REN505 Project Management

and Engineering Economics

Dr. Tamer A. Mohamed
Network Scheduling
Techniques
 Introduction
 Project scheduling deals with:
– Establishment of timetables and dates during
activities required to complete the project are
performed.
 Schedules are the cornerstone of the
planning and control system
 Due to High importance, they are written
into the contract
 Introduction
 The scheduling include information
like:
– The estimated duration of activities
– The technological precedence
relations among activities
– Constraints imposed by the
availability of resources and the
budget
– Due-date requirements
 Network Techniques
 The basic approach to all project scheduling is
to form a network that graphically portrays the
relationships between the tasks and milestones
in the project.
 Several techniques evolved in the late 1950s for
organizing and representing this basic
information.
 Best known today are:
– The program evaluation and review technique (PERT)
– The critical path method (CPM).
 PERT/CPM
 PERT was developed by Booz, Alien &
Hamilton in conjunction with the U.S. Navy in
1958 as a tool for coordinating the activities of
more than 11,000 contractors involved with the
Polaris missile program.
 CPM was the result of a joint effort by DuPont
and the UNIVAC division of Remington Rand
to develop a procedure for scheduling
maintenance shutdowns in chemical
processing plants.
 PERT/CPM
 The major difference between the two:
– CPM assumes that activity times are
deterministic,
– PERT assume the time to complete an
activity as a random variable (probabilistic)
that can be characterized by an optimistic, a
pessimistic, and a most likely estimate of its
durations.
 PERT/CPM
 PERT/CPM is based on a diagram that
represents the entire project as a network of
arrows and nodes
 The two most popular approaches are either to
place the activities on the arrows (AOA) and
have the nodes signify milestones or to place
activities on the nodes (AON) and let the
arrows show precedence relations among
activities
 PERT/CPM
 Precedence allows tasks that must precede or
follow other tasks to be clearly identified, in
time as well as in function.
 The resulting diagram can be used to:
– Identify potential scheduling difficulties
– Estimate the time needed to finish the entire
project
– Improve coordination among the
participants.
Precedence Relations Among
Activities
 The schedule of activities is constrained by the
availability of resources and technological constraints
known as precedence.
 Four general types of precedence relations exist:
1. Finish to Start
2. Start to Start
3. Start to Finish
4. Finish to Finish

 A "finish to start," requires that an activity can start only

after its predecessor has been completed.
 For example, it is possible to lift a piece of equipment by a
crane only after the equipment is secured to the hoist.
 Precedence Relations Among
Activities
– A "start to start" relationship exists when an
activity can start only after a specified activity
has already begun.
 For example, in projects in which concurrent

engineering is applied, logistic support

analysis starts as soon as the detailed
design phase begins.
 Precedence Relations Among
Activities
– The "start to finish" connection occurs when an
activity cannot end until another activity has begun.
 This would be the case in a project of building a

nuclear reactor and charging it with fuel, in which

one industrial robot transfers radioactive material to
another.
 The first robot can release the material only after

the second robot achieves a tight enough grip.

 Precedence Relations Among
Activities
– The "finish to finish" connection is used when
an activity cannot terminate unless another
activity is completed.
 Quality control efforts, for example, cannot

terminate before production ceases,

although the two activities can be performed
at the same time.
Precedence Relations Among Activities
Summary
 Precedence Relations Among
Activities

– In the following sections, we concentrate on

the analysis of "finish to start" connections,
the most common.
– The following table contains the relevant
activity data.
Precedence Relations Among Activities
(Example)
 Precedence Relations Among Activities
 In this project, only "finish
to start" precedence
relations are considered.
From the previous table, we
see that activities A, B, and
E do not have any
predecessors and thus can
start at any time.
 Activity C, however, can
start only after A finishes,
whereas D can start after the
completion of A and B.
 Further examination reveals
that F can start only after C,
E, and D are finished and
that G must follow F.
 Precedence Relations Among Activities
 Because activity A precedes C, and C precedes
F, A must also precede F. However, when using
a network representation, it is necessary to list
only immediate or direct precedence relations;
implied relations are taken care of
automatically.
 The three models used to analyze precedence
relations and their effect on the schedule are
the Gantt chart, CPM, and PERT.
AOA Network Approach For CPM
Analysis
 In constructing the network, an arrow is used
to represent an activity, with its head
indicating the direction of progress of the
project.
 The precedence relations among activities are
introduced by defining events. An event
represents a point in time that signifies the
completion of one or more activities and the
beginning of new ones.
AOA Network Approach For CPM Analysis

