120511/Industrial Engineering

Unit-4
Project Management
(Critical Path Method)

Presented By
Mr. Nitesh Rai
Senior Project Planning Manager
KENTPLC. (Dubai)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nitin Upadhyay

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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 Objectives of Project Scheduling
• Prepare an optimal project schedule in terms of
cost, time, or risk.
• Usually, it is difficult to optimize the three
variables at the same time.
• Thus, setting an acceptable limit for two of the
three variables and optimizing the project in terms
of the third variable.

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 Project

• “A project is a series of activities directed to accomplishment of

a desired objective.”

• Project management is evolved to coordinate and control all

project activities in an efficient and cost effective manner.

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 The salient features of a project are;

• A project has identifiable beginning and end points.

• Each project can be broken down into a number of identifiable
activities which will consume time and other resources
during their completion.
• A project is scheduled to be completed by a target date.
• A project is usually large and complex and has many
interrelated activities.
• The execution of the project activities is always subjected to
some uncertainties and risks.
Gantt Chart
 Why Network Diagrams?

• Splits up the decision making process into;

– Method/logic - the order in which tasks have to be
completed
– Time – estimates for the time to completion can be added
to each task
– Resources – these can be added and then analysis can be
carried out
 Network Representation

• A network is the graphical representation of the project

activities arranged in a logical sequence and depicting all the
interrelationships among them.
• A network consists of activities and events.
• An activity is a physically identifiable part of a project, which
• consumes both time and resources.

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 Network - Fundamentals
Activity (Task) --A work component needed to be accomplished;
a task within the overall project that has a definite beginning
and ending point. The activity consumes time.
Events -- Designates the beginning and / or ending of activities. A
point in time. Also shows the precedence relationships of the
activities.
Network -- A combination of Activities and Events that describe
the logic of the project. There is one definite starting and ending
point.
Network Representation

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 Network Representation

• The head of an arrow represents the end of activity and the tail of
arrow represents its start.
• Activity description and its estimated completion time are written
along the arrow. An activity in the network can be represented by a
number of ways: (i) by numbers of its head and tail events (i.e. 10-
20 etc.), and (ii) by a letter code (i.e. A, B etc.).
• All those activities, which must be completed before the start of
activity under consideration, are called its predecessor activities.
 Network Representation
• All those activities, which have to follow the activity under consideration, are
called its successor activities.
• An activity, which is used to maintain the pre-defined precedence relationship
only during the construction of the project network, is called a dummy
activity.
• Dummy activity is represented by a dotted arrow and does not consume any
time and resource.
• An unbroken chain of activities between any two events is called a path.

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 Rules for drawing the network diagram

• Rule 1: Each activity is represented by one and only one

arrow in the network.
• Rule 2: No two activities can be identified by the same end
events.

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• Rule 3: Precedence relationships among all activities must
always be maintained.
• Rule 4: Dummy activities can be used to maintain precedence
relationships only when actually required. Their use should be
minimized in the network diagram.

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Rule 5: Looping among the activities must be avoided.

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 Dummy Activity

• An imaginary activity which does not consume any resource

and time is called a dummy activity.
• Dummy activities are simply used to represent a connection
• between events in order to maintain a logic in the network.

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 Use of Dummy Activity
• Two activities starting from a tail event must not have a
same end event. To ensure this, it is absolutely necessary
to introduce a dummy activity
 Procedure for numbering the events using
Fulkerson’s rule

Step1: Number the start or initial event as 1.

Step2: From event 1, strike off all outgoing activities. This would have made
one or more events as initial events (event which do not have incoming
activities). Number that event as 2.

Step3: Repeat step 2 for event 2, event 3 and till the end event. The end event
must have the highest number
Fulkerson’s Rule
• Problem 1: Consider the project given in table and construct a
network diagram.

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Solution:-
 Critical Path Method
• The Critical Path Method or Critical Path Analysis, is a mathematics based
algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities

• It is an important tool for effective project management

• Commonly used with all forms of projects, including construction, software

development, product development, engineering and plant maintenance

• Any project with interdependent activities can apply this method of scheduling

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 Critical Path Method

• The essential technique for using CPM is to construct a model of the

project that includes the following:

- A list of all activities required to complete the project (also known as

Work Breakdown Structure)

- The time (duration) that each activity will take to completion

- The precedence relationship among the activities.

 Critical Path Method
• The critical path for any network is the longest path through the entire
network.

• Since all activities must be completed to complete the entire project, the
length of the critical path is also the shortest time allowable for
completion of the project.

• If the project is to be completed in that shortest time, all activities on the

critical path must be started as soon as possible.

