DCC 40132

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND PRACTICES

Topic 4
Planning and Scheduling

PN. SHARINATOL AKMANIDA BINTI JAMALUDIN

Civil Engineering Department
Polytechnic Ungku Omar

Contents
The techniques of planning
and scheduling.

Gantt Chart

Critical Path Method (CPM)

S-curve in construction
planning

Programming software for

planning and scheduling

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Project schedule is the project plan
in an altered format.

It is a convenient form for monitoring

and controlling project activities

Can be prepared in several formats

• Gantt charts
• PERT network
• CPM network

❑ Project with few but repetitive

task – Line of Balance

❑ Medium to large project

– CPM (Precedence Method or
Arrow Diagram)

❑ Small Project
– Gantt Chart or Bar Chart

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 Tool When to use Example
Simple sequential
Gantt Chart Logic with few parallel Road construction
activities

Complex sequential
Bridge construction
Logic with many parallel
Network Diagram Water supply system
activities
construction

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▪ the most simple and easiest way to produce a scheduling form in the
construction industry.
▪ widely used due to its simplicity and multiple adaptations to numerous
events.
▪ A bar charts is formed with a list of activities, specifying the start date,
duration of the activity and completion date of each activity, and then
plotted into the project time scale. The detailed level of the bar chart
will depend on your project complexity and the intended use of the
schedule.

Item Activity Bars (Month or Year)

M10 Mobilization

• When constructing a bar chart, the following

questions must be answered:

• What time units should be used?

• Should workdays or calendar days be
used?
• What about non continuous work?

• Additional information may be added to the

basic bar chart such as activity value, cost and
resource requirements.

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 Type I

❑ Linear time-scaled for planning, Linear

progress-scaled for reporting
❑ Assume the progress of the activity as a direct-
linear function of the elapsed time.
❑ For this example:
❑ Five months were originally scheduled for
this activity.
❑ Reporting date at 3rd month, 60% of the
elapsed time.
❑ Activity behind by 10% “May or may not be
true”.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May

(a) Type I Plan Bar

Jan Feb Mar Apr May

Reporting date

(b) Type I Reporting: Version 1

Jan Feb Mar Apr May

Reporting date

(c) Type I Reporting: Version 2

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Type II

❑ Time scaled for planning - Time scaled for

reporting.
❑ Planned cumulative progress % are written at the
end of each time interval.
❑ No linearity
❑ the reporting bar gives no implication about the
actual progress.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May

0 10 30 50 80 100
Scheduled program
Original schedule

(a) Type II Plan Bar

Jan Feb Mar Apr May
0 10 30 50 80 100
Actual Time Work
0 8 28 55
Actual Progress
Reporting date
(b) Type II Reporting: Case 1

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul

0 10 30 50 80 100

0 8 28 55 75 90 96

Reporting
(b) Type II Reporting: Case 2 date

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 • Early bar chart is drawn using the ES times of activities,
while the late bar chart is drawn using the LS times.

• After the AOA and AON calculations are made, it is important

to present their results in a format that is clear and
understandable to all the parties involved in the project.

a) Early bar chat

b) Late bar chart

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 Advantages Disadvantages

• Easy to prepare • Do not show interrelationships

• Easily understood by all parties
• It shows the total plan in impact
form.
• Good communication tool that
provide an easy graphical
representation of when activities
(might) take place.
between activities
• Managing projects becomes
difficult without those
relationships between activities
• It is difficult to judge the impact of
an unexpected event on the rest
of the construction process
• Do not clearly indicate details
regarding the progress of
activities
• Do not give a clear indication of
interrelation ship between the
separate activities

PERT and CPM developed independently in 1950’s

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

• U.S. Navy, Booz-Allen Hamilton, and Lockheed Aircraft

• Probabilistic activity durations

Critical Path Method (CPM)

• Dupont De Nemours Inc.

• Deterministic activity durations

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❑ Developed in the 1950s by the US Navy

❑ Originally, the critical path method considered only logical

dependencies between terminal elements

❑ Since then, it has been expanded to allow for the inclusion of

resources related to each activity, through processes called
activity-based resource assignments and resource levelling.

❑ Critical Path Method for the construction industry

❑ Non-computer approach
❑ John Fondahl

The Critical Path Method or

Critical Path Analysis, is a
It is an important tool for
mathematically based
effective project management
algorithm for scheduling a set
of project activities

Commonly used with all forms

of projects, including
Any project with
construction, software
interdependent activities can
development, research
apply this method of
projects, product development,
scheduling
engineering, and plant
maintenance, among others

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• Use of nodes and arrows

Arrows An arrow leads from tail to head

directionally
• Indicate ACTIVITY, a time-consuming effort
that is required to perform a part of the
work.

