CPM and PERT

CPM and PERT

CPM (Critical Path Method) and PERT
(Program Evaluation and Review Technique)
are network based methods designed to assist
in the planning, scheduling, and control of
projects. A project is a collection of
interrelated activities with each activity
consuming time and resources. The objective
of CPM and PERT is to provide analytic
means for scheduling the activities.
The two techniques, CPM and PERT which
were developed independently, differ in
that CPM assumes deterministic activity
durations, whereas PERT assumes
probabilistic durations.
First we discuss CPM and then provide the
details of PERT.
Network Representation
Each activity of the project is represented
by an arc pointing in the direction of
progress in the project. The nodes of the
network establish the precedence
relationships among the different activities
of the project.
Two rules are available for constructing the
network:
Rule 1: Each activity is represented by one,
and only one arc.
Rule 2: Each activity must be identified by
two distinct end nodes.
2
A
Activity A has two end nodes:
1- start node, 2 end node
1
Use of dummy activity:
To establish correct precedence relationships,
dummy activities are used. A dummy activity,
which is normally depicted by a dashed arc,
consumes no time or resources. For example,
if two activities that can start concurrently
and have the same duration can be
represented using a dummy activity as:
1
2
3
1
2
3
Or also as
A
B
A
B
Dummy
Dummy
Rule 3: To maintain the correct precedence
relationships, the following questions must be
answered as each activity is added to the
network:
(a) What activities must immediately precede
the current activity?
(b) What activities must follow the current
activity?
(c) What activities must occur concurrently
with the current activity?
The answers to these questions may require
the use of dummy activities to ensure
correct precedence among the activities.
Problem
1.Construct the project network consisting of
activities A to L with the following
precedence relationships:
(a) A, B and C, the first activities of the
project, can be executed concurrently.
(b) A and B precede D.
(c) B precedes E, F and H.
(d) F and C precede G.
(e) E and H precede I and J.
(f) C, D, F and J precede K.
(g) K precede L.
(h) I, G and L are the terminal activities of
the project.

1
2
3
5
4
6
7 8 9
A
G
E
H
F
D
J
I
K
B
C
Figure for problem
L
2. Construct the project network consisting of
activities A to I with the following precedence
relationships:
(a)A and B, the first activities of the project start
immediately.
(b) A and B precede C.
(c) B precedes D and E.
(d) A and B precede F.
(e) F and D precede G and H.
(f) C and G precede I.
(g) E, H and I are
terminal activities
1
2
A
3
B
4
C
5
6
D
E
F
G
H
I
Dummy
Critical Path Computations
The objective in CPM is the construction of time
schedule for the project. To achieve this, we
carry out computations that produce the
following information:
Total duration needed to complete the project
Classification of the activities of the project as
critical and non-critical
An activity is said to be critical if there is no
" leeway" in determining its start and finish
times. A non-critical activity allows some
scheduling slack, so that the start time of the
activity can be delayed or advanced within
limits without affecting the total completion
time of the project.
To carry out the necessary computations, we
define an event as a point in time at which
some activities are terminated and others
started. In terms of the network, an event
corresponds to a node.
Given an event j, we define
j
= earliest occurrence time of the
event j.
LC
j
= A
j
= Latest occurrence time of the
event j.
D
ij
= duration of the activity (i,j)
The definitions of the earliest and latest
occurrence times of the event j are specified
relative to start and completion time of the
project.
ESj =
It is to be noted that the earliest occurrence
time of the event j is the earliest time at
which all the activities emanating from the
node j can start.
Similarly, the latest occurrence time of the
event j is the latest time by which all
activities that end at the node j must be
completed.
The critical path calculations involve two
passes:
the forward pass determines the earliest
occurrence times of the events and
the backward pass calculates their latest
occurrence times .
Forward Pass (Earliest Occurrence Times):
The computations start at node 1 (the start
node) and advance recursively to end node n.
Initial step: We set ES
1
= 0 (This means the
project starts at time 0.)
General Step j: If (p, j), (q, j), , (v, j) are the
activities ending at node j, we define
ES
j
= Max { ES
p
+ D
pj
,

ES
q
+ D
qj
,

, ES
v
+D
vj
}
The forward pass ends when ES
n
has been
computed which is the duration of the project.