• These activities are called critical activities.

 Critical Path Method

• The activity, which does not lie on the critical path, is called non-critical
activity.

• These non-critical activities may have some slack time.

• The slack is the amount of time by which the start of an activity may be
delayed without affecting the overall completion time of the project.

• But a critical activity has no slack.

 Scheduling of Activities: Earliest Time (TE)
and Latest Time(TL)

Before the critical path in a network is determined, it is necessary to find

the earliest and latest time of each event to know the earliest expected time
(TE) at which the activities originating from the event can be started and to
know the latest allowable time (TL) at which activities terminating at the
event can be completed.

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5
 Forward Pass Computations (to
calculate Earliest, Time TE)
• Step 1: Begin from the start event and move towards the end
event.
• Step 2: Put TE = 0 for the start event.
• Step 3: Go to the next event (i.e node 2) if there is an incoming
activity for event 2, add
• calculate TE of previous event (i.e event 1) and activity time.

• Note: If there are more than one incoming activities, calculate

TE for all incoming
• activities and take the maximum value. This value is the TE for
2
event 2. 6
 Backward Pass Computations (to
calculate Latest Time TL)

Step 1: Begin from end event and move towards the start event. Assume that the
direction of arrows is reversed.
Step 2: Latest Time TL for the last event is the earliest time TE of the last event.
Step 3: Go to the next event, if there is an incoming activity, subtract the value of TL of
previous event from the activity duration time. The arrived value is TL for that event. If
there are more than one incoming activities, take the minimum TE value.

Step 4: Repeat the same procedure from step 2 till the start event.

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 Determination of Float and Slack time

The float of an activity is the amount of time available by which it is possible to

delay its completion time without extending the overall project completion time.
tij = duration of activity
TE = earliest expected time
TL = latest allowable time
ESij = earliest start time of the activity
EFij = earliest finish time of the activity
LSij = latest start time of the activity
LFij = latest finish time of the activity

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8
Total Float TFij: The total float of an activity is the difference between the latest
start time and the earliest start time of that activity.
TFij = LS ij – ESij ....................(1)
or
TFij = (TL – TE) – tij …………..(2)

Free Float FFij: The time by which the completion of an activity can be delayed from
its earliest finish time without affecting the earliest start time of the succeeding activity
is called free float.
FF ij = (Ej – Ei) – tij ....................(3)
FFij = Total float – Head event slack
• Independent Float IFij: The amount of time by which the start of an activity
can be delayed without affecting the earliest start time of any immediately
following activities, assuming that the preceding activity has finished at its latest
finish time.
IFij = (Ej – Li) – tij ....................(4)
IFij = Free float – Tail event slack Where tail event slack = Li – Ei

The negative value of independent float is considered to be zero.

Example
Time Immediate
Required Predecessor
Activity Description (in days) Activities
A Excavate 3 --
B Lay foundation 4 A
C Rough plumbing 3 B
D Frame 10 B
E Finish exterior 8 D
F Install HVAC 4 D
G Rough electric 6 D
H Sheet rock 8 C, E, F, G
I Install cabinets 5 H
J Paint 5 H
K Final plumbing 4 I
L Final electric 2 J
M Install flooring 4 K, L

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 Rough Install Final
Plumbing Cabinets Plumbing

C I K
Sheet
Excavate Rock

Lay
A B Foundation Finish
Exterior
H M
Install
E Flooring
J L
Frame D HVAC
Paint Final
Electric
F

Rough
Electric
G

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 ESTi EFTi
ti = DURATION required to perform activity i
ESTi = earliest possible start for activity i
EFTi = earliest possible finish for activity i i ti
LSTi = latest possible start for activity i
LFTi = latest possible finish for activity i
LSTi LFTi

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 7 10 33 38 38 42

C 3 I 5 K 4

0 3 3 7 25 33 42 46

A 3 B 4 H 8 M 4
17 25
E 8
33 38 38 40
7 17 J 5 L 2
D 10

17 21
F 4
Note:
ESTH=MAX(EFTC,EFTE,EFTF,EFTG)=25
17 23
G 6

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 7 10 33 38 38 42

C 3 I 5 K 4
22 25 33 38 38 42

0 3 3 7 25 33 42 46

A 3 B 4 H 8 M 4
0 3 33 7 25 33 42 46
17 25
E 8
33 38 38 40
17 25
7 17 J 5 L 2
D 10 35 40 40 42
7 17
17 21
F 4 Note:
21 25 LFTH=MIN(LSTI,LSTJ)=33
LFTD=MIN(LSTE,LSTF ,LSTG)=17
17 23
LFTB=MIN(LSTC,LSTD)=7
G 6
19 25