Nodes  A node is represented by a circle

• Indicate EVENT, a point in time where one
or more activities start and/or finish.

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• There are two ways of displaying a project network
• Activities on arrows (AOA) network
• The activities are shown as arrows and events
as nodes
• Generally, more difficult to draw but depicts the
technical relationships of the activities well
• Activities on nodes (AON) network
• Each task is shown as a node and the
technological relationship is shown by the arrows
• AON network usually associated with CPM
• AOA network usually associated with PERT

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12
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 Start to Start SS Start to Finish SF
Finish to
Finish to Start FS Finish FF

B
A
A must finish before either B or C
can start
C
A
C
both A and B must finish before C
B can start

A
C
both A and C must finish before
B either of B or D can start
D
A
B
A must finish before B can start
Dummy
both A and C must finish before D
can start
C
D

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 Activity
constraint
options in
precedence
networks

❑ Useful at many stages of project

management
❑ Mathematically simple
❑ Give critical path and slack time
❑ Provide project documentation
❑ Useful in monitoring costs

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Clearly defined, independent and stable activities

Specified precedence relationships

Over emphasis on critical paths

• Completion date?
• On Schedule?
• Within Budget?
• Critical Activities?
• How can the project be finished early at the
least cost?

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 The CPM is a systematic
scheduling method for a project
network and involves four main
steps:

❑ A forward path to determine

activities early-start times;
❑ A backward path to determine
activities late-finish times;
❑ Float calculations; and
❑ Identifying critical activities.

Forward Pass
▪ Earliest Start Time (ES)
▪ earliest time an activity can start
▪ ES = maximum EF of immediate predecessors

▪ Earliest finish time (EF)

▪ earliest time an activity can finish
▪ earliest start time plus activity time (EF= ES + t)

Backward Pass
Latest Start Time (LS)
Latest time an activity can start without delaying critical path time
(LS= LF – t)
Latest finish time (LF)
latest time an activity can be completed without delaying critical path
time
LS = minimum LS of immediate predecessors

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 • Draw the CPM network
• Analyze the paths through the network
• Determine the float for each activity
• Compute the activity’s float
• float = LS - ES = LF - EF
• Float is the maximum amount of time that this activity can be
delay in its completion before it becomes a critical activity, i.e.,
delays completion of the project
• Find the critical path is that the sequence of activities and events
where there is no “slack” i.e.. Zero slack
• Longest path through a network
• Find the project duration is minimum project completion time

The Critical Path is calculated as follows:

• Late Finish date (LF) - Early Finish

date (EF)

• If the difference is Zero, then the

activity is on the critical path.

• If the result is a number greater the

zero, then the activity is not on the
critical path and has float.

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 • Draw the CPM network
• Analyze the paths through the network
• Determine the float for each activity
• Compute the activity’s float
• float = LS - ES = LF - EF
• Float is the maximum amount of time that this activity can be
delay in its completion before it becomes a critical activity, i.e.,
delays completion of the project
• Find the critical path is that the sequence of activities and events
where there is no “slack” i.e.. Zero slack
• Longest path through a network
• Find the project duration is minimum project completion time

• Duration and finance budget expenditure to carry every activity for project : Lift Irrigation in the
farm were as follows:
Activity Activity Event/ Duration Budget
(Week) Expenditure
Symbol Predecessor
(RM)
A Site selection 1-2 2 20,000

B Digging well 1-3 6 30,000

C Laying field channels 2-4 4 20,000

D Procurement of Pump 2-5 5 50,000

E Installation of pump 3-5 3 30,000

F Test run 4-6 2 10,000

G Closing activities 5-6 3 15,000

a) Prepare the network analysis diagram by using arrow activity.

b) List Early Start Time, Early Finish Time (EFT), Late Start Time (LST) and Late Finish Time (LFT)
c) Prepare a bar chart based on network results of the analysis that was achieved.

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Network analysis diagram by using arrow activity
4

6 10
F
C 4
2

1 2 5 6
A D G

0 0 2 2 4 5 9 9 3 12 12

B E
6 3
3

6 6

ACTIVITY EVENT DURATION EST EFT LST LFT TF ???

