Project Scheduling: PERT/CPM

73-220

Lecture 17

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Agenda
● Review of last class.
– Applications of using binary decision
variables.
● Project scheduling – PERT/CPM
– Project scheduling with known activity
times
● Next Class

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PERT/CPM: Introduction
● PERT
– Program Evaluation and Review Technique
– Developed by U.S. Navy for Polaris missile project
– Developed to handle uncertain activity times
● CPM
– Critical Path Method
– Developed by Du Pont & Remington Rand
– Developed for industrial projects for which activity times
generally were known
● Today’s project management software packages have
combined the best features of both approaches.

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PERT/CPM: Applications

● PERT and CPM have been used to plan,

schedule, and control a wide variety of
projects:
– R&D of new products and processes
– Construction of buildings and highways
– Maintenance of large and complex
equipment
– Design and installation of new systems

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PERT/CPM

● PERT/CPM is used to plan the scheduling of

individual activities that make up a project.
● Projects may have as many as several
thousand activities.
● A complicating factor in carrying out the
activities is that some activities depend on the
completion of other activities before they can
be started.

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PERT/CPM: Key Questions
● Project managers rely on PERT/CPM to help
them answer questions such as:
– What is the total time to complete the project?
– What are the scheduled start and finish dates for
each specific activity?
– Which activities are critical and must be
completed exactly as scheduled to keep the project
on schedule?
– How long can noncritical activities be delayed
before they cause an increase in the project
completion time?

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Project Network

● A project network can be constructed to

model the precedence of the activities.
● The nodes of the network represent the
activities.
● The arcs of the network reflect the precedence
relationships of the activities.
● A critical path for the network is a path
consisting of activities with zero slack.

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Example: Frank’s Fine Floats
Frank’s Fine Floats is in the business of
building elaborate parade floats. Frank and his
crew have a new float to build and want to use
PERT/CPM to help them manage the project .
The table on the next slide shows the
activities that comprise the project. Each
activity’s estimated completion time (in days)
and immediate predecessors are listed as well.
Frank wants to know the total time to
complete the project, which activities are
critical, and the earliest and latest start and
finish dates for each activity.

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 Example: Frank’s Fine Floats
Immediate Completion
Activity Description Predecessors Time (days)
A Initial Paperwork --- 3
B Build Body A 3
C Build Frame A 2
D Finish Body B 3
E Finish Frame C 7
F Final Paperwork B,C 3
G Mount Body to Frame D,E 6
H Install Skirt on Frame C 2

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 Example: Frank’s Fine Floats
● Project Network
B D
3 3 G
6
F
3
A
Start Finish
3 E
7
C H
2 2

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 Earliest Start and Finish Times
● Step 1: Make a forward pass through
the network as follows: For each activity
i beginning at the Start node, compute:
– Earliest Start Time = the maximum of
the earliest finish times of all activities
immediately preceding activity i. (This
is 0 for an activity with no
predecessors.)
– Earliest Finish Time = (Earliest Start
Time) + (Time to complete activity i ).
The project completion time is the
maximum of the Earliest Finish Times at
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 Example: Frank’s Fine Floats
● Earliest Start and Finish Times
B 3 6 D 6 9
3 3 G 12 18
6
F 6 9
3
A 0 3
Start Finish
3 E 5 12
7
C 3 5 H 5 7
2 2

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 Latest Start and Finish Times
● Step 2: Make a backwards pass through the
network as follows: Move sequentially
backwards from the Finish node to the Start
node. At a given node, j, compute:
– Latest Finish Time = the minimum of the latest
start times for all activities that immediately
follow j. (For nodes that directly connect to
Finish node, this is the project completion time.)
– Latest Start Time = (Latest Finish Time) - (Time
to complete activity i ).

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 Example: Frank’s Fine Floats
● Latest Start and Finish Times
B 3 6 D 6 9
3 6 9 3 9 12 G 12 18
6 12 18
F 6 9
3 15 18
A 0 3
Start Finish
3 0 3 E 5 12
7 5 12
C 3 5 H 5 7
2 3 5 2 16 18

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 Determining the Critical Path
● Step 3: Calculate the slack time for each
activity by:
Slack = (Latest Start) - (Earliest Start),
or
= (Latest Finish) - (Earliest Finish).

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 Example: Frank’s Fine Floats
● Activity Slack Time
Activity ES EF LS LF Slack
A 0 3 0 3 0 (critical)
B 3 6 6 9 3
C 3 5 3 5 0 (critical)
D 6 9 9 12 3
E 5 12 5 12 0 (critical)
F 6 9 15 18 9
G 12 18 12 18 0 (critical)
H 5 7 16 18 11

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 Example: Frank’s Fine Floats
● Determining the Critical Path
– A critical path is a path of activities, from the
Start node to the Finish node, with 0 slack
times.
– Critical Path: A–C–E–G
– The project completion time equals the
maximum of the activities’ earliest finish
times.
– Project Completion Time: 18 days

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 Next Class
● Do some questions from Chapter 10.

● Read Section 10.2 Project Scheduling with

uncertain activity times.

YOU LEARN DECISION ANALYSIS BY

DOING DECISION ANALYSIS!!

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