Project Scheduling

Dr. Sohaib Gutub

Agenda
• Overview of the Critical Path Method Scheduling
Procedure
• Forward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• Critical Path
• Activity Floats
• Generalized Relationship Scheduling Computations
Overview of the Critical Path Method
Scheduling Procedure
• When two activities are linked by a traditional relationship, the predecessor must
finish before the successor can begin.
• The earliest possible dates to execute each activity in the network can be found
when this rationale is successively applied to all activities in the diagram.
• This process is known as the CPM forward pass and also determines the
minimum possible duration of the project.
• A similar procedure is then performed backward, from the last to the first
activities in the diagram.
• This second step is called the CPM backward pass and computes the latest dates
by which each activity can be performed without increasing the project’s
minimum duration.
• The difference between the earliest and latest possible dates to execute each
activity is its total float, which as the name implies, is the time that an activity can
‘‘drift’’ or be ‘‘floated’’ between its two extreme dates.
Overview of the Critical Path Method
Scheduling Procedure
• A chain of critical activities will not have any available
float (Zero Float).
• The timely completion of this chain of activities is
critical for the scheduled completion of the entire
project.
• This activity chain is appropriately called the critical
path of the project and is so central to the schedule
that the entire scheduling technique is called the
critical path method.
Overview of the Critical Path Method
Scheduling Procedure
• Figure 8.18 will be used to
illustrate CPM’s scheduling
computations.
• It contains seven activities linked
by traditional relationships (FS
with LAG. 0).
• The second item in each box is
the activity duration in working
days.
Activity Dates
ESij EFij
i j
LSij Tij LFij

ESij = Early Start Date, the earliest start date of an activity

EFij = Early Finish Date, the earliest finish date of an activity
when it starts at ESD
ESij + Tij
LFij = Late Finish Date, the latest finish date of an activity
LSij = Late Start Date, the latest start date of an activity
= LFDij - Tij ESD EFD ESD EFD
ESD EFD LSD LFD LSD LFD
A A
A
LSD LFD
Forward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• The forward pass is the first phase of the scheduling
computations.
• It computes the minimum date at which each activity
can be performed while observing the constraints
imposed by the relationships among activities.
Forward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• The ESD and EFD for the successors to B, C, and D (i.e., E and F) are
computed similarly.
• Because the EFD of C is 8, this number is repeated as ESD for F. But
E poses a new situation.
• It is an immediate successor to both B and C.
• Its ESD will be the larger of its predecessors’ EFD, that is,
Forward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• An FS relationship means that the earliest that the successor can be
started is when the predecessor is finished.
• Any date earlier than 11 would violate the relationship between B
and E, but the ESD of 11 does keep the FS relationship between C and
F.
• The ESD of G is, therefore, the maximum of the EFDs of its
predecessors:
Forward Pass (Traditional Relationships)

1 11 11 19

0 1 1 8 8 13 19 20

1 15
Forward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
5 10 10 26
B E
5 16

15 23 23 40

F K 40 55
0 5 5 15 55
8 17
P
A C 15 End
5 10 15 24 24 32
G M
9 8

5 11 11 25

D H
6 14

11
Session #3
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• The second phase of CPM computations is the backward pass, whose
progression through the network is opposite to that of the forward pass, as
the name suggests.
• The backward pass computes the latest date by which each activity must
finish to avoid extending the project duration.
• Take, for example, Activity D in the example.
• It could end as late as by working day 19 without affecting the early start of
Activity G.
• But, if Activity D ends even 1 day after working day 19, it would ‘‘push’’ the
start of Activity G and would result in a project duration of more than 20
working days.
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
•The latest possible start date for each activity
calculated by the backward pass is called the
activity’s late start date (LSD).
•Similarly, the latest finish date for each activity is
its late finish date (LFD).
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• The backward pass begins by assigning an LFD to the last activity. In
most cases, this date is the same as the EFD already found for this last
activity.
• For our example, Activity G would have an LFD of 20.
• The LSD for G is computed by subtracting its duration TG:
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• The last activity’s LFD is the only point at which the forward pass
provides any data relevant to the backward pass.
• The forward and backward passes can even be performed in separate
drawings, to avoid visual clutter.
• This first step is shown in Figure 8.21.
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• The next step in the backward pass is to find the LFD of all
predecessors to the last activity.
• This date is set as the last activity’s LSD.
• In the example, G has three predecessors:
• D, E, and F. Their LFDs are set as follows
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• Their respective LSDs are found by subtracting their duration from
their LFD.
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
• Figure 8.22 shows the backward pass computations, including the
activities discussed
• that follows. To avoid confusion with the forward pass, each activity’s
LFD and LSD are
• located below the activity box.
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)

