Critical Path Method

Construction Networks
Elements of a Construction
Network – The Precedence
Diagram Method (PDM)

Nodes = Activities Activity 1

Links = Relationships

Activity 1
Finish-Start
Activity 2
Construction
i j
Network
Relationships between nodes
Activity A Activity B Independent
Activity A Activity B
Dependent
Activity A

Activity C Merge
Activity B

Activity B
Burst
Activity A
Activity C
Types of Activities on a Network

Start
Dummy
Activities
Finish

Milesto
nes

Activity 1 Tasks
 Draw a Network

Joint Wall
Wall t in g
Fo o
o t in g
Fo

One Set of Wall and Footing Forms are Available

Construction Method

Wall 2
Wall 1 t in g 2
Foo
ti n g 1
Foo
 WBS
Task Description Duration

1 Footing 1 5 Days

2 Footing 2 5 Days

3 Wall 1 3 Days

4 Wall 2 3 Days
 The Network Diagram

2
Footing 2
4
Wall 2
1
Start Finish
Footing 1
3
Wall 1
Drawing a network given the
precedence

Activity Depends Upon

A -
B A
C E,F
D E
E A
F -
Step 1 – Add Start and Finish to
establish Boundaries
Activity Depends Upon
Start -
A Start
B A
C E,F
D E
E A
F Start
Finish B,C,D
 Step 2 – Determine Sequence
Steps Through Cycles
Activity Depends Sequence Steps
Upon Cycle 1 Cycle 2
Start - 1 1
A Start 2 2

B A 3 3

C E,F - 4
D E - 4

E A 3 3
F Start 2 2
Finish B,C,D - 5
 Step 3 – The Network
1 2 3 4 5

A B D

Finis
Start E h

F C
Can we improve on the Gantt Chart
and the PD?
Activity A
• Gantt Chart omits
relationships Activity B
– What happens to
activity B and C if A is Activity C
delayed?

• PD does not have the Activity B

time element
Activity A
– On what day should C
Activity C
start? Is it ok if it starts
a day later than
planned?
Critical Path Method tries
to bridge these two gaps
Historical Origins
• Developed by Dupont
and Remington Rand in
the 1950’s to manage
plant maintenance
projects
• Prof. John W. Fondahl,
Stanford University
adapted CPM for
Construction in 1961
 Concept 1 : 4 Key Dates
• Early Start Date (ESD or ES)

• Early Finish Date (EFD or EF)

• Late Start Date (LSD or LS)

• Late Finish Date (LFD or LF)

ES EF LS LF

Activity A Activity A

TA TA

Total Time Available for Activity A

Early Finish Date
ES EF

Activity A

TA

EFA = ESA + TA
Early Start Date

ESA EFA = 10
i
Activity A
j Activity C
i
Activity B
ESc ? = 10
ESB EFb = 8

ESJ = Max EFi Vi

 Late Finish Date
LSB =8 LFB
LFA? =6 Activity B
j
Activity A i
Activity C
j

LSC =6 LFC

LFi = Min LSj Vj

Late Start Date
LS LF

Activity A

TA

LSA = LFA - TA
 What is the relationship
between ES and LS?
How do you find these values?
 Concept 2: 12 Relationships
• 4 categories of relationships
– Finish-Start Relationships (F-S)
– Start-Start Relationships (S-S)
– Finish-Finish Relationships (F-F)
– Start-Finish Relationships (S-F)
• Three types for each category
– No lag
– Positive lag
– Negative lag
• 4 x 3 = 12 relationships
 More on Relationships
• Lags can be represented as percentages
• Most Relationships are “Can” relationships
2 days

A
2 days

– B CAN finish when A finishes

– B CANNOT finish before A
– B can be delayed and finish after A
– Second activity can usually be delayed
 Concurrent Activities

Test Mock-up Wall Build Forms

Get Wall Shop

Assemble Rebar
Drawings Approved
 Representing Activities
Activity
Early Start Number/Free Early Finish
Float