 The beginning and ending points of an

activity thus are described by two events
known as the head and the tail.
 Activities that originate from a certain
event cannot start until the activities that
terminate at the same event have been
completed.
AOA Network Approach For CPM
Analysis
 Figure (a) shows an example of a typical
representation of an activity (i, j) with its tail event i
and its head event j.
 Figure b depicts a second example, in which
activities (1,3) and (2,3) must be completed before
activity (3,4) can start.
 For computational purposes, it is better to number
the events in ascending order
 Rules for Constructing a
Diagram - Rule 1
 “Each activity is represented by one
and only one arrow in the network”
 No single activity can be represented
twice in the network.
 Rules for Constructing a
Diagram - Rule 2
 “No two activities can be identified by the
same head and tail events”
 A situation such as this may arise when two or
more activities can be performed in parallel.
 As an example, consider Fig I below, which
shows activities A and B running in parallel.
 The procedure used to avoid this difficulty is to
introduce a dummy activity between either A
or B.
 It should be noted that dummy activities do not
consume time or resources.
Figure (I) Figure (II)
 Rules for Constructing a
Diagram - Rule 2
 Dummy activities are also necessary in
establishing logical relationships that cannot
otherwise be represented correctly.
 Suppose that in a certain project, tasks A and B
must precede C, whereas task E is preceded
only by B. Figure (III a) shows an incorrect but
common way that many beginners would draw
this part of the network.
 The difficulty is that although the relationship
among A, B, and C is correct, the diagram
implies that E must be preceded by both A and
B. The correct representation using dummy D11
is depicted in Fig. (III b)
Figure( III)
 Example 1
 Draw the AOA diagram so that the following precedence relations are
satisfied:
– E is preceded by B and C;
– F is preceded by A and B.
– Consider Figure IV Part (a) shows an incorrect precedence relation for
activity E. According to the requirements, B and C are to precede E, and
A and B are to precede F.
– The dummy D11 therefore is inserted to allow B to precede E. Doing so,
however, implies that A also must precede E, which is incorrect. Part (b)
in the figure shows the correct
relationships.
Figure (IV)
Example 2
 Draw the precedence diagram for the following
conditions:
– G is preceded by A.
– E is preceded by A and B.
– F is preceded by B and C.
Figure (V)
Example 3

Figure VI.a
 Example 3
 Activity D has both A and B as predecessors; thus, there is a need
for an event that represents the completion of A and B.
 We begin by adding two dummy activities D11 and D22. The common
end event of D11 and D22 is now the start event of D, as depicted in
Fig. VI.b.
–– As
As we
we progress,
progress, itit may
may happen
happen that
that one
one or
or more
more dummy
dummy activities
activities are
are
added
added that
that really
really are
are not
not necessary.
necessary.
–– To
To correct
correct this
this situation,
situation, aa check
check will
will be
be made
made at
at completion
completion and
and
redundant dummies will be eliminated.
redundant dummies will be eliminated.

Figure VI.b
 Before starting activity F, activities C, E, and D must be completed.
Therefore, an event that represents the terminal point of these activities
should be introduced.
 Notice that C, E, and D are not predecessors of any other activity but F.
– This implies that we can have the three arrows representing these activities
terminate at the same node (event)—the tail of F. Activity G, which has only
F as a predecessor, can start from the head of F (see Fig. VI.c).

Figure VI. c
 Example 3
 Once all of the activities and their precedence relations have been
included in the network diagram, it is possible to eliminate redundant
dummy activities.
 A dummy activity is redundant when it is the only activity that starts or
ends at a given event.
 Thus, D22 is redundant and is eliminated by connecting the head of activity
B to the event that marked the end of D22.
 The next step is to number the events in ascending order, making sure
that the tail always has a lower number than the head.
 The resulting network is illustrated in Fig. VI d.
 The duration of each activity is written next to the corresponding arrow.
The dummy D1 is shown like any other activity but with a duration of zero.
Figure VI.d
 Critical Path
 From the network diagram, it is easy to see the
sequences of activities that connect the start of the
project to its terminal node. The longest sequence
is called the critical path.
 The total time required to perform all of the
activities on the critical path is the minimum
duration of the project because these activities
cannot be performed in parallel as a result of
precedence relations among them.
 Critical Path
 To simplify the analysis, it is recommended
that in the case of multiple activities that
have no predecessors, a common start event
be used for all of them.
 Similarly, in cases in which multiple activities
have no successors, a common finish event
should be defined.
Example
 Example
 In this example network, there are four sequences
of activities connecting the start and finish nodes.
Each is listed in the following Table.
Example
 The last column of the table contains the
duration of each sequence.
 As can be seen, the longest path (critical
path) is sequence 1, which includes
activities A, C, F, and G. Any delay in
completing any of these (critical) activities
because of, say, a late start or a longer
performance time than initially expected
will cause a delay in project completion.
 Slack
 Activities that are not on the critical path (s)
have slack and can be delayed temporarily
on an individual basis. Two types of slack
are possible:
– Free slack denotes the time that an activity can be
delayed without delaying both the start of any
succeeding activity and the end of the project.
– Total slack is the time that the completion of an activity
can be delayed without delaying the end of the project.
– A delay of an activity that has total slack but no free
slack reduces the slack of other activities in the project.
 Slack
 A simple rule can be used to identify the type of
slack.
– A non-critical activity whose finish event is on the
critical path has both total and free slack, and the two
are equal

For example, non-

critical activity E,
whose event 4 is on
the critical path, has
total slack = free slack
= 6, as we will see
shortly.
 Slack
– In contrast, the head of non-critical activity B is not on the
critical path; its total slack = 3, and its free slack = 2. The
head of activity B is the start event of activity D, which is
also non-critical.
– The difference between the length of the critical
sequence (A-C) and the non-critical sequence (B-D),
which runs in parallel to (A-C), is the total slack of B and
D and is equal to (5 + 8) - (3 + 7) = 3.

