Operations Management

Prof. Inderdeep Singh

Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee

Lecture – 33
Critical Path Method

Namaskar Friends, welcome to session 33 in our course on operations management,

currently we are discussing the fundamental aspects of project scheduling and we are
into third session in this week for dedicated for project scheduling and if you remember
in the very first session we have tried to compare the Gantt charts and the network
diagrams, and the second session we have tried to see that how we can draw on network,
how a project can be represented in the form of a network.

We have seen that we can have a combination of nodes and arrows and these nodes and
arrows can defect the various activities which are required to be completed in order to
ensure the completion of the project. There are basically 2 different methods for
representing the network, one is the activity on arrow as we have seen in our previous
session activity is represented on a arrow.

So, we have one node there is another node there is a start node and end node and in
between we have a activity.

(Refer Slide Time: 01:36)

So, let us quickly see that how we can represent the networks. This is our node one or we
can called as the start node and then there is an arrow and there is another end node for
this activity, which we usually maybe depict by number 2 and activity is represented like
this. So, activity A starts from node 1 and it ends that node 2 this type of networks are
called activity on arrow type of networks, there other types of networks in which we will
represent the activity on the node itself.

So, here activity A is at this node and activity B is here and this type of networks can be
called as the activity on node or A O N type of network and this type of network can be
called as A O A activity on arrow type of network. The calculations will remain same for
both types of networks and in the previous session we have basically seen this type of
network, where the activities are represented on the arrows and we have learnt of
fulkerson rule for numbering this node in the previous session.

So, today our focus will be to see the examples based on A and B that is activity on node
and we will try to seen our subsequent sessions because this method we are trying to
learn in another 2 sessions also there are 5 sessions of half an hour each dedicated to
critical path method today is the third session.

So, we will further see some calculations based on both types of networks. So, that we
are able to understand the working of both types of network that is, you can use a
network in which activities are represented on the arrow and you can also use a network
in which activities are represented on the node. So, today my focus will be on activity on
node type of networks and we will try to do the calculations for early start late start early
finish late finish for each node that is for this node.

Now, suppose this is my start node and this is the second node in my network and this
activity takes maybe supposed 3 days’ time. So, the earliest start for this activity A can
be calculated as day 0 and then it may take 3 days’ time to complete that activity A and
then this activity B can only start. So, we will divide this total node into various sections
and we will do the calculations for early start, late start, early finish, late finish for this
node also early start, late start, early finish, late finish for this node and we will carry
forward these calculations for all the nodes in the network and try to find out that what is
the critical path.
So, this is the objective of today’s session to find out that what is the critical path based
on the calculation so quickly we will rush through the presentation and try to learn that
how we can calculate the critical path and what is the meaning of the critical path. once
we know how to calculate then I will try to explain the decisions that we need to take
based on the critical path method.

(Refer Slide Time: 05:17)

So, as you all can see on your screen the critical path method or the critical path analysis
is a mathematics-based algorithm for scheduling a set of project activity. So, we have to
calculate based on the precedence relationships that how these activities must be
scheduled in order to complete the project in the minimum possible duration. So, it is an
important tool for effective project management because we are able to find out the
minimum time required for the completion of the project in addition to the completion of
all the activities that comprise of the project, as we have seen that each and every project
will have defined identifiable activities which have to be completed in order to ensure the
completion of the project.

So, commonly used with all forms of projects including construction, software
development, product development, engineering and plant maintenance. So, CPM method
as I have already earlier also highlighted is not only related to mechanical engineering
and manufacturing engineering it is related to civil engineering also it is related to
product development also it is related to software industry also, it is related to
plant maintenance also. So, the application areas of project management are huge and
critical path method is one of the important tools that is used for project management.
So, any project with interdependent activities can apply the method of CPM for
scheduling the various activities.