Backward Pass (Latest Occurrence Times):
The computations now start at node n (the
end node) and advance recursively to start
node 1.
Initial step: We set LC
n
= ES
n

General Step i: If (i, p), (i, q), , (i, v) are the
activities starting at node i, we define
LC
i
= Min { LC
p
- D
ip
,

LC
q
- D
iq
,

, LC
v
- D
iv
}
The backward pass ends when LC
1
has been
computed which is start time of the project.

Critical activity defined
Based on the preceding calculations, an
activity (i, j) is called critical if:
ES
i
= LC
i

ES
j
= LC
j
ES
j
ES
i
= LC
j
LC
i
= D
ij

Thus an activity (i, j) is critical if the earliest
occurrence time and Latest occurrence time
of its end nodes are the same and their
difference is the duration of the activity.
A critical path of the project is a path
comprising of critical activities of the project.
It is to be remembered that
a project can have more than one critical
path,
Any critical path will start at node 1 and will
end at node n
The sum of the durations of the activities
lying on a critical path is the duration of the
project.
Determine the critical path of the project
(network) given below.
1
3
2
2
2
3
5
7
6
3
2
3
2
5
4
6
7
0
2
3
6
6
13
19
19
13
6
6
3
4
0
1
2
A
3
B
4
C
5
6
D
E
F
G
H
I
Dummy
Determine the critical path of the
project (network) given below.
2
3
5
4
2
7
10
6 3
0
0
0
3
3
3
3
7
7
13
14
17
17
4
PERT Networks
In PERT the duration of any activity is
indeterministic. It bases the duration of an
activity on three estimates:
Optimistic Time, a
Most Likely Time, m
Pessimistic Time, b
The range [a, b] is assumed to enclose all
possible estimates of the duration of an
activity.
Based on these estimates, the average
time,D, and variance , v, are computed as
follows:


6
4 b m a
D
+ +
=
2
6
|
.
|

\
|

=
a b
v
CPM calculations given earlier will be applied
directly, with D replacing the single estimate D.
Consider the network with the estimates of
the activities given below:
Activity a m b D v
(1,2) 2 5 8 5 1
(1,3) 1 4 7 4 1
(2,3) 0 0 0
(2,4) 2 4 6
(2,6) 5 7 12
(3,4) 3 5 10
(3,5) 3 6 9
(4,5) 4 10 6
(4,6) 2 5 8
(5,6) 2 4 6
0 0
4 0.44
7.5 1.36
5.5 1.36
6 1
6.33 1
5 1
4 0.44
1
3
2
5
4
6
Dummy
4
5
6
5.5
4
7.5
5
6.33 4
0
0
5
5
10.5
16.83
20.83
20.83
16.83
10.5
5
5
0
Thus the mean duration of the project = 20.83
days
The variance of the duration of the project =
sum of the variances of the activities on the
critical path = 1+0+1.36+1+0.44 = 3.80
Thus P( project will be completed within 23
days)=
) 23 ( s T P
|
|
.
|

\
|

s

=
80 . 3
83 . 20 23
) (
) (
T V
T E T
P
8665 . 0 ) 11 . 1 ( = s = Z P
Problem
Consider the network with the estimates of
the activities given below:
Activity a m b D v
(1,2) 5 6 8 6.17 0.25
(1,4) 1 3 4 2.83 0.25
(1,5) 2 4 5
(2,3) 4 5 6
(2,5) 7 8 10
(2,6) 8 9 13
(3,4) 5 9 19
(3,6) 3 4 5
(4,6) 4 8 10
(5,6) 9 10 15
3.83 0.25
5 0.11
8.15 0.25
9.5 0.69
10 5.44
4 0.11
7.67 1
10.67 1
Activity a m b D v
(5,7) 4 6 8 6 0.44
(6,7) 3 4 5 4 0.11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
6.17
2.83
3.83
5
8.17
9.57
10
4
7.67 6.17
10.67
6
4
6.17
11.17
21.17
14.34
28.84
32.84
0
32.84
28.84
18.17
21.17
11.17
6.17
0