CEN 411: CONSTRUCTION PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
TUTORIAL 4
1 A construction company has been awarded a contract to construct a flyover in a city with
a completion period of 18 months. The major activities in the project and the relationships
among them, the normal and crash durations, and the corresponding normal and crash
costs are given in the following Table.
Activity Immediate Duration (Months) Cost (in Rs.)
Predecessor(s) NORMAL CRASH NORMAL CRASH
A - 6 4 24,000 34,000
B - 4 3 12,000 22,000
C A 5 3 20,000 28,000
D A 7 4 29,000 47,000
E B 6 5 26,000 34,000
F B 8 5 34,000 52,000
G C,E 10 6 27,000 47,000
H D,F 9 7 34,000 48,000
(I) If the project attracts a penalty of Rs 10,000 per month for project completion beyond
18 months, find out the total project cost including penalty if the company does not
crash any activity.
(II) Which of the activities should be crashed first in order to reduce the penalty payable
and reduce the total cost.
2 The precedence requirements, the normal and crash activity times, and the corresponding
normal and crash costs are given in following Table. The overhead costs are Rs 4 lac per
week.
Activity Immediate Duration (Weeks) Cost (in Rs. Lakhs)
Predecessor(s) NORMAL CRASH NORMAL CRASH
A - 4 2 10 11
B A 3 2 6 9
C A 2 1 4 6
D B 5 3 14 18
E B,C 1 1 9 9
F C 3 2 7 8
G E,F 4 2 13 25
H D,E 4 1 12 18
(i) Find the critical path and time for completion under normal conditions.
(ii) Find the optimum duration for the project to minimize the total cost. What is the total cost
for the optimum duration?
3 For the network shown in Fig. 1, assume that, after working 15 days
on the project, the following conditions exist:
a) Activities 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 are complete as originally planned
b) Activity 2-4 is in process and will be completed in 3 more days
c) Activity 6-7 appears to present some problem and its new
estimated time of completion is 12 days
d) Activity 6-8 can be completed in 5 days instead of the originally
planned 7 days.
Fig. 1
i. Formulate a new project based on the assessment at the end of
15 days. Include all activities in the new project.
ii. Draw the bar chart for the original project and show on it the
progress as on 15th day. Indicate also modification based on the
reassessment.
iii. Make the evaluation as on the 15th day in a tabular form.
iv. Draw a new network omitting the activities that are complete on the
15th day using the information based on the new estimation.
v. Compare the critical paths for the old network and the new
network.
