CE-611

project Planning
& control
Lesson #1- Arrow Diagrams
Chapter 16
Professor Hanna
Expected outcomes from the lecture

• Student shall be able to understand how to construct arrow diagrams

• Students shall understand the difference between events and
activities
• Students shall be able to understand the relationship that exists
among activities
• Students shall be able to understand the concept of float
• Students shall be able to perform time calculations with arrow
diagrams
Arrow Diagrams

Arrow diagrams were widely used in construction decades ago.

However with the advent of computer network modeling, it is not
efficient to use diagrams.
However, I would like you to understand the concepts behind arrow
diagram because I feel it will give you a introduction into precedence
diagrams.
Arrow Diagrams

• Activity – on – Arrow (A-on-A)

• Also called Arrow Diagram Method (ADM)

• Components:
• Events
• Activities

• Relationships between activities and events illustrate the logic of

the process.
Arrow Diagrams

• Activities are defined by Arrows and are associated with Duration

• Events are defined by Nodes and do not consume any time. They
are a single point in time.
• Activities occur or belong between events, as shown below:

• Remember our Chapter 1 Lecture! Duration vs. Event

EVENT
Activity Relationships

• One-on-One
Activity Relationships

• Many-on-One
Activity Relationships

• One-on-Many
Activity Relationships

• Many-on-Many
Activity Relationships

• Dummies
Activity Relationships

• Dummies are used to show proper logic between two or

more events, or avoid having two activities under the same
designation, or both!
Analyzing Time in arrow diagrams

• ET & LT are the early event time & late event time– used on nodes
• ES, LS, EF, & LF are early & late starts and early and late finishes for
activities – used at arrows
• i and j are the event names, so the activity is designated Activity i-j
Analyzing Time in arrow diagrams

• FF is the free float of an activity. Free float is the maximum

amount of time that an event can be delayed WITHOUT delaying
the ES of any succeeding activity.
• TF is the total float for an activity. Total float is the maximum
amount of time an event can be delayed WITHOUT delaying the
project completion
Analyzing Time in arrow diagrams

• Two Types of Time Calculations:

• Forward Passes calculate the Early Start (ES) and Early Finish (EF)
dates of each activity
• Backward Passes calculate the Late Start (LS) and Late Finish (LF)
dates
Analyzing Time in arrow diagrams

• Time Calculations
• Forward Passes:
1. Day 1 is assigned ET of the beginning node
2. Select activity to begin at this beginning node
3. For Node 1 (Event 1) ET=ES
4. Calculate EF by adding activity duration to ES
5. Set ET = EF
6. Repeat Steps 2 – 5 as necessary
7. The ET for the last node or event is the total duration of the project
Analyzing Time in arrow diagrams

• Time Calculations
• Backward Passes:
1. On the last node, assign LT = ET
2. Select activity to end at this last node
3. For the last node LT = LF
4. Calculate LS by subtracting activity duration from LF
5. For preceding node, set LT = LS
6. Repeat steps 2-5 as necessary
7. Set the beginning node LT = ET
Analyzing Time in arrow diagrams

FORWARD PASS

E 10 Paving 12 F

10 2 12
Analyzing Time in arrow diagrams

BACKWARD PASS

E 10 Paving 12 F

10 10 10 2 12 12 12
CALCULATING FLOAT in arrow diagrams

• As stated before:
• FF is the free float of an activity. Free float is the maximum amount of time
that an event can be delayed WITHOUT delaying the ES of any succeeding
activity.
• TF is the total float for an activity. Total float is the maximum amount of time
an event can be delayed WITHOUT delaying the project completion

• FF= ET-EF
• TF = ES-LS or TF = EF-LF
CALCULATING critical path in arrow diagrams

• The critical path can be found in arrow diagrams by locating the

sequence of activities that whose total float is = 0
• These critical activities must have early and late starts that are equal.
• Each network has at least one critical path, provided that the early
and late finish times are set equal to each other.
Arrow Diagrams

• PROS
• Easy to illustrate that time is passing
• Can scale the length of the arrow (activity) to accurately depict duration
lengths
• Arrow Diagram automatically generates events at each arrow
intersection
Arrow Diagrams

• CONS
• Hard to draw complex relationships and dummies
• Represents Finish-to-Start relationships “only”
• Time-consuming process to draw network diagram
• All info must be drawn out before it can be entered into a computer
modeling program
• Almost an archaic method
ARROW DIAGRAMS AND Scheduling
Networks
• Arrow diagrams are similar to what we will learn next week
when we begin Precedence diagrams.
• Here’s what we learned this week that will help us in the
future:
• Each activity is assigned duration; calculations through the network provide a
single, specific duration for the project as a whole
• It is important to recognize the distinction between duration and event.
• The best thing of the Scheduling Networks is the ability to see the
CPM (Critical Path Method).
• How do we see the CPM on a Critical Path Method? Its simple with
Arrow, its called the Activity-on-Arrow or Arrow Diagram.
• The alternative approach is Activity-on-Node
(A-on-N), referred to as the Precedence technique