1 11 11 19

0 1 4 11 14 19 19 20

5 19
Backward Pass (Traditional Relationships)
Critical Path

• It can be noticed in Figure 8.18 that the longest sequence of activities

that must be performed to complete the example project is A-B-E-G.
• The total duration of this chain of activities is 1 + 10 + 8 + 1 = 20
working days.
• Any other activity sequence from start to finish yields a smaller total
duration. It is possible to check this by listing all possible paths for the
example diagram.
Critical Path
Critical Path

• The forward pass provides a straightforward way to find the duration of the
project.
• Enumerating all possible activity paths is possible for the small example
network, but it would be quite impractical for any project with even a few
dozen activities.
• The backward pass provides additional information by allowing the
identification of this longest path.
• Any activity with the same ESD and LSD (or EFD and LFD) is part of the
longest path of activities spanning from the beginning to the end of the
network.
• Notice that only the activities that we already identified as belonging to the
longest path, namely A, B, E and G, have this property.
Critical Path

• The activity path with the maximum total duration is called the critical
path of the project and its activities are called critical activities.
• The path is marked with double-line relationships (or a red line), as
shown in Figure 8.23.
• The critical path is of paramount importance for the control of the
project.
• Understanding its implications is essential for rational management
decisions.
CRITICAL PATH
• The activity path with the maximum total duration.
• All projects will have at least one critical path.
• All critical activities belong to a critical path. An activity cannot be critical
without belonging to a critical path.
• A delay in any critical activity, even by a single day, will extend the duration
of the project.
• All noncritical activities (anyone not belonging to a critical path) can be
delayed by at least 1 day without lengthening the project duration.
• Since the duration of a project is determined by its critical path, saving time
in any noncritical activity does not decrease at all the project's duration.
Critical Path

• The Critical Path(s) is the path(s) with ZERO Total

Float

•The Critical Path(s) is the LONGEST path(s) in the

network
Critical Path
 ACTIVITY FLOATS
TF: Total float is the maximum amount of delay which can be assigned to any activity
without delaying the entire project (the leeway between the earliest date at which it can
start and the latest date at which it can start without resulting in a delay for the entire
project.)
TFi= LSDi - ESDi = LFDi - EFDi
TFi= LFDi – D(i) - ESDi

FF: Free float is the amount of delay which can be assigned to any one activity without
delaying subsequent activities (the leeway between the earliest date at which it can start
and the latest date at which it can start without resulting in a delay for the entire
project.)
FFi = Min(ESDj )- EFDi
 ACTIVITY FLOATS
IF: Interfering Float: is the difference between TF and FF of an activity (It is the portion of
its TF that "pushes“ succeeding activities up to their latest possible start times.

IFi = TFi – FFi

IndF: Independent float : when an activity ends as late as possible (at its LFD) and all its
successors begin as early as possible, at their ESD.

IndFi = Min(ESDj ) – (LFDi)

39
Forward Pass (Generalized Relationships)
ES(j) =The maximum
ìInitial Time ü
ï ï (latest) of the set of start
ï EF i + FS ij ï times which includes the
ï ï “Initial Time,” and one
ES j = MAX í ES i
+ SS ij ý
all i
ï ï start time computed from
ï EF i + FF ij - D j ï each constraint going to
ï ES + SF - D ï activity (j), from
î i ij j þ

predecessor activities
= ES j + D j indexed by (i).
EF j
Forward Pass (Generalized Relationships)
24,14,23

2 12 16 24

24,14,19

0 1 2 9 9 14 24 25

2 17
Backward Pass (Generalized Relationships)
LF(j) =The minimum
ìTerminal Time ü (earliest) of the set of
ï ï finish times which
ï LS j - FS ij ï includes the “Terminal
ï ï
LF i = MIN
all j
í LF j
- FF ij ý Time,” and one finish time
ï ï computed from each
ï LS j - SS ij + D j ï constraint going from
ï LF - SF + D ï activity (i), to successor
î j ij jþ
activities indexed by (j).

LS = LF - D
i i i
Backward Pass (Generalized Relationships)
12,13

0,10,8

2 12 16 24
19,19

0 1 12 19 19 24 24 25

8 22
43
 Total Float and Critical Path (Generalized
Relationships)

The TF of each activity is

the difference between
its LFD and its EFD (or its
LSD and its ESD).
For the activities listed in the table below, AON
Diagram.