Network planning models

A project is made up of a sequence of activities that

form a network representing a project.
• The path taking longest time through this network of
activities is called the “critical path.”
• The critical path provides a wide range of scheduling
information useful in managing a project.
• Critical Path Method (CPM) helps to identify the critical
path(s) in the project networks.
CPM with a Single Time Estimate
• Used when activity times are known with certainty.
• Used to determine timing estimates for the project,
each activity in the project, and slack time for activities.
CPM with Three Activity Time Estimates
• Used when activity times are uncertain.
• Used to obtain the same information as the Single
Time Estimate model and probability information.
• Time-Cost Models
• Used when trade-off information cost is a
major consideration in planning.
• Used to determine the least cost in reducing
total project time.
Example1:
• CPM with Single Time Estimate Consider the
following consulting project
• Develop a critical path diagram (network) and
determine the duration of the critical path and Slack
times for all activities
1. Draw the network.
2. Compute early starts and early finish times (forward pass)
3. Compute late starts and late finish times (backward pass)
4. Compute Slack (LS-ES) per activity and Critical Path(s)
 Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

• PERT is a project management tool used to

schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within
a project.
• It estimation considers three values:
• the most optimistic estimate (O), a most likely
estimate (M), and a pessimistic estimate (least
likely estimate (L)).
• Evaluate the PERT techniques
• Three estimates are produced for each activity
• Most likely time (m)
• Optimistic time (a)
• Pessimistic (b)
– Expected time’ te = (a + 4m +b) / 6
– Activity standard deviation’ S = (b-a)/6
• Expected time: Helps to carry out a forward pass through a
network similar to CPM
• Activity standard deviation: Used as ranking measure of the
degree of uncertainty or risk for each activity.