A 1-2 2 0 2 2 4

List Early Start B 1-3 6 0 6 0 6

Time, Early Finish
Time (EFT), C 2-4 4 2 6 6 10
Late Start Time
(LST) and Late D 2-5 5 2 7 4 9
Finish Time (LFT)
E 3-5 3 6 9 6 9

F 4-6 2 6 8 10 12

G 5-6 3 9 12 9 12

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Prepare bar chart based on network results of the analysis that achieved

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDa-Fq5jeuM

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 EXAMPLE
PDM – Draw
Nodes and
Dependenci
es

PDM –
Durations

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 PDM -
Forward
Pass

PDM -
Backward
Pass

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 PDM -
Calculate
Float and its
type

Leads and
Lags

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 Task list for
the furniture
project

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Furniture
project:
precedenc
e network
diagram

Time analysis
for the
furniture
project

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 Gantt chart
for the
furniture
project

TUTORIAL 1

• Draw the network diagram

• Find the critical path
• What is the duration of all of the critical activities added
together?
• What type of float do activities B and D have?

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ANSWER

TUTORIAL 2
• What is the duration of the critical path?
• Which activities have total float?
• Which activities have free float?

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 ANSWER

A display of cumulative costs, labour hours or other quantities plotted against time.
The name derives from the S-like shape of the curve, flatter at the beginning and
end and steeper in the middle, which is typical of most projects. The beginning
represents a slow, deliberate but accelerating start, while the end represents a
deceleration as the work runs out.

An S-curve is a project management tool

that tracks progress over time and allows
for a quick visual to determine project
status. As the project continues and the S-
S-Curves are very important project management tool; they curve grows, the graph will turn into a
allow the progress of a project to be tracked visually over historical representation and allow for quick
time and form a historical record of what has happened to comparison to actual data.
date. S-Curve in construction project management industry
is a display of cumulative costs, man-hours or other
quantities plotted against time.

The name derives from the S-like shape of the curve, flatter
at the beginning and at end and steeper in the middle,
which is typical of most projects. The beginning represents
a slow, cautious but accelerating start, while the end
represents a deceleration as the work runs out.

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• There are a variety of S-curves that are
applicable to project management
applications, including:

• Man, Hours versus Time S-curve

• Costs versus Time S-curve
• Baseline S-curve
• Actual S-curve
• Target S-curve
• Value and Percentage S-curves

Prepare a baseline schedule (schedule with planned start and finish dates, used as reference to compare
with actual schedule) of your project with few activities, duration and planned start & finish dates.

Assign weightage to each activity and it could be man-hours, cost or other quantities which represent the
grade of that activity, among others.

The weightage allotment based on one of these criterions alone may not be so logical because the
activity with larger effort (man-hours) cost cheap or costly activity could complete with lesser effort. Still,
this is the fundamental way and is followed every time.

Those who think differently could correlate the three project management triangle attributes (cost,
schedule and scope) together in some logical way and allocate a better weightage value for each activity.
I have used a tentative formula to correlate and calculate the weightage for the mentioned activities.

Further these values were converted to fractions of 1000 (total value) to make next calculations
comprehensible.

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 Typical Project - Plan
Project
Budget

Final testing,
project winding down
Money

Implementation, maximum staff

Initial Design, few People Involved

0

Start Date End Date

Time

Typical Project - Actual

Project
Budget

We’re on time
Money
Spent

We’re on budget
Life is good
(We’re probably lying)

0 Progress

Start Date Today End Date

Time

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 Typical Project - Actual
Project
Budget
Spent

We’re ahead of schedule

Money

We’re on budget
Life is great!
Now we’re really lying!

0 Progress

Start Date Today End Date

Time

Typical Project - Actual

Project
Budget

We’re behind schedule

Money
Spent

We’re on budget
We’re concerned
Are there liquated damages?

0 Progress

Start Date Today End Date

Time

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 Typical Project - Actual
Project
Budget
Spent

We’re on time
Money

We’re over budget

We’re worried
This is typical

0 Progress

Start Date Today End Date

Time

Typical Project - Actual

Project
Budget
Spent

We’re ahead of schedule

Money

We’re over budget

We’re too aggressive
Technical machismo

0 Progress

Start Date Today End Date

Time

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 Typical Project - Actual
Project
Budget
Spent

We’re behind schedule

Money

We’re over budget

We’re scared!
This happens all the time

0 Progress

Start Date Today End Date

Time

The Prime Directive - Financial

Project
Budget

BAD
Money

GOOD
0

Start Date End Date

Time

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akmanida@puo.edu.my

Civil Engineering Department

POLYTECHNIC UNGKU OMAR, IPOH

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