Theory and worked examples

Introduction

How to use this guide

The aim of this guide is to facilitate your teaching of the objectives relating to Program Evaluation
Review Technique (PERT) and GANTT charts in Cambridge International AS and A Level Computer
Science, syllabus topic 4.4.3 Project management. This is part of topic 4.4 Software development.
The guidance and activities in this resource are designed to help teachers devise programmes of
study which provide teaching time devoted to theory work as well as activities that consolidate
learning.

Section 1, and lists some key terms used in this topic and their definitions. Section 2 introduces
PERT and GANTT charts, including some worked examples. Section 3 provides links to online
resources. Section 4 gives ideas for class and homework activities.

Learning objectives
Using this document should help you guide learners in the following syllabus learning objectives:

 show understanding of project planning techniques including the use of GANTT and Program
Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) charts
 describe the information that GANTT and PERT charts provide
 construct and edit GANTT and PERT charts
 1 . Ke y t e r m s

Word/phrase Meaning
backward pass The process to determine the late start or late finish times for activities in the
critical path method

critical path A mathematical modelling technique used to schedule a set of tasks. The model
method allows the longest path (the critical path) to be determined which gives the
minimum time required for project completion
earliest finish The earliest start time for the activity plus the time required to complete the
time (EF) activity (the earliest an activity can be completed)

earliest start The earliest time an activity can start once the previous dependent activities are
time (ES) completed

expected time, ~~+4~~+~~

TE Calculated O, M P, the time is: ~~~~

using and expected =
6
forward pass The process to determine the early start or early finish times for activities in the
critical path method
GANTT chart A diagram that shows each task in a project as a block of calendar time. Each
block is labelled with the task description and the amount of time the block
represents.
latest finish The latest time an activity can be completed without delaying the entire project.
time (LF)

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 Theory and worked examples
latest start The latest finish time minus the time required to complete the activity
time (LS)

most likely The project manager should have a high degree of certainty that a task will be
time (M) completed within this time

optimistic time The shortest time that an activity is likely to take – there will be a small
(O) probability (less than 5%) of this happening
pessimistic The project manager should be almost certain (e.g. 99%) that the task will be
time (P) completed within this time
Program An implementation of the Critical Path Method where the time for each task is
Evaluation estimated by using a weighted average based on a probabilistic estimation of
Review the optimal, most likely and a pessimistic time to complete the task
Technique
(PERT) chart
slack The number of spare / float weeks

2. Theory and worked examples

2.1 . What are PERT charts?

Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) charts show each task in a project as a node.
Dependencies between tasks (e.g. where one task requires another one to be completed before it
can start) are clearly shown by interconnections between the task nodes. PERT charts also show
timing information for each task. PERT charts are similar to the critical path method (CPM) which
identifies the longest path through the project, and therefore the minimum time for the project to be
completed. In the example below, the critical path is shown by the red arrows.

PERT charts try to make a realistic estimate by considering three scenarios and then generating an
Expected Time as a weighted average:

Project managers can use PERT charts to:

 s
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 Theory and worked examples
a realistic timetable for project completion
 make sure focus is maintained on the most critical tasks for the critical path – since the path
leads to the minimum time the project requires, any delays to these tasks will result in a delay to
the overall project
 identify tasks that need to be shortened if the overall project time needs to be reduced
 identify tasks that can be carried out simultaneously
 identify slack time where certain tasks are not as time-critical to the overall deadline.
Whereas CPM uses a single estimate for task duration, the PERT method requires the project
manager to supply three estimates to make the estimates as accurate as possible. The three
estimates are:

 Optimistic Time (O) – the shortest time that the activity is likely to take. There will be a small
probability (less than 5%) of this happening
 Most Likely Time (M) – the project manager should have a high degree of certainty that the
task will be completed within this time
 Pessimistic Time (P) – the project manager should be almost certain (e.g. 99%) that the task will
be completed within this time

2.2. PERT chart – worked example

2.2.1 Inputs

The following table shows the tasks, dependencies, and estimated times a project manager might
input to a PERT chart for a software development project (estimates are used for illustrative
purposes only), and the calculated Expected Times:

Task Task Predecessor Optimistic Most Likely Pessimistic Expected

Identifier Description Task(s) Time (O) Time (M) Time (P) Time (TE)

A Establish 4 5 12 6
project

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 Theory and worked examples
B Establish A 2 3 4 3
customer
requirements
C Produce B 6 8 22 10
software
specification
documents
D Write test plans C 4 6 8 6
E Write code C 3 4 5 4
F Developer E 2 4 6 4
testing
G System testing D, F 2 3 4 3
H Write manuals C 5 7 15 8

2.2.2 Network diagram

The network diagram is based on the tasks and their dependencies (predecessor tasks). Task A
has no predecessor, and therefore starts the project on the left. Task B has only task A as a
predecessor, and is therefore the next task. The diagram shows that tasks D, E and H (writing test
plans, code and manuals) all have task C (specification) as a predecessor, and can therefore be
carried out simultaneously.

.2.3 Identify the critical path

The critical path is determined by using the estimated times to work out the earliest start (ES) and
finish (EF) times (forward pass), and latest start (LS) and finish (LF) times (backward pass), and
identifying the tasks where ES and LS are equal.

