PERT AND CPM

Program Evaluation and Review Technique or PERT and Critical Path Method or CPM are two most
widely used techniques in Project Management. The objective of Project Management is described in
terms of a successful project which has been completed on time, within the budget and to the technical
specifications satisfying the end users. A project is any human undertaking with a clear beginning and a
clear ending. A project manager is responsible for Planning, scheduling, and controlling the work for
achieving the goal i.e. finishing the Project. Planning includes detailing the project in activities estimation
of resources requirement and time for each activity and their inter activity relationship. Scheduling
seeks for starting and completion dates for each activity. Control requires not only current status but
also insight into possible future trade-offs at the difficult times.

In early time the most popular technique for scheduling was BAR or Gantt Chart developed by Henry
Gantt which was a simple graphic representation of work on time scale. This technique was unable to
show any inter-relationship and interdependence of various activities which control the progress of
project. In late fifties the PERT and CPM were put forth. Both were developed independently. PERT was
developed by US NAVY while CPM was developed by DuPont company for their chemical plant. Initially
PERT was applied for R& D while CPM was used for construction of projects. Both the techniques share
the notion of Critical Path and are based on Net work analysis. The main difference in the two is that the
PERT is used for Non-repetitive and complex system where time estimations are uncertain. CPM is best
utilized for repetitive and non-complex projects where time estimates can be made with some certainty.

NETWORK ANALYSIS: A common ingredient in both the techniques is the network system of showing
graphically the current problems or proposed projects. For Net work analysis certain conventions are
followed for a proper representation of a project graphically and to show the relationship between
events and activities.

ACTIVITY : all projects are treated as composed of various operations and tasks known as activities . An
activity is depicted by an arrow in any network diagram. This arrow is called ARC. The arrow is not scaled
one that means the size of arrow does not reveal any value or magnitude. The size is chosen as per the
convenience and clarity. The head shows the end of activity and its directions. An activity can not begin
until the finish of preceding activity. Any activity consumes resources

EVENTS : an event represents a specific accomplishment in a project and takes place at a particular time
or instance and does not consume any resource. It is a time oriented reference point that signifies the
end of an activity and beginning of another. Events are represented by a small circle known as nodes

ALL activity arrows start from a node and end on a node

There are four main types of activities in network analysis

PREDECESSOR ACTIVITY An activity that must be completed immediately prior to start of another activity
SUCCESSOR ACTIVITY an activity that can not be started until one or more activities are completed and
succeed them immediately.

CONCURRENT ACTIVITY : activities which can be accomplished concurrently or at the same time are
concurrent activities.

DUMMY ACTIVITY: in most projects many activities can be performed concurrently or simultaneously. It
is possible that two activities may have same beginning and the end events. In such a situation the
concept of dummy activity is applied to resolve the problem. Dummy activities consume no resources
and are shown by broken arrows

DETERMINISTIC AND PROBABLISTIC TIME : the main determinant of analysis is the time estimate of the
activity whether it deterministic or probabilistic. If the time estimates are made with high degree of
confidence so that the actual time does not differ much then it is deterministic . on the other hand if the
estimates are subject to significant variations the estimates are said probabilistic when the time
calculation may not be certain then to overcome this problem probabilistic Time estimates are taken .
there are three types of times estimates

a. Optimistic Time denoted by a

b. Most likely time denoted by m

c. Pessimistic Time denoted by b

For calculation purposes we assume that it is associated with beta distribution and mean value of
time will be calculate by

Te = (a+4m+b)/6

Thus calculations are made for finding the mean time .for example if optimistic time is 2 , most
likely time is 4 and pessimistic time is 5 then

Te= 3+4*4+5/6

=24/6 =4

AON Activity on Node Networking

The Activity-on-Node, or Precedence Diagram is a technique

where the activities are represented by boxes or nodes
and are connected with the arrows showing logical relationship between nodes or
boxes

The nodes or boxes are represented as under

 ES A EF

LS D LF

Where A activity code/ number

ES Earliest Start, EF Earliest Finish, LS latest Start, LF Latest Finish,

D is duration of activity

In AON network there is no Dummy activity

All the required information is written in the box or node area

The time overlapping problem for activities is solved by this technique.