Activity Name and Duration

Late Start Total Float Late Finish

 An Example Network

1 2 3 4 5

A B D

Finis
Start E h

F C
 Representation for CPM
Calculation
A 3 B 6 D 2

Finish
Start E 3

C 2
F 4
 The “Simple” Forward Pass
1. Start with the first activity on the network
2. Traverse the network through the relationship
arrows until you reach the end
3. For each activity, the early start is the
maximum of the early finishes of the previous
activities
4. The early finish is the early start + activity
duration
5. Finish one level and then go to the next
 Forward Pass Results
0 3 3 9 6 8
A 3 B 6 D 2

9 9
0 0 3 6 Finish
Start E 3

6 8
0 4
C 2
F 4
 The “simple” Backward Pass
1. Start with the last activity on the network
2. Traverse the network backwards through the
relationship arrows until you reach the start
3. For each activity, the late finish is the
minimum of the late starts of the previous
activities
4. The late start is the late finish - activity duration
5. Finish one level and then go to the next
 Backward Pass Results
0 3 3 9 6 8
A 3 B 6 D 2
0 3 3 9 7 9
9 9
0 0 3 6 Finish
Start E 3 9 9
0 0 4 7

6 8
0 4
C 2
F 4
7 9
3 7
 Introduce Floats
0 3 3 9 6 8
A 3 B 6 D 2
0 0 3 3 0 9 7 1 9
9 9
0 0 3 6 Finish
Start E 3 9 0 9
0 0 0 4 1 7

6 8
0 4
C 2
F 4
7 1 9
3 3 7
 The critical path
0 3 3 9 6 8
A 3 B 6 D 2
0 0 3 3 0 9 7 1 9
9 9
0 0 3 6 Finish
Start E 3 9 0 9
0 0 0 4 1 7

6 8
0 4
C 2
F 4
7 1 9
3 3 7
 The final Algorithm
1. Draw a clear and logical PD or AoN
diagram
2. Enter Activity Durations
3. Perform a forward pass
4. Perform a backward pass
5. Determine floats
6. Check the path for which floats are zero
7. Mark this as the critical path.
 Another Example Network
A B

D H K Finish
Start

B E

F G
 Representation for CPM
Calculation
A 3 C 2

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish

B 4 E 4

F 6 G 3
 Forward Pass Results
0 3 3 5
A 3 C 2

0 0 4 6 8 14 14 16 16 16

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4

4 10 10 13

F 6 G 3
 Backward Pass Results
0 3 3 5
A 3 C 2
3 6 6 8
0 0 4 6 8 14 14 16 16 16

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
14 16 16 16
0 0 6 8 8 14

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
0 4 4 8

4 10 10 13

F 6 G 3
7 13 13 16
 Introduce Floats
0 3 3 5
A 3 C 2
3 3 6 6 3 8
0 0 4 6 8 14 14 16 16 16

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
14 0 16 16 16
0 0 6 2 8 8 0 14

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
0 0 4 4 0 8

4 10 10 13

F 6 G 3
7 3 13 13 3 16
 The critical path
0 3 3 5
A 3 C 2
3 3 6 6 3 8
0 0 4 6 8 14 14 16 16 16

Start D 2 H 6 K 2 Finish
14 0 16 16 16
0 0 6 2 8 8 0 14

0 4 4 8
B 4 E 4
0 0 4 4 0 8

4 10 10 13

F 6 G 3
7 3 13 13 3 16
 Floats
• Free Float (FF)
• Total Float (TF)
• Interfering Float (INTF)
• Independent Float (INDF)
• Start Float (SF)
• Finish Float (FNF)
 Free Float?
• Free Float is the amount of time an activity
can delay but not delay the termination of
the project nor delay the start of any
following activity