(Refer Slide Time: 06:56)

Now, in critical path method the essential technique for using CPM is to construct a
model of the project then that includes the following. So, basically, we will use the, what
the nodes and arrows that I have drawn on the whiteboard. So, these type of nodes and
arrow combinations will be used to represent the various activities that comprise of the
project. So, we will see that we need to have a list of all activities required to complete
the project this is also known as the work breakdown structure WBS, the time that it
activity will take for completion and also the precedence relationship among the various
activities.

Now, some of you may be wondering that, why this slide is important? This slide is
important because when we have to construct a network for the project we need to have
this information. First of all, we need to have a work breakdown structure of the
complete project that these are the number of activities that have to be completed
necessarily for ensuring the completion of the project. So, the total project may be
divided into 8, divided into 8 to 10 to 15 to 20 activities, which each activity which will
require some time, some resources, some manpower for it is completion and the
combination of these activities will result in the completion of the project.

So, first we have to break down the complete project into individual activities that is
point number 1, point number 2 is we must know the resources required for the
completion of the activity the resource can be time it can be manpower it can be caused
or money involved for the completion of the activity, that is second data that we must
know and third as we all understand that we must have the information regarding the
precedence relationship that is the predecessor and successor for each and every activity
that is included in the project.

So, we must have that information also. So, we require the list of activities the time
required for each activity as well as the relationship among the various activities in order
to draw the project network, and then once we have drawn the project network we will
do the calculations to find out that what is the critical path for this project and what are
the activities that are lying on the critical path.

(Refer Slide Time: 09:27)

So, what is the critical path, the critical path of any network is the longest path through
the entire network. Now starting from the start node to the end node critical path
represents the longest path or the maximum time taken for the completion of the project.
So, sorry not the maximum it will represent the overall time duration for completion of
the project. So, since all activities must complete the entire project the length of the
critical path is the shortest time allowable for completion of the project

So, as in the beginning of today’s session I have told it will give us the shortest time
required for completion of the project I think in between I have flipped, I may have
called the longest time, but we will see that it is the shortest time allowable we will try to
understand this with the help of an example also. So, we will see all activities have to be
completed and they have to be completed in such a way that time required for completion
of all the activities is the minimum time required. So, it will be the longest path in the
network, but with minimum possible time. So, if the project is to be completed in that
shortest time all activities on the critical path must be started as soon as possible.

So, we will see that the time required for each activity is accounted for and if each and
every activity has to be completed we have to ensure that all activities are completed by
that time, it may not happen that by the time that we have calculated there are 12
activities 8 are completed 4 are not completed we cannot say that the project has been
completed.

So, we have to ensure that within that time frame that we have calculated using summing
up of the time of the activities that lie on the critical path, we must ensure that all
activities are completed and therefore, when we draw a network there is one start node
and one end node. So, one end node will ensure that all other activities between the start
and the end node have been completed in that time that we have calculated so, that the
overall project can be said to be completed. So, these activities that fall on the critical
path are called as the critical activities.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:55)

Critical path method again the summary the activity does not lie on the critical path is
called a non-critical activity which is just maybe opposite to the critical activities. So,
these non-critical activeties may have some slack time, now new word has come that is
slack time now slack time basically is the duration in which the activity can be extended
further without compromising with the overall completion time of the project.

So, slack is the amount of time by which the activity or the start of an activity may be
delayed without affecting the overall completion of the project, but a critical activity has
no slack. You cannot change the duration of any critical activity if we delay any critical
activity the overall project duration will get delayed.

So, this is very, very important to understand the basic we can say philosophy behind
critical path method. The critical path will represent the longest path that is one thing and
it will be the shortest time required for completion of the project. So, these 2 words we
have to always keep in mind the path that we are calculating will be the longest, but it
will be the minimum time required for completion of the we can say project. So, these 2
things must be absolutely clear and they will become more clear when we will take an
example.
(Refer Slide Time: 13:33)

Now, scheduling of activities we can I will read what is given on the slide and we will try
to understand this with the help of an example. So, for every event as we have seen here
activity A and activity B represented on the node so, they represent an event. So, before a
critical path in a network is determined, first of all we have to construct the network. So,
once the network is ready it is necessary to find the earliest and latest time of each event
to know the earliest expected time at which the activities originating from the event can
be started and to know the latest allowable time by which the activities terminating at the
event can be completed. So, I think little confusing here we can try to understand this
with this network.