ANALYSIS: first of all a net work is made as per the data given. Identifying the critical path is of great
importance as it determines the duration of entire project. If any activity which is a part of Critical Path
is delayed then whole of the project gets delayed. Every net work has a Critical Path (CP). It is also
possible to have multiple Critical paths but the duration will be same. For small network the CP may be
identified easily by inspection only but for any network where a number activities are involved then it is
difficult to ascertain the CP. For that we have to use a systematic approach . this consists of two phases .
First phase starts from left to right through the network from start to end event and second phase starts
from right to left where calculations are made from last event to first event. First phase is known as
FORWARD PASS which gives Earliest Expected Time (ET) while second phase is known as Backward Pass
which gives us Latest Allowable Time Or LT.

FORWARD PASS or Earliest Start and Earliest Finish Time: (FOR AON Networking)

The earliest start (ES) of any node will be maximum of earliest finish times( EF )of previous nodes
attached to it and thus for any node

the EF will be ES of node + duration of activity

BACKWARD PASS OR LATEST Start TIME and latest Finish Time ( AON networking)

or any NODE , Latest finish will be minimum of latest start of all the succeeding nodes emerging from the
node and Latest start LS will be LF- duration

Once the ET EF LS LF for all the events are known then we can find out Critical Path. All those
events whose ES and LS or EF and LF are equal are critical events otherwise these are non critical events.
Any activity which joins two critical events is critical activity. And by joining these critical activities
Critical path can be determined and is shown with a thick line. Critical path , as is consisting of critical
activities, therefore gives ample indication that these activities are supposed to be completed within
time frame otherwise whole of the project will be delayed and thus need close monitoring and control.

Questions for practice

Draw a net work diagram and calculate ET and LT for each event and find out critical Path. Also
calculate Total float and Free float for all activities except Critical activities for following data:

1. Job Predecessor Time

A -- 180
B A 30
C A 20
D A 60
E B,C,D. 10
F B,C,D, 20
G E,F 10

2. JOB PREDECESSOR TIME

A --- 4
B A 5
C A 6
D A 7
E B 10
F C,D 9
G D 8
H E,F 3

3. JOB PREDECESSOR OPTIMISTIC MOST LIKELY PASSIMISTIC

A -- 1 3 5
B -- 2 3 4
C -- 3 4 5
D A 2 9 10
E C 4 5 6
F B,D,E 5 6 13
G A 2 4 6
H C 1 3 5
 4. JOB REDECESSOR TIME
A -- 6
B A 4
C B 7
D A 2
E D 4
F E 10
G -- 2
H G 10
I J,H 6
J -- 13
K A 9
L C,K 3
M I,L 5

5.

ACTIVITY PREDECESSOR TIME

A none 4
B A 2
C B 3
D NONE 2
E A 6
F E 9
G D 1
H D 7
I H 10
J C,F,G 5
 6.

ACTIVITY PREDECESSOR TIME

A NONE 42
B NONE 21
C A 35
D A 28
E A 21
F C,F,G 21
G D 35
H B,D,E 35
I H 14
J I,G,F 21

7.

ACTIVITY PREDECESSOR TIME

A NONE 5
B A 13
C A 5
D C 11
E C 3
F D,E 4
G NONE 3
H G 5
I G 14
J H 7
K H 12
L J,K 3
M F,L 3
N B,M 3
O I 2
P O 3
Q N,P 4
 8. Draw the net work diagram for following data. Find out Critical
Path. Calculate total float for all the Non Critical activities.

Activity Preceding Duration

Activity
A NONE 3
B NONE 4
C A 5
D A 6
E C 7
F D 8
G B 9
H EFG 3

9 A project starts with activity A. It consists of activities A B C D E F

G H . following information is available

E and B start after A is completed. F starts after E. F starts after

E is completed

C starts after F and B. G starts after F D begins after C. H is last

activity which starts after G & D

Duration for A to G activities are 10, 9, 3, 15, 5, 17, 8, 7 days

respectively

Draw a network diagram and find out the C P also find out Total float
for activities C E and G

10 Draw the net work diagram for following data. Find out Critical Path.
Calculate total float for all the Non Critical activities.

Activity Preceding Duration

Activity
A NONE 36
B NONE 4
C B 2
D A 2
E C 10
F C 15
G F 9
H F 4
I H 9
J I 9
K DEGJ 20
L I 8
M KL 20

11. Draw the net work diagram for following data. Find out Critical
Path. Calculate total float for all the Non Critical activities.

PESSIMISTI
Activity Preceding OPTIMISTIC MOST C
Activity TIME LIKELY TIME TIME
1 NONE 1 1 7
2 NONE 1 4 7
3 NONE 2 2 8
4 1 1 1 1
5 2 2 5 14
6 3 2 5 8
7 4 5 3 6 15