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Early and Finish Time of Critical Path Analysis

Critical path analysis breaks a project down into tasks and calculates the earliest start time (EST) and latest finish time (LFT) of each to identify the critical path. The EST is calculated by working left to right using the predecessor tasks' completion times. The LFT is calculated working right to left using the successor tasks' start times. When simultaneous tasks exist, the highest EST and lowest LFT are used.

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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
131 views11 pages

Early and Finish Time of Critical Path Analysis

Critical path analysis breaks a project down into tasks and calculates the earliest start time (EST) and latest finish time (LFT) of each to identify the critical path. The EST is calculated by working left to right using the predecessor tasks' completion times. The LFT is calculated working right to left using the successor tasks' start times. When simultaneous tasks exist, the highest EST and lowest LFT are used.

Uploaded by

Vinay Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Early and Finish Time

of Critical Path Analysis


Critical Path Analysis
• Critical Path Analysis is sometimes called Network Analysis.
• It is a tool used to plan activities so that a job can be
completed in the shortest time.
• It breaks a job down into a number of tasks and looks at the
dependency of them eg.: list the activities that must be completed in
order to make a cup of tea.
• It is used commonly in manufacturing and construction.
A Simple Network Diagram
• A business wishes to build a new factory
• Before it can do so it needs to:
1. Buy the land (Activity A- will take 12 weeks)
2. Draw up Plans (activity B- will take 3 weeks)
• A simple network may be drawn to illustrate this scenario:
Calculating The Earliest Start Time
• The main reason for drawing a network is to identify the
CRITICAL activities.
• To do this we must calculate the earliest time at which given
activity can start
This is called the Earliest Start Time (EST) of the activity.
• It is calculated using the formula:
Calculating The Earliest Start Time
• This information is then placed in the top right-hand quarter of
the node
• The first node will ALWAYS
have an EST of zero

• Using our first simple example, the EST for each activity
would be calculated as follows:
The EST and Simultaneous Activities
• When there are simultaneous activities there may be more than
one value for the EST.
• Eg:

• Since Activity B is DEPENDENT on both Activities A and


AA, it cannot start until both are complete.
• So we must take the HIGHEST figure.
• This means that the EST is 14 weeks.
Recap of The Earliest Start Time
• The EST of the first activity is always zero.
• Calculate the EST by working left to right across a network.
• It is calculated using the following formula:

• When there are 2 simultaneous activities the HIGHEST figure


is used as the EST.
Calculating The Latest Finishing Time
• There is one final piece of information needed to complete our
network diagram.
• To identify the CRITICAL activities we must also know the
latest time at which any given activity must end. This is called
the Latest Finishing Time (LFT) of the activity.
• It is calculated by working BACKWARDS across the network
using the following formula:
Calculating The Latest Finishing Time
• This information is then placed in the bottom right-hand
quarter of the node.
• The first node will ALWAYS
have an LFT of zero

• Using our first simple example, the LFT for each activity
would be calculated as follows:
The LFT and Simultaneous Activities
• When there are simultaneous activities there may be more than
one value for the LFT.
• Eg:

• If Activity AA starts on week 2 it cannot be completed by


week 14.
• So we must take the LOWEST figure.
• This means that the LFT is week 0.
Recap of The Latest Finishing Time
• The LFT of the last activity is always equal to its EST.
• The LFT of the first activity is always zero.
• Calculate the LFT by working right to left across a network.
• It is calculated using the following formula:

• When there are 2 simultaneous activities the LOWEST figure


is used as the LFT.

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