Project Scheduling

MGT 3203 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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Learning Objectives
At the end of the module, the students should be able to:
 discuss the nature of scheduling;
 distinguish between the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path
Method (CPM) as network techniques;
 differentiate activity-on-node (AON) network from activity-on-arrow (AOA) in drawing
networks;
 define activity, event and path as used in network construction;
 identify the characteristics of critical path;
 discuss and compare factors in Gantt Charting;
 describe how Gantt chart differs in purpose from the Project Master Schedule;
 compare and contrast total slack to free slack; and
 discuss how simulation determines the probabilities of various project completion times.

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Project schedule
A schedule is the
conversion of a project
action plan into an
operating timetable. It
serve as a basis for
monitoring and controlling
project activity.

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Benefits of having a schedule
1. It is a consistent framework for planning, scheduling, monitoring, and controlling
the project.
2. It illustrates the interdependence of all tasks, work packages and work elements.
3. It denotes the times specific individuals and resources must be available for work
on a given task.
4. It aids in ensuring that the proper communications take place between
departments and functions.
5. It determines an expected project completion date.
6. It identifies so-called critical activities that if delayed will delay the project
completion.

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Benefits of having a schedule
7. It also identifies activities with slack that can be delayed for specific periods, without
penalty or from which resources may be temporarily borrowed without harm.
8. It determines the dates on which tasks may be started-or must be started if the project
is to stay on the schedule.
9. It illustrates which tasks must be coordinated to avoid resource or timing conflicts.
10. It also illustrates which tasks may be run, in parallel to achieve the predetermined
project completion date.
11. It relieves some interpersonal conflict by clearly showing task dependencies.
12. It may, depending on the information used, allow an estimate of the probability of
project completion by various dates, or the date corresponding to a particular a priori
probability.

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Network Techniques: PERT and CPM
Program Evaluation and Review Glossary of Terms
Technique (PERT) was developed by
Activity: A specific task or set of tasks that are required
the US Navy in cooperation with
by the project, use up resources, and take time to
Booz-Allen Hamilton and the Lock
complete.
Heed Corporation for the Polaris
missile submarine project in 1958. It
Event: The result of completing one or more activities.
was used for research and
An identifiable end state that occurs at a particular time.
development projects.
Path: The series of connected activities (or intermediate
Critical Path Method (CPM) was events) between any two events in a network.
developed by DuPont, Inc. during
the same time period. It was Critical: Activities, events, or path which, if delayed will
designed for construction projects. delay the completion of the project.

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Network: The arrangement of all activities (and in some cases, events) in a
project arrayed in their logical sequence and represented by arcs and nodes. It
defines the project and the activity precedence relationships.
Network: a combination of
interrelated activities and events
depicted with arcs and nodes.

Arc: the line connecting the

nodes.

Node: A point where one or

more lines (arrows) begin or
terminate, commonly used for
depicting an event or activity.

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PERT and CPM can obtain
1. a graphical display of project
activities.
2. an estimate of how long the project
will take.
3. an indication of which activities are
the most critical to timely project
completion.
4. an indication of how long any
activity can be delayed without
lengthening the project.

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Network Techniques: PERT and CPM

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Network Techniques: PERT and CPM

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Transforming a project plan into a network
 To transform a project plan into a network, one must know what
activities comprise the project, and for each activity, what its
predecessors (or successors) are.

An activity can be in any of these conditions:

 It may have a successor(s) but no predecessor(s).
 It may have a predecessor(s) but no successor (s).
 It may have both predecessor (s) and successor(s).

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There are three types of activities
First activity – STARTS a network
Second Activity – ENDS a network
Third Activity – Middle

START CONTINUE END

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Activity-On-Node (AON)
Activities are represented by a rectangle (one form of what in a network are
called nodes) with arrows to show the precedence relationships.
The on-node (AON) notation, when there are multiple activities with no
predecessors, it is usual to show them all emanating from a single node called
“START”. Similarly, when multiple activities have no successors, it is usual to
show them connected to a node called END.

