“A project is a series of activities directed to

accomplishment of a desired objective.”

Plan your work first…..then work your plan

“The planning, organizing,monitoring and
control of all aspects of a project and
motivation of all those involved to achieve
the objective of the project safely and
within agreed time, cost and performance
criteria.”
-UK Association of Project management
 Schedule converts action plan into operating
time table
 Basis for monitoring and controlling project
 Scheduling is more important in projects than
in production, because unique nature
 Sometimes customer specified/approved
requirement

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 PERT CPM
-Program Evaluation and Critical Path Method
Review Technique Developed by El Dupont
- developed by the US for Chemical Plant
Navy with Booz Shutdown Project- about
Hamilton Lockheed same time as PERT
- on the Polaris
Missile/Submarine
program 1958

Both use same calculations, almost similar

Main difference is probabilistic and deterministic in time estimation

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 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

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7
8
 Activity : any portions of project (tasks) which required
by project, uses up resource and consumes
time – may involve labor, paper work,
contractual negotiations, machinery operations
Activity on Arrow (AOA) showed as arrow, AON
– Activity on Node
 Event : beginning or ending points of one or more
activities, instantaneous point in time, also
called ‘nodes’

 Network : Combination of all project activities and the events

PRECEEDING SUCCESSOR
ACTIVITY

EVENT

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 Construction of network should be based on
logical or technical dependencies among activities
 Example - before activity ‘Approve Drawing’ can
be started the activity ‘Prepare Drawing’ must be
completed
 Common error – build network on the basis of time
logic (a feeling for proper sequence ) see example
below

WRONG !!!
CORRECT 
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 Consider the list of four activities for making a simple product:

Activity Description Immediate

predecessors
A Buy Plastic Body -
B Design Component -
C Make Component B
D Assemble product A,C

Immediate predecessors for a particular activity are the activities

that, when completed, enable the start of the activity in question.

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 Can start work on activities A and B anytime, since
neither of these activities depends upon the
completion of prior activities.
 Activity C cannot be started until activity B has been
completed
 Activity D cannot be started until both activities A and
C have been completed.
 The graphical representation (next slide) is referred to
as the PERT/CPM network

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 Arcs indicate project activities

A D
1 3 4

B C

Nodes correspond to the beginning

and ending of activities

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Develop the network for a project with following activities and
immediate predecessors:
Activity Immediate
predecessors
A -
B -
C B
D A, C
E C
F C
G D,E,F

Try to do for the first five (A,B,C,D,E) activities

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 A D
1 3 4

E
B

C 5
2
We need to introduce
a dummy activity

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 Network of Seven Activities
1 A 3 D 4 G
7
dummy E
B
C 5 F
2 6
•Note how the network correctly identifies D, E, and F as the
immediate predecessors for activity G.

•Dummy activities is used to identify precedence relationships

correctly and to eliminate possible confusion of two or more
activities having the same starting and ending nodes

•Dummy activities have no resources (time, labor, machinery, etc) –

purpose is to PRESERVE LOGIC of the network

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 EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF DUMMY ACTIVITY
Network concurrent activities
a
a 2

1 2 1 Dummy

b 3
b
WRONG!!! RIGHT 

Activity c not WRONG !

required for e
a
a e
d
1
b 1 b
e
d
c
2
c
WRONG
RIGHT
!!!

RIGHT 

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 WRONG!!! RIGHT!!!

a d a d
1 1

b e b
2 2 4
e

c f c f
3 3

a precedes d.
a and b precede e,
b and c precede f (a does not precede f)

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 Definition: In CPM activities are shown as a network of
precedence relationships using activity-on-node network
construction
◦ Single estimate of activity time
◦ Deterministic activity times

USED IN : To determine the least amount of time needed

to complete a project
1. Slack or Float shows how much allowance each activity has, i.e how
long it can be delayed without affecting completion date of project

2. Critical path is a sequence of activities from start to finish with zero

slack. Critical activities are activities on the critical path.

3. Critical path identifies the minimum time to complete project

4. If any activity on the critical path is shortened or extended, project

time will be shortened or extended accordingly

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5. So, a lot of effort should be put in trying to control activities along
this path, so that project can meet due date. If any activity is
lengthened, be aware that project will not meet deadline and some
action needs to be taken.

6. If can spend resources to speed up some activity, do so only for

critical activities.

7. Don’t waste resources on non-critical activity, it will not shorten the

project time.

8. If resources can be saved by lengthening some activities, do so for

non-critical activities, up to limit of float.

9. Total Float belongs to the path

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 Definition: In PERT activities are shown as a network of
precedence relationships using activity-on-arrow network
construction
◦ Multiple time estimates
◦ Probabilistic activity times

USED IN : Project management - for non-repetitive jobs

(research and development work), where the time and cost
estimates tend to be quite uncertain. This technique uses
probabilistic time estimates.
Consistent framework for planning, scheduling, monitoring,
and controlling project.

• Shows interdependence of all tasks, work packages, and

work units.

• Helps proper communications between departments and

functions.

• Determines expected project completion date.

• Identifies so-called critical activities, which can delay the

project completion time.

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• Identified activities with slacks that can be delayed for
specified periods without penalty, or from which
resources may be temporarily borrowed

• Determines the dates on which tasks may be started or

must be started if the project is to stay in schedule.

• Shows which tasks must be coordinated to avoid

resource or timing conflicts.

• Shows which tasks may run in parallel to meet project

completion date

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 Clearly defined, independent and stable
activities
 Specified precedence relationships
 Over emphasis on critical paths