Step 1: Forward pass

This is done by working from left to right across the chart. The ES of task A is week 0, and the EF is 6
since this is the ES plus the duration (estimated time). The earliest that task B can begin is week 6
(since task A must be complete) so its ES is 6, and EF is 6 + 3 = 9 . Note that task G has an ES of 27
because it is dependent on both task D and task F being complete first, and the earliest that both
tasks will be completed is week 27.

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 Theory and worked examples

Step 2: Backward pass

Working from right to left, the Latest Finish Time (LF) and Latest Start Time (LS) can be filled in.
The final time is 33 weeks, so the LF of task H must be 33. Because this task has a duration of eight
weeks it means it has an LS of 33 – 8 = week 25.

Note that for some tasks, such as Task C, there are different possibilities. To calculate the LF of Task
C we need to look at the latest start times for Tasks D, E and H which are dependent on it. The latest
time task C can finish (LF) must be 19 weeks because Task E has to start at this point.

Step 3: Critical path and slack

The critical path is identified by finding the nodes where ES = LS. These are nodes for which there is
no ‘slack’ or spare time for a task in the project.

The slack is calculated as LS – ES, e.g. Task H has 6 weeks’ slack, and could be scheduled to
start sometime between week 19 and week 25 depending on factors such as the resources
available to a task on the critical path

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What are GANTT charts?
GANTT charts display the tasks in a project as a box or line showing the calendar duration of the
task on the horizontal axis (the horizontal length of the task box is proportional to the task
duration). Tasks are normally arranged in date order on the vertical axis. The time relation of all
tasks to each other (for example, tasks carried out simultaneously) is therefore clearly apparent in a
GANTT chart. The project status can be easily determined at intermediate dates in the project, and
progress of individual tasks can be shown by filling in the task boxes. Unlike PERT charts, GANTT
charts do not show the critical path, however, dependencies between tasks can be indicated by
lines linking tasks.

2.4. GANTT charts – worked example

The following table shows the tasks, dependencies, and estimated times a project manager might
input to a basic GANTT chart for a software development project.

Project start date: 12 June 2015

Task Task Description Predecessor Time (days)

Identifier Task(s)
1 Establish project - 2
2 Establish customer 1 3
requirements
3 Produce software 2 4
specification documents
4 Write test plans 3 1
5 Write code 3 2
6 Developer testing 5 2
7 System testing 4, 6 4
8 Write customer 3 3
documentation

Task 1 has no predecessors, and can thus start on 12 June. The GANTT chart shows the task as a
box starting on 12 June and finishing on 13 June on the horizontal access. Task 2 requires Task 1 to
be completed, and the duration is three days, so the box covers the dates 14 to 16 June. The line
from the finish of Task 1 to the start of Task 2 indicates the dependency. Note that Tasks 4, 5 and 8
all require Task 3 to be completed, and have no other dependencies, so these all start on the same
date. The chart below show all seven days of the week, but often, weekend days are excluded.
Class and homework activities

To
cover the learning objectives in this topic, learners will need to practise the following:

 how to construct a PERT / GANTT chart for a set of tasks given the tasks, their relationship
(e.g. successor / predecessor) and the time taken for each task
 how to interpret PERT / GANTT charts to determine the total time for completion, potential
blockages and slack periods

4.1. Homework questions

The following activities are suggested to consolidate your students’ learning after they have studied
this topic:

1. The probable times (in days) for a number of tasks in a software development project have
been estimated. Calculate the weighted expected time, TE, that would be used for estimating
the overall task time in a PERT chart.

Task Description Optimistic Most Pessimistic Time

Likely Expected
O P
M TE

A Produce software 4 7 10
specification

B Write test plans 7 23 27

C Software design 11 14 17

D Software code 10 22 28

E Developer test 7 23 27

F Software test 22 29 30
2. The expected duration of each task has been calculated. The task dependencies are shown in
the table below.

Task Description Order Duration

A Produce software To be completed first 1 week

specification

B Write test plans Start when A is complete 3 weeks

C Software design Start when A is complete 2 weeks

D Software code Start when B is complete 3 weeks

E Developer test Start when C is complete 3 weeks

F Software test Start when D and E are 4 weeks

complete
 a. Construct a PERT chart for the project.
b. Identify the critical path and hence the minimum time to completion.
c. Describe where there is slack time in the system.

3. Construct a GANTT chart for the software development project. Assume that the first task starts on
17th October 2015.

4.2. Homework solutions

1. The time expected is calculated as ~~~~ =
6
~~+4~~+~~

Task Description Optimistic Most Pessimistic Time

Likely Expected
O P
M TE

A Produce software 4 7 10 7
specification

B Write test plans 7 23 27 21

C Software design 11 14 17 14

D Software code 10 22 28 21

E Developer test 7 23 27 21

F Software test 22 29 30 28

2. PERT Chart
a.

b. The Critical Path is A Æ B Æ D Æ F and it will take a time of 11 weeks to complete the
project at best.
c. Tasks C and E both have 1 week of slack time since the Latest Start Times are both one
week more than the Earliest Start Times.
3. (Note – the task description should also be displayed, as well as the task ID.)