Earliest And Latest Times
Earliest Times of an Activity
(i) Earliest Start Time of an activity: is the earliest possible time of starting that activity
on the condition that all the other activities preceding to it were began at the
earliest possible times.
(ii) Earliest Finish Time of an activity: is the earliest possible time of completing that
activity, given by the formula:
The Earliest Finish Time of an activity = The Earliest Start Time of the activity + The
estimated duration to carry out that activity.
Latest Times of an Activity
(i) Latest Finish Time of an activity: is the latest possible time of completing that
activity on the condition that all the other activities succeeding it are carried out
as per the plan of the management and without delaying the project beyond the
stipulated time.
(ii) Latest Start Time of an activity: is the latest possible time of beginning that
activity, given by the formula
Latest Start Time of an activity = The Latest Finish Time of the activity - The
estimated duration to carry out that activity.
TOTAL FLOAT OF AN ACTIVITY
• Float seeks to measure how much delay is acceptable. It sets up a control limit for
delay.
• The total float of an activity is the time by which that activity can be delayed without
delaying the whole project. It is given by the following 2 formulae:
1. Total Float of an Activity = Latest Finish Time of the activity - Earliest Finish
Time of that activity.
2. Total Float of an Activity = Latest Start Time of the activity - Earliest Start Time
of that activity.
Since a delay in a critical activity will delay the execution of the whole project,
the total float of a critical activity must be zero.
EXPECTED TIMES OF AN EVENT
An event occurs at a point in time.
(i) Earliest Expected Time of Occurrence of an event: is the earliest possible time of
expecting that event to happen on the condition that all the preceding activities
have been completed.
(ii) Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence an event: is the latest possible time of
expecting that event to happen without delaying the project beyond the stipulated
time.
Slack of an Event and Slack of an Activity - Earliest and Latest Times
Slack of an Event: The allowable time gap for the occurrence of an event is known as the slack
of that event. It is given by the formula
Slack of an event = Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence of the event - Earliest Expected Time
of Occurrence of that event.
Slack of an Activity: is the float of the activity.
Procedure To Find the Earliest Expected Time Of An Event
Step 1: Take the Earliest Expected Time of Occurrence of the Start Event as zero.
Step 2: For an event other than the Start Event, find out all paths in the network which
connect the Start node with the node representing the event under consideration.
Step 3: In the “Forward Pass” (i.e., movement in the network from left to right), find out the
sum of the time durations of the activities in each path identified in Step 2.
Step 4: The path with the longest time in Step 3 gives the Earliest Expected Time of Occurrence
of the event
Working Rule for finding the earliest expected time of an event:
For an event under consideration, locate all the predecessor events and identify their earliest
expected times. With the earliest expected time of each event, add the time duration of the
activity connecting that event to the event under consideration. The maximum among all
these values gives the Earliest Expected Time of Occurrence of the event.
Procedure To Find the Latest Allowable Time Of An Event
We consider the “Backward Pass” (i.e., movement in the network from right to left).
The latest allowable time of occurrence of the End Node must be the time of completion of
the project. Therefore, it shall be equal to the time of the critical path of the project.
Step 1: Identify the latest allowable time of occurrence of the End Node.
Step 2: For an event other than the End Event, find out all paths in the network which connect
the End node with the node representing the event under consideration.
Step 3: In the “Backward Pass” (i.e., movement in the network from right to left), subtract the
time durations of the activities along each such path.
Step 4: The Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence of the event is determined by the path with
the longest time in Step 3. In other words, the smallest value of time obtained in Step 3 gives
the Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence of the event.
Working Rule for finding the latest allowable time of an event:
For an event under consideration, locate all the successor events and identify their latest
allowable times. From the latest allowable time of each successor event, subtract the time
duration of the activity that begins with the event under consideration. The minimum among
all these values gives the Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence of the event.
Problem of Earliest And Latest Times
Problem 1: The following details are available regarding a project:
Activity A B C D E F G H I J
Predecessor
- A A A A B C D,F E,G H,I
activity
Duration
12 7 11 8 6 10 9 14 13 16
(weeks)
Determine the earliest and latest times, the total float for each activity, the critical activities,
and the project completion time.
Solution
With the given data, we construct the following network diagram for the project.
J
16
13
Consider the paths, beginning with the start node and stopping with the end node. There are
four such paths for the given project. They are as follows:
Compare the times for the four paths. Maximum of {51, 50, 47, 61} = 61.