So, this is A so, we must be able to find out that when activity A can be started at the
earliest and we need to calculate that when activity A can be started at the latest.
Similarly, for this we can do the calculation early start, late start, early finish, late finish,
similarly for this activity B which is at node second node here we can do the calculation
what is the latest start for activity B what is the earliest start for activity B.

So, if B is dependent on A only suppose so and a will take 3 days’ time. So, we can say
the earliest start for activity B can be 3 days because A has to be completed before B can
start and A is the only predecessor for activity B and A will take 3 days’ time for
completion. So, earliest start for B will become 3 and latest start is calculated when we
do our calculations from the end node.
Now, suppose this is my end node and there are 2 other activities here. So, A B C D and
E now suppose this is the complete network for calculating when B can start at the latest
we will start our calculation, that is the backward direction and earliest when can b start
we will do the calculations in the forward pass directions.

So, we will start moving from this direction and try to find out the earliest maybe time
when B can start earliest time when C can start earliest time when E can start then from
this side we can do the reverse calculation and find out the latest times involved for each
and every activity. So, we will try to understand this with the help of an example. So, we
can calculate for each node the earliest expected time and the latest allowable time, and
the activity which will be on the critical path there will be no slack available which
means the earliest start and late start will be the difference between the early start and late
start will be 0.

So, this is forward pass calculation.

(Refer Slide Time: 17:17)

So, begin from the start event and move towards the end events. So, from here
deliberately I have drawn this diagram so, that we can understand this so begin from the
start event. So, we start from A and we go till E. Put TE is equal to 0 for the start event.
So, for A, the earliest start time to calculate the earliest time TE we will put it at 0 go to
the next event that is node 2 that is where we have presented B.
If there is an incoming activity for event B so, we can see there is one incoming activity
for event B, add calculate TE of previous event that is event one and the activity time. So,
we have TE is 0 here and activity time is 3 here. So, 3 plus 0 we will add and TE for B
will become 3. So, we get the TE for B note if there are more than so there can be an
event where more than 2-3 activities are coming together.

So, maybe if we can draw another line here because here we see each event has only one
entry entering activity. So, suppose we draw another activity here like this maybe. So,
here we can see event E is having 3 incoming arrows. So, which one we will select there
will be 3 this time will be a activity for time for C will be added for D will be added and
for B will be added. So, which time we will select here TE.

So, we will take the maximum time that is coming from the 3 node which you have a
very maximum time that time will be taken here. So, for calculation of TE at activity TE
at activity E when we will calculate we will take the maximum of the 3 arrows similarly
for calculating the late time that is given in the previous TL for calculating the TL here
we will take TL value which will be equal to TE and from here we will start our reverse
calculation for calculating the TL for this event similarly TL for this how we will
calculate we will subtract the time for each activity and calculate the TL value.

So, this we will try to understand with the help of a diagram. So, here you can see I will
read it for you on your screen begin from the end event and move towards the start event.
So, for latest time we will start from the right-hand side that is end event.
(Refer Slide Time: 19:42)

And move towards the left-hand side. So, assume that the direction of arrow is reverse
now. So, for late calculations we perform the backward pass latest time TL for the last
event is the earliest time TE for the last event which I have already explained and then go
to the next event, if there is an incoming activity subtract the value of TL of the previous
event from the activity duration. The arrived value of TL is the value of TL for that event.
If there are more than one incoming activities, then we can take the minimum of the TE
values. So, while we performing the forward pass if there are more than 3 or 4 incoming
events or arrows into one node.

