

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6.3 Sequence Activities:

Tools & Techniques
 Dependency Determination and Integration

 Mandatory dependencies: are legally or

contractually required or inherent in the nature
of the work.;
 Discretionary dependencies: preferred logic,
preferential logic, or soft logic. established
based on knowledge of best practices within a
particular application area or some unusual
aspect of the project where a specific sequence
is desired, even though there may be other
acceptable sequences 15

6.3 Sequence Activities:

Tools & Techniques
 Dependency Determination and Integration

 External dependencies: involve a relationship

between project activities and non-project
activities. These dependencies are usually
outside of the project team’s control;
 Internal dependencies: involve a precedence
relationship between project activities and are
generally inside the project team’s control

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6.3 Sequence Activities:

Tools & Techniques
 Leads and Lags

 A lead is the amount of time a successor

activity can be advanced with respect to a
predecessor activity;

 A lag is the amount of time a successor activity

will be delayed with respect to a predecessor
activity

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6.3 Sequence Activities:

Tools & Techniques
 Project Management Information System

 includes scheduling software that has the

capability to help plan, organize, and adjust the
sequence of the activities; insert the logical
relationships, lead and lag values; and
differentiate the different types of dependencies

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6.3 Sequence Activities : Outputs

 Project Schedule Network Diagram:

 a graphical representation of the logical
relationships, also referred to as
dependencies, among the project schedule
activities
 Activities that have multiple predecessor
activities indicate a path convergence.
 Activities that have multiple successor
activities indicate a path divergence

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6.2 Sequence Activities : Outputs

 Project Documents update:

 Activity attributes: may describe a
necessary sequence of events or defined
predecessor or successor relationships, as
well as defined lead and lag and logical
relationships between the activities.

 Activity List: may be impacted by the change

in relationships among the project activities
during the sequencing activities.
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6.2 Sequence Activities : Outputs

 Project Documents update:

 Assumption Log: Assumptions and
constraints recorded in the assumption log
may need to be updated based on the
sequencing, relationship determination, and
leads and lags, and may give rise to individual
project risks that may impact the project
schedule
 Milestone List: The scheduled dates for
specific milestones may be impacted by
changes in relationships among the project
activities during the sequencing activities. 23

Constructing a Project Network

 Activity: an element of the

project that requires time.
A
 Merge activity: an activity that
has two or more preceding B D

activities on which it depends.

C
 Parallel (concurrent)
activities: Activities that can
occur independently and, if
desired, not at the same time. 24

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Constructing a Project Network

 Path: a sequence of connected,
dependent activities.
 Critical path: the longest path through
the activity network that allows for the
completion of all project-related
activities;
the shortest expected time in which the
entire project can be completed. Delays
on the critical path will delay completion
of the entire project. 25

Constructing a Project Network

 Networks typically flow from left to right.

 An activity cannot begin until all of its
predecessor activities are complete.
 Arrows indicate precedence and flow and can
cross over each other.
 Identify each activity with a unique number; this
number must be greater than its predecessors.
 Looping is not allowed.
 Conditional statements are not allowed.
 Use common start and stop nodes. 26

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Activity-on-Node Fundamentals

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Activity-on-Node Fundamentals

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Network Information

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Complete Network

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Network Computation Process

• How soon can the activity start? (early start—

ES)
Forward Pass— • How soon can the activity finish? (early finish—
Earliest Times EF)
• How soon can the project finish? (expected
time—ET)

• How late can the activity start? (late start—LS)

Backward • How late can the activity finish? (late finish—LF)
Pass—Latest
Times • Which activities represent the critical path?
• How long can it be delayed? (slack or float—SL)

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Network Information

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Network Information

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Forward Pass Computation

 Add activity times along each path in the
network
 (ES + Duration = EF).
 Carry the early finish (EF) to the next
activity where it becomes its early start
(ES) unless…
 The next succeeding activity is a merge
activity, in which case the largest EF of all
preceding activities is selected. 34

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Forward Pass Computation

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Backward Pass Computation

 Subtract activity times along each path in

the network
 (LF - Duration = LS).
 Carry the late start (LS) to the next activity
where it becomes its late finish (LF)
unless...
 The next succeeding activity is a burst
activity, in which case the smallest LF of all
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preceding activities is selected.

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Backward Pass Computation

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Determining Slack (Float)

 Free Slack (or Float)

 The amount of time an activity can be
delayed without delaying connected
successor activities
 Total Slack
 The amount of time an activity can be
delayed without delaying the entire project
 The critical path is the network path(s) that
has (have) the least slack in common. 38

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Sensitivity of Network

 The likelihood the original critical path(s)

will change once the project is initiated.
 Function of:
 The number of critical paths
 The amount of slack across near
critical activities

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Float Calculation

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Class Work
Activity Preceded Duration
by
Start 0
D Start 4
1.Draw network diagram. A Start 6
2.Calculate activities time and
F D, A 7
float
E D 8
3.Complete forward pass and
backward pass G F, E 5
4.Determine Critical Path B F 5
H G 7
C H 8
End C, B 0
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Case Study

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Thank You!

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