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Introduction To Project Management CPM and Crashing

This document discusses project management and the critical path method for scheduling projects. It includes: 1) An introduction to project management and key terms like work breakdown structure and critical path. 2) An example project with activities, durations, costs and predecessors. It shows how to perform a forward and backward pass to identify the critical path. 3) How crashing, or reducing activity durations, can be used to reduce the total project duration when penalties exist for being late. The example crashes activities on the critical path to complete the project in 10 weeks and then 6 weeks. 4) Discussing which parallel critical paths should be crashed to further reduce the schedule and considering the additional costs of crashing activities.

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Arindam Vatsa
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69 views15 pages

Introduction To Project Management CPM and Crashing

This document discusses project management and the critical path method for scheduling projects. It includes: 1) An introduction to project management and key terms like work breakdown structure and critical path. 2) An example project with activities, durations, costs and predecessors. It shows how to perform a forward and backward pass to identify the critical path. 3) How crashing, or reducing activity durations, can be used to reduce the total project duration when penalties exist for being late. The example crashes activities on the critical path to complete the project in 10 weeks and then 6 weeks. 4) Discussing which parallel critical paths should be crashed to further reduce the schedule and considering the additional costs of crashing activities.

Uploaded by

Arindam Vatsa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Project

Management
Project Management
• What is a project?
– Unique, one time operations designed to
accomplish a set of objectives in a limited time
and/cost frame.
Project Lifecycle
Project Planning and scheduling
Critical Path Method

• Key Terms
– Work Breakdown Structure, Precedence Relations,
Network Diagram
– Early Start Schedule (Forward Pass)
– Late Start Schedule (Backward Schedule)
– Gantt Chart, Resource diagram
– Slack
– Critical Path (longest path in the network)
Activity List
Normal
Activity Weeks Predecessors
A 3
B 6
C 2
D 5 A
E 2 C
F 7 A
G 4 B,D,E
F
A (7)
(3)
D
(5)

Start B G End
(6) (4)

E
(2)
C
(2)

Do Forward and Backward Pass ES EF


LS LF

Critical Path Slack


3 10
0 3 5 12
0 3
0 F 2
A (7)
(3)
D
0 0 3 8 (5) 12 12
0 0 3 8 12 12
0
Start B G End
(6) 0 6 (4)
2 8
8 12
2
8 12
E 0
(2)
C 2 4
(2) 6 8

0 2 4
4 6
ES EF
4
LS LF

Critical Path Slack


Cost Table for Project

Normal Crash
Cost Slope,
Activity Weeks $ Weeks $
$/week
A 3 5,000 2 10,000 5000
B 6 14,000 4 26,000 6000
C 2 2,500 1 5,000 2500
D 5 10,000 3 18,000 4000
E 2 8,000 2 8,000 -
F 7 11,500 5 17,500 3000
G 4 10,000 2 24,000 7000
Project Planning and scheduling
Critical Path Method (ctd)

– Crashing (Reduce the project duration)


– Crashing rules
• only critical activities are crashed
• Crashing typically done period by period
• Activity with the least additional cost per period
is typically crashed first (greedy heuristic)
• Cautious about parallel paths
In this example :
• Critical path is : A-D-G
• Among these three, D has the minimum
cost slope, so it should be crashed first
keeping the above points in mind.
Total Project Cost = 61,000 + 4,000 = 65,000
F
A (7)
(3)
D
(4)

Start B G End
(6) (4)

E
(2)
C
(2)

Total project time = 3 + 4 + 4 = 11


Critical Path
Schedule in order to complete the job within ten (10) weeks
(Again D has the least additional cost per week)

F
A (7)
(3)

D
(3)

Start B G
End
(6) (4)

E Total project time = 3 + 3 + 4 = 10


(2)
C
(2)
Critical Path Total Project Cost = 61,000 + 8,000 = 69,000
Now, there are 3 Critical paths A-D-G, B-G and A-F
Project is planned to be completed in six weeks
and penalty cost of $10,000 per week for every
week that project is late
We have the following parallel critical paths to crash now for further one
week reduction in project completion:
• A-D-G which would additionally cost :
A ($5000), D (cannot crash) and G (7000). Minimum =$5000 (Activity A)
• A-F which would additionally cost :
$5000 (Activity A) or 3000 (Activity F ). Minimum =$3000 (Activity F)
• B-G which would additionally cost:
$6000 (Activity B) or $7000 (Activity G). Minimum =$6000 (Activity B)

• Better to crash Activity G alone or better to crash all


A, F, and B together or to F and G together?
Greedy Heuristic: Crash F and G by 1 week each
($3000+$7000) additional cost
Can we complete in 6 weeks?

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