We see that the maximum time of a path is 61 weeks.
J
16
13
Calculation of Earliest Expected Time of Occurrence of Events (FORWARD PASS)
Node Earliest Time
1 Earliest time for node 1 = 0
2 Earliest time for node 1 + time for activity A = 0 + 12 = 12
3 Earliest time for node 2 + time of activity B = 12 + 7 = 19
4 Earliest time for node 2 + time of activity C = 12 + 11 = 23
5 max{Earliest time for node 3 + time of activity F = 19 + 10 = 29,
Earliest time for node 2 + time of activity D = 12 + 8 = 10} = 29
6 max{Earliest time for node 2 + time of activity E = 12 + 6 = 18,
Earliest time for node 4 + time of activity G = 23 + 9 = 32} = 32
7 max{Earliest time for node 5 + time of activity H = 29 + 14 = 43,
Earliest time for node 6 + time of activity I = 32 + 13 = 45} = 45
8 Earliest time for node 7 + time of activity J = 45 + 16 = 61
Using the above values, we obtain the Earliest Start Times of the activities as follows:
Activity Earliest start time
A 0
B 12
C 12
D 12
E 12
F 19
G 23
H 29
I 32
J 45
Calculation of Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence of Events (BACKWARD PASS)
Node Latest Time
8 latest time for node 8 = 61
7 latest time for node 8 - time for activity J = 61 - 16 = 45
6 latest time for node 7 - time of activity I = 45 - 13 = 32
5 latest time for node 7 - time of activity H = 45 - 14 = 31
4 latest time for node 6 - time of activity G = 32 - 9 = 23
3 latest time for node 5 - time of activity F = 34 - 10 = 21
2 min{latest time for node 5 - time of activity D = 34 -8 = 26,
latest time for node 6 - time of activity E = 32 - 6 = 26,
latest time for node 4 - time of activity C = 23 - 11 = 12} = 12
1 latest time for node 2 - time of activity A = 12 - 12 = 0
Using the above values, we obtain the Latest Finish Times of the activities as follows:
Activity Latest finish time
J 61
I 45
H 45
G 32
F 31
E 32
D 31
C 23
B 21
A 12
Activity Duration Earliest Earliest Latest Total float
(weeks) start time finish time finish time = LF - EF
D ES EF=ES+D LF
A 12 0 12 12 0
B 7 12 19 21 2
C 11 12 23 23 0
D 8 12 20 31 11
E 6 12 18 32 14
F 10 19 29 31 2
G 9 23 32 32 0
H 14 29 43 45 2
I 13 32 45 45 0
J 16 45 61 61 0
The activities with total float = 0 are A, C, G, I and J. They are the critical activities.
Project completion time = 61 weeks.
Problem 2: The following are the details of the activities in a project:
Calculate the earliest and latest times, the total float for each activity and the project
completion time.
Solution
The following network diagram is obtained for the given project.
Consider the paths, beginning with the start node and stopping with the end node. There are
three such paths for the given project. They are as follows:
Compare the times for the three paths. Maximum of {69, 84, 69} = 84. We see that the
maximum time of a path is 84 weeks.
Calculation of Earliest Time of Occurrence of Events- Forward pass
Calculation of the Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence of Events -Backward pass
The activities with total float = 0 are A, B, D, F and G. They are the critical activities.
Project completion time = 84 weeks.
Problem 3: Consider a project with the following details:
Name of activity A B C D E F G H I J K
Predecessor
- A A A B B D C,F,G C,F,G E,H I,J
activity
Duration(weeks) 8 13 9 12 14 8 7 12 9 10 7
Determine the earliest and latest times, the total float for each activity, the critical activities,
the slacks of the events and the project completion time.
Solution
The following network diagram is got for the given project:
Compare the times for the three paths. Maximum of {52, 58, 45, 46, 33, 56, 43} = 58.
We see that the maximum time of a path is 58 weeks.
Calculation of Earliest Time of Occurrence of Events- Forward pass
Calculation of Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence of Events -Backward pass
The activities with total float = 0 are A, B, F, H, J and K. They are the critical activities.
Project completion time = 58 weeks.
Calculation of slacks of the events
Slack of an event = Latest Allowable Time of Occurrence of the event - Earliest Expected Time
of Occurrence of that event.
Interpretation
On the basis of the slacks of the events, it is concluded that the occurrence of event 4 may
be delayed upto a maximum period of 2 weeks while no other event cannot be delayed.