We were taking the maximum value for TE here if there are 2 or more incoming arrows
into the node we will say that we have to take the minimum value while doing the
backward pass calculations. So, we will try to understand this with the help of an
example. So, we will try to calculate the first is calculation of in general the earliest
expected time for each event and the latest expected time for each even then we do it for
activity wise and here we can see we will calculate the nomenclature is given at tij is the
duration of the activity.
(Refer Slide Time: 21:15)
TE is the earliest expected time that we have calculated while moving from left to right
or from the start node to the end node. TL is the latest allowable time that we have
calculated by moving from right to the left then, ES is earliest start time for the activity,
EF is earliest finish time for the activity, LS is a latest start time for the activity and LF is
a latest finish time for the activity. So, for each activity for example, this node is
representing activity A, for activity A we can calculate all these 4 values early start time
late start time early finish time and the late finish time and from these values we will
calculate the float and slack time.

(Refer Slide Time: 22:02)

Now, the total float can be calculated the formula is given on the screen latest start minus
early start or TL minus TE minus the time duration for that activity both ways we can
calculate the value and we will try to calculate it with the help of an example also and free
float can also be calculated.

Total Float TFij:

TFij = LS ij – ESij
TFij = (TL – TE) – tij

Free Float FFij:

FF ij = (Ej – Ei) – tij
FFij = Total float – Head event slack

Independent Float IFij:

IF ij = (Ej – Li) – tij
IFij = Free float – Tail event slack Where tail event slack = Li – Ei

Where
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

(Refer Slide Time: 22:24)

Let us take an example maybe that will be more you can say beneficial. This is one
example representing the network as I have drawn a very simple network here, the
network on your screen may feel a little complicated. So, this is giving an example of
construction of a building. So, we have excavated lay foundation, rough plumbing,
framing fine in finish the exterior, sheet rock installs the cabinets final plumbing install
the flooring. So, you have different HV heating and ventilation air conditioning rough
electrical work is done painting is done finally.

So, you have different activities which are required for making a house and in the last
session also I think we have taken an example of house building only your construction
of a house. So, these are different activities each one of these have got their predecessor
relationships and now we want to calculate that how much time will be required to
complete this project, what is the shortest possible time required to complete this
project? And what is the longest path in the network which will give us the shortest
possible time for completion of the project so, that we will try to understand.

(Refer Slide Time: 23:50)

What is the information required? We have to have the activities. So, they named as A to
M and the description of each activities given here time required for each activity is
given in days and the immediate predecessor activities are also given. Predecessor
activity as we have told in the previous session also are the activities which are
proceeding a particular activity for example, H has to be preceded by C E F and G that is
sheetrock can only take place once C E F and G are completed. That is rough plumbing
is done finish exterior is done rough electrical is done and installation of HVAC is done.
So, when C E F and G are complete then only H can start. This is another way a very
good way of representing the early start time, early finish time, late start time and late
finish time and ti is the duration required to perform activity i and ti is a duration and i is
the name of the activity.

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

(Refer Slide Time: 24:49)

So, in our case i can be A in the very first node and then for A we can calculate the early
start time the early finish time the late start time and the late finish time.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:10)

So, quickly we can try to see that how we are representing first we are doing the forward
pass. So, on your network when we are doing the forward pass we have to move from the
start node to the end node. Now start node here is A and the end node here is M. So, we
start from A so the first point here is the earliest start. So, earliest start is 0 because we
have to start our project on day 0 and it requires 3 days so this is a time duration. So,
early finish can be 3 days it cannot take more less than 3 days it cannot take more than 3
days. It can take more than 3 days, but then the project may be delayed if there is no
slack in the activity. So, we get the early finish as 0 plus 3 as 3.

Now, for activity B we see what is the earliest start that is 3 how much time it requires 4
days. So, 3 plus 4 earliest finish time will be 7 as given on your screen. Similarly, for C
what is the earliest start earliest start can be because A and B have to be completed
before C can take place. So, 3 days plus 4 days 7 days have to be spent before C can
start. So, the earliest start for C is 7 and it will require 3 days. So, earliest finish for C
becomes 10. So, here for all these 3 activities only one arrow is entering into these
activities, but if we take an example of H there are 4 activities entering into H.

