8.

2 Network Techniques: PERT and CPM

Concept Check: Section 8.2

1. A task or set of tasks that are required by the project are called____________.

a. activities
b. events
c. paths
d. networks

Correct or Incorrect?

Clear Check Answer

2. The series of connected activities or events between any two events in a network
is called the __________.

a. event
b. network
c. path
d. stream

Correct or Incorrect?
Clear Check Answer

3. The _________ of a population is a measure of the population's dispersion and is

equal to the square of the population's standard deviation.

a. variance
b. error
c. deviation
d. Gantt

Correct or Incorrect?

Clear Check Answer

4. A node or event with duration of 0 days is a(n) ______________.

a. error
b. milestone
c. short term activity (less than 1 day)
d. zero sum game

Correct or Incorrect?

Clear Check Answer

5. The most popular method for displaying a project schedule is the __________ due
to ease of use and construction.

a. PERT
b. CPM
c. Gantt chart
d. network diagram

Correct or Incorrect?

Clear Check Answer

6. In Project Management, Parkinson's Law states that:

a. the early bird gets the worm.
b. ET = (a + 4m + b) / 6.
c. work expands to fill the time allotted.
d. idle hands are created by slack.

Correct or Incorrect?

Clear Check Answer

7. ____________ on the Critical Path __________________.

a. No activities; have zero slack

b. The majority of activities; have some slack
c. The majority of activities; are full of slackers
d. All activities; have zero slack

Correct or Incorrect?

Clear Check Answer

8. It is vital to good project management to be meticulously __________ in estimating
the time required to complete each of the various tasks included in the project.

a. honest
b. quick
c. technical
d. managerial

Correct or Incorrect?

Clear Check Answer

9. The following five clues can indicate when __________ scheduling is needed: late
or vague progress reports, overdue deliverables, static progress indicators, longer
work hours for team members, and a noticeable increase in minor “issues” affecting
the project.

a. iterative
b. productive
c. estimated

d. life‐cycle

Correct or Incorrect?
Clear Check Answer

With the exception of Gantt charts, to be discussed next, the most common
approach to project scheduling is the use of network techniques such as PERT and
CPM. The PERT was developed by the U.S. Navy in cooperation with Booz Allen
Hamilton and the Lockheed Corporation for the Polaris missile/submarine project in
1958. The CPM was developed by DuPont, Inc., during the same time period.
In application, PERT has primarily been used for R&D projects, the type of projects
for which it was developed, though its use is more common on the “development”
side of R&D than it is on the “research” side. CPM was designed for construction
projects and has been generally embraced by the construction industry. (There are
many exceptions to these generalities. The Eli Lilly Company, for example, uses
CPM for its research projects.)
The use of PERT has decreased sharply in recent years because a large majority of
project management software generates CPM networks. The two methods are quite
similar and are often combined for educational presentation.
Originally, PERT was strictly oriented to the time element of projects and used
probabilistic activity time estimates to aid in determining the probability that a
project could be completed by some given date. CPM, on the other hand, used
deterministic activity time estimates and was designed to control both the time and
cost aspects of a project, in particular, time/cost trade‐offs. In CPM, activities can be
“crashed” (expedited) at extra cost to speed up the completion time. Both
techniques identified a project critical path with activities that could not be delayed
and also indicated activities with slack (or float) that could be somewhat delayed
without lengthening the project completion time. Some writers insist on a strict
differentiation between PERT and CPM. This strikes us as unnecessary. One can
estimate probabilistic CPM times and can “crash” PERT networks.

We might note in passing that the critical activities in real‐world projects typically
constitute less than 10 percent of the total activities. In our examples and simplified
problems in this chapter, the critical activities constitute a much greater proportion
of the total because we use smaller networks to illustrate the techniques.

Terminology
Let us now define some terms used in our discussion of networks.
Activity A specific task or set of tasks that are required by the project, use up
resources, and take time to complete.
Event The result of completing one or more activities. An identifiable end state that
occurs at a particular time. Events use no resources.
Network The arrangement of all activities (and, in some cases, events) in a project
arrayed in their logical sequence and represented by arcs and nodes. This
arrangement (network) defines the project and the activity precedence
relationships. Networks are usually drawn starting on the left and proceeding to the
right. Arrowheads placed on the arcs are used to indicate the direction of flow—that
is, to show the proper precedences. Before an event can be realized—that is,
achieved—all activities that immediately precede it must be completed. These are
called its predecessors. Thus, an event represents an instant in time when each and
every predecessor activity has been finished.
Path The series of connected activities (or intermediate events) between any two
events in a network.
Critical Activities, events, or paths that, if delayed, will delay the completion of the
project. A project’s critical path is understood to mean that sequence of critical
activities (and critical events) that connects the project’s start event to its finish
event and which cannot be delayed without delaying the project.
To transform a project plan into a network, one must know what activities comprise
the project and, for each activity, what its predecessors (or successors) are. An
activity can be in any of these conditions: (1) it may have a successor(s) but no
predecessor(s); (2) it may have a predecessor(s) but no successor(s); and (3) it may
have both predecessor(s) and successor(s). The first of these is an activity that
starts a network. The second ends a network. The third is in the middle. Figure 8.1
shows each of the three types of activities. Activities are represented here by
rectangles (one form of what in a network are called “nodes”) with arrows to show
the precedence relationships. When there are multiple activities with no
predecessors, it is usual to show them all emanating from a single node called
“START,”1 as in Figure 8.2. Similarly, when multiple activities have no successors, it
is usual to show them connected to a node called “END.”