PROJECT

NETWORKING

(TOTAL 21 PAGES) 1
 Network Planning Methods
 What is Network Analysis?

 System which plans projects both large & small by

analyzing the activities
 Projects are broken down to individual tasks which are
then arranged in logical sequence
 Which tasks will be performed simultaneously & which
need to be done sequentially is also decided
 A Network diagram is constructed which presents visually
the relationship between all the activities involved.
 Network techniques developed from the Milestone chart
& Bar chart which had inherent limitations
 Network Planning Methods
 Limitations of Milestone & Bar chart
techniques
 A Bar chart becomes too cumbersome while dealing with
complex projects when the activities are to be evaluated in
detail and inter dependencies are to be studied carefully
 A Bar chart does not indicate which tasks should be given
priorities as regards resources
 The effect of changes in schedule cannot be evaluated
with the help of a bar chart
 A bar chart does not indicate tolerances in activity times.
 A bar chart does not predict, well in advance the effects of
inevitable snags and thus corrective action cannot be
taken
 Network Planning Methods

 Important Terms
 Event - An event is a specific instant of time which marks
the start and the end of an activity. It is represented by a
circle and the event number is written within the circle. Eg
: Start a motor or Equipment arrived at site
 Activity - Every project consists of a number of job
operations or tasks which are called activities. An activity
is represented by an arrow and it begins and ends with a
event. The activity name is indicated below the arrow and
duration is represented above it. Eg : Equipment Erection,
Spool Erection
 Network Planning Methods
 They are further classified as
Critical activities - The activities which if delayed will
delay the project.
Non Critical activities - The activities which have some
margin, such that a delay over their estimated time does not
delay the project
Dummy activities - When two different activities start at
the same instant of time, the head events are joined by a
dotted line and this is called a dummy activity.

 Critical Path - The path with the longest duration and having
no float is determined and is called Critical Path. The duration
of the critical path is called Project Duration
 Network Planning Methods
 Earliest Start time - It is the earliest possible time at
which an activity can start and is calculated by moving
from the first to the last event in a network diagram.

 Earliest Finish time - It is the earliest possible time at

which an activity can finish.

 Latest Finish Time - It is calculated by moving

backward i.e from last event to first event of the network
diagram.

 Latest start time - It is the latest possible time by which

an activity can start
 Network Planning Methods
 Float or Slack

Float / Slack is the time a non critical activity can

consume before it becomes critical. It is the margin
available on the duration of the activity.

 Thus float is difference between the time available for

completing and activity and time necessary to
complete the same.

 Float is of two types

Total Float - It is the additional time a non critical

activity can consume without increasing the project
 Network Planning Methods
duration. However, total float may effect the floats
in previous and subsequent activities. Total float =
Latest start time - Earliest start time or Latest finish
time - earliest finish time

Free Float - If a non critical activity starts as early as

possible, the surplus time is the free float. Free float
if not used does not effect the float of subsequent
activity. Free Float = Earliest start time of tail event
- Earliest start time of head event - activity duration
 EST LFT

10 10

0 0 4 4 15 15 18 18

(4) (3)
1 A 2 5 6
F

8 12

NETWORK DIAGRAM

ActivityDuration EST LST EFT LFT Total Free Formulas

(days) Float Float 1 LST = LFT - Duration
2 EFT = EST + Duration
A 4 0 0 4 4 0 0 3 Total Float = LST - EST or LFT - EFT
B 6 4 4 10 10 0 0 4 FF = EST tail event - EST head event - Dur
C 5 10 10 15 15 0 0
D 4 4 8 8 12 4 0
E 3 8 12 11 15 4 4
F 3 15 15 18 18 0 0
 PERT & CPM
 PERT
 Programme Evaluation and Review Technique
 The project to be planned is broken to inter dependent
activities and a network of arrows is constructed to depict
the dependency relationship
 Each activity is represented by one arrow
 PERT is used where duration of activities is not
deterministic i.e it is not possible to estimate the timings
precisely.
 It is assumed that the times of these activities follow a
Beta distribution.
 PERT & CPM
 Pessimistic, most likely and optimistic time estimates are
made for each activity by the specialists.
 Duration for each activity (Expected time) =
Optimistic time + Pessimistic time + 4(Most likely time)
6
 Optimistic time - It is the shortest possible time, if every
thing goes all right. It is an estimate of minimum possible
time to complete the activity under ideal conditions.
 Most likely time - It is the most probable time practically
given by the people who know the premises of the activity
and project. It is the mode of distribution if normal
condition exist and the activity is repeated number of times
 PERT & CPM
 Pessimistic time - It is the longest possible time that would
be required to complete an activity if problems were
encountered at every turn. This estimate does not take into
account Force Majeure
 Expected time - It is the average time an activity will take
if it were to be repeated on large no of times and is based
on a assumption that the activity time follows Beta
distribution
 PERT & CPM
 Steps in PERT
 The project is broken down into different activities
systematically
 Activities are arranged in logical sequence
 Network Diagram is drawn
 Duration for each activity is calculated using three
time estimates
 Standard deviation and variance for each activity is
calculated
 PERT & CPM
 Earliest starting time and latest finishing times are
calculated
 Slack is calculated
 Critical paths are identified
 Project duration is determined
 Probability that the project will finish at due date is
calculated
EXAMPLE
 Days t0 + (tm x 4) + tp
Activity te =
t0 tm tp te St Vt 6
1-2 2 5 14 6 2 4
1-6 2 5 8 5 1 1 tp - to
St =
2-3 5 11 29 13 4 6 6
2-4 1 4 7 4 1 1
3-5 5 11 17 11 2 4 2 2
Vt = tp - to St
4-5 2 5 14 6 2 4 6
6-7 3 9 27 11 4 16
5-8 2 2 8 3 1 1
7-8 7 13 31 15 4 16
EST LFT

19 19

6 6 30 30

2 5

33 33

10 24 8
(6)

0 0
4

5 7 16 18
(11) Arrow Diagram
6 7
 Total Slack
Activity Dur EST EFT LST LFT
TS = LST - EST
1-2 6 0 6 0 0 0
1-6 5 0 5 2 7 2
2-3 13 6 19 6 19 0
2-4 4 6 10 20 24 14
3-5 11 19 30 19 30 0
4-5 6 10 16 24 30 14
6-7 11 5 16 7 18 2
5-8 3 30 33 30 33 0
7-8 15 16 31 18 33 2

Notes :
1 Critical Path is 1-2-3-5-8 and is marked on the network diagram
2 The length of the critical path or the total project duration (Te) is the sum of the duration of each critical activity ie. 6+13+11+3 = 33 days
3 Variance of the critical path is the sum of the variance of each critical activity ie. 4 +16+4+1 = 25 days
4 The probability that the project will meet the scheduled or the due date is calculated from the following relation

D - Te Probability of meeting due Probability of meeting due

Z = Z Z
St or scheduled date or scheduled date
Where, 2.8 0.997 -0.2 0.421
2.6 0.995 -0.4 0.345
Te is the total project duation = 33 days 2.4 0.992 -0.6 0.274
2.2 0.986 -0.8 0.212
St is the standard deviation = Variance of the project = 25 = 5 2.0 0.977 -1.0 0.159
1.8 0.964 -1.2 0.115
D is the due or the scheduled date ( time ) = 38 days 1.6 0.945 -1.4 0.081
Z is the number of standard deviations by which D exceeds Te 1.4 0.919 -1.6 0.055
Substituting different values in above equation 1.2 0.855 -1.8 0.036
1.0 0.841 -2.0 0.022
38 - 33 0.8 0.788 -2.2 0.014
Z = = 1
5 0.6 0.726 -2.4 0.008
0.4 0.655 -2.6 0.005
For the value of Z = 1 the corresponding value of probability can be read from the table 0.2 0.579 -2.8 0.003
given below which is 0.841 0.0 0.500
 PERT & CPM

 CPM
 Critical Path Method
 It is applied where activity times are more or less
deterministic
 It is used where precise time can be determined from
either past experience or time and motion study
 In this method Float available on each activity is
determined.
 The path with the longest duration and having no float is
determined and is called Critical Path
 PERT & CPM
 Steps in CPM

 Break down the project into activities

 Arrange all activities in logical sequence
 Construct arrow diagram
 Number all nodes and activities
 Find duration for each activity
 Calculate early start, Late start and finishing times
 Calculate total float for each activity
 PERT & CPM
 Identify critical path
 Optimize the cost
 Update the network
 Smooth the network resources
 PERT V/s CPM

 CPM
PERT
 Deterministic modeluncertainty
Probabilistic model with knowninactivity
activityduration
duration
 Duration is computed based on past experience
from multiple time estimates
 Activity oriented
Event oriented
 Dummy activityactivity
Use of dummy not used
 Used for repetitive jobs jobs
non repetitive
 Used forfor
Applied construction Programme
planning and schedulingand business
 It deals with
usually doescost
notofconsider
the project
costand their minimization
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