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Activity-On-Node (AON)

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 Activity-On-Arrow
Activities are shown on the arrows and the (circular) nodes represents events. If
the project begins with multiple activities, they can all be drawn emanating from
the initial node and multiple activities can terminate in a single node at the end of
the project

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How to construct the Network –AON
Version
Tasks Precedence Time
A ------ 5 days
B ------ 4 days
C A 6 days
D B 2 days
E B 5 days
F C,D 8 days

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 Activity/ Precedence Time
Task
A ------ 5 days
B ------ 4 days
C A 6 days
D B 2 days
E B 5 days
F C,D 8 days

It begins with the node “START”. Activities A and B have no predecessors so arrows are drawn out of START to each
other.

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How to construct the Network Version

Activity/ Precedence Time

Task
A ------ 5 days
B ------ 4 days
C A 6 days
D B 2 days
E B 5 days
F C,D 8 days

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Networking concurrent Activities

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 The Gantt Chart
(a bar chart illustrating multiple, time-based activities on a
horizontal time scale)
 used for a variety of purposes related to
loading and scheduling
 derived from Henry Gantt, who pioneered
the use of charts for industrial scheduling in
the early 1900s
 can be used in a number of different ways:
 scheduling classrooms for a university
 scheduling hospital rooms for a day
 The purpose is to organize and clarify the
actual or intended use of resources in a time
framework.

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Advantages to the use of Gantt Chart
 easy to understand
 easy to maintain
 provides a current picture of the state of the project
 easy to construct as a network

Gantt charts are powerful devices for communicating to senior

management, however, if the project is complex, it may be very
difficult to follow multiple activity paths through the project.

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Two common Gantt
charts
1. Load Chart – depicts the loading
and idle times for a group of
machine or a list of departments.
2. Schedule Chart– used to monitor
the progress of jobs.
The vertical axis shows the orders or
jobs in progress, and the
horizontal axis shows time.

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Approaches to load work centers
Infinite loading Finite loading
assigns jobs to work centers without regard to the projects actual job starting and
capacity of the work center. May result in the stopping times at each work centers,
formation of queues in some or all work centers.
taking into consideration the capacities
of each work center and the processing
times of jobs, so that capacity is not
exceeded.
One output of finite loading is a
detailed projection of hours each work
center will operate.

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Loading [the assignment of jobs to processing (work) centers]

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Approaches to load work centers
Horizontal loading Vertical loading
 involves loading the job that has the  loading jobs at a work center, job by job,
highest priority on all work centers. usually according to some priority criterion. It
does not consider the work center capacity
 based on finite load. (i.e., infinite loading).
 may keep jobs waiting at a work center  work center will be fully loaded although a
even though that center is idle, so the higher priority job would have to wait if it
center will be ready to process a higher arrived while the work center was busy
priority that is expected to arrive shortly.

Which approach is better?

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Approaches to scheduling
Forward scheduling - scheduling ahead from a point in time.
(How long will it take to complete this job?)

Backward scheduling – is scheduling backward from a due date.

(When the latest job can be started?)

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Time Estimates
Deterministic Time Estimates –
time estimated made with a high
degree of confidence that actual
times will not differ significantly.
Probabilistic Time Estimates –
time estimates are subject to
variation and includes an
indication of the extent of
probable variation.

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Example for deterministic time estimates:

Determine:
a. The length of each path
b. The critical path
c. The expected length of the project
d. Amount of slack time for each path

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Solution:
a. Path lengths are 18 weeks, 20
weeks, and 14 weeks.
b. The longest path (20 weeks) is 1-
2-5-6, so it is the critical path.
c. The expected length of the project
is equal to the length of the critical
path (i.e. 20 weeks)
d. To find the slack for each path,
subtract its length from the length
of the critical path

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Computing Algorithm
ES – the earliest time activity can start, assuming all
preceding activities start as early as possible
EF – the earliest time the activity can finish
LS – the latest time the activity can start and not delay
the project
LF – the latest time the activity can finish and not delay
the project.

(many real-life project networks are much larger than the

simple network)

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Example:
 Begin by placing brackets at the
two ends of each starting
activity;
 Determine and place in the
brackets for each activity, the
earliest starting time (ES) and
the earliest finishing time (EF)
 Do this for all activities,
beginning at the left side of the
precedence diagram and moving
to the right side.

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 Once the ES has been determined for each activity, EF can be
found by adding the activity time, t to ES:
ES + t = EF
 Use ES of 0 for all starting activities. Thus, activities 1-2 and 1-3
are assigned ES values of 0. This permits computation of the EF for
each of these activities:

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 The EF time for an
activity becomes the ES
time for the next activity
to follow in the diagram.
Hence, because activity 1-
2 has an EF time of 8,
both activities 2-4 and 2-5
have ES times of 8.
Similarly, activity 3-5 has
an ES time of 4.

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Rules in computing for ES and EF
EF: ES
1. The earliest finish time for
any activity is equal to its
earliest start time plus its
expected duration (t).
2. ES for activities at nodes
with one entering arrow is
equal to EF of the entering
arrow. ES for activities
leaving nodes with multiple
entering arrows is equal to
the largest EF of the
entering arrow.

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Once these values have been
determined, they can be used to find:
1. Expected project duration (EF is the project duration)
2. Slack time (knowledge of slack time provides PM with information for
planning the allocation of scarce resources and for directing control
efforts toward those activities that might be most susceptible to
delaying the project)
3. Critical path (denoted by activities with zero slack time)

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Computing LS and LF Times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TDh-5n90vk

1. The latest starting time

for each activity is equal
to its latest finishing
time minus its expected
duration:
LS = LF - t
2. For nodes with leaving
one arrow, LF for arrows
entering that node equals
the LS of the leaving arrow.
For nodes with multiple
leaving arrows, LF for arrows
entering that node equals
the smallest LS of leaving
arrows.

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Computing LS and LF Times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TDh-5n90vk

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 Computing Slack Time
 Slack = LS – ES or LF – EF

If two activities are both on the same path (e.g. 2 & 4, and 4 & 5, they share the same
slack time, hence if the first activity (2 & 4) uses all the slack time (2 weeks), there will
be zero slack for the other activity/activities in the same path.

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Simulation
 used when dependent cases occur. i.e., the same activities are on more than one path
 it amounts to repeated sampling wherein many passes are made through the project network
 after each pass, the expected project duration is determined by adding the time along each
path and designating the time of the longest path as project duration.
 after a large number of passes (e.g. several hundreds), a frequency distribution of the project
duration times is prepared
 planners use the distribution to make probabilistic assessment of the actual project duration.

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 Summary
o Scheduling is important to projects because of complex coordination problems.
o The network approach to scheduling offers a number of specific advantages of special value for
projects.
o Critical project tasks typically constitute fewer than 10% of all project tasks.
o Network techniques can adopt either than activity-on-node or activity-on-arc framework without
significantly altering the analysis.
o Networks are usually constructed from left to right, indicating activity precedence and event times
as the network is constructed. Through the use of network, critical activities and events are
identified, early and late activity start times are found, available slacks (floats) for each activity are
determined, and probabilities of project completion by various times are calculated.
o Gantt chart, a monitoring technique, is closely related to network diagrams but is more easily
understood and provides a clearer picture of the current state of the project. However, it is unable
to clearly indicate task precedence and dependencies.

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References
Flores, Marivic and Camilar-Serrano, Angelita O. (2015). Project Management. Philippines:
Unlimited Books Library Services and Publishing, Inc.

Kloppenborg, T.J., Anantatmula, V., & Wells, K.N. (2019). Contemporary Project Management.
USA: Cengage Learning.

Meredith, Jack R., Mantel, Jr., Samuel J., and Shafer, Scott M. (2016). Project Management: A
Managerial Approach. 9th ed. Asia: John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd.
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