Network Scheduling,

Planning & Controlling

Techniques
Introduction

-Schedule converts action plan into operating time table

-Basis for monitoring and controlling project

-Scheduling more important in projects than in production, because unique nature

-Sometimes customer specified/approved requirement.

-Based on Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Network

- Graphical portrayal of activities and event

- Shows dependency relationships between tasks/activities in a project

- Clearly shows tasks that must precede (precedence) or follow (succeeding) other tasks in a
logical manner

- Clear representation of plan – a powerful tool for planning and controlling project
Why PERT/CPM?

-Prediction of deliverables

-Planning resource requirements

-Controlling resource allocation

-Internal program review

-External program review

-Performance evaluation

-Uniform wide acceptance

Applications Of PERT/CPM Techniques
Steps in PERT/CPM
Need of PERT/CPM

-Prediction of deliverables

-Planning resource requirements

-Controlling resource allocation

-Internal program review

-External program review

-Performance evaluation

-Uniform wide acceptance

PERT
PERT
Use of PERT

-In construction activities

-Transportation activities

-In oil refineries

-Computer system

-For manufacturing electric generator machines

-Medical and surgical sector

-Library activities
Importance of PERT System

-Reduction in cost
-Saving of time
-Determination of activities
-Elimination of risk in complex activities –
-Flexibility
-Evaluation of alternatives-
-Useful in effective control-
-Useful in decision making
-Useful is research work
Critical path

Those activities which contribute directly to the overall duration of the project constitute critical
activities, the critical activities form a chain running through the network which is called critical path.

Critical event : the slack of an event is the difference between the latest & earliest events time. The
events with zero slack time are called as critical events.

Critical activities : The difference between latest start time & earliest start time of an activity will
indicate amount of time by which the activity can be delayed without affecting the total project
duration. The difference is usually called total float. Activities with 0 total float are called as critical
activities
CPM calculation

Path

A connected sequence of activities leading from the starting event to the ending event

Critical Path

The longest path (time); determines the project duration

Critical Activities

All of the activities that make up the critical path

Critical path

Those activities which contribute directly to the overall duration of the project constitute critical
activities, the critical activities form a chain running through the network which is called critical path.

Critical event : the slack of an event is the difference between the latest & earliest events time. The
events with zero slack time are called as critical events.

Critical activities : The difference between latest start time & earliest start time of an activity will
indicate amount of time by which the activity can be delayed without affecting the total project
duration. The difference is usually called total float. Activities with 0 total float are called as critical
activities
Benefits of CPM/PERT

-Useful at many stages of project management

-Mathematically simple

-Give critical path and slack time

-Provide project documentation

-Useful in monitoring costs

Limitations to CPM/PERT

-Clearly defined, independent and stable activities

-Specified precedence relationships

-Over emphasis on critical paths

-Deterministic CPM model

-Activity time estimates are subjective and depend on judgment

-PERT assumes a beta distribution for these time estimates, but the actual distribution may be different

-PERT consistently underestimates the expected project completion time due to alternate paths
becoming critical
Project Crashing

Crashing

reducing project time by expending additional resources

Crash time

an amount of time an activity is reduced

Crash cost

cost of reducing activity time

Goal

reduce project duration at minimum cost

Time-Cost Relationship
The Resource Problem

Resources and Priorities

-Project network times are not a schedule until resources have been assigned.

- The implicit assumption is that resources will be available in the required amounts when
needed.
- Adding new projects requires making realistic judgments of resource availability and
project durations.

Resource-Constrained Scheduling

-Resource leveling (or smoothing) involves attempting to even out demands on resources by
using slack (delaying noncritical activities) to manage resource utilization.
Kinds of resource

-People

-Materials

-Equipment

-Working Capital
GERT

-A network analysis technique used in project management.

-It allows probabilistic treatment of both network logic and activity duration estimated.

-The technique was first described in 1966 by Dr. Alan B. Pritsker of Purdue University.

-Compared to other techniques, GERT is an only rarely used scheduling technique.