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 Critical Path Method
Example :
A project schedule has the following characteristics as shown in Table
Activity Name Time Activity Name Time
(Days) (Days)
1-2 A 4 5-6 G 4
1-3 B 1 5-7 H 8
2-4 C 1 6-8 I 1
3-4 D 1 7-8 J 2
3-5 E 6 8-10 K 5
4-9 F 5 9-10 L 7

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 Critical path method

• Construct network

• Compute TE and TL for each activity

• Find the critical path

Solution:-
C 5
9 L
2 4
1 F
A 7
10
4 1 J
1 D 7 5
H K
2
1 8 8
B 1
3 5 4 6
6 I
E G
 Forward pass
10
4 9 7
2 1
10 22
4 5

5
1 8
3 17
1
10+7=17
4+1=5 17+5=22 maximum value
1+1=2 maximum value
Backward pass
C 5
9 L
2 4
1 F
A 7
10
4 1 J
1 D 7 5
H K
2
1 8 8
B 1
3 4 6
6 5 I
E G
 15 9

7 2

8 4
5 1
4 1
7 0
6 3
16 1
9-4=5
15-8=7
1-1=0 minimum value
16-4=12 minimum value

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Activity Activity Normal Earliest Time Latest Time Total Float
name Time
Start Finish Start Finish
1-2 A 4 0 4 5 9 5
1-3 B 1 0 1 0 1 0
2-4 C 1 4 5 9 10 5
3-4 D 1 1 2 9 10 8
3-5 E 6 1 7 1 7 0
4-9 F 5 5 10 10 15 5
5-6 G 4 7 11 12 16 5
5-7 H 8 7 15 7 15 0

6-8 I 1 11 12 16 17 5

7-8 J 2 15 17 15 17 0

8-10 K 5 17 22 17 22 0

9-10 L 7 10 17 15 22 5

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Critical Path of Network

1 3 5 7 8 10

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 Example 2
Activity Predecessor time (days)
A -- 6
B -- 4
C A 3
D A 5
E A 1
F B,C 4
G B,C 2
H E,F 6
I E,F 5
J D,H 3
K G,I 5

2
 D
2 5
5 J
A H
6 1 3
E 6 7
1 3 C 4
5
4 5
I K
B 4 F
2 6
3
G
 Earliest/Latest Times

Activity time ES EF LS LF Slack

A 6 0 6 0 6 0 *critical
B 4 0 4 5 9 5
C 3 6 9 6 9 0*
D 5 6 11 15 20 9
E 1 6 7 12 13 6
F 4 9 13 9 13 0*
G 2 9 11 16 18 7
H 6 13 19 14 20 1
I 5 13 18 13 18 0*
J 3 19 22 20 23 1
K 5 18 23 18 23 0
 Critical Path of Network

1 2 3 4 6 7

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 Example 3
Activity Immediate Activity time
predecessor
A - 6
B - 10
C - 14
D C 6
E A,B 14
F E,D 6
G D 4
H F,G 4

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 Solution
D G H
4 5 4 7 8
C 6 4
14
6
6 14 F
1 2 6
A E
B
10 3
Activity time for dummy = 0
0 10
20 5
6
1 2
10 0
14
0 2 6 24
3

10

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Activity Activity time Earliest time Latest time Slack time
Es Ef Ls Lf
A 6 0 6 4 10 4
B 10 0 10 0 10 0
C 14 0 14 6 20 0
D 6 14 20 20 26 6
E 14 10 24 10 24 0
F 6 24 30 24 30 0
G 4 20 24 26 30 6
H 4 30 34 30 34 0
 Critical Path

1 3 2 6 7 8
 Example 4
• A publisher has a contract with an author to publish a
textbook. The simplified activities associated with the
production of the text book are given below. The author is
required to submit to the publisher a hard copy and a computer
file of the manuscript. Develop the associated network for the
project.

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 Activity Predecessor(s) Duration (weeks)
A: Manuscript proofreading by editor None 3
B: Sample pages preparation None 2
C: Book cover design None 4
D: Artwork preparation None 3
E: Author’s approval of edited A,B 2
manuscript and sample pages
F: Book formatting E 4
G: Author’s review of formatted pages F 2
H: Author’s review of artwork D 1
I: Production of printed plates G,H 2
J: Book production and binding C,I 4
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 Network
2 4
2 6 7
3
A 3 E F
2
B 2 G
1
D
3 1
5
H 8
C 4 2
I
4 9
4
J

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 Critical path

1 2 3 6 7 8 4 9

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