Project Management

Definition
Network planning technique

Critical Path Method (CPM)

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Project -- a series of related jobs direct towards some major output and require a
significant amount of time to perform
Project Management -- plan, direct, and control resources to meet the technical, cost,
and time constraints of the project
Network planning models
1. Define the project, i.e., all activities
2. Determine the sequence and relationships of the activities
3. Assign time estimates to each activity (CPM: activity times are known vs. PERT: 3
time estimates for each activity)
4. Develop a network diagram
5. Compute the longest time path through the network (Critical Path Analysis)
6. Use the network to plan, schedule, monitor, and control the project
An example
Activity
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

Immediate
Predecessor
A
B
C
C
D,E
F,G

CPM -- single time estimate for each activity

Activity
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

Time
2
3
2
4
4
3
5
2

PERT -- 3 time estimates for each activity:

Optimistic time: a
Most likely time: m
Pessimistic time: b

Activity
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

Optimistic
Time
1
2
1
2
1
1
3
1

Most Likely
Time
2
3
2
4
4
2
4
2

Pessimistic
Time
3
4
3
6
7
9
11
3

Expected
Time
2
3
2
4
4
3
5
2

Critical path analysis (CPA)

Earliest start time (ES) = max (EF of predecessors)
Latest start time (LS)
Earliest finish time (EF)
Latest finish time (LF) = min (LS of successors)
Slack = LS - ES or LF - EF
Critical path: activities that have zero slack
Activity
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

ES
0
0
2
3
4
4
8
13

EF
2
3
4
7
8
7
13
15

LS
0
1
2
4
4
10
8
13

LF
2
4
4
8
8
13
13
15

Slack
0
1
0
1
0
6
0
0

Critical
Yes

Total project completion time = sum of times of activities on the critical path
Pg. 81 problems 5, 6
Exercises
Pg.81 Problems 2, 3, 7, 9

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes