Solved Exercise PERT

CPM
General Vice-rectorate of the University
Open and Distance VUAD
Carlos Andrés Rubio Cárdenas
Bogotá, 2.015
 SOLUTION EXERCISE

TOPIC: PROJECT MANAGEMENT - PERT CPM

Key Concepts:

Near Initiation (Ic): The closest time in which an activity can be started, assuming that all activities
precedents have been completed

Near Completion Time (Tc): The earliest time that an activity can finish.

Distant Start (IL): The farthest time at which an activity can start without delaying the completion time of the entire project.
project

Late Finish (LF): The latest time an activity can finish without delaying the overall completion time.
project

To determine the time schedule for each activity, a two-pass process is used, which consists of a forward pass and
a pass backward.

The earliest times to start and finish (Ic and Tc) are determined during the forward pass. The latest times to start (IL
and TL) are determined during the backward pass
 Name or
symbol of the
activity

A
IC TC

IL TL
2
Duration of the
activity
FIGURE 1: Diagram of each activity in the PERT network

Example: Company XYZ has identified eight activities that must be completed to finish a project, it is required1
a) Set up the network

1
Lender Barry, Heizer Jay. Principles of Operations Management. Pearson Publishers. 2013
 b) Define the times for each activity
c) Calculate the slack for each activity
d) Find the critical path

ACTIVIDAD DESCRIPCIÓN PREVIOUS TIEMPO (Semanas)

A Build internal components None 2
B Modify floors and ceilings None 3
C Build collection stack A 2
D Pour concrete and install frame A,B 4
E Build oven of high C 4
temperature
F Install control system of C 3
pollution
G Install air device D,E 5
contaminated
H Inspect and test F,G 2

SOLUCIÓN:
1) Draw the network identifying the position of the activity according to its degree of precedence.
With its respective duration of the activity (in weeks) F
3

A C
2 2

E
START
H
4
2

B D
3 4
G
5

Figure 1: Network Diagram with its activity duration

2) The times of near initiation (Ic) and near termination (TC) are recorded, starting from left to right:
Figure 2: Early Initiations and Terminations
 Taking off from the Start activity with zero (0) weeks, there is an Ic and a Tc of zero because there is no previous value recorded.
time consumption

Followed by A which is preceded by Start with an Ic of zero, it is necessary to calculate the Tc with a duration of two weeks, then it
Tc = Ic + Duration of the activity; for the case of activity A, it would be Tc = 0 + 2 = 2, so the Tc for activity A is 2.
(See Figure 2), the same happens for B 0+3=3

For activity C which is preceded by A, we take the Tc of A as Ic of activity C which in our case is 2 and we add the
duration of the activity for this activity which is 2 weeks, and we obtain Tc = Ic + Duration of the activity, Tc = 2 + 2 = 4 (see figure
2) For activities D, G, and H, which are preceded by two activities that take place simultaneously, it is done as follows:

In case D, it is preceded by A and B, whose Tc are 2 and 3 weeks respectively; in this case, we take the one with the highest Tc, that is for the
Activity D is preceded by an Ic of 3 weeks which is the Tc of activity B, we add the duration of the activity which is 4 weeks,
we apply the formula Tc = Ic + Duration of the activity, and we get Tc = 3 + 4 = 7 (see figure 2)

In case G, it is preceded by D and E, whose Tc is 7 and 8 weeks respectively; in this case we take the one with the highest Tc, that is for the
Activity G is preceded by an Ic of 8 weeks which is the Tc of activity E. We add the duration of the activity which is 5 weeks.
we apply the formula Tc= Ic+ Duration of the activity, and we get Tc=8+5=13 (see figure 2)

In case H, it is preceded by F and G, whose Tcs are 7 and 13 weeks respectively, in this case we take the one with the longest Tc, that is for the
actividad H la precede un Ic de 13 semanas que es la de Tc de la actividad G, le sumamos la duración de la actividad que es de 2 semanas,
we apply the formula Tc= Ic+ Duration of the activity, and we obtain Tc=13+2=15 (see figure 2)

3) The times of Remote Termination (TL) and Remote Initiation (IL) are recorded, starting from right to left, returning from the last one.
activity that was carried out in the previous numeral, that is to say the activity H:
 Figure 3: Distant endings and beginnings

Starting from activity H whose Tc is 15 weeks, the same Tc as the last activity is recorded as TL (see figure 3), which is subtracted from
duration time in weeks and the IL of activity H is obtained, IL = TL - Duration of the activity, then for the case of activity H,
IL=15-2=13 weeks (it is done from right to left for each activity)

For activities F and G that precede activity H, the TL is taken as the IL of activity H, which in this case is 13 weeks, for each
One will apply the formula IL = TL - Duration of the activity. For the case of activity F, IL = 13 - 3 = 10 weeks and for activity G, IL = 13 - 5 = 8.
weeks (see figure 3)

The same happens for activities E and D that precede activity G, we take the LS of activity G, which in this case is 8 weeks, to
Each one will apply the formula IL = TL - Duration of the activity. For activity E, IL = 8 - 4 = 4 weeks and for activity D, IL = 8 - 4 = 4.
weeks (see figure 3)

For activity A, which precedes activities C and D, each of them has a different lead time of 4 and 2 weeks.
respectively, in this case we take the one with the lowest IL, which for our example is activity C that is 2 weeks, which will
If the TC of activity A and its IL = TL - Duration of the activity, it is equal to IL = 2 - 2 = 0

4) Calculate the slack of each activity:

Slack = TL - Tc o Clearance = IL - Ic

Float: It is the remaining time left after executing an activity (see figure 4)
 Figure 4: Calculation of Slack

As can be seen in the diagram, the slack for each activity is: (see figure 4)

ACTIVITY IL-IC TC-TL SPACE

A 0-0 2-2 0
B 1-0 4-3 1
C 2-2 4-4 0
D 4-3 8-7 1
E 4-4 8-8 0
F 10-4 13-7 6
G 8-8 13-13 0
H 13-13 15-15 0

5) Find the critical path of the project:

The critical path: It is the longest sequence of connected activities in a network and is defined as the path with zero slack time.

For this project, the critical path is: Start-A-C-E-G-H (See figure 5)
Figure 5: Critical Path