So, we will see the earliest finish time for all the 4 activities. So, which will become the
earliest start time for this activity H and if we look at these 4 activities from which are
prerequisite for the start of H, the earliest finish for C is 10, the earliest finish for E is 25,
the earliest finish for F is 21 and earliest finish for G is 23. So, the maximum value is for
activity E that is the earliest finish for activity E is 25 therefore, the earliest start for
activity H will become automatically 25 because I have told that when we are moving
from left to right or from the start node to the end node we have to take the maximum
value only, but on the contrary when we are doing the backward pass that is we are
starting from the end node towards the start node we are moving for calculating the late
start and late finish.

Note:
ESTH=MAX(EFTC, EFTE, EFTF, EFTG)=25

We have to take the minimum values so let us perform the backward pass now in the
backward pass we see here the earliest finish is 46

(Refer Slide Time: 28:01)

So, we will take it as the TL value that is 46 so 46 minus 4 is to 42. So, here we see only
one node is there so there is this node where we have 2 we can say nodes which are
entering into this node H. So, when we reverse the direction of arrows we will see that
here 2 are entering similarly for B also we have 2 arrows with through which we can to
pass through which we can enter that node.

So, for this if we see we have to do find out that what is the latest and we have to take the
minimum value for that and here we can see for the late this is 33 here and it is 35 here.
So, we will take maximum or minimum while calculating the backward. So, while
calculating the back backward pass we have to take the minimum so we will take 33. So,
33 becomes the latest finish for this activity and the latest start will be 33 minus 8 that is
25.

Note:
LFTH=MIN(LSTI, LSTJ)=33
LFTD=MIN(LSTE,LSTF ,LSTG)=17
LFTB=MIN(LSTC, LSTD)=7

So, while doing the forward pass we have to take the maximum value, while performing
the backward pass we have to take the minimum value. So, similarly for B also we can
see we have 2 options available here. So, as here we have taken the minimum value
between 35 and 33 here also between 7 and 22 we have to take the minimum value. So,
the minimum value is 7 out of 7 and 22. So, we can very easily do the forward
calculation and the backward calculation also.
Now, how we can use this network so the slack as we have seen will be 0 for the
activities that lie on the critical path. So, we can see the difference between early start
and late start or early finish and late finish has to be 0. So, here we can try to look out
those activities where the difference between early start and early finish and late start and
late finish is equal to 0. So, first activity is A then B, we can see early start early finish
late start late finish. So, early start minus early finish there is no gap, late start minus late
finish no gap, A similar is for B then we see here there is a gap here there is no gap 7
minus 7 0, 17 minus 17 0.

So, there is no slack available, then we see other active here there is a gap available slack
available 17 minus 17 0, 25 minus 25 0. So, A B D and E are on the critical path, then we
see H 25 minus 25 0, 33 minus 33 0. So, H is again on critical path and when we see the
other activities where we have no slack, we will find I K and M.

So, where critical path becomes A B D E H I K and M for which the slack is 0 and when
you will see the other activities on the required for the completion of this project, you
will definitely find some slack. So, here for example, for activity F we can say slack is 25
minus 17 4, 25 minus 21 4. So, we have a slack of 4 days available for F which means
that if F does not start on it is earliest start day it can start after 4 days also without
affecting the overall project duration, but activity A B D E H I K and M cannot be
delayed because if they are delayed the overall project duration will be delayed from 46
days.
So, this is the way we can calculate the critical activities and we can find out the critical
path which will be the longest path of the network requiring with that will be the
minimum time required for completion of the project. So, we need to find out that it is a
longest path, but it is giving us the minimum time required for the completion of the
project. We will definitely take some other examples in our next session and try to
understand the concept of critical path method.

So, with this I conclude the today’s session.

Thank you.