• FFi = Min ESj – EFi , ∀ j

 What is A’s Free Float?
5 7
B 2
7 9

2 4
FFA = Min [(5-4), (6-4)]
A 2
5 7
FFA = 1

6 12

C 6
9 15
 Total Float
• Total Float is the amount of time an
activity can delay but not delay the
termination of the project

• TFi = LSj – ESi

What are A,B and C’s Total Float?
5 7
B 2
7 9

2 4
TFA = 5-2 = 3
A 2
TFB = 7-5 = 2
5 7
TFC = 9-6 = 3

6 12

C 6
9 15
 Interfering Float
• Interfering Float is the time span in which
the completion of an activity may occur
and not delay the termination of the
project, but within which completion will
delay the start of some following activity
• The portion of total float which affects
other activities but not the project finish
date.
• INTFi = TFi – FFi
What is A’s interfering float?
5 7
B 2
7 9

2 4
TFA = 3
A 2
FFA = 1
5 7
INTFA = 3-1 = 2

6 12

C 6
9 15
 Independent Float
• Independent Float is the time an activity
might delay and not delay the termination
of the project, not delay the start of any
following activity and not be delayed by
any preceding activity

• INDFj = Min ESk (∀ k) – Max LFi (∀ i) - Tj

What is C’s independent float?
20 22
A 2 D 2
14

C 2

22 28

B 6 E 6
16
 C’s Independent Float

A
INDC = 20–16–2=2
B

C
D

14 16 18 20 22 Time
 Start Float and Finish Float

• SFi = LSi – ESi

• FNFi = LFi – EFi

• Is there any difference between SF, FNF

and Total Float?
Find A’s SF and FNF
0

A 2

Lag = 3 Lag = 4

B 6
3 11
 A’s SF and FNF
0 2
SFA=0-0=0
FNFA=7-2=5 A 2
TFA=? 0 7

Lag = 3 Lag = 4
3 9

B 6
3 11
 Find TF, FF, INDF and INTF for all
activities
B 8 E 7

0 0
Start A 4 C 3 G 1 Finish
0 0

D 2 F 5
 Critical Path Calculations
4 12 12 19
B 8 E 7
4 0 12 12 0 19

0 0 0 4 4 7 19 20 20 20

Start A 4 C 3 G 1 Finish
0 0 0 0 0 4 9 5 12 19 0 20 20 0 20

4 6 7 12

D 2 F 5
10 6 12
14 7 19
 Floats
Activity ES EF LS LF TF FF INTF INDF
A 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 0
B 4 12 4 12 0 0 0 0
C 4 7 9 12 5 0 5 0
D 4 6 10 12 6 1 5 1
E 12 19 12 19 0 0 0 0
F 7 12 14 19 7 7 0 2
G 19 20 19 20 0 0 0 0
So What’s the big deal about Float?
• The CPM can give the project duration
– The Critical Path has the longest duration
• The planner gets some insights on the
schedule
– Can understand how much buffer each activity
has
– Can allocate scarce resources better
– Also allows rescheduling activities while
retaining dependencies
 Float Analysis
• Float of a path = CPM duration – path duration
• Average Float = Average of total floats
• Is too much float a good thing?
– Too much float indicates construction sequence is not
efficient
• What if there is too little float?
– Too little or no float is a risk. Can indicate a schedule
drawn with “claims” in mind
• Floats are very useful when analyzing claims
– Independent floats belong solely to each activity
– Total float belongs to the entire path
– Free float belongs to an activity and its precedents
– Interfering float belongs to downstream activities
 4 days late – Who’s fault?
7 15 15 22
B 8 E 7
0 0

0 0 7 7 13 23 24 24

Start A 4 C 3 G 1 Finish
0 0 5 0 0

7 10 13 23

D 2 F 5
6
7
 A short summary on CPM
• Complex Network based procedure
• Can tell us a great deal about the project
– Total duration
– When to start each activity
– Permissible delays
– Effect of delays on the entire network
– Reorganization and rescheduling strategies
– Helpful in claims analysis
• Relationships are complicated so
represent them carefully when drawing
Thank You