Any delay in activity B will

reduce the remaining slack
for activity D. Therefore, the
person responsible for
performing D should be
notified.
 Slack
 The roles of the total and free slacks in scheduling
non-critical activities can be explained in terms of
two general rules:
– If the total slack equals the free slack, then the non-critical
activity can be scheduled anywhere between its early
start and late start times.
– If the free slack is less than the total slack, then the non-
critical activity can be delayed relative to its early start
time by no more than the amount of its free slack without
affecting the schedule of those activities that immediately
succeed it.
 Further elaboration and an exact mathematical
expression for calculating activity slacks are
presented in the following subsections.
 Calculating Event Times and
Critical Path
 Important scheduling information for the
project manager is the earliest and latest
times when each event can take place
without causing a schedule overrun.
 This information is needed to compute the
critical path.
 The early time of an event (i) is determined
by the length of the longest sequence from
the start node (event 1) to event i.
 Calculating Event Times and
Critical Path
 Denote tii as the early time of event i, and let t 11 = 0,
implying that activities without precedence
constraints begin as early as possible.
 If a starting date is given, then t 11 is adjusted
accordingly.
 To determine tii for each event i, a forward pass is
made through the network. Let Lijij be the duration
or length of activity (i,j).
 The following formula is used for the calculations:
 Calculating Event Times and
Critical Path
 tjj=max (tii + Lijij) for all (i,j) activities defined, where t 11
= 0. Thus, to compute tjj for event j, tii for the tail
events of all incoming activities, (i, j) must be
computed first.
 In words, the early time of each event is the latest
of the early times of its immediate predecessors
plus the duration of the connecting activity.
 The forward-pass calculations for the
previous example network will now be
given. The early time for event 2 is
simply, t22= t11+L1212
= 0+5 = 5,
 where L12 = 5 is the duration of the
12
activity connecting event 1 to event 2
(activity A).
Calculating Event Times and
Critical Path
 Early-time calculations for event 3 are a bit
more complicated because event 3 marks
the completion of the two activities D 11 and B.
 By implication, there are two sequences
connecting the start of the project to event 3.
The first comprises activities A and D11 and is
of length 5; the second includes activity B
only and has L1313
=3. Thus
 Calculating Event Times and
Critical Path

This confirms that the earliest that the

project can finish is in 22 weeks.
 Calculating Event Times and

Critical Path
The late time of each event is calculated next by making a
backward pass through the network.
 Let Tii, denote the late time of event i.
 If n is the finish event, then the calculations are generally
initiated by setting Tnn = tnn and working backward toward the start
event using the following formula:
 Tii =min (Tjj - Lijij) for all (i,j) activities defined
 If, however, a required project completion date is given that is
later than the early time of event n, then it is possible to assign
that time as the late time for the finish event.
 If the required date is earlier than the early time of the finish
event, then no feasible schedule exists. This case is discussed
later in the chapter.
 In our example, T66 = t66 = 22. The late time for event 5 is
calculated as follows:
 Calculating Event Times and
Critical Path
T3 = T4 - L34= 13-7 = 6

 Event
Event 22 is
is connected
connected byby sequences
sequences of of activities
activities to
to both
both events
events 33 and
and 4.
4.
Thus,
Thus, the
the late
late time
time of
of event
event 22 isis the
the minimum
minimum among
among the
the late
late times
times dictated
dictated
by
by the
the two
two sequences;
sequences; that
that is,
is,

6 3 3
 
T1  min  5  5  0   0
13  7  6 
Calculating Event Times and
Critical Path
Summary of Event Calculations
Late Time, Ti Early Time, ti Event, i
0 0 1
5 5 2
6 5 3
13 13 4
17 17 5
22 22 6
Calculating Event Times and
Critical Path
 The critical activities can now be identified by using the
results of the forward and backward passes. An activity
(i,j) lies on the critical path if it satisfies the following
three conditions:
– tii = Tii
– tjj = Tjj
– tjj – tii = Tjj – Tii = Lijij
 These conditions actually indicate that there is no slack
time between the earliest start and the latest start of the
critical activities.
 In the previous example, activities (0,2), (2,4), (4,5), and
(5,6) define the critical path forming a chain in the
network from node 1 (start) to node 6 (finish).
Example
 Construct an AOA diagram that comprises activities
A, B, C, ..., L such that the following relationships are
satisfied:
– A, B, and C, the first activities of the project, can start
simultaneously.
– A and B precede D.
– B precedes E, F, and H.
– F and C precede G.
– E and H precede I and J.
– C, D, F, and J precede K.
– K precedes L.
– I, G, and L are the terminal activities of the project.