DME

PERT/CPM
By
Dr. Paul Netalisile Malunda

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 Definition of a project
• A project is a statement or proposal of
something to be done.
• It may also be defined as is a series of
related jobs usually directed toward
some major output and requiring a
significant period of time to perform.

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 Some examples of projects
• Some examples of project include:
• building projects,
• water projects
• and staff-training projects.
• Projects are often very large and rely on
detailed planning

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 Definition of a program
• A program may be made up of interrelated
projects completed by several organizations.

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 PERT/CPM
• The acronyms PERT stands for Program
Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
• CPM stands for Critical Path Method
• These are controlling tools based on
dividing a project into separate
operations and then charting the order in
which the operations should be carried
out in a way to save time and optimize
the use of resources
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Difference between PERT and CPM
• The primary difference between these two
techniques is that PERT is probabilistic where
CPM is deterministic.
• PERT used three estimates: optimistic,
pessimistic, and best of an activity’s required,
whereas CPM used just the best estimate.
• PERT used an arrow to represent an activity
and CPM used a node.

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 Critical path scheduling techniques
may be applied to a project with the
following characteristics
• It must have well-defined tasks whose
completion marks the end of the project.
• The tasks are independent; they may be
started, stopped, and conducted
separately within a given sequence.
• The tasks are ordered; they must follow
each other in a given sequence.
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 The Gantt chart
• The Gantt chart is a graphical
presentation of a planned course of
action and provides a means for
comparing actual performance with
planned performance.

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 PERT/CPM
• Project Evaluation Review Technique
(PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM)
are scheduling techniques used to plan,
schedule, budget and control the many
activities associated with projects.

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 Utilizing PERT/CPM involves breaking the
total project down into many different
individual activities with identifiable time
requirements. Each activity must be
accomplished as part of the total work to
be done.

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 Net work analysis may be applied to
projects with the following
characteristics
• The project can be split into a number of
separate tasks.
• The time (duration) required of each task
can be estimated.
• Certain tasks must precede other while
some may carried out simultaneously (in
parallel).

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 Steps involved in PERT/CPM project
planning
• Identify activities required by the project.
• Identify the precedence relationships
among the activities.
• Determine the expected time
requirements for each activity.

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 Steps involved in PERT/CPM project
planning
• Develop a network diagram of activities
• Determine the earliest and latest feasible
event times.
• Identify the critical path

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 Project schedule
Activity Time Depend on
A-waking up 10 minutes -
B-Bathing 30 minutes A
C-Praying 10 minutes B
D-Making tea 10 minutes A
E-Dressing 20 minutes B
F-Taking tea 10 minutes D, E, C
G-Transport 30 minutes F
to office
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 Steps involved in PERT/CPM project
planning
• Dummy activities are not real activities and
thus will not actually be performed during the
project. A dummy activity has a time of zero.
They are used primarily to maintain the
precedence relationships required in the
network.

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 Benefits of PERT/ CPM
• Provides a graphical view of the project.
• Predicts the time required to complete the
project.
• Shows which activities are critical to
maintaining the schedule and which are not.
• It is a tool for decision-making meaning it can
tell us what to do and activities that we are
likely to phase out.

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 Benefits of PERT/ CPM
• It tells us what we can do to speed up project
or save on cost and time.
• It is a very important tool for monitoring,
evaluation and supervision.
• It tells us the activities that are important and
critical.

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 Assumptions
• It assumes that we know the logic.
• It assumes that we know the time(sometimes
your time can be pessimistic, optimistic, and
average).
• It assumes that the activities can be drawn
graphically.

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 Limitations
• Data is sometimes not available.
• Lack of expertise.
• The determination of the project schedule is
at most an academic guess work.
• Resources may be scarce. The path assumes
all resources are there.
• There’s a tendency of rounding up especially
on time (ignoring the seconds etc on the time)
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 Limitations
• It assumes no external interference (market,
available, technology same, no inflation etc)
• It assumes available resources.

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 Why projects fail
• Projects fail for a number of reasons.
• The most important reason is that those
involved do not take project scheduling
seriously.
• Usually the inexperienced personnel who
may be involved do not comply with
procedure

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 Exercise
Activity Preceding Duration
Activity
J: negotiating - 6
distribution
K: arrange publicity J 5
L: write screen play - 3
M: Hire Cast and Crew L 5
N: Shoot and edit M, Q 4
P: Design Sets L 2
Q: Build Sets P 1
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 Exercise
• Required:
• (a)Draw the network diagram for the above-
mentioned project
• (b) Determine the critical path and its
duration.

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