©Sheila Belayutham

PROGRAMMING
TECHNIQUES
Chapter 5(Part 2)
©Sheila Belayutham

LEARNING OUTCOME
At the end of this lesson, students will
be able to:
• Understand the different types of
planning techniques.
• Understand the network analysis.
• Formulate a network diagram.
 Planning Techniques Used in
©Sheila Belayutham

Construction
• Bar Chart
• Line of Balance
• Time Grid Diagram
• Network Techniques
– CPM (Critical Path Method)
– Precedence Diagram
– PERT (Programme Evaluation & Review
Technique)
©Sheila Belayutham

BAR CHARTS

Who
1. In 1917, Henry L.Gantt invented a
invented
chart for scheduling.
bar chart?

1. A graphical representation of planned

What is construction activities, the estimated activity
bar chart? duration and the planned sequence of activity
performance

1. It simple, ease of preparation

Why use and easy to read in graphical
bar chart? format.
©Sheila Belayutham

BAR CHARTS-EXAMPLE

ACTIVITY WORKDAYS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Site clearing
Dig trench
Assemble
pipe
Install pipe
backfill
 Planning Techniques Used in
©Sheila Belayutham

Construction
• Bar chart weaknesses:
– Does not show relationships between
project activities
– Does not identify activities which control
a project's total duration (i.e., critical
activities comprising critical path)
– Does not relate delay or change of one
activity to the entire project
 Planning Techniques Used in
©Sheila Belayutham

Construction
• Network planning methods remedy bar chart
weaknesses:

– CPM - developed in late 1950s by industry to schedule

maintenance & construction work utilizing computers

– PERT - Programme Evaluation & Review Technique -

developed in late 1950s by U.S. Navy to support the Polaris
missile weapons system acquisition

– CPM & PERT have much in common with PERT being

somewhat more sophisticated with the use of probability
concepts to deal with uncertain activity durations. CPM uses
a single fixed duration for each activity
 Choice of Scheduling
©Sheila Belayutham

Method
• Factors that governed the choice of factors
are as follows:
– Familiarity on the technique to be used
• Acceptable by parties involved.
– Type and size of project
• Project with few but repetitive task-Line of Balance
• Med to large project with numerous task-CPM or
Precedence
• Small project-Bar chart
– Purpose of scheduling
©Sheila Belayutham

Network Analysis
• Net work analysis is a method of
project planning done on activities so
that it is connected to each other.
This network is used to optimised the
usage of resources and also for
monitoring and controlling.
• The purpose is to ascertain the
critical path for a certain project.
©Sheila Belayutham

Network Analysis
• Type of network analysis
– CPM
– Precedence Diagram
– PERT
• Techniques
– Activity on arrow (CPM)
• Arrow represents activity
• Activities are represented by arrows whereas the
start or end of each activity is represented by a node.
• One of the main drawbacks of this technique is the
existence of dummy activities, which might
complicate the network and cause some confusion.
©Sheila Belayutham

Network Analysis
– Activity on node (Precedence)
• Node represents activity
 Steps in building a network
©Sheila Belayutham

model
• Define activities
• Order activities
• Draw a network diagram
• Assign durations to activities
• Assign resources and cost
• Calculate early and late start/ finish
times.
• Schedule activity start/ finish times.
©Sheila Belayutham

Project Task or Activity

• An activity or task is a single work
step that has a recognisable
beginning and end and requires time
and resources for its
accomplishment.
 Logical Relationship of
©Sheila Belayutham

Project Activities
• Very important for a planner to
understand the order of how the job
to be accomplished in the filed.
• Should understand how various
activities of the project related to
each other in term of their logical
sequence.
 Logical Relationship of
©Sheila Belayutham

Project Activities
• Example of logical relationships:
– Start of the cut & fill activity can only be
accomplished upon the completion of
the activity ‘strip top soil’.

Strip top soil Cut and Fill

 Logical Relationship of
©Sheila Belayutham

Project Activities
– ‘Formwork’ and ‘Rebar’ activity must be
accomplished before the start of activity
‘Pour concrete’.

Pour
concrete
 Developing an arrow
©Sheila Belayutham

diagram network
• Activity Relationship
– Arrows should always be drawn showing
progress form left to right.
• Basic types of relationship found in a
network:
– One on one relationship between 2
activities.

Activity B Activity G
Hang wallpaper Install mirror
on wall
©Sheila Belayutham

– Many on one relationship among several

activities.

Activity B
Activity G
Hang wallpaper
on wall Install mirror
©Sheila Belayutham

– One on many relationship among

several activities.

Activity B Activity G
Route electrical Install plasterboard
wiring in walls
©Sheila Belayutham

– Many on many relationship among

several activities.

Activity B Activity G

Install siding Install floor

covering
©Sheila Belayutham

CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM)

1. A project scheduling method where

What is activities are arranged based on
CPM? interrelationships and the longest time path
through the network.

a) Reduce the risk of overlooking essential task and

provides a blueprint for long-range planning and
Advantage coordination of the project.
of CPM? b) Identify critical tasks
c) Easier to plan, schedule and control project
d) Determine the resource required
e) Improve productivity

Disadvantage a) Difficult to understand for beginner.

of CPM b) Computer software can be used but expensive.
©Sheila Belayutham

Dummies
• The relationship that exist among activities
cannot always be shown as simply as those
demonstrated in the previous slides.
• Therefore it is necessary to include in the
diagram a ‘pseudo activity’ called a
dummy.
• Dummy is usually drawn as a dotted line
but assigned no duration.
• Most dummies are required for unique
activity designation and to maintain proper
logic of various construction activities.
©Sheila Belayutham

For Example:
• Activity A-Place concrete slab in garage
• Activity B-Install garage door
• Activity C-Install pre finished shop
cabinets
• Activity D-Install garage door opener
©Sheila Belayutham

For Example:

10 20 25
A C

B D

15 30

From above network, you can conclude that Activity C and D can begin
only after both Activity A and B have been completed.
Suppose Activity C can begin only after Activity A and B completed,
but Activity D can begin as soon as activity B is completed. The
corrected logical sequence can be achieved by using dummy.
©Sheila Belayutham

For Example:

10 20 25
A C

B D
15 16 30
 Formulating a Network
©Sheila Belayutham

Diagram
• Form an activity network for a seven-
activity network with the following
precedence :
Activity Predecessors
A ---
B ---
C A,B
D C
E C
F D
G D,E
©Sheila Belayutham

Activity-on-Arrow
©Sheila Belayutham

SOLUTION
• Forming an activity-on-arrow network for this set of
activities might begin be drawing activities A, B and
C as shown in Figure (a).

• At this point, we note that two activities (A and B)

lie between the same two event nodes; for clarity,
we insert a dummy activity X and continue to place
other activities as in Figure (b).

• Placing activity G in the figure presents a problem,

however, since we wish both activity D and activity
E to be predecessors. Inserting an additional
dummy activity Y along with activity G completes
the activity network, as shown in Figure (c).
©Sheila Belayutham

Solve this problem

Activity Depends Activity Depends
On On
A - H B,C,E
B A I F,G
C A J B
D A K H,I
E D L H,
F D M I
G D N K,L,M,J
©Sheila Belayutham

Solve this problem

Activity Depends Activity Depends

On On
A - F B,C
B A G C,D
C A H E
D A I E,F
E B J G,H,I